xxxHOLiC Kei 13 (finale)

xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 13

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Watanuki is late getting to Yuuko-san's place when the young kitsune's voice calls to him after Watanuki smells the kitsune oden. Only the paw of the fox critter and the wrapped cases of oden can be seen as the young lad wishes to thank Watanuki for the dream balloon. Watanuki takes it home where Yuuko-san and company are happy to partake in this meal.

The following day, Yuuko-san has Watanuki come with her to buy a new refrigerator. Watanuki is not happy with this since he will have to carry the fridge home (apparently delivery service isn't available) and points to a small fridge. Yuuko-san asks him if he really wants her to purchase that refrigerator. Watanuki takes a second look and sees it is possessed. So, he changes his mind and Yuuko-san wants the big fridge. As Watanuki walks around, he discovers a critter charged with electricity. After receiving some massive shocks from the critter (for offending it) Watanuki learns the critter is Raijuu. Naturally, Raijuu knows Yuuko-san and after Watanuki frees Raijuu, Raijuu wishes to thank Yuuko-san properly.

Yuuko-san has Raijuu come by the store where Raijuu repairs her refrigerator. He (?) ends up repairing all of the electronic equipment in the place. That evening, Yuuko-san, Watanuki, Raijuu, and Himawari-chan head to Doumeki's temple residence. They head into the nearby woods where they find the Kitsune Oden Stand. Watanuki gives the kitsune boy some mittens as food is being prepared. Neko Musume arrives to take part in the party as well as the dream balloon creature and the cat person that came from the painting. The festivities are underway as it begins to rain when Ame-Warashi and Zashiki-Warashi also join, where Yuuko-san gets Ame to stop the rain. With that, the festivities continue and Raijuu puts on a light show.

Thoughts/Review: Nothing like a massive, filler episode to end the series. Not only that, but to fill it, the writers bring in every other world nice being they can. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself (and we did get to see Zashiki-Warashi again which I didn't expect we would), but there was no point to any of it other than to fulfill a 13-episode agreement. Sadly, I kept nodding off during the episode despite its attempts to be funny and the like.

I did notice that the writers threw in at least one CLAMP cameo -- Shinbo and Sumomo from Chobits. I think that Kudo and Himura from Legal Drug also made a cameo. I didn't notice any other CLAMP cameos but then I was having a hard time staying awake as I watched this.

Ultimately, xxxHOLiC Kei is much better than the xxxHOLiC anime title. The extraction of the Tsubasa elements is a detraction, but at least the writers tried to do a better job of making this adaptation over the previous one. There are still weaknesses but it is better.

Space Battleship Yamato 12

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 12
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 12 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yamato is approaching the trinary Orion star system as Yuki stands and watches on the observation deck. She's joined by Susumu, who asks her what she is doing. She says she is praying, since the closest of the three Orion stars (Alpha) is also called the Prayer Star of Orion. He wonders why she'd pray to a star and then wonders what she is praying about. Naturally, she won't say. Their conversation is interrupted by a massive shaking of a ship, so they return to the bridge. There, Daisuke discovers the ship is slowing down and Yuki discovers that they've entered into a barrier.

The captain is delayed in coming down from his ready room, causing Susumu much angst. When he finally arrives, a swarm of objects appear on radar and are determined to be missiles. The energy barrier has Yamato slowed down greatly and hard to maneuver. Daisuke gets irritated with Chief Engineer Totugawa (who's in the engine room) and calls him "bakayarou" (a harsher form for "idiot"). In the end, Daisuke is able to move the ship just enough so that the missiles all miss. However, a second wave is inbound, so Susumu orders Yamato's anti-missile missiles be fired, which take out the 2nd wave.

The captain summons Daisuke, Susumu, and Totugawa to his ready room. He forces Daisuke to apologize to Totugawa for using the term "bakayarou" to insult the Chief. Totugawa accepts the apology. With that resolved, he orders the two men out of his room and then addresses Susumu. Despite the fact that Susumu's order to fire the anti-missile missiles happened to be the right course of action, Captain Okita is upset that Susumu took the initiative and did not wait for Okita to give the order. In fact, Okita slaps Susumu over this but then Okita collapses.

On Gamilus, Desler's toadies have gathers and they applaud him for snaring Yamato. However, he has more in store for them. He's releasing a special gas that will feed off of energy and will destroy physical objects. So with the missile attacks coming from one place, the cloud from behind, and the energy barrier all around them, Desler's leaving them one avenue and that's directly into Alpha of Orion, where Yamato will not survive.

Back on Yamato, Sado-sensei treats Okita's wounds. He tells the captain they he needs to be in the hospital since his radiation sickness has gotten worse. Okita isn't listening, so Sado decides to press the point home by reminding Okita that had Susumu not taking matters into his own hands, Okita would have caused the Yamato to be heavily damaged or destroyed. It is Sado's opinion that Okita is slowing down due to his illness. It is then that the cloud Desler sent arrives. Okita returns to the bridge where they discover the nature of the cloud which forces Yamato to attempt to make an escape.

Yuki finds a path out of the barrier, but it leads directly to Alpha of Orion. Okita orders they ship be flown there despite Sanada's protests about heat from the star melting Yamato. On Gamilus, Desler sees that Okita is taking Yamato into the star and decides he's seen enough and is going to bed, not interested in witnessing the battleship's end. In fact, he doesn't even want a report on the Yamato's destruction. Back on the Yamato, Okita orders the various shutters closed to help protect the ship and the crew begin to don space suits. Okita has a relaps on the bridge but considering the dire situation, Sado covers up the true nature of Okita's problem.

Daisuke maneuvers Yamato through the corona of the star. However, a massive, unpredicted prominence emerges in their path. Because it is so large, Yamato cannot maneuver around it and to go through it would be suicide. So, Captain Okita orders the Wave Motion Gun be fired at the prominence. Susumu does this, which causes the prominence to break and a path to be cleared through the star's corona, which allows Yamato to escape. This is witnessed by General Hiss and company. Hiss goes to Desler's quarters and makes his report on Yamato's escape. Hiss asks if Desler wants to send Okita another letter of congratulation, which Desler finds to be an idiotic sugesstion. Hiss leaves and Desler is left to ponder the current situation.

Back on Yamato, Yuki is again back on the observation deck and is again joined by Susumu. Considering she's now witnessed the true terror of a star, he wonders how she feels about the Prayer Star. Her feelings have not changed on the matter. When Susumu asks what she prayed for, she won't tell him much, other than she prayed for a certain guy to fall in love with her. With that and a giggle, she leaves the room. Susumu follows her, asking her who this guy is.

Thoughts/Review: Ha!ha! I just knew that Yuki would be a nurse again at some point. I just didn't expect it to be quite so soon. When she went for those bandages to work on the captain, I went, "YES!" Too bad there's only one of her though. I get the feeling that Susumu will be the one to hook up with her. That leaves a ship full of men with very little options. *_*

I'd forgotten that Okita wasn't 100% when the journey started. However, it looks like this could become a plot point for the series. Who knows if the writers will kill him or not though.

The writers get negative points for making Desler so ultra clichéd in this episode.

Desler: "Let's have a party to watch Yamato get trapped and destroyed."
Gamilons: "Banzai!"
Desler: "Ha! Ha! My plan is working. Yamato is trapped and now heading for the sun where they will be destroyed. I'm going to bed. Don't bother telling me how the destruction went."
Gamilons: "Banzai!"
Desler: "Yamato survived? How could this happen when my plan was so perfect and I'm the Supreme Leader?"
Gamilons: "Banzai!"

Even though it is not being shown thus far, I guess Yamato is warping. Alpha of Orion is around 980 to 1500 light years from Earth.

Macross Frontier 21

マクロスF Episode 21
Macross F Ep. 21
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Leon officially takes over the government on the bridge of Battle Frontier and he orders the ship to separate from Island 1 to help Macross Quarter and the other warships battle the Vajra. With Battle Frontier now separating, Cathy and Ozama are too late to stop Leon's plans. Battle Frontier enters the fight and saves Macross Quarter from taking a hit from a Vajra battleship by destroying the enemy vessel. Since Battle Frontier's main cannon is still working and Leon knows what Luca is planning, Leon orders that they continue to fight the enemy out in space.

Back one of the Macross Frontier islands, a determined and angry Klan in her normal, giant form begins attacking the swarms of Vajra, allowing Luca, Alto, and Ranka to escape. Ranka dons an SMS flight suit and Luca takes them to a secret location where a fold bomb (named "Little Girl") created by LAI resides. His plan is to have Ranka sing so that the Vajra inside Macross Frontier come to Island 3. Once this happens, the island ship will be detached from the Macross Frontier collective and the bomb detonated.

Alto doesn't like this plan, but Ranka agrees to it, so Alto decides he'll make sure she gets off the island alive. He takes off in his fighter and Brera arrives, telling Ranka she doesn't have to do this since this song of hers is her heart. She has a small cry but assures Brera that she's OK and will sing the song, so Brera also takes off in his fighter. She begins to sing and sure enough, the swarms of Vajra all over hear and leave whatever island they are on to come to Island 3. Sheryl, via her earring, also hears the singing in the shelter. Once the overwhelming majority of the Vajra are on Island 3, Alto gets Ranka out and Little Girl is detonated, causing the island ship to implode.

As Leon gives a speech at a public funeral, he asks Ranka to sing for the crowd and those watching on the other ships. Ranka refuses, saying she'll never sing again before she flees the scene. This surprises Alto, who's been watching this on TV. Ranka flees into the woods and when she stops, a much larger Ai-kun emerges, happy to see her. However, Ai-kun begins to molt and the next-stage Vajra appears. Ranka calls Alto, who races to see her. She wants him to show her how to make a paper airplane, which he does. After she launches it, she then has Ai-kun come out. Alto cannot see past the fact that it is a Vajra and the Vajra must be killed, so Brera emerges to stop Alto from killing Ai-kun. Ranka decides to leave with Brera to take Ai-kun back to his kind. As she leaves on Brera's fighter, she tells Alto that she loves him and wanted to be with him forever.

As Brera, Ranka, Ai-kun, and fighter leave, their departure is noticed by Cathy and Ozama (who are in the ruined city) as well as Sheryl (who's back at Alto's family estate) via her earring. Alto screams out Ranka's name as Brera has his fighter leave via one of Island 1's hatches in the "sky." With that, they fold out.

Thoughts/Review: So, while we don't have a resolution to the love-triangle, we do have Ranka out of the way for a while. Ranka's decision not to sing seemed to surprise Leon so I can't imagine that was part of his plans even if it is part of Grace's. With Ai-kun not only having survived the recent fight but still like a big old friendly dog when it comes to Ranka, I wonder what role this will play in the Vajra and humans ultimately coming to peace. We'll see how this plays out, however I couldn't help but feel sad that Ranka's leaving. I always liked her but it is time for Sheryl's rise from the ashes. I think Ranka will be back and through Sheryl's earring (with fold crystal), I still think it will be the two of them that ultimately resolve the Vajra problem.

Then there is Klan. I really wondered if the writers would kill her off this episode as she sought payback on Micheal's death, but fortunately, the writers haven't killed her...yet. I like Klan and seeing as how her other two Zentradi female friends are dead, I just hope that Klan can not only survive but become stronger in the end.

I liked finally seeing how Battle Frontier operated in conjunction with the main Macross Frontier island. One of the things I haven't liked as much about this series is some of the murkiness surrounding certain things in the show. I think it would have been nice for there to have been little things to indicate which island they were on at a given time. Oh well. That's what Google is for I guess.

I was thinking about Luca. The animators dropped his "cute," innocent red marks on his cheeks, indicating he has grown up. Since Nanase hasn't been killed yet, maybe the two of them can be a couple when the series is over.

See you for episode 22.

Keroro Gunsou 62

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 62
Sgt. Frog anime, 62
Keroro Gunsou episode 62

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Nishizawa-san (Nishizawa Momoka's father) enlists Fuyuki (whom he addresses as "Hinata-kun") to protect his daughter's favorite painting, the "Venus's Arrival." Nishizawa-san has been told by a group named More Peach Summer (actual name and not a translation). Since Nishizawa-san knows Fuyuki has "unique friends" combined with Fuyuki's reputation for being a pretty good detective, he feel's Fuyuki is best suited for the task. Since the painting is so special to Momoka, Fuyuki agrees to do this and enlists the help of Tamama, Keroro, and Giroro.

That night, the More Peach Summer trio arrives and are revealed to be Moa, Momoka, and Natsumi. They defeat the impressive security at the Nishizawa Gallery but when Momoka sees Fuyuki, she gets flustered. Fuyuki cannot tell who the theives are and challenges them because the painting is pressious to Momoka. She hears his words and she's out with happiness, forcing Moa and Natsumi to grab her and retreat where Natsumi realizes why Fuyuki was hired to protect the painting. Their rapid retreat has Fuyuki puzzled. Nishizawa-san observes this success and is ready to release Fuyuki from his duties. However, Fuyuki expresses his concerns to Nishizawa-san and obtains permission to stay through the night with Keroro, Giroro, and Tamama.

When morning comes, Fuyuki and Giroro are still awake and alert when Nishizawa-san arrives with two bodyguards. He addresses "Fuyuki-kun" and tells him that they are moving the painting. They deactivate the final security around the painting (which is covered) and take it. However, Fuyuki realizes that Nishizawa-san is actually Momoka and the two security people are Natsumi and Moa. The clue to this is that (1) only Momoka calls Fuyuki "Fuyuki-kun" and (2) More Peach Summer stands for Moa (how the Japanese pronounce "more"), Momoka ("momo" is the Japanese word for "peach"), and Natsumi ("natsu" is the Japanese word for "summer"). Fuyuki is right and after stopping Moa from destroying the Earth, the trio escape to a waiting hot-air balloon where Koyuki is waiting. The reason for them stealing the painting? It is of a nude, baby Momoka and she's embarrassed by that.

Natsumi and Fuyuki are walking home when Fuyuki expresses his unhappiness at having to take swimming class. They arrive home to find it filled with water, but the water does not leak out. It turns out that this isn't water, but the atmosphere from the planet Akatawa, which is like water only people can breathe normally in it. So Natsumi invites Momoka and Koyuki over and everyone "swims" in this new atmosphere (including their mother). However, Keroro has a nefarious scheme and this atmosphere has powered him up. Unfortunately for Keroro, Kururu decides to put the brakes on Keroro's fun and removes the atmosphere. Kururu sends a Nyororo to absorb Keroro's moisture, but that fails. So, Kururu sends two more and that does the trick, ending Keroro's plans.

Thoughts/Review: The mystery parody story was amusing but not really funny (I did laugh once though). I liked how Momoka, Natsumi, Moa, and Koyuki teamed up to save Momoka's dignity. Beyond that, not really much to say about the episode.

The second story was little more that an excuse to show off the various females in swimsuits. It still had some amusing moments, mainly when Kururu entered the picture. KUU! Ku! Ku! Ku! Ku!

Space Battleship Yamato 11

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 11
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 11 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Supreme Leader Desler arrives at the great hall to receive his toadying military staff. General Hiss (formerly Vice President Hiss) gives a report on Yamato's recent successes. General Talan reports that the Gamilons have mined the solar system and are so confident it will keep Yamato trapped, they've named it the Desler Minefield. Desler gives a toast to Yamato making it through the minefield which causes one of the officers to laugh, thinking Desler is joking. Desler simply has the floor open beneath the man, sending him who knows were.

On the Yamato, they've detected the objects in front of them. Dispatching a dummy baloon (which looks like a scaled down version of Yamato), the crew is able to discern that the objects are in fact mines. Okita orders the ship to go around the mine field, but the mines shift position to insure they are always blocking Yamato's path. Okita orders Yuki to determine how much space there is between mines. She makes the calculations, which are just enough for Yamato to slip through. Okita orders Daisuke to take the ship through the mine field. However, once inside the field, the mines begin moving again and Yamato is trapped.

Figuring there is a control unit directing the mines, Okita orders Sanada to find and take care of it. Sanada gets Analyzer, whom the very drunk Sado-sensei has made intoxicated, and they two head out in a shuttle to find the control unit. They find it and despite having reservations about Analyzer's abilities (the robot having the drunk hiccups), he has the robot disable the control unit. Thus the mines are no longer moving but still in Yamato's way. Okita orders Susumu to take the members of the fighter squadron out to manually push the mines out of Yamato's path. This they do and Yamato is on its way again.

Back on Gamilus, General Hiss is greatly embarrassed by this turn of events, especially after Desler asks to be reminded of what the name of the minefield happened to be. General Hiss tells Desler to punish him for this, but Desler is not interested in punishing Hiss. Instead, he marvels at the low-tech solution Captain Okita came up with for removing the mines. As such, he orders a congratulation message be sent to Okita. The message is received by Yamato but unfortunately, a trace was not performed so that they could immediately find Gamilus.

Thoughts/Review: You know, in episode 8, I had praise for the tactics used. For this episode, Captain Okita is a prat.

Crew: "Captain, there's a mine field. It moves en masse to prevent us from going around it. What do we do?"

Okita: "Is there space enough between mines for us to fly through?"

Crew: "There's enough space, but what does that matter? The mines move."

Okita: "Damn the mines! Full speed ahead!"

Crew: "Shouldn't we try to clear the mines?"

Okita: "DAMN THE MINES! FULL SPEED AHEAD!"

OK, this is a slight exaggeration but seriously, why go through a mine field when you could take it out with decoys or even clear a large enough path with your weapons?

Oh well. As long as the fools on Gamilus were impressed with the hand removal of mines, that's all that matters, right?

The joke with the "drunk" Analyzer wasn't funny to me. Maybe it is because I've seen better drunk robot jokes in Futurama.

Negima! Manga Vol 25 (Ch 224) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 25 Chapter 224 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 224

Summary/Synopsis: With Fate's girl Brigitte there, Paru uses her artifact to create a mid-level golem in 2.7 seconds. However, Brigitte is easily able to stop the golem's attack, which is no surprise to Paru. Nodoka asks Brigitte for her name as Paru summons her "Super-Flexible Armored Donzura-kun," which looks like a giant toy cat mouth. With this, they escape to a different location. Nodoka has Brigitte's name thanks to her new artifacts and the group plans to report to Negi on the spot. Brigitte has other ideas since her mission is prevent them from helping Negi. As such, she quietly request they behave and listen to a recital.

Brigitte begins playing her violin, which causes a nearby clock tower to explode thanks to the sound waves emitted. Realizing how truly dangerous the situation is, Nodoka, chibi-Chisame, and Paru get on top of a flying stingray-type creature. Paru tells Nodoka to pilot the critter by placing her hand on it since Nodoka can now read Brigitte's mind. They leave with Brigitte in pursuit. However, they are able to elude Brigitte's attacks thanks to Nodoka's mind reading. Brigitte can't believe her attacks have been avoided but then understands that the mind reader "Fate-sama" told her about must be there. This causes Brigitte to change her attack to one from all sides, which Nodoka gives warning about.

Paru is able to summon four Shield Maidens just as the massive attack hits, but the girls are in bad shape and injured despite the defenses. Brigitte is impressed with the skills shown by non-magical students from Mundus Vetus (Earth), especially their advancement in such a short period of time. She praises them for having even survived her attack and while leaving these wanted terrorist for the military would seem to be the best solution for the helpless girls, Brigitte feels that leaving Nodoka in one piece would be a mistake. Before she can kill Nodoka, Kotaro shows up and breaks her bow before causing it to go up in flames.

Meanwhile, Nodoka, Chamo, and Jack find themselves in a barrier dimension trap sprung by Koyomi and Tamaki. Jack launches several massive blades out, one which strikes a floating block were Koyomi and Tamaki are standing. Konoka uses a magic arrow (Sagitta Magica Series Lucis) attack, which reveals that the Koyomi they see is merely an illusion. Jack is amused and tells the girls he's changed his opinion of them, saying they aren't going pantyless for nothing, which causes Koyomi to get flustered while Chamo and Konoka see Jack still isn't taking the situation seriously.

Elsewhere, on the Ariadne Magical Knights' private airship, Emily receives orders to investigate the 17th unauthorized disturbance in the area. Emily arrives to tell her fellow Knights they have a mission, only to discover that Yue, Collet, Beatrix, and the others are busy sampling various cakes and deserts. However, the Knights gear up and set out to handle their first mission.

Thoughts/Review: Well, I decided not to think of the obvious and showed myself too smart by half. Brigitte's attacks were soley based on sound, which is the obvious attack from an instrument of noise. My thinking had been that since Paru creates golems and Nodoka is a mind reader, Brigitte's attacks might be illusion-based as a counter to that. Nodoka can't read the mind of an illusion and a solid illusion would seem to be a nice counter for Paru. That leaves Chisame, who's not done much.

It is interesting how much Fate and his people fear Nodoka though, or rather her pactio artifact and its ability to allow Nodoka read minds. Thinking back on previous times Nodoka has used her artifact in combat situations, it appears the target has zero defences to prevent Nodoka from pulling every bit of information out of their mind. That truly would be a terrifying weapon though, wouldn't it? No wonder Brigitte would have killed Nodoka.

I wonder if Brigitte is blind or just has eyes like Kaede (always closed).

Now that Kotaro has entered the frey, I wonder if another of Fate's babes will emerge to deal with him. Fate seems to have chosen his companions very well and sent them out to deal with just the right problems. I'm still not sure that Jack will ultimately have problems with Koyomi and Tamaki, but it seems that Akamatsu-sensei may have given his Japanese readers some clues in the names of Fate's girls. This is some thoughts prior to the release of chapter 224 from Negima! fan and Japanese reader, Hata.

if anything, look for Rakan to be in trouble sooner or later, remember Rakan saying he got stuck with alt dimension fight during the Negi training? could Koyomi (calendar) control "time" and Tamaki (ring) control "seal space"? no way Fate only send them two without thinking that they have a good chance at handling him.

Hata went on to talk about some of the other girls as well but the girl's names is something I'd not considered. So it appears that Hata was spot on, considering the trap they sprang on Jack.

So, an interesting chapter and it appears that Akamatsu-sensei has gone back into a normal storytelling mode (vs. an accelerated one of more recent chapters). For those wondering (and I know that there are a lot of you based on search patterns), Negima! chapter 225 won't be out for TWO WEEKS! So hold tight, y'all. ^_^

Keroro Gunsou 61

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 61
Sgt. Frog anime, 61
Keroro Gunsou episode 61

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Fuyuki's class receives a new transfer student named KINOSHITA Rei. She's apparently cursed with extreme bad luck and has an interest in the occult, which naturally catches Fuyuki's attention. Kinoshita's bad luck causes her to experience all sorts of accidents including getting hit by a soccer ball, having fluorescent lights crash into her, and more. Meanwhile back at the Hinata residence, Keroro has taken out a ton of trash from his cleaning. He happens to notice a special ball in the trash and decides to retrieve it.

Back at school, Nishizawa is not pleased with the fact that Kinoshita is attending the Occult Club meeting. As they walk home, the weather suddenly suddenly turns stormy with everyone getting wet. Kinoshita gives Fuyuki her handkerchief to help himself dry. Nishizawa decides to use the moment to share an umbrella with Fuyuki, but Kinoshita grabs it from Nishizawa, warning of the danger. Nishizawa starts to get angry, but a massive lightning bolt blasts Kinoshita and ends Nishizawa's anger.

Because Kinoshita and Nishizawa want to see Fuyuki's O-part, which is a special ball. Kinoshita's bad luck is causing all sorts of problems and Fuyuki can't find the ball. Natsumi tells Fuyuki that the "stupid frog" (Keroro) has been doing some cleaning, so Fuyuki races down to find out what Keroro did. As Kinoshita questions what "stupid frog" is, Keroro tells Fuyuki that the ball is an Atarunian good luck sphere. With it, Keroro can do no wrong and finds his dango have all sold and so he wants to buy lottery tickets to increase his money.

Kinoshita arrives in the base and Keroro recognizes her as Atarunian. The ball is hers which she lost as a kid (playing on Earth with Fuyuki) and she needs it to negate her horrible luck. After Fuyuki recalls playing with Kinoshita as a kid, Keroro loses the ball and Kinoshita manages to get it back. She leaves Earth and everyone's memories of her are erased. However, Fuyuki finds he has a strange handkerchief in his pocket and looks to the sky instinctively. Meanwhile, Keroro finds himself in a room full of losing lottery tickets, meaning he's broke again.

Natsumi is doing a bit of cleaning when her beloved Saburo-senpai drops by for a visit and to get his special pen repaired by Kururu. Kururu agrees to do this. Natsumi prepares some cookies and beverages to take to the Keron base only to end up lost. She runs into Mutsumi, who admits to being lost as well. As they explore, they find a Gunpla room and entering, they set off a trap which sends them to another doorless room. Keroro had set the trap in frustration over having lost all that money on lottery tickets.

Keroro is surprised to learn that Natsumi and Mutsumi were the ones trapped. The trap apparently sent the pair two to a rocket where they will be blasted into space as punishment. However, they have a karaoke machine, so it won't be so bad (in his estimate). Giroro is outraged by this and more so when he learns there is no way out of the rocket. His rocket attack and Dororo's shinobi attack fail, as Kururu knew they would. Giroro is giving Keroro a piece of his mind, but Keroro is only interested in getting to the bathroom. When he is finally able to do this, (Giroro clinging to the rocket as it launches) he discovers Natsumi and Mutsumi are in there, meaning his trap sent them there instead of the rocket. Natsumi then demands that Keroro get Giroro back.

Thoughts/Review: I don't know why exactly, but I rather enjoyed the first story with Kinoshita. The slapstick humor with her bad luck did make me chuckle, but it was Nishizawa's dark persona being thwarted by the bad luck that made the moments funnier. I haven't seen Kinoshita in the manga, so if she is an anime-only character, the writers did a pretty good job.

The second story is also pretty amusing with Natsumi going from confident woman to girl in love around Mutsumi. Giroro's reaction to Mutsumi and Natsumi's being trapped was predictable but still amusing.

So all and all, a fun episode with some laughs for me. I guess that's why I wrote a much longer summary for this episode than I normally do for Keroro Gunsou.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 237 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 38 Chapter 237

Summary/Synopsis: Chrono, Belldandy, and Keiichi are looking for the final fragment when Urd and Skuld fly up on the broom to report they've found it and lead the group back to the location -- their temple residence. The meowing from inside means that Welsper has the final fragment. This is bad news for Chrono, but good news for Urd who begins to tease Chrono about her fear of cats. This comes to a rapid end when Belldandy scowls at Urd.

Chrono recounts how she became afraid of cats when as a child, she played with a cat using a cat toy. It ends up on Chrono's head and the cat attacks the toy on her head. Thus, Chrono has a fear of cats. Since they need a way to extract the fragment and Chrono's fear is a problem, Keiichi (upon hearing what needs to be done) suggests using rhythm. To illustrate the point, he throws a punch at Chrono. She instinctively reacts and dodges the punch before slamming Keiichi to the ground (Keiichi protected from harm by Belldandy sending Holybell to protect Keiichi's head). Chrono is on top of Keiichi about to tear him apart until Belldandy stops her.

After bowing in apology to Keiichi, Belldandy understands what Keiichi meant by rhythm in that Chrono's rhythm can be used to interact with the rhythm of the program which is causing Welsper to dance.

Thoughts/Review: There's some humor here because lets face it, it is funny seeing a cat, specifically Welsper, dancing on his hind legs. I also chuckled when Belldandy put an end to Urd's teasing Chrono with a scowl.

Beyond that, the trials of Chrono just doesn't grip me. I don't have a problem with Chrono as such per se but I just don't care.

And yet I'll keep reading...^_~

Manga Mad - Tokyo Otaku

I was contacted Tuesday by an employee from SnagFilms. They were hosting an independent documentary film called Manga Mad - Tokyo Otaku. He figured that since I write an anime blog, I'd be interested in checking it out. I told him I'd give it a look-see but no promises that I'd do more than that. I went to the URL provided and started the video. After suffering through a short ad, the film started. While I had planned to just glance at the film and then watch it in detail later, I ended up watching the whole thing on the spot. Having seen it, I figured I'd review this documentary.

Manga Mag - Tokyo Otaku is the creation of filmmaker and musician Ray Castle, who currently lives in Tokyo. During the course of the film, Ray takes us through a brief history of manga's origins into the creation of anime. We get a look at today's manga, first in the telephone book-sized magazines and then the tankoubon with genre's such as shounen manga, boy's love manga, and ero (hentai) manga getting looked at. Ray focuses more on the hentai aspects, both in manga, but also those figures that the otaku buy. He attempts to give us an insight into the mindset of the Japanese when it comes to playing out all their sexual fantasies in manga (and doujinshi). If you've read the manga Genshiken, you may think about those guys as you watch this. I know I did.

Ray does not just stay on manga, but takes a look at the whole otaku culture of which manga plays a large part of (again, Genshiken sprang to mind). So we get taken on a short tour of Akihabara, the otaku capital in Japan. Ray gives us a nice look at the cosplay aspect of otaku life, especially when it comes to the otaku festival -- Comiket. He takes his camera there and even interviews some otaku who spend am amazing amount of money on doujinshi and other stuff there. Despite the fact that I am well versed in how the otaku culture works (I've seen Otaku no Video, read and watched Genshiken, and done some studies on the side as well), I found myself very fascinated by everything presented here.

Ray manages to interview some interesting people for this documentary. One of the first people to discuss manga and the otaku culture is famed anime creator MATSUMOTO Leiji. This excited me because as regular blog readers know, I've started blogging his anime from the 1970's, Space Battleship Yamato. Ray also interviews the president of Comiket, one of the powers at Kodansha (manga publisher), one of the powers at Production I.G (anime producer), one of the powers at Gonzo (anime producer), a Japanese comic art historian, and many, many more folks (several manga-ka are interviewed). Those Japanese being interviewed who can speak English do so. Most of the Japanese who can't get a voice-over in English but a few get subtitles instead. There were a couple of voice-over people who may not have been the best choices for their rolls, but that's a very minor issue for me.

I need to make this point -- this film is not work-safe and not safe for your kids to watch! Ray shows us actual h-manga and h-doujinshi covers and art which is not censored (beyond whatever censorship may have shown up in the original Japanese art). Though I am not into the hentai scene, I do understand its importance in the otaku culture and so I do understand the need to take a look at this aspect of the culture. After all, there's a lot of h-materials sold at Comiket and that is a HUGE doujinshi comic market. Basically, my point is you are going to get a look at this as if you were actually in Japan.

If you watch the film from SnagFilm's site (link further down), you should know that while this site is similar to YouTube or other streaming site, the controls for the video aren't the greatest. Just when the film started talking about the moe aspects of otaku culture, I was side-tracked by a phone call. Trying to get the film back to a specific point where the moe talks started proved rather difficult as the track bar kept wanting to go to other positions. I don't know if this was because I was on the site with Firefox 3 or not.

Also, the film is ad-supported, so there will be moments when you will be subjected to ads, but that's OK since it keeps the viewing free.

Bottom line: If you are interested in getting a fascinating look at the otaku culture in Japan starting with manga and working out to cosplay and the like, I highly recommend checking out this 59-minute film. You can view it online for free with the widget below, or you can buy the DVD from IndiepixFilms.com. And if the widget below doesn't show up or work (because it sometimes is tricky), here's the direct link to the SnagFilm's video stream of the film.

Pocket Monsters 06

ポケットモンスター Ep. 06

SPOILER Summary: Kasumi, Satoshi, and Takeshi are making their way to Hanada City via Mt. Otsukimi (Moon Watching mountain). There, they encounter a strange scientist outside a cave named Rikao, who's under attack from a group of Zubats. Pikachu sends and electric attack to shoo them off. Seeing how Pikachu is not in a Monster Ball and interacts with Satoshi excites Rikao, as he feels this is how things should be. He talks of the Moon Stone which is rumored to be in this mountain, which supposedly has the power to evolve Pokémon. He feels the Moon Stone may be a vehicle used by Pokémon to come to Earth.

Inside the cave, they discover it has been strung with lights and is causing problems for various Pokémon that live inside. They see a Pippi Pokémon carrying a stone, but Rikao forbids Satoshi from capturing it. Nyarth appears and it is soon clear who's behind the problems -- Rocket-dan. With Kasumi assigned to protect Rikao, Satoshi launches Butterfree while Takeshi uses a Zubat he captured to counter Arbo and Dogas. The good guys win, sending Rocket-dan flying out of the cave with their Pokémon, save for Nyarth. Outside, Kasumi and Rikao follow the Pippi, until Nyarth arrives to take it. Since they are near a stream, Kasumi uses her starfish-type Hitodemon to defeat Nyarth.

Now safe, Pippi and Pikachu talk. Pikachu uses charades to communicate what Pippi says as Pippi leads them to the Moon Stone. There, they find a large group of Pippi live. Rocket-dan returns to challenge Satoshi and company. With Dogas providing smoke cover, Arbo digs in the earth forcing Takeshi to summon Iwark (the rock-snake Pokémon) and Satoshi to summon Pidgeon to deal with the smoke. Sadly, the attack by Rocket-dan was a ruse and they've stolen the Moon Stone. With it on a large sled, Rocket-dan sled their way down the mountain, chased by Satoshi and company. Since Takeshi had ordered Iwark to dig and follow, Iwark emerges in front of Rocket-dan, causing them to crash.

The Pippi arrive and cause a massive explosion underneath Rocket-dan, sending them flying off. Some Moon Stone fragments fall to the earth and those that touch a Pippi cause the Pokémon to evolve into Pixie. With the Moon Stone returned to its proper place, the Pixie and Pippi celebrate. Rikao is happy that Pokémon are happy, so Satoshi and company continue on their journey to Hanada City. On a sign pointing the direction to the city, Satoshi's rival Shigeru leaves an insult for Satoshi. Satoshi takes the bait and is off with a run, leaving Kasumi, Takeshi, and Pikachu behind.

Thoughts: I love HAYASHIBARA Megumi. She just cracks me up as Musashi. Not belly laughs mind you, just the way she plays the part.

I know it is silly of me to watch and blog a kids show, but I just find it amusing. I'm not going to have any deep thoughts about such a series, but hey, it is all in fun, right? Still, I couldn't help but detect a bit of a political element with Rikao's blathering.

I had assumed that the series was just on some strange planet, but after seeing this episode, it almost appears that they are supposed to be on Earth (or an Earth of some kind). Weird.

Kasumi finally got a chance to use her Pokémon. Too bad she has to be near water to be effective.

I'm sure I'll watch more if the opportunity arises despite the fact that this is a kids anime. Blame Megumi-san. ^_~

Space Battleship Yamato 10

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 10
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 10 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With Yamato having left the solar system, Earth Defense force sends a message to Captain Okita that moral on Earth is failing because of the belief that Yamato will never return. As such, Okita authorizes the crew to each have a 5-minute call home while the ship is still in range to improve moral both of the people on Earth and on Yamato. Susumu has no family to contact on Earth and so is depressed and takes it out on some of the crew. Okita also has no family and so inspects the ship. In the end, Okita has Susumu come to his ready room where they share a bottle of sake and say goodbye to Earth.

Thoughts/Review: Nothing much to say here as this episode was done to save money. I did get a chuckle out of Yuki's mother's plans to arrange several omiai (marriage interviews) and her panic when she thought that Yuki might be hooking up with the much older (middle aged) Chief Tokugawa. Also, I learned that Yuki isn't the only chick on the ship as another one showed up briefly. However, Yuki is still filling the role of "Whenever we need a babe to do something, lets get Yuki to do it." That's why she's sometimes a coffee serving "wench" at times in addition to being a bridge officer. I bet she does her nurse duties again during the course of this series.

xxxHOLiC Kei 12

xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Himawari-chan tells the injured Watanuki her story of the misfortune she causes others (though she is human and not Ayakashi). She points out all of the misfortunes she's caused Watanuki and had long wondered when he'd notice she was the cause of it all. She thanks him for his kindness to her and the bentos he's made her and she bids him a final farewell. Watanuki calls out to her from his bed and tells her that she has made him happy by simply calling his name or giving him a sweet. He confesses that he really likes her and would do nothing to make her cry. Further, he wants to make something for her to eat. She concedes and requests a Strawberry Chiffon cake with pink cream. He agrees.

Himawari-chan leaves Watanuki's room, this time with a promise to see him again. Outside the room, a bloodied Doumeki sits (having paid a price in blood to save Watanuki), clearly weakened and unable to move. She tells him that the cake is a secret between herself and Watanuki and that he may not partake in it. He agrees, but says he'll have to partake in the bento though. She agrees to this. As she leaves, she begins to cry because of Watanuki's words to her, telling her he was glad to have met her (something she's never heard before). As such, she's also glad to have met Watanuki and glad to have taken the scars of his injuries on her back as payment for saving his life.

Inside Watanuki's room, Yuuko-san pays Watanuki a visit. She explains to Watanuki that Himawari-chan's curse cannot be lifted without her sacrificing all of her happiness. He falls asleep and six days later, he and Yuuko-san continue their conversation on Himawari-chan. Before Watanuki falls back asleep, Yuuko-san gives Watanuki an egg as payment. As Watanuki sleeps, the egg communicates with Watanuki and detecting his kind heart and desire to make Himawari-chan happy, it hatches into a bird that will not be affected by Himawari's bad luck curse.

Once Watanuki is able to return to school, he is feeling very good. He encounters Himawari-chan and Doumeki. He gives Himawari-chan the bird, telling her that the bird will not be affected by her cursed state. She's very happy with the gift and ends up asking Watanuki to name the bird. The bird looks at Watanuki expectantly, so he comes up with the name Tanpopo ("Dandelion") because the bird is yellow. The name please both the bird and Himawari-chan, who notes that the bird's name is that of a flower as is her own name (sun flower).

Thoughts/Review: I'm sad to see that the visit from Zashiki-Warashi and Ame-Warashi was cut from the anime adaptation of the story-arc. Sadly, it doesn't appear she'll be in the final episode either.

As to the story, I remember how great it was learning about Himawari-chan when I read it in the manga. I figure those who are only watching the anime will have a similar sense of enjoyment. Of course, the manga story had the egg as another linker to the Tsubasa story, which of course does not exist in the anime version (which has always been a shame).

Thus far, I think that xxxHOLiC Kei is a better adaptation than the xxxHOLiC anime was. I doubt that the final episode will change that feeling, but I can't really say that this will be a series I'll want to come back and re-watch.

Keroro Gunsou 60

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 60
Sgt. Frog anime, 60
Keroro Gunsou episode 60

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Natsumi is bored but when a mini Keroro and Tamama enter her room in weird racing vehicles, she's annoyed and steps out into Kururu's trap. Kururu shrinks her as well and turns one of her slippers into a racing hover motorbike. Keroro challenges her to a race with the loser having to do all the chores for a week. Kururu and Fuyuki are in a mini-copter to observe the race as the platoon has laid down a track throughout the house in and out. Thanks to Kururu, there are no disqualifications and racers can be repaired. Also, Kururu has some special traps or boosters to help. The race comes down to Keroro and Natsumi with Keroro using warp to get ahead of Natsumi. However, he's busted by Cosmo Police Woman Poyon-chan for speeding through time and space, thus Natsumi wins.

Moa-chan is manning the base and takes a 3-day nap. When she wakes up, she's still half asleep and when she offers to help Keroro do the dishes, she ends up breaking them which leads to Natsumi punishing Keroro thanks to Tamama's betrayal. Moa-chan nods off again and comes to, this time she has the personality of the yankee girl Moa-chan's human form is based on. Eventually, Kururu reveals that Moa-chan has a sleeping illness and that to cure her, she needs her deepest desire fulfilled. Keroro believes Moa's desire is to destroy a planet or two but with Moa getting worse, Keroro gets concerned and sheds a tear for her, which lands on her cheek. Tamama gets jealous and sends his special attack down which hits Keroro as Moa comes to. She sees the injured Keroro and sends an attack that takes out Tamama. Turns out that Moa's deepest desire was to have Keroro care for her.

Review/Thoughts: OK, I'm having some fun with this episode. The first story had the Speed Racer parody and while I never really watched that as a kid, I still appreciated the parody. The parody that got me was the Space Battleship Yamato reference when Keroro went to warp. I would never have gotten that had it not been for the fact that I'm now watching/blogging the series as of this posting.

What happened to Kururu's "KU!Ku!ku!ku!ku!" laugh? Its just not the same without that. Fortunately it is back in the second story.

Speaking of the second story, it seems to be a modified version of a manga story, but I can't tell for sure. It was amusing for what it was worth.

Macross Frontier 20

マクロスF Episode 20
Macross F Ep. 20
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Alto is encouraging Sheryl when a spell of weakness overcomes her, causing Alto to catch her. It is this that Ranka sees and becomes devastated. She tries to flee but trips and falls, her feelings causing her more pain than the fall. Her distress causes massive swarms of 2nd-stage Vajra to emerge from all over and attack. Meanwhile, the sniper who had been targeting the President gets killed by a Vajra. The President and security escape safely, allowing the President to make a call to a surprised Leon, who expected him to be dead by now. Cathy and Ozama use this to their advantage to overcome Leon's security and make their escape. Leon sees a way to make lemonade out of the situation and still kill the President.

Back at the school, Alto tries to encourage Ranka to sing to placate the massive numbers of Vajra. Crying, Ranka rejects this as she's had enough of being a tool. It takes Sheryl first slapping Ranka, then embracing her to get Ranka to calm down and decide to sing. However, the pain in her heart over seeing Alto with Sheryl is something Ranka cannot get over. As such, her song has the opposite effect on the Vajra, causing them to become more aggressive. It is this that Brera, Leon, and Grace witness. Leon asks Grace if this is part of her plan. It is not, but the event is not completely unexpected. Grace orders Brera to fight off the Vajra inside Macross Frontier as they cannot have it destroyed yet. She threatens him in "virtual space" so that he's compelled to do what she asks.

Things are grim as the Vajra reap massive destruction within the main island of Macross Frontier. Nanase is badly injured and Sheryl stays with her, telling Alto and the others to leave. Micheal, Klan, Alto, Luca, and Ranka flee, Alto taking Ranka's hand which reminds her of her past briefly (of a young Brera). Meanwhile, the Vajra fleet has folded in and begun to attack the Macross fleet. As the President makes his way to Battle Frontier, he's greeted by Leon and his security, who kill the President and his security. Sometime later, Cathy and Ozama (who are also heading to Battle Frontier) find the bodies of the President and his security people. Cathy is shocked and weeps over the loss of her father.

Meanwhile, Alto and company have made it to the S.M.S. building where Luca is trying to get them through one of the secured doors. Klan takes the opportunity to confess her feelings for Micheal after they get the doors open and to try to get him to open his heart to her. She kisses him before returning to her chamber to return to her normal, giant size. Alto and Micheal attempt to hold off the small Vajra as Klan goes through the transformation process. A vajra breaks through and threatens to kill the vulnerable Klan. Micheal flies up with his jet back and fights off the Vajra. He ends up getting stabbed as Klan watches, but he saves her and confesses he loves her. He then gets blown out of a breach in the hull before it reseals.

Still elsewhere, Sheryl sees the despair among the people in the emergency shelter. She looks at her earring with the fold gem and thinks about Alto's words to her about not giving up on her own singing. As such, she begins singing in the shelter to bring a ray of hope to the people huddled there.

Thoughts/Review: Wow. I didn't expect Micheal to be killed off like that (well, I suppose he could survive somehow but it seems unlikely to me). I found it interesting that when Klan confessed to him, she used the simple "suki da" to express her feelings (she likes/loves and cares about him). However, Micheal used "aishiteru," which is the romantic (deeper) form of expressing one's love for another. So that was a sweet moment but sad that it had to happen this way.

Too bad the President still ended up dying. I have to say that I rather enjoyed Leon's reaction when he learned that the President was still alive. Of course, I expect Leon to get his in the end, but I would have liked the President to have made it through alive. This still raises the point of, "Why now?"

Interesting that Brera can be overridden and forced to do what Grace wants. Well, he is a cyborg so that's not unexpected I guess.

With this episode, I have to say that Macross Frontier has recaptured my interest. I'd begun to become tired of the show (not bored, just weary) but that was not the case this time. I'm hoping that from here on out, things are just as good.

Space Battleship Yamato 09

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 09
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 09 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yamato attempts to make emergency repairs but are found by the Gamilas fleet. The Gamilas fleet begins to pursue the damaged Yamato, the latter fleeing to a nearby asteroid belt to hide. Yamato succeeds in losing their radar signature. Sanada proposes a defense for Yamato using the nearby asteroids. Okita approves and Sanada makes it happen. Susumu fires one of the main turrets which sends a rain of small probes into the nearby asteroids, which have receivers. Sanada causes these asteroids to form a new shell around Yamato, making it look kinda like a giant asteroid.

Meanwhile, Shultz is frustrated by the loss of Yamato. When Gantz reports this to Gamilas, Supreme Leader Desler smiles and suggests sending the Royal Guard to Shultz -- a death threat. Shultz is now desperate. Meanwhile, under the cover of the asteroids, Yamato begins making repairs as Sado-sensei decides to have some drunken fun outside the ship (though attached to a tether and a worried Analyzer). The Yamato is soon detected after Shultz determines that Yamato must be hiding. Analyzer ropes in the drunk Sado-sensei as the Gamilon fleet approaches.

Shultz orders the fleet to fire, but the asteroids surrounding Yamato provide defense but not enough. Okita orders the repair crews inside and Sanada has the remaining asteroids form a defensive ring around Yamato that can be moved to deflect any incoming attack. Shultz is desperate and plans a suicide attack on Yamato. However, the asteroid defense of Yamato is turned into an offensive weapon, with the remaining asteroids sent at the incoming fleet of ships. This causes damage among the Gamilas ships, which also crash into each other, destroying each other. Only Shultz ship is left, so Okita orders the Yamato's anchor be fired at the incoming ship. The anchor hits, knocking Shultz ship off course so that it grazes Yamato. The anchor chain breaks and Shultz ship crashes into an asteroid. With no more enemy around, Yamato can finally make repairs.

Thoughts/Review: I wondered if the writers would deal with the fact that the Yamato had not been able to make any repairs and had in fact come out of their most recent fight even more damaged than before. Previously, Yamato has seemingly been magically and instantly repaired. This time, the attempts to make repairs to the ship became the central focus for the Yamato crew while destroying Yamato became the Gamilon's central focus.

Things are a lot more of a stretch this episode. The asteroid defense as a disguise was a bit more buyable for me. However, using the asteroids as defense ring, which sounded very video-game-ish, was less believable in its presentation. I will attribute this to limitations with animation budgets and will move on though.

The tactics are also a bit more of a stretch. As Yamato entered the asteroid field, I again thought of a Star Wars reference from Princess Leah from Empire Strikes Back. I felt that the Gamilas fleet attack on Yamato was given up too quickly for a suicide run. The ease with which Yamato caused all of the bumbling Gamilas captains to crash their ships into each other was laughable. The ease with which Yamato's anchor chain broke to allow Shultz battleship to crash into a giant asteroid made me think, "Good thing your anchor chain is so strong!"

Oh well. ^_^

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA 01

魔法先生ネギま！～白い翼 ALA ALBA～ (OAD) 01
Negima! Ala Alba (White Wing) OVA/OAV 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After a recap which shows Negi's defeat of Chao during the Mahora Festival, Chao's return to her own time, the meeting with Al, the formation of Negima-dan, and the training of the Negima-dan members (Asuna, Setsuna, Konoka, Nodoka, Yue, Chisame, Asakura, Sayo, Kaede, Paru, Ku Fei, and Kotoro with Eva as adviser and Negi as teacher-sponsor) at Eva's resort, the club forms its plans to take a trip to Wales, which is overheard by Fuka and Fumika.

Meanwhile, Ayaka provides Asuna with information regarding the disappearance of Negi's father Nagi. As Asuna is thanking Ayaka, Fuka, Fumika, and Makie arrive in a hurry, not happy at being left out of the plans to travel to England. Ayaka is furious at learning that she wasn't included either, especially after she gave the info to Asuna. Asuna tries to explain that they've done a lot of special training for this. Ayaka rejects this excuse and attempts to take back the documents but fails (Asuna's training at work). Ayaka orders the other three girls to attack, but Asuna easily avoids them all and leaves.

This is all observed by Eva, who is amused by it all. She is wearing a sleeve badge to indicate she's also part of this new club of Asuna's and as honorary adviser, she decides to "graciously" help Ayaka, Makie, Fuka, and Fumika. The club members will be wearing special badges at the summer festival that night and should anyone obtain a badge from a club member, that member will be expelled and the one who obtained the bad may take their spot in the club.

Makie informs Yuuna, Ako, and Akira about this; Yuuna is all for participating in badge grabbing. Hearing that some of the members are Ku Fei, Setsuna, and Kaede (powerful people), she's not sure about their chances. However, spotting Nodoka and Yue together, Yuuna sees a chance -- attack the weak and score two easy badges. Meanwhile, Chachamaru is still handing out badges and when she hands Asuna hers (with Setsuna and Konoka), Asuna is suspicious. After all, why would Eva give them gifts. Chachamaru explains that Eva doesn't like the name "Negima-dan" and made the badges white wings since Nagi's group were the "red wing" (Ala Ruba). As such, Eva has decided the name of the club will be "Shiroki Tsubasa" ("White Wing" or "Ala Alba" in the Latin). Chachamaru warns them of the consequences of losing their badge before the trip though.

Yuuna decides to go after Yue and Nodoka's badge by wearing a mask and pretending to be a badge maniac. However, the two are not fooled, so Akto and Makie try flattery to get the badge. When that fails, Yue suspects they are up to something. Yuuna has Akira and Ako hold Yue and Nodoka so that she and Makie can grab the badges. Yue casts a light spell so that she and Nodoka can escape. Yuuna uses the magic guns from the school festival to shoot at the retreating girls, giving Makie time to catch up with them and use her ribbons to try to snare them. Yue uses a wind shield to deflect the attack and a wind attack to make their escape sure. Once they've escaped, Yue figures out what Eva's plan is, so Nodoka activates her artifact so that they can track Yuuna and company.

Elsewhere, Fuka and Fumika are with Kaede-nee and attempt to surprise her and take her badge. Kaede is much to quick for them and easily eludes their attack, even acting as if she didn't know they'd even tried to attack her. The cheerleaders send a group of guys to attack Paru and Ku, but they too fail. Yuuna and Akira cannot find Yue or Nodoka, so Ayaka decides to get personally involved. She attacks Asuna, who's able to easily elude the attack. Ayaka uses her special attack which does land on Asuna, but Asuna is still able to defeat Ayaka. Ayaka tries to trick Asuna with tears, but that too fails.

Ayaka throws a fit and Asuna realizes what Eva was up to. Asuna explains that their trip will be dangerous and that's why the others can't go. Ayaka rejects this since Negi nor Asuna should put themselves into danger. Asuna continues her explanation, stating that Negi has to find his father on his own and that the club decided to help him when it was understood that Negi was going to do this. Ayaka finally accepts this, but pinching Asuna's cheek, she tells Asuna that Asuna will have to explain it completely to her someday.

At the Narita Airport, Anya arrives.

Thoughts/Review: For those of you looking for an accurate adaptation of a Negima! story, your wait is over. I'd have to reread chapters 176 and 177 to see what (if anything) is missing, but at first glance, if there is something missing, it isn't much.

While SHAFT is still in charge of the Negima! anime franchise, they've abandoned the silly character designs of Negima!? in favor of character designs closer to Akamatsu-sensei's manga designs. At times, the characters look very much as if Akamatsu-sensei drew them but at other times, I could see flashes of the Negima!? designs.

I have to say that the art and animation didn't impress me that much outside of the initial battle between Chao and Negi. As such, I felt that SHAFT failed to fully bring alive the Negima! story. It seemed like they were taking a lot of short cuts and basically just giving basic scenes from the manga without flowing well from one to another.

Oh, and there was a sad lack of Chachazero in this episode (but at least they worked her in, even if in a small fashion).

Still, this is a minor complaint on my part. It is gratifying to see an accurate adaptation of the manga, which should have happened all along. It is a shame that the entire Mahora Festival arc has been skipped as was the training of Asuna (which was a good and important story). The anime touches on these things to set up its main story but otherwise, I guess we won't see them animated.

I did like how the spell casting had the Japanese speech in the foreground with the Latin in the background (well, I'm guessing it is the Latin), both spoken by the same seiyuu. Doing this makes the spell casting seem more "magical" if you will.

The ED sequence was rather interesting as the artwork all came from the covers of various recent Negima! volumes (the recent covers especially).

Two more episodes in this OAD (OVA), which I'm looking forward to a great deal.

Negima! Manga Vol 25 (Ch 223) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 25 Chapter 223 (manga)

Summary/Synopsis: Negi catches the table he had previously launched skyward on his finger. He sets the table down as Fate states he wishes to finish their conversation.

Elsewhere, Paru and Nodoka come upon chibi-Chisame, who's observing the meeting between Negi and Fate through her laptop. Paru and Nodoka have a plan for the situation which Chisame rejects, citing that Fate's power is like a nuclear bomb, thus one does not play around with that. Nodoka feels things will be fine as she now has combat experience and is better than she was during their training at Eva's resort. Their conversation is interrupted when one of Fate's girls, Shirabe, arrives on scene with a promise to show them "reality." She activates her pactio card and a violin appears, which she begins to play (Fidicula Lunatica). As such, the three girls activate their artifacts (Imperium Graphices for Paru, Sceptrum Virtuale for Chisame, and Diarium Ejus for Nodoka).

Back at their table, Negi rejects giving the "princess" (Asuna) to Fate, which has Setsuna wondering whom that could be. Fate has a "plan B" though. He will let Negi and his entire party return to Earth safely. In return, they cannot interfere in Fate's plans to destroy the magic world. So Negi's choice is saving his friends or saving the magic world. As Negi ponders this, Setsuna does as well. Her initial thought is to have Negi agree to the terms even if he doesn't mean it, but then she wonders if Fate might have a means of enforcing such an agreement. She feels that something is definately wrong and that there is some strange connection between Fate and Negi through Fate's actions. Meanwhile, Fate tells Negi that his hesitation is not needed as the choice should be an easy one.

Elsewhere, Chamo has found Jack, who's with Konoka. He reports on the situation but Jack refuses to fight without getting paid. This sets Konoka off, and she verbally blasts Jack for his inaction, telling him that Negi and the others are being forced to wipe Jack's butt since Fate is a carryover enemy from the war 20-years ago. Jack is surprised and amused by Konoka, but agrees to help some, saying he'll put the bill on Konoka's father's tab.

At that moment, two more of Fate's girls arrive -- Koyomi (Kotomi?) and Tamaki. They've come to make a proposal to Jack, but he makes an instant move behind them, flipping their skirts up. He asks "cat ears" (Koyomi) if black is really her color and tells "horn girl" (Tamaki) that she really should wear underwear. Chamo is both shocked and impressed by Jack's actions. Tamaki attacks Jack, stabbing him with her horn before going after Chamo. She misses him, so he clings to her horn instead. Jack reveals that he's stolen Koyomi's panties, which shocks her more and impresses Chamo more. Since their plan to negotiate and offer money to Jack has failed, the two girls plan to attack and summon their artifact cards. Jack sees their plan is to hold him off, and is amused by the notion but glad to get into a fight. With that, he activates his own card, causing a massive number of giant blades to appear.

Thoughts/Review: Chamo and Jack have to become fast friends after the panty incident. Remember Chamo was all about stealing female underwear (and swimsuits) so Jack's doing what he did combined with Chamo's impressed, shocked reactions were amusing.

I can't imagine that Jack's fight with Koyomi and Tamaki will last that long. Interesting that the two girls were going to try to pay him off to stay out of the fight. Clearly, he has a long reputation of being a pure mercenary, but frankly, I wonder about that. That may be his reputation, but when push comes to shove, he's there for Negi's group. On a side note, Konoka's ranting on Jack to get him to help was amusing.

As I think of what Fate is doing, I can't help but think of Chao's attempts to change the past. I think of how she had to use magic via technology. I wonder if what Fate does causes the end of magic on the magic world forcing them to find other means to carry on (technology). Just a thought.

Shirabe battling Nodoka, Chisame, and Paru. Her violin may be something that creates an illusion (or so it seems to me). Despite Nodoka's having been in battles, I don't really have confidence that the three of them could easily win but we'll see what Akamatsu-sensei has in store.

Good stuff. Can't wait for Negima chapter 224! ^_~

Slayers REVOLUTION 07

スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadiss, and Pokota are on a ship heading for their next destination all on Amelia's dime. As such, Lina sets up reservations for herself and Gourry to have a feast while Zelgadiss gets a much needed massage. A porter signals their table is ready so Lina and Gourry race to the ship's restaurant to scarf on food with Pokota hot on their tail; a fork flies out narrowly missing the critter and embedding in the deck. As the trio eat in their normal, unsophisticated manner, a waitress brings out their main course. It turns out to be a giant leech that's trying to eat them, but Gourry soon dispatches it and discovers that it doesn't taste half-bad.

Meanwhile, as Amelia and Zelgadiss walk through the ship, two crewmen pass them when suddenly, cases filled with various weapons (mostly bladed) falls on them, forcing Zelgadiss to cast a wind spell to protect himself and Amelia. In the ship's bath, Gourry and Pokota are bathing when someone pulls the plug on the tub Pokota is relaxing in. This causes a whirlpool to form which nearly drowns Pokota until he's rescued by another bather. Afterward on deck, Lina and company receive a message arrow which tells them not to try to escape lest the passengers on the ship lose their lives.

Deciding to smoke out their assassin, Lina and Pokota stage a fight where they trade insults. Pokota's insults strike pretty close to home where Lina has to restrain herself. However, she decides at some point to toss Pokota and the Sword of Light overboard as part of the fight. To her surprise, everyone on the ship jumps overboard to try to retrieve the Sword of Light, meaning they are all working for Marquis Gioconda. On the dingy tailing the ship, Amelia prepares to cast a fire-based spell but Zelgadiss beats her to the punch with a lightning-based spell. This shocks and stuns everyone, rendering them neutralized.

On the ship, Lina discovers the real assassin -- Zuuma. She's in a battle with him and manages to get off a few offensive spells which draws Amelia's and Zelgadiss's attention. Upon learning that Zuuma is the one attacking Lina, Zelgadiss relays the seriousness of the situation to Amelia as they race back to the ship. Lina finds herself trying to fend off Zuuma with her dagger since Zuuma's attack style prevents her from launching spells. Gourry arrives to save Lina (having been napping, awaiting the arrival of an assassin) just after she's been disarmed. When Gourry announces he's Lina's bodyguard, Zuuma decides he needs to be eliminated first.

With that, Zuuma creates a dark cloud which prevents Lina and company from seeing anything or casting spells. Gourry is clearly in trouble, but it is not until Pokota activates the faux Sword of Light that the tide turns as the sword dispels the darkness. This allows Amelia, Zelgadiss, and Lina to attack, which forces Zuuma to retreat. As Lina punishes Pokota for his insults, Zuuma is at another location vowing to take care of Lina.

Thoughts/Review: This episode is much improved over last week's sub-par episode. Even if this hadn't contained plot advancement (which it didn't seem it would have initially), this episode actually had me laughing, especially the insults between Pokota and Lina. Both know how to push each other's buttons and for now, it is funny to me. The food jokes are still funny for me, but I admit that Gourry's sampling the giant leech really cracked me up for some reason. So there were a lot of smiles and laughs here.

Zuuma's arrival was a sweet moment. I remember him from then novels though I don't remember his darkness ability having the effect of also removing people's spell power. Regardless, I look forward to seeing more of him as he is a worthy opponent of Lina and company.

Hopefully, I can continue reviewing the series for you guys. Bear with me as it may be slower than it was before.

Macross Frontier 19

マクロスF Episode 19
Macross F Ep. 19
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ranka has a dream of herself as a child with a young male child with her (Brera) as Ranka misses her mother. Sometime later, a parade to celebrate the fleet's fold and escape from the Vajra is underway, but the star, Ranka, is missing. She's disguised herself in glasses and with Brera, she's looking for Ai-kun. Meanwhile, Alto sneaks his way back onto his family's estate to pay Sheryl a visit, where he's greeted at the hole in the fence by Yasaburo. When Alto sees Sheryl, he initially thinks he's seeing his mother. Sheryl and Alto have a talk where Alto tells Sheryl to come see Ranka's concert as he'll be there as part of the performance. After Alto leaves, Sheryl and Yasaburo have a little talk about Alto's past and his mother.

Elsewhere, Cathy and Ozama are on a "date" but in reality, are gathering the last of the information on Leon's activities. Micheal and Klan are also on a date as this is Micheal's payment to Klan for the information she gave. Ranka and Brera are on a sudo date of their own, having spend time looking for Ai-kun. Ranka learns that Brera's past is much like hers in that he doesn't remember his past or if he has siblings or not. Brera notes that Ranka hasn't been as cheerful in her singing and as she reflects on his words, she realizes it is because of Alto. So when the concert starts and Alto, Micheal, and Luca spell out Ranka's name with a heart through it, Ranka realizes that Alto is up there and find courage to sing with her whole heart.

This is observed from a distance by Sheryl, who's not that pleased with things. However, she's confronted by Klan and forced to the school's roof. There, Alto and Micheal are having a talk with Micheal chastising Alto for not choosing between Sheryl and Ranka. Alto claims ignorance, so Micheal points to Ranka's concert going on below them, citing her last two songs have been sung for Alto. At that time, Sheryl arrives, so Micheal beats a hasty retreat and joins Klan. As Ranka's concert ends, she races up to the school roof to finally confess her feelings to Alto, only to find Sheryl and Alto embracing.

As Luca discovers the secret of Ai-kun (that the critter is a Vajra larva), Ozama and Cathy confront Leon for his planned coup d'etat. He tells them that they are too late as at that very moment, a sniper has targeted the president for assassination.

Thoughts/Review: I'm sick to death of this whole love-triangle thing. I just want it to be over already. Maybe that's why I delayed watching this episode for so long. I just couldn't work up any enthusiasm over the idea of "who will Alto pick while the fate of the fleet hangs in the balance?"

Well, I confess that I didn't expect that Leon's plot would be to get rid of the president. OK, why? And why now?

I hate to say this, but as this series has gone one, I find myself caring less and less about it. Beyond the love-triangle issue, I'm having a hard time placing a finger on the cause. I think it might be due to a lack of any real depth and a writing style that kind of meanders from here to there in an attempt to pick up symbolism from the previous Macross titles but losing some substance in the process.

Still, I'll plug through this until the end.

Fruits Basket Manga Volume 20

Fruits Basket Manga Volume 20

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Tohru ends up telling Rin of her feelings for Kyo, which causes Kagura to strike out at Tohru for not telling Kyo. Next, we learn of how Akito's father Akira chose Ren to be his wife. Then after Ren gives birth to Akito, Ren is cold to her daughter and her own slippage of mental instability in how Akito now takes some of Akira's time. Next, Momiji finds his curse has been broken. Akito begs for Momiji to not leave her, but Momiji is going to go his own way. As such, he pays a visit to his real mother, who notices the difference in Momiji (though she still does not remember him as her son). At school, Yuki, Hatsuhara, and Kyo notice the changes in Momiji. Momiji mentions to Kyo (in a joking fashion) about his curse being lifted, which annoys Kyo.

The story shifts back to Ren and Akito immediately after Akira's death. Akito talks with Kureno about that time in her life, including her battles with her mother Ren. Ren continued to challenge Akito's belief in the bond between herself as "god" and the remaining juunishi throughout Akito's life. Akito concedes to Kureno that everything is falling apart when Ren enters the room with a knife, demanding the box of Akira's that Akito holds. It had been given to Akito after Akira's death by one of the female attendants, who claimed the box contained Akira's soul. The box never contained anything and Akito throws it at her mother before taking the knife to kill Ren.

At that very moment, Hiro find his curse broken and his first act is to pick up his little baby sister Hinata. Hiro's mother comes in to see this and realizes what has happened. After Hiro expresses his confused thoughts on the matter, his mother comforts him, telling him that it is natural to feel as he does since he was cursed for all those years.

Because of Hiro's bond being broken from Akito, this stops her from killing her mother. Ren states she doesn't mind if she's killed and it is revealed that there is a split within the Souma household over the situation between Ren and Akito. Akito leaves and while Kureno attempts to comfort her, she literally stabs him in the back before leaving him.

At Shigure's house, Tohru and Kyo have just eaten when Tohru decides to ask the question that is on her mind -- does Kyo like her. Kyo begins telling Tohru the story of how he met her mother when he was a kid. The two had talked repeatedly and Kyo had even promised to protect Tohru after seeing her picture. However, when Tohru got lost as a kid and was rescued by Yuki, Kyo felt that he'd let Kyoko down but worse, he felt betrayed by Kyoko's apparently not understanding his hatred of Yuki. As such, he never saw her again until the morning of the accident when Kyoko was killed. He had an opportunity to save Torhu's mother but didn't do so in order to protect his secret (he would have transformed into the cat). So he feels that he not only let Kyoko die, but his own mother as well.

Thoughts/Review: Well, this volume certainly explained a few things. I could never understand why Akito, who is clearly a control freak, would allow some of the zodiac to live outside of the Souma estate. Tohru being allowed to live with Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure was a bit less of a mystery, since Akito seemed to believe that Tohru was not a threat, but to have Tohru there at all still shocked everyone else. Now we know that it was Ren's constant harping on the fake nature of the bond between Akito and the zodiac that caused Akito to do what she did to prove her mother wrong. It is interesting that there is internal strife not only between the mentally unstable Ren and the mentally unstable Akito, but their female staff as well.

Momiji being the first person to break the curse (after Kureno of course) made sense to me. After all, he'd shown himself to be the strongest of the lot in many ways, even standing up to Akito to protect Tohru. I hope that somehow he can end up back with his real family.

Hiro's being lifted from the curse next was a surprise to me. He was always such a brat but underneath that, he did care a great deal for Kisa, his mother, and his little sister. Indeed, it was a touching moment for him to pick up and hold his baby sister as his first act free of the curse.

Finally, there's Kyo and Tohru. I can't imagine anything Kyo confessing here (claiming to be at least partially responsible for Tohru's mother's death) will change Tohru's feelings for him. However, his act of confessing would seem to be the final hurdle he needs to overcome in order to be free from the curse. As I read what Kyo said, I couldn't help but think back to volume 4 when they visited Kyoko's grave and Hana-chan picked up Kyo's feelings of chaos. At the time, I thought this may have been because he was without parents but to know that he witnessed Kyoko's death, going back to that moment in volume 4 takes on an amazing amount of new life. As such, I salute Takaya-sensei for this bit of foreshadowing, done so many years earlier.

I know I've said this before, but I really dislike Takaya-sensei's current character designs. By elongating the faces, I feel the characters have not only lost personality, but their unique identities too. If I showed a scan of Kagura in the first chapter with a scan of Kimi's last appearance, you really couldn't tell the difference between the two characters. The character designs have become so generic now that some characters are difficult to distinguish from others. That didn't used to be a problem. It is unfortunate, but sadly I know it won't get better based on Takaya-sensei's current works.

Despite this, I still enjoy the manga a great deal and look forward to the next volume.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 236 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 37 Chapter 236

Summary/Synopsis: Urd and Skuld attempt to capture the program fragment fail spectacularly. Urd plans to bail out and claim ignorance, which Skuld rejects. Urd concedes and the two are off to try to find it again. Sora, who's witnessed the entire thing, can't comprehend what she's just seen, so she decides she didn't see anything and drives off.

Meanwhile, Chrono and Belldandy find another fragment and it is difficult to grab. Chrono uses her Valkyrie skills, being an assistant of that group, to snare the fragment for Belldandy to process. Keiichi is really impressed by the moves Chrono used, since Chrono seems so clumsy usually. Chrono is modest about her skills and the trio resume trying to find more fragments. After some time, Chrono and Belldandy are getting tired but they have only one more fragment to find. Chrono takes encouragement from the thought that Belldandy wouldn't give up.

Elsewhere, Skuld and Urd are in hot pursuit of the final fragment and discover it has moved to their home on the temple grounds.

Thoughts/Review: Well, it is not unexpected for Fujishima-sensei to play the "Ugh, I'll pretend I saw nothing" card with Sora. He did that with Megumi way back when. Sora was never a favorite character of mine so I don't care about her not remembering in this instance. I do want Megumi to remember what she saw in her recent adventure with the megami. I also want it to be revealed that she's known for ages but just didn't say anything.

Urd and Skuld's antics were a bit amusing, especially Urd's wanting to pretend not to know anything about the fragment after they lost it.

So, Chrono is not just some bumbling megami. OK. Mildly interesting I guess. Beyond that, there's really nothing here of great interest. This too is not unexpected since it is merely a filler story arc and not a very interesting one at that.

Seikishi Monogatari News

聖機師物語

Atonashi has Tenchi news out of this summer's Comiket 2008. On the cover of Kajishima Onsen 8.08 are the characters of Rashara, MASAKI Kenji (Tenchi's half-brother) and Kyaia from Seikishi Monogatari (Saint Knights Tale). Atonashi doesn't have the doujinshi yet, but he does have a copy of the front cover (seen at left). While the doujinshi story inside is a Tenchi one ("the continuation of Noike's grooming story"), there were concluding remarks at the end of the doujinshi concerning Seikishi Monogatari.

From Atonashi:

The main staff is pretty much in place and production is ongoing. Except for Kenji Masaki, someone other than Kajishima is in charge of original character planning. That's because of workload issues and because the idea is to have a different worldview from "Tenchi". Kajishima believes Seikishi will be formally announced later this year.

I'm not 100% sure if the name 剣士 is supposed to be Kenji or Kenshi. It means swordsman.

This certainly is exciting news from the world of Tenchi! ^_^

With Kajishima busy with the the writing & storyboarding, for Seikishi Monogatari (to say nothing of his continuing to write the GXP novels and doujinshi, two of which just came out of Comiket), I'm not surprised he passed on having to do the character designs for the entire production (he'd already created Kenji's character design in an earlier doujinshi so there wouldn't be much work that needed to be done there). Plus, as Kajishima states, the goal is to have a different look to the other character which is likely due to the fact that the story won't take place in the TM!R universe (the original plan for Seikishi was that Tenchi's half-brother would end up in a parallel universe ala Kajishima-sensei's Dual! series and so far, nothing has been released to counter that core story idea).

I'm pretty sure I'll start a section on Seikishi Monogatari sooner rather than later on the Tenchi Muyo! FAQ site since this will be a canon spinoff.

As always, thanks to Atonashi for the news!

FUNimation Stops Slayers REVOLUTION Fansubs

Since I'm receiving so many hits based on "Slayers REVOLUTION fansubs" and "Slayers REVOLUTION translation scripts," I thought I better post something useful for you guys.

On behalf of Enoki Films, Ltd. (Enoki Films USA Inc. has the license to Slayers REVOLUTION, as well as Slayers, Slayers Next, and Slayers Try), FUNimation has issued cease and desist letters to fansub groups to stop fansubbing Slayers REVOLUTION. As far as I can tell, the groups that were subbing the series are complying with the request.

Now, for those looking for translation scripts, don't ask me because I don't know of any. In fact, should such scripts be put out for public consumption, you can bet that FUNimation's legal department will have them removed fairly quickly. After all, translation scripts can easily be turned into new fansubs that neither Enoki Films nor FUNimation want.

As to the question of whether this means that FUNimation has been given the rights to translated, market, and distribute Slayers REVOLUTION, the official answer is no. FUNimation did acquire the rights for the first three TV series (which I've already commented on) and I wouldn't be surprised if FUNimation ends up announcing that they'll be doing all of the work on bringing this 4th Slayers TV series to the U.S. (which I honestly hope happens since the subtitles this time will be done in-house). Indeed, FUNimation's track record for licensing titles they've sent C&D letters out on is a very high percentage (I want to say 100% but I haven't bothered to check for sure).

So for all the fansub watchers, it is going to be tough to be unable to watch the new episodes. I'm sure that if a licensing announcement isn't made pretty soon, it is going to become frustrating for fans, especially since some titles take ages from their announcement until they are finally released on DVD. All I can say is, "hang in there."

Space Battleship Yamato 08

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 08
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 08 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yamato sinks to the bottom of the Pluto ocean and Captain Okita orders that they play possum by blowing one of the ballast tanks and turning the ship upside-down. On the Gamilus base, Shultz is pleased to see the Yamato apparently dead, but he wants to make sure. As such, he orders a squadron of attack subs to destroy the Yamato completely. Realizing that they won't be allowed to play dead, Okita orders Yamato be right-sized and one back in its proper position, it fires missiles at the incoming subs, destroying many but Yamato takes more damage as a result.

Susumu volunteers to take a strike team to destroy the Reflective Satellite Cannon. They are given eight hours to complete their mission as repair work continues on Yamato. Sandana, who's on the team, requests that Yamato surface to allow the Gamilons to fire the canon at the ship, thus giving a position for the strike to to locate the weapon. Yamato does this and observing the reflective satellites in orbit, Yamato is able to dive just before the beam from the Reflective Satellite Cannon can hit them (the water diffuses the energy beam). Yamato then launches cruise missiles at the point of origin of the beam attack, which Sandana, Susumu, and the rest of the strike team head to.

The strike team arrives in the general area where the cannon is supposed to be. However, they need to find the weapon's exhaust port. So, Okita orders Yamato to surface again just as the Gamilons drop depth charges to try to force Yamato to surface. Again, the Reflective Satellite Cannon fires and again, Yamato dives before the beam hits them. Shultz finds Yamato acting strangely and suspects they are up to something. Meanwhile, the strike team finds and enters the cannon's exhaust port where they then head down below the frozen surface to the undersea location of the cannon. The team encounters a few lethal traps as well as some enemy troops. However, they manage to reach the cannon and plant bombs.

Meanwhile, Yamato has run out of air and needs to surface. Gantz orders the satellites to move into position for an attack but Shultz realizes how Yamato has avoided their previous attacks. As such, Shultz orders other satellites to be used so that the attack comes from Yamato's blind side. The cannon fires before being destroyed by the strike time. As such, Yamato takes another hit but the Pluto base is destroyed by the cannon's explosion. The Gamilus troops are now forced to evacuate in their fleet while Yuki and Daisuke are dispatched to pick up the strike team members.

Thoughts/Review: Tactics were the name of the game for this episode. I liked how Okita attempted to play possum. I liked it more when Shultz sent in some subs to hit Yamato just the same. Basically, I liked how Okita and Shultz were like two players over chess, only with much higher stakes. So, an interesting back-and-forth but really no doubt as to the outcome.

To be honest, this element surprised me. The Gamilus leaders on Pluto have been shown to be somewhat stereotypical villains -- powerful enough to destroy the world but bumbling in their efforts to take out a single opponent. Some comments I'd read about this series lead me to believe that Shultz was a complete idiot, but the writers presented someone who was not an idiot. Had he been overconfident? Sure. However, when Captain Okita had Yamato flipped to pretend to be sunk and dead, I thought that Shultz would declare victory, Yamato would get repaired, and then they'd take out the enemy base. Instead, Shultz ordered a military strike on the apparently dead Yamato to make sure of the kill. Immediately, this made the episode interesting to me because we weren't dealing with a bumbling idiot. So kudos to the writers on this one.

Nice to see that Yamato is not only a space ship, it is also a surface battleship and a submarine as well. Also, good thing Yamato can take so many hits from that Reflective Satellite Cannon. As it used to be said, "How convenient." ^_~

Still, this was a very enjoyable episode for me considering the unexpected stuff coming from Shultz.

School Rumble Manga Volume 10

School Rumble, Volume 10

Summary/Synopsis: Class 2-C celebrates their successes with a party. However, there's a problem with the cakes and the names on them. 2-C then puts on their play, only with an all-female cast with Eri as the lead prince. Things take a turn to the bizarre as Harima, having chosen a poor place to sleep, finds himself in the princess's bed and on stage. This is thrown further into chaos when Yakumo is also in the bed. Thus Yakumo and Eri are forced to improv and battle over Harima. The play ends a success with Ichijo's band performing. Yakumo and Eri make up and even have a dance where Eri confesses she enjoys the challenge Yakumo provides her.

Satsuki is introduces as a 1st-year female student who's wanting to start a girl's basketball team. With Tenma's male classmate Aso chosen as coach and Anegasaki-sensei as manager, the team comes together with Lala, Ichijo, Mikoto, Sagano, and even Tenma as members. However, Tenma isn't good and Anegasaki-sensei relegates her to "sub." It becomes clear that Satsuki has feelings for "Aso-senpai" which leads to her performance as a basketball player suffering. When Aso attempts to help her, Satsuki misunderstands his statements as him prompting her to confess her feelings.

In the omake chapters, Shuuji is attending the school festival (because of Harima) along with a girl in his class named Mio (who's older brother often battles Harima). Mio has feelings for Shuuji though Shuuji is always on about Tsukamoto-neechan. In the end, Shuuji shows he does care about Mio.

Next, Itoko and Youko are in a sports car and end up in a drag race. While they win, their intent was not to race, but to get to a spot so that Youko could paint a perfect sunset.

Finally, Yakumo has an encounter with the same girl ghost who'd talked to her about boys and relationships while Iori takes on a human form briefly to give Yakumo an umbrella to protect her from the rain.

Thoughts/Review: Funny!

While I have always enjoyed School Rumble, having watched the anime takes a lot out of reading the same (and original) stories in the manga, especially the funny stuff. This time, that was not the case for me for some reason. I think that while recent stories from Kobayashi-sensei have been amusing, the play put on by 2-C just made me laugh all over again from several unexpected moments. Yeah, I may have seen this in the Nigakki anime, but I didn't remember many of the little details and thus the laughs (ah, Hanai!). The cake fiasco just cracked me up.

I love the symbolic battle between Eri and Yakumo over Harima. While School Rumble may be mostly about unrequited loves and parodies, I can't help but want Harima to end up with one of them (preferably Yakumo).

Kobayashi-sensei has accomplished something rather neat with School Rumble, which I realized with the introduction of Satsuki. Kobayashi-sensei continues to introduce new characters throughout the first 10 volumes. Sometimes, characters may not gel right away but then he continues to work with them to make them better (Lala for example). Satsuki worked for me right away and she allows Kobayashi-sensei to work on Aso, who's been a secondary character for a long time. So even though we have these other characters outside of the core characters (while not forgetting them), for the most part he's managed to make them interesting enough so that I'm not thinking, "Gah! Get back to the main characters!" (which is something I did a lot of in the 2nd half of KareKano).

Bottom line: This volume went above the normal "amusing and fun" level to laugh out loud funny for me, thus resulting in my gushing in this review. Bring on volume 11!

Space Battleship Yamato 07

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 07
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 07 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: At the Gamilon base on Pluto, Shultz and Gantz discuss current events. Shultz decides that they need to use tactics to take out Yamato. To this end, they need to use their fleet to drive Yamato to Pluto (combined with a missile barrage) where it will come in range of their Reflective Satellite Cannon. Meanwhile on the Yamato, a barrage of Meteor Bombs are seen heading for Earth. Susumu proposes that the Yamato destroy the Pluto base and Captain Okita agrees but with a caviot -- they cannot use the Wave-Motion canon lest they destroy the indigenous life on Pluto.

Shultz is pleasantly surprised to see the Yamato make its way to Pluto on its own, but orders the fleet to attack just the same. Yamato's wing of fighters provides cover and Yamato takes out a large number of enemy ships with their main guns. The barrage of missiles enters, so Yamato turns to the side and releases anti-missile missiles as well as use their anti-aircraft laser cannons. Yamato takes one hit from a missile that makes it through the defenses. On Pluto, Shultz takes personal control of the Reflective Satellite Cannon and fires on the Yamato, hitting it in the side. Yamato is heavily damaged but manages to get anchored to one of Pluto's moons.

Repair work begins immediately to fix the damaged areas of Yamato. Daisuke feels they are safe since they are on the far side of Pluto but Shultz has a surprise for the Yamato. Using the orbital satellites around Pluto, a target solution on Yamato is achieved and Shultz fires again. Yamato is hit again and loses its tethering to the moon. Daisuke manages to safely crash land the ship onto one of Pluto's oceans (non-frozen) where it sits on the surface. The Gamilons have a new firing solution on Yamato and hit it again, causing it to sink. Shultz is ecstatic and orders a report sent to Supreme Leader Desler, who treats it as unimportant.

Thoughts/Review: I like the logic of the tactics both in the last episode and this one. Clearly, the Pluto enemy base had to be taken out not only to give Earth some relief from the Meteor Bombs, but also to insure that an active enemy base isn't behind the Yamato to still cause them problems. Of course the writers had to create a reason for Captain Okita to not use the Wave-Motion gun. Yeah, I'm sure there were just tons and tons of indigenous life forms living on Pluto. Then again, this Pluto has an ocean to sail on so... I wonder if this show was done now, would there still be a concern over potentially destroying Pluto (since Pluto is no longer an official planet).

This episode was weird in some regards. When the Gamilon fleet attacked Yamato, the fighter wing seemed to have little problem taken out these ships. Of course when Yamato opened up with her main guns, those easily took out many Gamilon ships with one shot. One wonders why Earth had such a hard time fighting them.

Also, while I praised the tactics of taking out the Pluto base, I guess the Yamato's sensors aren't up to detecting a massive satellite network in orbit of Pluto. However, after the first shot using those satellites, I would have been trying to take out more of them, even if it were with the fighters.

Still, I cannot deny intrigue as I watch this classic anime title and so look forward to seeing where things are taken.

Mai Otome 0~S.ifr~ (OVA) 02

舞-乙HiME ０～S.ifr～ Episode 02 (OAV)
My-Otome Sifr episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After her battle with M-9, the unconscious Lena (aka: Rena) is sent flying through the desert. However, instead of crashing hard into the ground, two giant, golden energy wings emerge from her body, causing her to softly land on her back before the wings vanish. This is all observed by the young male scientist Shiro, who takes the nearly completely naked Lena into his trailer, noting an odd birthmark under her left breast.

Meanwhile in a small town bar, Meister Elliot is performing a strip tease for a bunch of male customers while Bruce (flanked by Meister Raquel and Sister Shion in maid outfits) plays cards with an older man named Okuzaki. Bruce loses the game but gains information on where Sifr likely has been taken. The trio leave, followed by Elliot who's trying to put her clothing back on. However, all of this was observed by another Otome (Sakura), who decides that she and Okuzaki need make a bet of their own.

The Schwarz are taking Sifr to their base and on their journey, John Smith decides to impart some information to the girl, namely that Bruce is the King of Windbloom and she's actually a member of the royal family. This he knows because and because M-9 reacted to Sifr, something that would not happen if Sifr was not of the House of Windbloom. John Smith further states that because Sifr's birth was outside of what the Windbloom normally allow (controlling their birth rates) and because she is a Weaver, both the Windbloom and the Garderobe want her dead, but the Schwarz are there to help Sifr.

In a hotel room, Elliot weeps over what she had to do in the bar, which amuses Raquel since Elliot feels she can no longer become anyone's wife. She's also upset that she failed Lena. Raquel and Shion confer, realizing that Elliot's actions were ordered by the Headmistress of the Garderobe, meaning the Garderobe already know Sifr's identity. Bruce enters the room as it is time to leave, stating they are going after Sifr. Elliot wants to know why they don't go after Lena and why Bruce isn't angry with her. Bruce reminds Elliot that since he's still alive, Lena is fine. As such, Lena will come to save Sifr and Bruce wants Elliot to help in this regard. Shion and Raquel give their support to Elliot and she is now OK with the situation.

Back at Shiro's trailer, Lena tossing in her sleep accidentally knocks over a container with a preserved lizard in it. She wakes up and screams when she sees it. Shiro races into the trailer to see what the matter is as Lena runs into his arms. Backing away, she realizes that she's naked and upon getting embarrassed, screams and literally kicks the guy out of the trailer quite some distance. Shiro's little brother Reito comes in, upset at what Lena has done. Since she's still naked, Lena races back into the trailer as the annoyed Reito begins to set off to find his brother. However, he's startled when the android Miyu arrives (with her yellow bird) to pay Lena a visit.

At the Garderobe Academy, the Headmistress Una Shamrock is briefed on Raquel and Elliot as well as how Lena has apparently disappear. Maria enters the hallway to caution Una on the use of the Otome for this mission Una's about to undertake. With that, Una (who's one of the five Columns), Meister Rei (also a Column), Meister Iruma (also a Column), and Meister Kyoko set out to attack the Weaver (Sifr) in a larger, armored carrier and are seen off by Maria.

In the desert, Elliot is driving the car carrying Bruce, Shion, and Raquel. Shion is not happy with the bumpy ride though Raquel sleeps through it. Bruce spots they are being tailed by an Otome and indeed, Meister Iruma has located their car and reported it to Headmistress Una. Another GEM is briefly seen on their radar, which Una realizes must be Sakura. Indeed it is Sakura, who is on a desert yacht who figures the Otome must have detected her by now. However, she's annoyed by the perverted speakings coming from her young male master.

Meanwhile at Shiro's camp, Lena is preparing a meal in a large pot and upon entering Shiro's tent, she discovers a book that is opened to a page where a birthmark similar to her own is discussed. She's interrupted by Miyu, who's about to depart. Apparently, M-9 is on the move and Miyu reveals M-9 is her "little sister." Further, M-9 is the only android that has the power of Shinso Fumi. Since M-9 is no doubt analyzing the battle data from her fight with Lena, Miyu needs to defeat M-9 before she gets any stronger. Lena wants to come along to help Sifr, but Miyu refuses since Lena's Otome gem has been destroyed.

The Schwarz finally arrive at their base with Sifr. Sifr sees a number of (space?) shuttle craft and the blonde-haired kid gives orders to hurry preparations for the following day's launch. Outside nearby, Una waits to see what move the Schwarz and Bruce will make as Bruce is also nearby, their car hiding behind a large boulder. Back at Shiro's camp, Lena bandages up his injured foot and they talk about her birthmark and its resemblance to the mark of the HiME. She reveals her fears regarding her Otome powers since the GEM's have never been powerful enough to contain them. Shiro makes an offer that Lena can live with him if she likes (which could be interpreted as a proposal, though he didn't mean it that way). After falling over because of the pain in his foot, a case falls out of his pocket. He tells Lena it is from Miyu and it contains two blue GEMs and a note from Lena's mother.

As darkness falls, the Garderobe armored vehicle comes under attack from the Schwarz as Bruce and company make their move. The vehicle returns fire with Kyoko, Iruma, and Rei getting on top of the craft to fight off the SLAVEs that are attacking. Raquel attacks the main gate of the underground Schwarz base forcing John Smith and escorts to take Sifr to one of the shuttles. Bruce and Shion enter the launch bay from the other side as an invisible Elliot gets close enough to disarm the Schwarz. However, because of what John Smith had told Sifr earlier, she doesn't trust them, especially Elliot. Elliot gives up her advantage to take a knee to Sifr and apologize, giving John Smith and company time to get Sifr to the shuttle. Understanding some of the truth, Sifr wants to speak more with Bruce, but John Smith won't allow it.

M-9 enters the fray and takes out the bridge that would allow Bruce and Shion to make it to the shuttle. Elliot battles M-9, only to discover that M-9 is using Lena's abilities. Bruce and Shion make it back to the control room but are unable to stop the launch. Elliot is defeated by M-9 but before the android can make the kill, she's stopped by Miyu; the two androids now battle. Bruce sends a message to the shuttle so that Sifr can hear, causing her to now have faith in Bruce. M-9 defeats Miyu and makes it to the shuttle as it lifts off. Una orders an attack on the shuttle, but the shuttle is shielded by Raquel. Raquel and Elliot then take off in pursuit of the shuttle as Lena arrives on the scene with Shiro, now sporting her new blue GEM earrings.

Review/Thoughts: I have to say that this was another good episode. I like the political machinations even if I'm not entirely sure why Sifr is such a threat. Actually, I'm not really sure what a "Weaver" is (beyond waking up M-9). However, it is interesting to see the Garderobe be at odds with the Windbloom.

Speaking of the Garderobe, I liked seeing the young Maria here. I found it interesting that at this point in her life, she's not known as "Miss Maria," but rather "Maria-sensei." I suppose Maria earned the "Miss" title after she became an older woman.

I wonder if Shiro will be the one Lena marries to bear Arika. Certainly the indications have been given based on their little conversation with Shiro's invitation for Lina to live with him (if she chose to flee from being an Otome).

The wild card in all this is Sakura and her master. I wonder what role they'll play.

Considering Miyu is in Mai Otome, no worries on her being OK in the end. I do hope we learn a bit more information about her before the series is over (reportedly with episode 3).

Macross Frontier 18

マクロスF Episode 18
Macross F Ep. 18
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As Luca briefs Leon on his plan to use Ranka's singing against the Vajra, Sheryl confronts Grace, demanding to know why Grace is managing Ranka now. Grace is amused by Sheryl's confrontation considering Grace made her to be an idol, having found the orphaned Sheryl as a girl in the slums on Galaxy Frontier. Grace reveals to Sheryl that Sheryl is going to die. Sheryl isn't going to take such a threat lying down, so Grace clarifies her statement. The illness Sheryl had as a child was never cured and that's what is afflicting Sheryl. As such, Sheryl will die from the disease.

Leon and the president discuss getting rid of the Vajra and getting back to exploring the galaxy, which they can do when they fold out. On Macross Quarter, the "bridge bunnies" and Cathy are in the private SMS bar discussing the news that the fleet has stored up enough energy to make another fold. Bobby demands to know why the girls are just sitting there when pre-fold bargain sales are now underway. Alto, walking to the SMS hospital, encounters one such sale and gets pissed when he's mistaken for a woman. In the hospital, he briefed by the still recovering Ozama and Canalia that the Vajra are attracted to fold energy, thus the fleet folding out of their current location would draw the Vajra to follow them. Since Ranka is being used as a weapon, Ozama asks Alto as Ranka's older brother to protect Ranka.

Alto leaves and discovers that while Ranka is the huge star now, Sheryl is all but forgotten, her music for sale in bargain bins. Sheryl is in a taxi thinking about her conversation with Grace while at the high school, Klan gives Micheal the information he sought about the drug Sheryl was given. Apparently, it is a receptor blocker for V-type infections, the research in this disease being lead by Dr. Mao Nome. The pill would not cure the disease and has side-effects of its own. To their great surprise, they discover a picture of Dr. Nome along with Ranshe Mei (looking like Ranka's mother) and Grace O’Connor, who's not aged a whit. Michael and Klan are further surprised to see an image of Sheryl in the hospital as a young child with the V-type infection.

Sheryl arrives on the scene, clearly suffering from her illness. After sharing the information with Sheryl, she begs them not to let Alto know about this and she takes off into the rain. Klan feels badly about the situation and Micheal finds a way to get Alto to find Sheryl without telling him anything. Alto races out into the artificial rain where he finally finds Sheryl, who's being assisted into a taxi by Alto's "niisan" Yasaburo. Apparently Yasaburo was contacted by Sheryl and tells Alto to come by the family estate if he's worried about Sheryl before taking off with the former idol, who's now unconscious.

An alert from the S.M.S. forces Alto to return (as well as Bobby and the "bridge bunnies" from shopping) as the Vajra are attacking. With Leon's prompting, the president orders preparations for an emergency fold since Ranka volunteered to sing and stop the Vajra from the König Monster. Only Brera's weapon as well as the main canons of Macross Quarter and Battle Frontier have any affect on the Vajra, who are stopped by Ranka's singing. This allows the two warships to clear a path and make a successful fold without Vajra pursuit as Ranka continues to sing while in fold space.

Thoughts/Review: I'm really glad I watched Macross Zero now that Mao Nome's name has come up again. Figures, Grace would be with her back then. Mao's entrance into this makes me think again that the Vajra may be tied with the aliens in Macross Zero. So, I guess Grace wasn't actually trying to kill Sheryl after all, at least not with that pill. I still say that it will be a Ranka-Sheryl combination that will resolve the Vajra problem.

Still, why in the world are Leon, Grace, and whomever else so interested in causing the Vajra attacks? There's just a lot that doesn't make sense.

Back to Sheryl, I get the feeling that she's now hit bottom and will now rise back up. She needed to be knocked down because if she does rise again, I figure she won't be the annoying, spoiled brat she's mostly been to date.

The new OP theme music is pretty neat. Considering it is a "Ranka/Sheryl" duet, I wonder if the writers are trying to hint that my theory on a combination of the two girls will be required to resolve the Vajra issue, or is it a red herring? Either way, I do like the song.

Keroro Gunsou 59

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 59
Sgt. Frog anime, 59
Keroro Gunsou episode 59

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Keroro dons his shogun helmet and launches the new plan which involves him acquiring a castle. To this end, he starts building a castle model, which irritates Giroro, who then breaks one of the supporting pillar pieces to show his frustration. Despite this, Keroro quickly finishes the model and then douses it with a special liquid to make it grow. Nothing happens, so Kururu provides the answer -- feed the castle with materials starting with Keroro's Gundam models. Giroro approves of this and the feeding begins. Because they need more materials and Natsumi is not happy with them taking stuff around the house, the platoon takes materials illegally dumped, some of which goes back to the times of the shoguns. They feed this to the castle, causing it to grow. However, the castle now has a spirit inside it which wishes to go to Kyoto. Thus, the castle leaves.

Keroro is unconcerned about the castle's potential destruction of Kyoto until it is pointed out to him that the castle is first heading for the Gundam toy factory. With that, Keroro decides the platoon must act. The ghost that lives in the Hinata home, whom they address as Yuurei-chan (Ghost-chan), figures out where the spirit in the castle is residing. Keroro assigns Dororo to infiltrate the castle and Dororo is joined by Koyuki. The two quickly make their way inside and are soon joined by Tamama, Giroro, and Keroro. Koyuki warns of traps, but Keroro ends up racing ahead and setting traps off. Eventually, they make it to where the spirit is. The spirit forces Koyuki and Dororo to fight their shadow selves, who have the same abilities as Koyuki and Dororo. Keroro remembers the broken pillar support and finding it, he causes a partial destruction of the castle. The spirit turns out to be a lowly foot soldier who pledges himself to Keroro in the next life. With that, the castle returns to normal, model size.

Thoughts/Review: This is a mildly amusing episode. The parodies being based in part on Japanese history and folklore is going to mean less humor for those who aren't versed in the subjects. I wonder how this would get dubbed?

I did learn one thing from this episode -- illegal dumping is apparently a big problem in Japan and has been going on since the waring states period. So give a hoot and don't pollute, y'all.

Space Battleship Yamato 06

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 06
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 06 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Commander Shultz reports to Vice President Hiss about the Yamato and is told to achieve victory over Yamato (or else). The Gamilons at the Pluto base notice Yamato has gone to Titan, a moon of Saturn, and dispatch a craft to observe them. On the Yamato, their energy levels are down due to energy transfer conduits overheating. They need cosmonite to make new conduits for the energy transfers and Yuki has found some on Titan. Captain Okita orders Yuki, Susumu, and Analyzer down to find cosmonite while Sanada is ordered to take a fleet of shuttles to gather other supplies.

As Sanada's team gathers supplies, the Gamilus scout craft is detected by Yamato, so Sanada's entire team immediately evacuates in their shuttles. Susumu refuses to return to the ship and keeps flying until Analyzer detects a patch of cosmonite. Susumu lands the ship and Analyzer immediately starts cutting out blocks of cosmonite and loading them onto the ship. Their activities are seen by the 2-man crew from the scout ship, which has now landed. The two Gamilons are ordered to interfere with the mining and capture the two humans and robot. As such, the two soldiers get into tanks and attack, destroying Susumu's 3-man craft.

Yuki, Susumu, and Analyzer flee but are quickly running out of options. Susumu orders Analyzer to protect Yuki as he heads in another direction. In doing so, the tanks split up to give chase. Susumu eludes the tank chasing him and finds a spot where he can observe his opponent. He manages to jump on the tank, open the hatch, and kill the soldier. However, Yuki and Susumu are not faring so well until Analyzer stops the tank, picks it up, and tosses it upside-down. The Gamilon soldier gets out and captures Yuki, Analyzer, and Susumu with his gun. Susumu sees a gun in the ice and having Analyzer cover him, Susumu goes for the gun and manages to shoot the Gamilon soldier.

Susumu wonders where the gun came from and is stunned to see it is his older brother's gun. He then sees the iced-over wreckage of his brothers ship, the missile destroyer Yukikaze. Susumu makes a frantic search, calling for his older brother but to no avail. Yuki tells Susumu that they need to leave and they get into a ship and return to Yamato. Upon returning, Susumu is summoned to see the captain as repairs are instantly made to Yamato using cosmonite. Okita asks for a report on Yukikaze, so Susumu gives it. Okita has a tear in his eye knowing Captain Kodai is dead for sure. With that, Yamato leaves Saturn.

Thoughts/Review: One great thing about the future -- things can happen in an instant and with little effort. Seriously, it only takes one robot to mine a bunch of cosmonite ore in mere minutes. Then when the ship to carry the stuff is destroyed, another is somehow there to receive the previously destroyed ore. Oh yeah, and THEN there are the instant repairs to Yamato with the cosmonite (which has been refined and molded into piping for energy transfers in a flash apparently). Amazing stuff in the future.

Having the episode feature a discovery of the wrecked Yukikaze smacked of forced drama. After all, in episode 1, we saw the ship destroyed. Ah, but we were wrong. Despite being surrounded and exploding, in fact the ship didn't explode and managed to somehow get to Titan in time to be encased in ice. Amazing stuff in the future.

Basically, this episode is continued a pattern of, "Ooo! There's a problem with Yamato. Ooo! Daisuke looks like he's massively constipated as he flies the ship. Ooo! We need to fix the ship so Daisuke can relieve his bowels. Ooo! Here's a fix! Ooo! The Gamilons send out a non-serious attack on Yamato or its crew. Ooo! Yamato wins the day. Ooo! Things instantly OK and Daisuke knows sweet, sweet, emptying relief.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 235 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 37 Chapter 235

Summary/Synopsis: Because Chrono is unable to sing properly, it means the program fragments are experiencing errors. Chrono worries about the time they lost because she fainted because of the cat (Welsper) but she ends up fainting again because of the discussion. After she comes to, Keiichi, Belldandy, and Chrono find Sayoko banging on cans to a tune. Thus, they've found another program fragment. With Belldandy's encouragement to the faltering Chrono, they extract the fragment and leave a puzzled Sayoko to deal with a woman who wonders what Sayoko is doing in the street.

Elsewhere, Urd and Skuld track down a program fragment. They find Sora-chan in her car and Sora sees them flying on a broom. However, she's taken with the sounds coming off of her car. Urd tells Skuld that they should be the ones to grab the program fragment. Skuld is not convinced at first but is finally talked into it.

Thoughts/Review: Ah. The return of two more classic and basically forgotten characters -- Sayoko and Sora. Sadly, both are just cameos and have no real purpose in this story, which also has no purpose beyond being filler. While it is always nice to see the old characters, it is a shame they are being used in a boring story.

Seriously, I could care less about Chrono or her problems. I could care less for some idiotic program fragments for music. Everything is an exercise in motion in a desperate attempt to find ways to bring in people and places from the past. The people and places being brought back up is something I don't mind. The vehicle in which said characters and places come back needs a lot of work.

Slayers REVOLUTION 06

スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Duclis dispatches the dog-mage Flan and the cat-something Zollan to steal the Sword of Light from Pokota. Meanwhile, Pokota eludes Lina (after stealing food from her) and disappears when they reach the village of Gongoro. It is festival time and after Lina and Gourry enjoy a big meal, a village chief seals them in upon learning the Lina is a mage. He explains how the festival, which requires rolling a giant ball up to the top of a mountain, has caused the village to split into Gon, Go, and Ro. As the leader of Gon, he needs a mage to create a golem to get his ball up the mountain before the other village chiefs. Lina isn't interested until gold and food are offered as payment.

Elsewhere, Pokota is enlisted by another village chief to do the same task while Flan and Zollan are assigned the same task by the third village chief. Flan and Zollan initially focus on trying to steal the Sword of Light but soon get caught up in the contest to get their giant ball up to the top of the mountain first. All three groups manage to get their balls up to the summit safely, meaning that they now have to battle it out with the surviving golem and ball being the winner. That winner ends up being Lina, but her golem is destroyed, meaning there's no way to get it up. The three village chiefs and the old woman they lust for decide the village needs to come together and the ball is rolled to the top of the heap through a joint effort. However, instability means that all the giant balls come crashing down the mountain.

Thoughts/Review: There's nothing like a filler episode and there's really nothing like a filler episode that isn't that good. There were a few amusing moments such as seeing the image of Amelia's father (Phil) from previous festivals and I smiled at the ball-shaped food Lina and Gourry scarfed on. Beyond that, nothing.

Flan and Zollan were a complete waste. At first, despite their running into a door on their way out for their mission, it seemed like they might actually try to score the Sword of Light. Instead, they lose their focus and start dinking in the competition. Why? I think it would have been amusing for them to try to score the sword and fail while at the same time, having their efforts go unnoticed by Pokota. Basically, Flan and Zollan are the cheap, animal, knockoff version of Zangulus and Vrumugun.

All in all, kind of a disappointing episode because it just wasn't very good filler, unfortunately.

Space Battleship Yamato 05

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 05
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 05 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The Gamilon's are stunned by Yamato's successes as the battleship leaves Mars and arrives at Jupiter. However, Yamato begins to shake as an energy transfer pipe is broken. Jupiter's gravity has them, but they happen to encounter a floating island in Jupiter's cloud cover. Captain Okita orders a landing so that repairs can be made to the ship as Analyzer takes a reading of the atmosphere. The Gamilus commanders Gantz and Shultz order a lone fighter-bomber to check out where the Yamato landed. Susumu launches his own fighter and after a dogfight with the enemy where Susumu's craft takes damage, Susumu takes down the Gamilon fighter.

Gantz and Shultz are annoyed by this and order a massive missile strike on Yamato's position. Fortunately, Yamato's engineers have completed repairs so Captain Okita orders Daisuke to get Yamato off the island. The ship takes off just as the missiles rain down. Susumu, having returned to the ship, requests permission to destroy the Gamilon base. Okita denies the request until Yamato is safely in orbit of Jupiter, where it is now chasing the floating island. At this point, Okita calls a staff meeting and agrees to use Yamato's main Wave-Motion gun to destroy the base once Yamato catches back up to the island. Yamato catches the island and destroys not only the base, but the entire island. However, because the main power is lost with the firing of the main weapon, the Yamato is in trouble of being pulled in and crushed by Jupiter. Power is transfered from the main gun to the engines and Yamato is barely able to escape.

Thoughts/Review: So, Yamato needed a warp test to get from Earth's moon to Mars in an instant. So just how did they get from Mars to Jupiter in such a short time? Why weren't the crew stunned to find a floating island in Jupiter's orbit? Just some things to think about.

Good thing the Gamilon's are stupid. They dispatched a war fleet to destroy Earth's fleet. Where is that fleet to take out Yamato? Seems pretty simple to me, but what do I know?

I have to keep in mind that this show was created in the mid-70's when writing styles were a lot different. So I will keep pressing on.

Negima! Manga Vol 24 (Ch 222) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 24 Chapter 222 (manga)

Summary/Synopsis: Setsuna, Asuna, and chibi-Chisame are discussing Setsuna's plans to join Kaede and Ku Fei down on the ruined, crashed islands below when Asuna spots Negi next to a rail a great distance away. Setsuna is impressed with Asuna's eyesight considering Negi is but a speck in the crowd but her mood changes when she detects something is not right at Negi's location. That's because Negi and Fate have now met.

Negi's dark magic flows, which causes a reaction from Fate but before anything can happen, Asuna and Setsuna appear in front of Negi, taking up a defensive position. Both girls warn Fate to keep back, but he ignores them and easily slips past them, remarking on how calm Negi is compared to the swordswoman and princess. Setsuna ponders taking out Fate in a single attack, but Fate seems to read her mind and tells her such an attack would fail. Fate then tells Negi that his purpose in being here is not to fight Negi, but simply to have a discussion with him and offer him a deal. Negi doesn't believe it, leading Fate to inform Negi that Negi has no idea who Fate's group is or their purpose. As such, Negi may well wish to hear Fate's words.

Meanwhile, Chisame and Chamo have moved a kilometer away from the area as Setsuna instructed them and see no signs of a battle. Chamo states that they need to get help now. Chisame knows that Ku and Kaede could never arrive in time from their current location, so Chamo suggest contacting Jack. Chisame isn't sure that Jack will help, but tells Chamo to let Jack know that Fate is involved. Chisame then contacts Kotaro, who leaves Natsumi to head to the location.

Returning to where Fate and Negi are, Fate is seated at a table and Negi joins him while Asuna and Setsuna stand guard. Setsuna knows that with Fate's powers, he's basically holding hundreds of bystanders hostage, meaning they are pretty much powerless to do anything. Fate and Negi then get into a debate over the proper way to drink tea before engaging in conversation over Negi's choice to take up his father's role of Magister Magi and protecting the world.

Fate states that Negi is merely a teacher with 20 students and friends on a summer outing, charged with their safe return. Fate does not plan to get into Negi's way of returning home, despite the fact that it was Fate's people who caused Negi and company to be wanted outlaws. Fate informs Negi that it was mere chance that they fought in Kyoto and at the gateport as Negi simply happened to be in the way of Fate doing his job.

Fate offers Negi and company safe passage home in exchange for the princess, which Negi refuses. Fate continues, stating that she (Asuna) has no relatives and her not returning to the "real" world would not cause any harm. Indeed, Fate informs Negi that Asuna's personality is fake as are her memories. Negi has heard enough and sends the table flying into the air before throwing a punch at Fate and telling him to shut it. Fate stops the punch with his hand responds with a remark on how hot tempered Negi is.

Thoughts/Review: Well, I didn't expect a fight and none happened. However, Negi's now thrown a punch. Somehow, I don't think a fight will ensue. Instead, I think that Asuna may find herself kidnapped, or an attempt to kidnap her be made. I figure at least some of Fate's comrades (maybe those school girls) are nearby ready to spring a trap. If that's the case, they have to be prepared for the possibility of Asuna canceling their magic. Fate would have to be prepared for that too since it is clear his magic has no effect on her.

Now, how would you capture Asuna? Akamatsu-sensei has shown that even the most powerful magic trap has no effect on her. Also, her abilities may be the real reason that Fate and company haven't tried to snare her themselves thus far (having bounty hunters seek her out due to them all being considered outlaws is merely a way to see if they can catch her on the cheap and if not, prepare something that will catch her). Asuna has been captured before though (remember Graf Herrman?), so it isn't impossible.

Still, Asuna's abilities to see and hear things from great distances is most impressive. Further, the fact that she and Setsuna surprised both Negi and Fate with their sudden appearance says something to me. I was reminded of the time when Negi had to summon both during the Kyoto arc. How far they have come in such a short time.

Kotaro isn't much of a re-enforcement considering Fate's powers, to say nothing of his co-harts. It is a shame that Ku and Kaede haven't made pactios with Negi since I don't think they are out of teleport range or telepathic range (they could be though). Chachamaru is the only other fighter of the group and she's out with Asakura hunting for Anya and Yue (why haven't they detected Yue anyway?). I think Takahata was at the greeting ceremony last chapter (not sure though) so if he and Mana are nearby, that would be some extra backup. Where Cocone, Misora, Mei and Takane are, I've no clue but one would assume they traveled to Ostia.

Finally, I love Setsuna's look. OK, maybe the cat ears are a bit much, but she looks every bit like a fierce bodyguard in the suit.

No chapter next week, though I know there will be lots of searches for Negima chapter 223 based on certain traffic patterns to the blog. *lol* So hopefully, the next Negima blog entry will be on the 21st or so.

Keroro Gunsou 58

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 58
Sgt. Frog anime, 58
Keroro Gunsou episode 58

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is a hot day and in the underground Keron HQ, the platoon is listless as Moa arrives with cold beverages from a nearby vending machine. Despite his complaints, Giroro enjoys his beverage. When Keroro pops the top of his soda, he's sprayed in the face. Giroro points out that this is what Keroro gets for ordering a carbonated beverage. However, Keroro has an idea and decides to get into the vending machine business as an invasion plan that will make the humans completely helpless and dependent on the machine. Dororo objects to an evil plan and is shunned by the rest of the platoon. Moa reminds Keroro of the anime on Keron based on the platoon and that kids may be harmed by learning of their evil deeds.

Thinking of this, Keroro changes the plan so that the vending machine will generate tons of revenue. Kururu builds a machine and each member of the platoon creates a drink with its own catch. They place the vending machine in front of the Hinata home and sell the beverages for ¥100. Fuyuki is the first customer, unaware of the machine's owner, and finds his beverage to be outstanding. Natsumi follows and agrees. Now the platoon has a winning idea. Mutsumi advertises the vending machine location on the radio causing business to boom. Keroro launches phase 2, but with the cost of ingredients going up, he arranges to have the products watered down. Kururu presents the next version of the vending machine, which ends up forcing all of the platoon to drink 3-liters of beverage while taking all their money. Thus the plan ultimately fails.

Tamama is working out at the remote Nishizawa Group dojo while being observed by Nishizawa and Paul. Tamama asks Paul to spar with him, which Paul agrees to. However, Paul defeats Tamama. As such, Tamama runs to Keroro crying about this, so Keroro takes Tamama to another dojo where he makes Tamama see that his "Tamama Impact" attack is weak in that it is a straight-line attack. Keroro trains Tamama by making him do Keroro's chores. While doing the laundry, Tamama gets an idea for a spinning attack. Dororo comes by the dojo to test Tamama and while the "Tamama Impact" moves, it is still avoidable.

Tamama is depressed but takes encouragement Keroro's words. However, when Moa arrives, Tamama's jealousy gets the best of him and he encases a Tamama Impact within a Jealousy Ball attack. The result is devastating causing Keroro and Dororo to be taken out. With this new attack, Tamama challenges Paul to a rematch. Keroro is bound to a chair for the match as the fight begins. As expected, Paul is able to avoid the moving Tamama Impact attacks, so Tamama looks at the bound Keroro and launches the new Death Blow attack. As the attack hits Keroro, it bounces and now Paul cannot be sure where it will land. Moa arrives to help Keroro and seeing this, Tamama loses concentration; the Death Blow attack hits him instead.

Thoughts/Review: The first story is an amusing adaptation of a manga story. I like the anime one better because of the changes made to the end of the story. I don't remember exactly what made the vending machine plan fail in the manga, but having a new vending machine basically force beverages down the Kerons throat while taking their money made me laugh.

The second story with Tamama wanting to defeat Paul and being "trained" by Keroro was amusing but no real laughs.

By the way, Kururu says, "Drink Dr. Pepper Dr. Bebber or else." ^_^ There were parodies of Japanese beverages too, but I only knew Pocari Sweat.

More Negima! ALA ALBA *SPOILER* News

Draneo reports that the official website for the Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA OAD (OAV/OVA) (魔法先生ネギま！～白い翼 ALA ALBA～) has some additional information regarding the first episode, which is being included with volume 23 of the manga (though you can buy the manga without the anime).

"It appears the first OAD will cover the intense battle for the Ala Alba pins during the street festival before the trip to the magic world..."

What about the 2nd episode (included with volume 24)?

"...the second will be about the hot springs trip and Anya's appearance ."

Thanks Draneo for reporting this to everyone.

For those wondering, SHAFT is doing the anime. Thankfully, they've abandoned the whacked designs from Negima!? in favor of character designs more in line with Akamatsu-sensei.

I do plan to blog this. I am loathe to buy it from Amazon Japan though. Sasuga doesn't have it listed (unfortunately), nor does CD Japan. *sigh*

Lupin III Part III 07

ルパン三世 - Part III Ep. 07

SPOILER Summary: A man gets off a plan and with ease, avoids the rifle bullets shot by Fujiko. She recognizes him as Garb and immediately makes a call to Lupin, who's driving with Jigen outside of Tokyo. He agrees to meet her but first, he has to lose Zenigata and his cops. Lupin does this by driving his trademark yellow VW Bug off the road into the waters below. Naturally, Zenigata and company follow with Lupin and Jigen on the side of the cliff. Zenigata empties a gun magazine at the two, who then scramble up the side of the cliff.

Lupin arrives at a fancy restaurant for his "date" with Fujiko and is shown to a table by a waiter where Garb is. After a little chit-chat, Lupin goes to take a drink but notices the waiter is about to shoot. The lights go out and gunshots ring out. Garb's eyes light up and he uses something like infrared to scope out the room. He shoots what he thinks is Lupin, but it is only a blowup doll of Lupin. The waiter makes his escape to a car, only to find Lupin waiting for him there and address him as "Fujiko-chan." Fujiko recounts how she and Garb raided a mafia vault but during a shootout on the roof, Garb got shot and Fujiko left him. She thought him dead, but no such luck. At the home she's staying at, she promises Lupin delights to come if he helps her.

Elsewhere Garb confronts Jigen, demanding to be taken to Lupin. Naturally Jigen refuses and the two end up squaring off outside under a train overpass. Jigen discovers that Garb can avoid bullets and that he is about to die when Goemon arrives to save the day. Goemon attacks Garb, but discovers his attack actually misses Garb. With that, Garb departs, leaving a message for Lupin that says he will kill Fujiko. Back at the house, Goemon is preparing mabo tofu for everyone when they start taking fire from the window. However, it is an automated gun emplacement which Lupin takes out. They discover that Fujiko has fled, no doubt hoping that they will deal with Garb for her.

As Fujiko races on her motorcycle, Garb ambushes her, shooting her front tire. Lupin and Jigen come on the scene sometime later, but only find her wrecked bike. Elsewhere, Garb has tied up Fujiko, saying he wants her to sample what he went through before killing her. She professes her faith in Lupin coming to rescue her. At that, Garb finds the transmitter in her makeup case, but not before Lupin has her location. So, Garb puts Fujiko in a bomb vest with a bomb above her as well for good measure. It will go off that evening, so Lupin has until then to free her.

Lupin, Goemon and Jigen arrive and a firefight breaks out. The guys can't land a hit on Garb, but watching his moves, they come up with a plan. Jigen fires, which Garb easily avoids, but Lupin shoots Jigen's bullet, forcing it back and Garb can't avoid it. With Garb out, Goemon uses his sword skills to disarm the bomb and free Fujiko. Lupin tries to score a kiss, but the arrival of Zenigata and his men causes a change of plan. The trio take off in a run, leaving Fujiko behind, and Zenigata gives chase.

Thoughts: I enjoy it when Fujiko's treachery bites her in the behind. While I know this series can't be taken seriously, I still wonder what the heck Fujiko is doing as an assassin. Seriously, that's just so wrong. Not only that, but she's trying to assassinate someone and then acts all surprised when she finds out who it is? Ugh. Bad writing to be sure.

Also, just how does one being able to see a bullet in flight enable one to avoid said bullet? Just wondering. Then again, if Goemon can slice bullets, then I suppose it isn't too much to say that Garb can avoid them. ^_~

Zenigata is again a joke in this one, just doing a couple of cameos to say, "I'm here!" Oh well. I enjoy it more when he has a more substantive role.

Space Battleship Yamato 04

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 04
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 04 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: On Gamilus, Vice President (副総統) Hiss reports to Supreme Leader Desler that the Yamato has survived the long-range missile attack. Desler isn't worried about it and leaves it to his commanders at the Pluto base -- Gantz and Shultz. As the crew leaves Earth on course for the moon, they are briefed about the warp technology provided them with the Wave-Motion engine. Yuki, as the Yamato's radar person, is assigned the task of finding a clear spot from which to perform a warp test.

As the robot wakes the sleeping Sado-sensei for some comedy, the Gamilons on Pluto launch a carrier to take out the Yamato. The crew of Yamato makes preparations for a warp test after Yuki finds a suitable spot. The incoming Gamilon carrier is detected by Yamato, but because of the warp test preparations, none of their weapons can be brought online. Susumu receives permission to launch the Black Tiger fighter squadron to intercept the Gamilon fighters. The Black Tiger's clear the skies with only one damaged fighter. Captain Okita orders the fighters to return. The damaged fighter barely manages to limp back before the carrier launches missiles. However, the Yamato was able to warp from the moon to Mars.

The Gamilons are stunned by this development and report this back to Desler, who again is unconcerned. The crew of Yamato celebrates their success. The warp test caused some damage though, so Captain Okita orders Yamato to land on Mars to effect repairs. Before the repair work starts, some of the crew decide to enjoy the snow that is falling on Mars.

Thoughts/Review: Why is it snowing on Mars? Weird.

I wonder if Yuki is going to be the show's default babe for the situation. They needed a nurse early on, so she was a nurse. Now they need a babe on the bridge, so she's a radar person. Plus, when we warp, her clothes disappear completely. Yay! Isn't that special? I know that didn't make the cut for the Star Blazer's version. *lol*

Talk about a design flaw -- perform a warp test and all your weapons are offline? I could understand your main guns maybe, but not the smaller, anti-aircraft ones.

Regardless, the episode is pretty slow with lots of exposition on their warp technology. That said, I'm guessing there is some table setting for future things.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 234 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 37 Chapter 234

Summary/Synopsis: Chrono, Keiichi, and Belldandy walk through the streets of the city, where Chrono is amazed by it all. They happen upon Ootaki and Tamiya, who are working a construction site with jackhammers and acting very odd about their enthusiasm for the job. Belldandy detects the rhythm of the jackhammers and determines it to be a fragment of the Note Tuner Renewal program. She and Chrono then extract it. This causes Ootaki and Tamiya to stop work because the jackhammer rhythm is no longer there. The site foreman sees them slacking and decides they need to be taught a lesson.

After Belldandy explains about the noises of the world, Risa-chan arrives on her training-wheels bicycle and greets "Bell-mama." Because of the noises her bicycle is making, Belldandy and Chrono detect another program fragment and extract it for Belldandy to process. However, there are some problems in the extraction as they don't tune up with each other right away. Leaving a puzzled Risa-chan, the trio continue their search with Chrono sining a tune cheerfully. However, Belldandy and Keiichi find her to not sound good even though she has just stated her singing often gets her compliments.

Thoughts/Review: Hmmm. I guess this was a way for Fujishima-sensei to be clever by half and put in an image to suggest a little yuri action between Belldandy and Chrono even though none is there. However, I'm willing to bet that if I did some cruising of certain Japanese blogs and image boards, I'd find Chrono and Belldandy extracted from this page, where their clothing would then be photoshopped off. No, I'm not going to look.

Its usually nice to see Ootaki and Tamiya in the manga and this time was no exception. Risa-chan's arrival was completely unexpected. Talk about characters who have a one-shot entrance as a joke EARLY in the manga (so that she can say "Bell-mama" and cause Ootaki and Tamiya to tease Keiichi about it). Ah, I remember those good old days where Urd rigged her version of the Game of Life which resulted in Belldandy winning and kissing Keiichi as her prize. That's like another lifetime ago.

Anyway, I guess the story is now shifting into the crisis point with Chrono going off tune. Ooo! Scary stuff. ^_~

AstroNerdBoy Turns 39!

Woo!Hoo! Happy birthday to me, y'all! It doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that I was 19, living in Japan, seeing anime stuff for the first time (but certainly not being a fan), and having my mind corrupted to become a future fan. ^_~

Since I did a manga image last year, this year I'm going to do an anime one, going back to one of my favorite anime titles, Hand Maid May. I would have provided a larger image, but we have a case here of arrogant bozos who want people to pay them for scans "to control bandwidth usage." Yeah, you still can't legally do that and besides, there are TONS of free image hosting sites where you could put these big images. Oh, I forgot -- that's not the point, is it? ^_~

Anyway, here's May and company.

Negima! Manga Vol 24 (Ch 221) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 24 Chapter 221 (manga)

Summary/Synopsis: As Sayo-chan soars with the birds, Yue and her fellow knights stand guard. Yue explains just why they are guards at a peace festival, considering the northern and southern powers both try little things behind the other's back and the knights are the most powerful, neutral force. The northern Mesenbrina Alliance's (Mesenbrina Union) largest warship and escorts are in the air and drop two giant "god soldiers" to the ground. In response, the southern power Herasu sends out a giant, ancient dragon. After this little display, representatives of the two sides meet and shake hands.

Makie and Yuuna observe this with Makie noting that the giants look a lot like the giants that were used in the Mahora Festival. Makie gives Yuuna a lesson on the local politics. She talks about how the Northern Coalition is made up mostly of humans originally from Earth and the Southern Empire is made up of beast people who are indigenous to the Magic World. As Makie continues her dissertation, Yuuna wonders if "Red Mark Makie" (and one of the Baka Rangers) ate sometime bad. Makie explains that she picked all this up from listening to all the talk back at the shop they worked at and wonders about studying Earth's history more seriously, something Yuuna thinks is impossible.

The two race off to see Nagi-san's match (Negi in adult form tag-teamed with the adult-form of Kotaro) and of course Nagi and Kotaro win. This means that Yuuna has also won, having bet on the match and confessing to having "fight mania." Makie wonders how Negi is doing and thinks it would be cool if Negi could show up since he's so strong as well. Makie worries that Negi might hate her because of the trouble they've caused him, which Yuuna says is impossible. However, the two need to contact Nagi-san as soon as possible.

As they talk, Ako comes up to serve them water. Ako begins to tear up as she sees her old friends. She and Makie embrace as Akira races to the scene, hugging all three.

Elsewhere, Negi has returned to his normal form and observes the crowds and the peace his father fought for. He ponders why Jack told him the stuff about Asuna and for free. He recalls all of the moments he's shared with Asuna. The thoughts give him comfort because despite her weaknesses, she's the straight-forward, "oneesan" type and because she's his indispensable partner.

As he decides to protect them all, he notices his arm reacts and gets swirly with dark magic. He immediately scans the crowd and discovers Fate a short distance away looking at him.

Thoughts/Review: I know I could have used any image, but Sayo-chan is such a scene stealer. Remember when she was just a sad little ghost? Now look at her. *lol* I'm glad to see that she's not only gone from a forgotten ghost who haunted the school (and did a poor job of that), to making friends and being attached to Asakura, to joining Ala Alba, to finally being able to go on her own to have some fun in the skies. Good stuff.

Smart Yuuna for remembering the beasts that had been used in the Mahora Festival. That brings back an old question of why they were on Earth in the first place (unless that is their place of origin). I wonder what she and Makie will say when they learn Negi is Nagi-san.

As for Fate's sudden appearance, again, not unexpected considering that Akamatsu-sensei has picked up the pace of the recent chapters. The question is, will the actual fight between the two break out right then and there. I figure they'll have a confrontation to be sure, but it won't be the final battle between the two. We'll see though.

Macross Frontier 17

マクロスF Episode 17
Macross F Ep. 17
Macross Frontier Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Cathy punishes Micheal and Alto for allowing Sheryl on board Macross Quarter by making them do laps in unpowered (?) flight suits. Ozama arrives and requests a meeting with Cathy when she's done. After their punishment is over, Micheal meets with the micronized Klan at a cafe. Klan has fixed herself up (as if for a date) and so gets angry when Micheal wants Klan to set up a meeting between him and a cute female pharmacist. However, Micheal's motives aren't known to Klan as he apparently wants to discuss the pill he discovered Grace attempting to give Sheryl back on Gallia 4. Micheal shushes Klan when he sees Luca being picked up in a limo across the street.

Ozama meets with Cathy in her room, where she reveals that someone with implants (at minimum) is involved in whatever is going on. With the cables unplugged all over the room, Ozama understands the need for hacking countermeasures. They are sure the people from Galaxy and Leon are involved in this somehow. The continue to discuss things, even making a mention of their own past relationship. Ozama comments on how the SMS currently can handle the Vajra with their weapons. After concluding their talk, Ozama asks if Cathy still knows how to make a pineapple cake, which she'd taught him to make for Ranka after he took the girl in. She asks why and his response is that he's been remembering the old times.

At Ozama's and Ranka's home, guards are outside so Alto is climbing up one of the ally walls to gain entry into Ranka's room, having been invited by Ranka. She reveals that Brera is out running an errand as is Ozama and that the guards are Brera's idea. She leaves to prepare coffee, leaving Alto to look at some of her framed pictures. He then finds Ai-kun's basket and when the critter leaps out onto his face, he is startled and falls backward onto the ground. After Ranka returns, she asks alto about the singing experiment and his thoughts. After hearing what he has to say, Ranka is encouraged and will give her best at the following day's concert, which Alto plans on attending.

In Leon's office, Leon discusses Fold Crystal with Luca, the heir to L.A.I. Luca speculates on Bilrer's possible uses for Fold Crystal and figures Leon's is the same. Leon is impressed with Luca's reasoning, but Luca is wrong as Leon has a different reason for wanting Fold Crystal.
With that, Grace steps out, this time in a male body.

Ozama pays a visit to the Extraterrestrial Life-form Research Institute on Island 3. Using a service tunnel, Ozama tries to sneak into the guarded facility but soon finds bars blocking his path. Brera shows up behind Ozama with a weapon and a threat to kill Ozama if he moves. Ozama pulls his pistol and Brera takes out the nearby light in the tunnel. Ozama fires several times but is unable to his Brera. The emergency light comes on revealing Ozama and Brera with blades and a stalemate. Ozama wants to know what's going on, but seeing Brera's harmonica, he has a flash of a young boy and can't believe it. Brera informs Ozama that Ranka's singing is required as the SMS weapons are only effective for now. However, before things can go further, Brera receives and alert. The Vajra are inbound for an attack and they have to take care of it.

The Macross Quarter is dispatched and the SMS Skull Squadron launches. They fire their Reaction weapons at the incoming Vajra, but unlike last time, this time the Vajra simply shed their skin and keep coming. Brera, in his fighter, reveals that the Vajra are able to adapt so that weapons that had previously worked against them won't work after a time. Further, his own beam weapon will soon be ineffective against the Vajra.

One Vajra makes a run on Macross Quarter and appears will hit the bridge with its attack, but the attack is intercepted by Ozama, who survives. He informs Brera that as long as he has breath, he'll keep fighting the Vajra with whatever it takes to protect Ranka and the woman he loves (Cathy). He then takes and energy knife and attacks the Vajra despite his damaged fighter. Brera finds this foolish as the other SMS fighters join Ozama in the fight. Brera uses his gun, which can still take out Vajra.

After the fight, Michael, Luca, and Alto are seated in a balcony booth for Ranka's concert. In a nearby booth, Cathy and Ozama sit and talk about things. Cathy suggests stopping by her place after the concert but is horrified when she discovers that Ozama is severely injured and bleeding badly. Later at the hospital, Micheal comments to Cathy on how emotional things would have been if Ozama had died. Inside Ozama's hospital room, Ranka is not happy with Ozama nearly getting himself killed. He points to the slice of Pineapple Cake and asks if Ranka wants some. She says she only wants some if he makes it, which he promises to do.

Outside the hospital, Grace and Sheryl meet with Sheryl figuring it is time for a talk.

Review/Thoughts: I understand some of the songs here are from the rock group from Macross 7. However, I still can't get passed that awful first episode with that whiny loser getting into a fighter and crying for people (and whatever alien beings there were) to listen to his song. Ugh. If you've seen it and wish to make a case for me to somehow press on, feel free to leave a comment.

Micheal -- why hasn't he acted earlier on that drug he realized was being used by Grace to poison Sheryl? I think I would have tried to get that taken care of sooner rather than later, especially since Sheryl's life is at stake.

Speaking of Sheryl, I guess she gets to confront Grace next episode.

Well, now we know where Fold Crystal comes from. Hmmmm. Also, just where are those Vajra eggs located? One suspects somewhere on Macross Frontier.

Poor Klan. She reminded me of Shana from Shakugan no Shana in this episode. I don't think she's going to have any luck with Micheal.

Interesting that the Japanese used the Kanji for "Ai" and then spelled out "kun" in English for Ai-kun's basket. While it seems a long shot at best for Macross Frontier to be licensed, it will force both the translator and the English dub director to deal with an honorific (the former assumes a non-FUNimation license). That makes me giggle in a terrible way.

You know, when Ozama revealed how injured he was at the concert, I really thought that we'd have a repeat of what happened in Macross. Instead, the writers pulled a fast one (especially since Ozama had escaped dying twice before in the episode) and turn it into a humorous moment at the hospital. So hats off to the writers for that one.

I liked the look back at Ozama taking Ranka in when she was a child. I hope Ozama can actually live through the series, end up with Cathy, and well have a happy life in this fictional world. ^_^

Keroro Gunsou 57

ケロロ軍曹 Episode 57
Sgt. Frog anime, 57
Keroro Gunsou episode 57

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The younger brother of the Viper alien that Keroro's platoon defeated is on Earth for revenge. He kidnaps Keroro from a Java Riser event (disguised as one of the stage villains). He nabs Giroro with a Natsumi look-alike. He takes Tamama with a fake cookie-candy house. Then he snares Kururu with a package trap that says, "Do not open." The Viper then sends a message to Dororo, showing him his captives and challenging him to come to the Viper's lair. Dororo leaves Koyuki and makes his way to the den, where he defeats the first two traps laid for him. However, the Viper has a music box that Keroro destroyed when they were kids and Dororo is in trauma (Keroro seeing this begins to confess to all sorts of misdeeds). However, Koyuki arrives and snaps Dororo back to reality. Dororo defeats the Viper, who comes back in giant form. Keroro uses a Flash Spoon to make himself even bigger, meaning the Keroro Platoon wins.

With Keroro still huge, he's taken to the private island owned by the Nishizawa Group. Nishizawa and Fuyuki are alone looking at the ocean when Keroro emerges with a ton of food. Keroro plans to relax, but he can't do any of his favorite things because he's a giant. Giroro gets angry with Keroro's tantrum but Keroro swears he has a plan and it involves a Godzilla parody with Keroro also becoming a giant in monster costume. Keroro will battle Giroro, win, and thus win the hearts of the children. However, they soon discover that they don't have the Flash Spoon. Instead, it is in the kitchen where a cuttlefish touches it and becomes a giant, capturing Keroro. Moa uses the spoon to become a giant and is captured. Tamama gets jealous, becomes a giant, and gets captured. Fukuki does the same, so Nishizawa becomes a giant to defeat the cuttlefish. The spoon goes around to a crab and a turtle as well as to Paul, Giroro, Aki-san, Koyuki, & Kururu. Dororo tries to use it, but the spoon is out of battery power and thus he's the only one normal sized as everyone else feasts around a giant nabe pot.

Thoughts/Review: Well, we get two tokusatsu ("special effects" live-action titles) parodies. The first one is the Super Sentai tokusatsu (ie: Power Rangers) and the second one being the daikaiju ( giant monster) tokusatsu parody (ie: Godzilla). I think the giant monster story ended up going overboard because the moment Tamama went for the Flash Spoon, I figured that everyone would end up becoming a giant except for Dororo. The writers seem to think it is funny having Dororo be the odd man out most of the time, but I'm not laughing. Maybe in Japan, people are splitting their sides in laughter at Dororo's "trauma."

Slayers REVOLUTION 05

スレイヤーズREVOLUTION Anime episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina, Gourry, Zelgadiss, and Amelia are chasing Pokota with Lina popping off spells here and there. Pokota loses his pursuers in the bushes of the forest for a moment until Zelgadiss detects him. He uses clumps of his wire-like hair to flush the critter out, only to discover that he has located the Mazoku priest Xellos, who's holding Pokota in one hand and Zelgadiss's thrown hair in the other. When Pokota flails around, Xellos shuts him up by making the metal hair of Zelgadiss burn to ash.

After getting Xellos's standard "It is a secret" response to the question of why he is there, he points out the mist that has gathered to them. Pokota isn't too happy about this as Amelia discovers they are at the edge of a ruined city. They enter and Xellos lets Pokota go, the latter fleeing to Amelia's head. He demands to know who Xellos is, leading Lina to respond that Xellos is her useful item number 4. Xellos twitches at this remark as Lina quietly informs Pokota that none of them can handle Xellos.

Pokota reveals that the name of the town and country is Tagorashia. Neither Lina, Amelia, nor Zelgadiss are aware of this country though Gourry claims to know something, only he's forgotten (which doesn't sit well with Lina). Xellos explains that Tagorashia was founded ages ago by people from Sairaag (Seiraag). However, Tagorashia was struck with Durum Disease, which had no cure at the time. As such, no one wanted to help the people of Tagorashia and it was sealed off with a mist arriving from time-to-time to open a path to the hidden country.

Pokota states that not everything Xellos said was correct and leads them inside what was formerly an indoor cemetery. There, they discover the inhabitants of Tagorashia encased in crystal, looking very much like the work of Hellmaster Fibrizo (Phibrizzo), as pointed out by Xellos. Apparently, this was done by a powerful mage, whom the group learns is Aka Houshi (Red Priest) Rezo. Pokota is asked why the people are still encased when the cure for Durum Disease has been around for a while. Pokota explains that Rezo has to undue the spell. Since Lina killed Rezo (Ruby Eye Shabranigdu), his return might be problematic. Pokota points out that if Rezo were dead, the spell would have automatically come undone, therefore he can't be dead.

Xellos does his normal vanishing act as Pokota leads the group to the Royal residence. There is an explosion, so Lina and Amelia cast the white magic spell Extball to put out the flames. They enter the palace and are greeted by the beast-man Duclis, the Ruvinagald Marquis Gioconda, and her maid Ozel. Duclis addresses Pokota as Prince Posel Corba Tagorashia. Apparently, they are the ones stealing mage-tanks and selling them. Lina talks with her party about this turn of events and Amelia, thinking Lina is concerned about the fact that there is royalty here, reminds them that she's a princess. Not the point!

Pokota attacks Duclis and company, but he absorbs the spell easily. Pokota then casts the powerful fire spell Burst Flare, but it has no effect and causes Pokota to get burned (Lina chastising the Digimon for casting such a spell indoors). Lina wonders why Duclis survived such an attack and then notices the Tiger-man's armor. Pokota confirms her fear -- it is Zanaffar (Zanafar) Armor. After Pokota and Duclis (whom Pokota knows) exchange words, Duclis attacks with a mysterious beam attack. The group retreats to a nearby ledge before Pokota attempts to counter-attack with his Sword of Light. He manages to get a small amount of damage on Duclis's armor.

Lina promises Duclis that she will take him down, but it is mostly a bluff. Pokota attempts to attack again, however in mid-flight, he's stopped as Xellos reveals himself to be holding the critter. Xellos reveals that he is allied with Marquis Gioconda. She orders Xellos to kill Lina and company, but he proposes they back off as Duclis's armor is damaged. Gioconda is not happy and angrily asks if Xellos is disobeying her. Xellos reminds her that he is her ally and does not have to obey her at all. With that, he tosses Pokota into a ruined wall and with a smile and motion at Lina, Xellos is gone again.

Back in Ruvinagald, Marquis Gioconda asks why Duclis's Zanaffar Armor was damaged when it is supposedly invincible. He explains that the armor is far from complete and that he had miscalculated about the Sword of Light. Xellos arrives and produces a copy page from the Claire Bible regarding the making of Zanaffar Armor. After Duclis reads it and gains an understanding of what needs to be done, Xellos destroys the page, lest if fall into the wrong hands. He cautions his allies to be careful around Lina and company. Gioconda orders Ozel to summon the assassin Zuuma.

Review/Thoughts: For those who've asked, I've been using the KanzakaDex spellings more often than the CPM spellings for name of people, places, and spells. For whatever reason, even though the proper spellings of things would be all over (maps, whatever), CPM spelled things their own way half the time. Oh well.

Plot time! I didn't recognize Duclis when he showed up in the OP sequence. However, he was a main player in the 5th Slayers novel. I hesitate to say more for those who've not read the 5th novel, but "Zanaffar" is the key word there. ^_~ Anyway, it is VERY cool to see he's back (and it certainly goes a ways in explaining the faux Sword of Light). Also cool is next episodes arrival of Zuuma, who was also a big part of the novels but sadly was removed from the Slayers anime. Clearly, the production team going back and picking these guys up is pure fanservice of the good variety! Most freaking excellent!

Marquis Gioconda and Ozel are not names I'm familar with so they may be anime-only creations, as is Pokota. Ruvinagald is supposedly in the novels but I'm checking that. I didn't see it on the map.

Xellos return is most excellent. I loved how Lina annoyed him by ranking him as her fourth most useful thing. However, Lina showed her true respect for Xellos in her warning to Pokota about how none of them could take on Xellos. She seems to know just how far she can push Xellos, which is why Lina is such a freaking cool sorceress. ^_^ Of course Gioconda does not seem to know how far to push Xellos, which lead to the "evil eye" (if you will) and the warning from Xellos to his ally. I liked how Xellos shows respect to Lina and company with his words of advice to Gioconda and company on being careful of Lina and company.

Ozel is a real mystery here. I can't help but think she'll end up being a Mazoku.

Also, Rezo. I think Rezo is dead, but maybe there was another Copy Rezo around. It will be interesting to see where that goes. Also, what the smeg is Xellos doing allied with Gioconda and company?

Zelgadiss has a new ability with his hair. I like it. ^_^

I think Wiser is going to show back up before this story arc is done.

Bottom line here is that we move into the plot phase of the anime without forgetting the humor or fun (they just take more of a back seat). This is a really good episode and I for one am glad to see that through five episodes, Slayers REVOLUTION is getting the positive treatment it deserves!

Space Battleship Yamato 03

Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 03
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 03 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Supreme Ruler Desler authorizes his commander on the Gamilon base on Pluto to launch a large, long-range missile which will take out the Yamato. On Earth, Captain Okita briefs the crew as to their mission and tells them that those wishing to leave may do so during the parade. During the parade, the survivors of Earth send off the crew and no one has quit. Okita gives Daisuke and Susumu a tour of the ship and its weapons, aided at times by Yuki and Sado-sensei. They also meet Chief Engineer Tokugawa, whom Susumu questions about Okita's ability to get them through this mission alive. Susumu then meets the heads of various departments that will report to him on ship.

Meanwhile at the Earth Defense Forces HQ, the missile has long been spotted and its target is now known. Susumu reports this to the captain who then reports to the bridge. Daisuke fails to get the sub-engines started so the ship can take off due to his forgetting a step. He retries and while it initially seems to fail, the engines to fire up and the Yamato is off the ground. Susumu takes control of Yamato's weapons and before the large warhead can destroy Yamato, the Yamato shots the missile, setting off a massive nuclear blast. However, the Yamato survives and carries on.

Thoughts/Review: OK, so Earth's final warship warship is discovered and takes out an enemy carrier. So what do the humans do? Why have a parade. Yeah, that's some smarts, y'all. I'd be like, "time to get the frack out of Dodge, get what we need, and get back with time to spare." Well, people did need to say their goodbyes, eh?

Well, the writers needed to give the audience a tour of the Yamato as well, so while the missile comes to attack, we see everything about the ship. Then after the tour and the Yamato learns of the missile, lets waste time by running to tell the captain instead of using a communication system. I guess we needed to build the tension.

When the Yamato was trying to take off and failing, I kept hearing Princess Leah say, "You came in that bucket of bolts? You're braver than I thought."

So basically, we have an episode to say how cool our ship is. Hopefully, there aren't a lot more time-wasting episodes like this.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 233 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 37 Chapter 233

Summary/Synopsis: Belldandy explains to Keiichi the problems that will happen if the Note Tuner Renewal Program isn't recovered and executed by Belldandy. Urd, who's been listening in, reminds Chrono that even though the Melody Ball has been destroyed, since Belldandy is supposed to execute the program, she'd become the vessel for storing the program as well (for execution). Skuld produces her "Program Search Mark 2 vs. 2.1.5" device to help search for the fragments. This means that they can have two search parties with Belldandy in one and Skuld in the other.

Consulting a topographical map to locate where Keiichi found Chrono falling from the sky, the locate where the power line poll was at that Chrono hit. Belldandy figures a 5.2KM radius for the search. Welsper's arrival causes Chrono to pass out from apparent fear. That leads Urd to have some fun with Chrono (using a not amused Welsper) the following morning when Chrono awakens.

Skuld is teamed up with Urd for the search, which doesn't please her so well. Knowing this, Urd decides to have some fun with Skuld on Urd's broom. Belldandy and Chrono team up with Belldandy assuring Chrono that Peorth doesn't have to know about this just yet.

Thoughts/Review: Why is Chrono acting all surprised at seeing Urd when in fact Urd had only the chapter before been teaching Chrono to act like a slave maid.

I will admit that I chuckled a bit when Urd teased Chrono with Welsper. Its the look on Welsper's face that made it amusing, combined with how Urd is holding the mazoku (demon) cat. However, Chrono's naivety is not funny to me.

Still, as I thought, this is not a story I care much for. Operation "find the program fragments" just isn't gripping me.