Negima! Chapter 243 SPOILER Images

Negima! 243 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 243 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 243 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all). Amazingly, they are out EARLY (remember last time, they took forever).

Naked Ako, clothed Ako, Fate, Negi, and Jack kicking bottom. ^_^

Thanks to "Anon" for the head's up. I think this is the earliest the spoilers have ever come out.

Update: The 2nd batch of spoiler images can be found --> HERE.

Space Battleship Yamato 2 -- Final Thoughts

Having enjoyed Space Battleship Yamato well enough, I looked forward to seeing its sequel, Space Battleship Yamato 2. I liked the idea of "space marines" ("space cavaliers" actually) being added to the mix and for there to be other ships other than Yamato. Unfortunately, the writers got lazy and this sequel does not live up to its parent.

The biggest problem from the start with this new series is that from the start, the villain Desler from the Space Battleship Yamato is magically returned to life to play a 2nd-tier villain this time. I was not happy to see this because if you are going to kill a character, then leave them dead. Otherwise, what's the point? Then, the writers made it clear that they were going to follow the identical format from the first series by having a powerful, mysterious enemy attack, a warning message from a blonde-haired alien woman is then dispatched, and Yamato heads out to some remote alien planet to do whatever and return for the final confrontation. Been there, done that.

The next issue I had is with the character of Susumu -- or "Acting Captain Kodai" as he is known in the series. How long has it been since Yamato returned to Earth? Long enough that Earth has multiple fleets and the Earth itself is completely healed from the Gamilus devastating attacks. So why is he only "Acting Captain?" It makes no sense to me. I know there's some effort to give respect to the original captain, Ogata, but seriously, either be a captain or not. Most of the time, Susumu is not a captain -- he only plays one. That's why he can't control the commander of the space cavaliers, Saito. That's also why he races off more than once to jump in a fighter to get away from the responsibility.

That brings me to the character of Saito. As I mentioned before, having actual troops on board Yamato excited me because (1) you had troops to defend the ship against a possible boarding and (2) you had ground forces to be used if needed for planetary missions. Unfortunately, the space cavaliers are not used well at all. After seemingly losing most of their forces before being rescued by Yamato, their leader Saito shows himself to be an ignorant ape leading a troop of ignorant apes. He has no military discipline and constantly fought with Susumu (who should have had the gorilla thrown in the brig). Early on, he tries to interfere with everyone else's job, thinking that he can magically do that job without training, including flying a fighter. I wrote this dialog to depict Saito.

Saito (in moron voice): Duh, I big and strong. I fight. I in armies. I like guns. Fighter plane got guns, therefor I can use. I in arm-mees!

Susumu: Don't you know the chain of command?

Saito: Duuuh, I lead my arm-mee. I make rule. I no listen to man with shag hair on sissy space ship. I in arm-mees! You make order that dumb. You let enemy go. Enemy must die. I in arm-mees so I know enemy must die. I in ARM-MEES!

Susumu: Whatever.

By the end of the series when Saito and his men are actually used a tiny bit effectively, it didn't matter. I didn't care and if Saito died -- good riddance to bad rubbish.

Next on the agenda is the laughable element the writers dared to call "romance." The series starts with Yuki and Susumu supposedly caring for each other. Well, I believe Yuki did but Susumu is just a loser. Regardless, Susumu shuts down the romance until after the mission and then it is forgotten until almost the very end when Earth is on the line. However, even in the original series, their feelings for each other never seemed real and they don't feel real here either. I just rolled my eyes and tried to remember that the series was done in the 70's and is a shounen title.

Also on the romance front is the supposed romance between Daisuke and the alien Teresa. That gets forced on us when Daisuke decides that as navigator-pilot for Yamato, he's the only one qualified to speak with Teresa. As such, it is time to kick out the normal communications guy and use your best pickup lines. Yeah, whatever. So when Yamato finally reaches Teresa's planet, there was no way I believed she was somehow in love with Daisuke and vice versa. It all smacked of a convienent but forced situation so that Teresa could save Daisuke's life twice. As such, nothing that happened between them had any meaning for me.

Next are the villains. The White Comet fools are cliched as they come as is Desler. Desler performs one semi-surprise at the end of the series which seemed totally out of character in my opinion but whatever. Meh.

So is there anything good about the series? Not really. That's not to say it is some horrible anime, but the writing is not as good, the characters are weaker, the situations become more and more improbable and in the end, not only did I not care about any of the characters or the story, I couldn't wait for it to be over. As such, I can only give this a 2 out of 5.

I don't have access to Space Battleship Yamato 3, but considering the dropoff in Yamato 2, I wouldn't be that enthused about Yamato 3 no matter what.

Back To The Vaults: Planetes

プラネテス
ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ

Recently, I read some articles about two satellites crashing in space and the debris they create (here, here, and here). That reminded me of the anime Planetes, which features Earth of 2075 where the main characters are members of the Debris Section of a large company, charged with collecting all of the debris in orbit of Earth. A piece of debris destroying a passenger space plane is the setup to the anime. So, I thought I'd take the time to rewatch this anime, which I really enjoyed when I first saw it in 2006, and see how it held up the second time.

The anime, based on the four-volume manga by YUKIMURA Makoto-sensei, covers quite a bit of territory in terms of subject matter. Yes, the issue of space debris is at the heart of the series, but the series is also a parody of Japanese business practices and office politics. This aspect, which was not present in the manga, is where the series derives some humor from the Debris Section two low-level managers. The office politics also provides some means of drama as section chiefs battle to prove they are better than other section chiefs and even do things to sabotage those who aren't "in" (such as the Debris Section's section chief, Dolf, who's original company was bought out and then became the Debris Section).

In the midst of these two main elements of the anime, many other issues are explored such as the negative health aspects of long-term life in space (cancer from radiation), what happens when someone is born and raised on the moon, terrorism (especially in space), the unintended consequences of getting off of crude oil as an energy source, the opposition to other forms of energy no matter what they come from (leading to environmental terrorism), the corrupt nature of the political organization International Treaty Organization (INTO), the value of continued space exploration (with the launch of the Jupiter mission ship, Von Braun) and the complaints about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

The story starts with the debris collection and some lighter stuff, but also has the main female character, TANABE Ai, show herself to be very naive and preachy. So for the first few episodes, the audience has to deal with her adjustment to the realities of working in space versus the idealistic dream she had. After that, the other elements are blended in portraying what comes off as a very believable future -- no mecha, no blasters, but technology that seems right. This is added to by having space shots not have sound (save for the sounds of voices on the radio, or the noises that one might hear in an EVA suit), have the areas of the space station not under centrifugal force (artificial gravity) float (and learn to travel in weightlessness), have people shown to move easier with the lighter gravity of the moon, etc. These were excellent touches that improves the enjoyability of the anime.

The first half of the series focuses on the debris collection and office politics mostly with some moments of the terrorist group Space Defense Force. Also, the romance between the male lead, Hachi, and Ai begins. The second half of the anime shifts focus to the building of the Jupiter exploration ship Von Braun, Hachi decides to follow a dream and go through the rigorous weeding out process to reduce 20,000 applicants to 18. During this part, the Space Defense Force steps up its activities and the relationship between Ai and Hachi is somewhat strained by Hachi's single-minded determination to become a member of the crew which means ignoring Ai. However, all story elements are resolved nicely and it was a joy to watch.

What makes this anime so interesting is how the writers basically took three volumes of manga (maybe a bit of volume 4) and turned it into a 26-episode anime. Frankly, I find the anime to be one of the rare exceptions where it uses the core of the source manga and makes something new (but with similar themes). All of the Japanese business and office politic stuff (and characters) are anime-only elements, so they are a bit rougher in the beginning, but blend in quite well by the anime's end. There are other characters which only appear in the anime, such as Claire, but are worked pretty well to advance the overall themes and plot.

The anime did not include elements such as Toy Box captain Fee joining an anti-war movement on Earth after Hachi joins the Von Braun crew, Hachi's dreams that feature an alien apparently talking to him, "The Baron," who joins the Debris Section to replace Hachi and who claims to be an alien, Fee's attempt at a life as a mother and housewife, and the Von Braun's arrival at Jupiter, where Hachi ends up having to make the speech. To be honest, most of these elements were things I didn't much care for in the manga. I would have liked to have seen Hachi get to Jupiter though. The one thing that the anime SORELY missed is the exploration of Ai's family. In the manga, that's where Hachi proposes to Ai -- at her parent's home. Oh well.

As to the DVD set, there are lots of extras from Bandai which are very enjoyable. The subtitles make use of the Japanese honorifics "senpai" and "sensei' but most of the others are dropped. There is an instance where a male character is given a "-chan" honorific and it survives, which is strange because the person using the honorific addresses all of his people, male or female, with the "-chan" honorific. Oh well. I will say that the lack of honorifics in the subtitles removes a clue that the Japanese provide regarding Nono-chan.

In the end, the anime writers create an adaptation of the manga which makes many changes to the original story but retains many core elements and end up creating something that is (for the most part) much better than the original anime. The production values in animation are excellent to give things a feeling of really being in space and the direction and overall writing are pretty solid. As such, if you haven't at least watched this anime, I highly recommend it.

Note: my original review can be found --> HERE for those interested.

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 173

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Doumeki, Himawari-chan, Kohane-chan, and Mokona are all eager to enjoy whatever Watanuki is going to make food-wise. Watanuki says he's going to make onigiri, so Kohane-chan asks if they can make them together. Watanuki looks at his friends and agrees that he'll do just that.

Sometime later, Watanuki sits outdoors alone with Yuuko-san and discusses his cooking student. Watanuki reflects on how he handled the woman and in the end, Yuuko-san reminds him that everything that transpired is hitsuzen as is parting. Watanuki grabs Yuuko-san's arm, leading her to remark that her shop-home was built for the day that must come, but if the place is a reason that Watanuki decides to stay, then she's happy. Watanuki recognizes Yuuko-san's kimono from a dream he had. Yuuko-san tells him that the dream will end soon.

Thoughts/Review: It is clear to me that CLAMP are simply marking time to do whatever it is they have to do with the Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- (and to be honest, that is dragging in the middle of a lot of action, which is an amazing feat). There was no advancement of either plot or character development. CLAMP has long hinted that the manga is winding down and this chapter was simply another statement to that effect. The whole story of Watanuki and the cooking student seems rather pointless despite Yuuko-san's exposition making a weak attempt to justify the story as another learning moment for Watanuki. However, there was nothing new to be learned there as I saw it.

I've no clue how CLAMP plans to wind this down. I would like to see Zashiki-Warashi again before the series ends.

Urusei Yatsura 106

うる星やつら episode 106 (TV anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ataru and Lum's Storm Troopers attack the front gate and are successful at taking the guards by surprise. However, when Megane mentions that Ataru's gun is a toy, the guards turn and attack. Ataru can't get the gun to work and it is knocked from his hand. However, it gets stepped on and explodes, leading to victory for Ataru's side. Outside the guard house, they discover a tank and a small, single-seat helicopter. Ataru takes the 'copter and is off while the Storm Troopers race ahead in the tank. Ataru makes it to the main house, where Lum just happens to look out and see him. Ataru is happy to see Lum, but since Shuutaro can't have Lum's memory return, Ataru is shot down and crashes some distance away. Meanwhile, the Storm Troopers run into a "wall" of waiting tanks and their tank is soon taken out of action.

Ataru races back through the woods where he finds them heavily booby trapped and even Shinobu is running from the Yankee leader in the woods. He's also attacked by one of Shuutaro's helicopters. With some of the Storm Troopers captured, Shuutaro has Lum and Ten moved to a new location while in the woods, Ataru gets whacked with a giant mallet. It is Ryoko, who has decided to help Ataru because it will irritate Shuutaro. She has a present for Ataru -- a racing motorcycle and a racing suit to match. Now that it is daylight, Ataru is off and Shuutaro takes a WWII fighter plane to try to remove Ataru forever, going so far as to bomb the building Ataru hides in. Meanwhile, Perm gets captured, leaving only Megane left of the Storm Troopers.

Shuutaro returns to Lum and tells her the evil men after her will soon be dispatched. Cherry somehow is on the scene and since he's a spy for Ryoko, it will take a year's worth of beef bowls to bribe information out of him. Ataru begins receiving reports of multiple Ataru sightings and realizes Ryoko is working against him by helping Ataru. Ataru hitches a train until it is stopped by Shuutaro on a bridge. Shuutaro wonders why Ataru tries so hard get Lum back when he's always going after other girls. Ataru says its because he doesn't want anyone else to have Lum and charges. Lum sees Ataru under attack and instinctively escapes the room and flies to his aid. Shuutaro has lost.

At school the next day, Ataru is back up to his old tricks and Lum is back to giving him electrocutions to keep him in line.

Thoughts/Review: While this episode was certainly enjoyable from a chaotic, humorous sense, it did lack the sense of poignancy that 105 had. There was an element of it through Lum, but Ataru was more in line with regular Ataru. Yet even when he laughed and told Shuutaro that as much as he didn't like being attached to Lum, he couldn't stand the thought of her being with someone else, I did feel that this was just an excuse. Ataru needed to save face and so just says he doesn't want anyone else with Lum. His statement is true, but as Shuutaro I believe understood, Ataru's feelings are deeper than what he says aloud. No one in their right mind would go through the things Ataru did to get Lum back and not care about Lum a great deal. Just my thought.

Shuutaro comes off as the real jerk in this episode. His basically making Lum a prisoner so that Ataru can't have her is worse than Ataru flirting with other girls IMO.

While the story in and of itself is more serious, the moments of humor are just wacky. I think of Ataru running through the woods and encountering all sorts of nutty things including Shinobu running from that weird looking Yankee. Then there was the moment when Ataru emerged from the secret underground entrance by one of Ryoko's guards and the guard ended up giving Ataru a ton of presents. Those comedy moments were the exception, not the rule though.

I do hope to see better episodes from here on out. I hear the animation quality is quite good with the next episode.

White Album 08 (or How Much Punishment Can a Girl In Love Take?)

ホワイトアルバム Episode 08

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Haruka nearly gets assaulted by two men and is rescued by the screams of Mana. Rina has a long conversation with Touya on the roof of Ogata Productions regarding Yuki and her own singing career, leaving Touya with an invitation to come see Rina any time. Touya comes home to find Haruka in his bed. Yuki attempts to make contact with Touya, but he avoids her and stays at his father's house, helping Misaki make the costumes. This also helps him avoid Shinozuka-san, who's also apparently looking for him. Yuki makes contact with Misaki at Touya's father's house while Touya goes shopping for a birthday present for Rina with Haruka. Yuki and Touya finally have an uncomfortable meeting at Ogata Productions when Touya brings Rina a present. Touya stays to hear the recording sessions and is taken home by Shinozuka-san. She stops on the way and as punishment for Touya's stopping by the studio, she kisses him passionately. He responds and thinks an apology to Misaki for being late.

Thoughts/Review: The more anime I watch in Japanese and learn more things about Japanese culture, the more I appreciate little things. This week, it was the Zashiki-warashi, which is a humanoid, female youkai that has featured in a few stories in the xxxHOLiC manga. So when Haruka mentions the Zashiki-warashi to Touya, I went, "I know what that is!" I think Haruka is referring to Mana, who looks pretty young and saved her from a sexual assault (or even a rape).

Haruka is still the one to be used and abused. I do feel badly for her. I don't know what she sees in Touya but maybe we'll get some more answers down the road.

Haruka isn't the only one I feel bad for. There's also Yuki. Now that it appears that Touya has boinked Shinozuka-san, how can he look Yuki in the eye at all? More on that in a bit.

This brings me to Yuki, Rina, and the goddess issue that has come up a few times. Touya has known Yuki for a number of years. Touya like Yuki, but considering how he takes things for granted and doesn't give much effort at times (such as showing up to work or to an appointment on time), it is amazing that Yuki even likes Touya at all. Regardless, she does and that's that. Yuki is then recruited to become an idol. The term "idol" means " a representation or symbol of an object of worship" (Merriam-Websters). In effect, for Touya, Yuki has been elevated from mere human to a goddess.

Initially when we are introduced to Touya and Yuki, their relationship seemed one-sided, but the way the writers presented it, the viewer is left with the impression that Touya "worships" Yuki but Yuki has no time for him because of all the work associated with being an idol. With eight episodes under the belt, I see that the relationship IS one-sided, but it is all Yuki to Touya despite her being an idol. Touya has placed her on a throne so high as to be worthy of the gods. So while he is flattered to be with the beautiful idol Yuki, Touya sees himself as unworthy. Thus when access to the goddess has some obstacles in the way (Shinozuka-san for starters), he doesn't even bother to fight to overcome them -- he simply gives in because Yuki is now a goddess and thus shouldn't be with him.

On the other hand, there's Rina. She too is an idol, but she has no history with Touya and is only connected to him through her friendship with Yuki. Touya sees Rina as a goddess as well (as evidenced when Yuki brought her over to Echos). The difference is that Rina has always been a goddess to Touya and has descended from the heavens to consort with him (giving him her phone number). From Touya's perspective, this is a huge ego boost -- a popular idol is interested in him, a mere human. Thus when Rina is able to get Touya to make more of an effort for her than he does for Yuki. She realizes this and I think that while she enjoys whatever she's getting from Touya, she's also told him about dropping the goddess stuff -- neither she nor Yuki are the goddesses that Touya has made them.

What must Yuki be thinking though? She can't reach Touya and the one time she reaches someone, it is Misaki (with her own eye on Touya). Then after days and days of having no contact with her supposed boyfriend, suddenly he shows up to give Rina a birthday present. Does Yuki even have an inkling of what is going on (Shinozuka-san's "guarding the hen house" for starters)? It sucks to be Yuki to be sure. She should come right out and ask and were I Touya, I'd simply say that I know Yuki's career is very important and that Shinozuka-san and Ogata-san would not want her being distracted at the moment. Whether that would be enough or not, I don't know. Of course if I were Touya, I would have taking an "up yours" attitude toward Shinozuka-san and gone to see Yuki that night anyway.

I'm not Touya and so in addition to hiding from Yuki, let's consider his actions in staying to listen to recording sessions. In my mind, he was only there for Rina despite it being Yuki's invitation to listen to her record the music. Then Shinozuka-san offers to take him home. My first thought was, "OK, now what's she going to say?" Touya clearly expected to be chastised and were it me, I would have taken the train home (unless it was so late that the trains had already stopped for the night). Instead, he takes the ride with her and she pulls over to some secluded spot to punish him by kissing him passionately.

Shinozuka-san's character design does nothing for me, but for the sake of discussion, lets assume she's pretty attractive and roughly 30. That would help Touya give in (because as a guy, if some attractive woman keeps offering herself to you for your sexual pleasure, the "what the heck" idea of giving into that temptation is very strong). To me, it also means that he no longer sees himself as Yuki's boyfriend. Heck, he doesn't think an apology to Yuki, he thinks one to Misaki for being late to help her with the costumes. That also suggests to me that he might decide to pursue something with Rina, the goddess who condescended to spend time with him while at the same time, being a "nice guy" and trying not to hurt Yuki too much by hiding things from her.

One final thought or two regarding Mana. Last episode gave the impression that Mana knew Yuki. If so, why does Mana ask herself if the current girl she sees Yuki with is in fact Yuki? Could it be that Mana does know Yuki but still doesn't believe Touya? Also, I found it interesting that she referred to Touya and her "oniichan" in her conversation with Haruka. Does that mean she has a past with Touya somehow? I didn't like how just as Haruka mentions Touya's name, Mana is suddenly no where to be found.

Onward to the next episode, y'all.

Urusei Yatsura 105 (What? A Good Episode?)

うる星やつら episode 105 (TV anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After Lum electrocutes Ataru for asking so many girls to do different things, she decides to spend the night on her UFO. She sees a warning indicator when she arrives, but it goes green and she's not to worried. However, it ends up being bad trouble and her UFO crashes on the Mendou Estate. This is reported to Shuutaro, who's having a tea ceremony with his sister Ryoko and he helps investigate. At the crash site, Shuutaro discovers that it is Lum's UFO that has crashed and after his people take out her sleeping chamber, Shuutaro breaks the glass. Lum wakes up but she doesn't have any memories of who she is or why she's here. As such, she's taken to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Ten-chan is not happy at having been caught in Lum's attack and after arguing with Ataru, Ten leaves. A bummed Ataru sits on his balcony and nods off. When he wakes up, he sees something in the sky and thinks Lum is returning. It is only Ten-chan, who's in such a state, he crashes into the wall in Ataru's room. He tells Ataru that Lum's UFO is missing. Ten-chan rejects the idea that Lum went home alone but Ataru has to "encourage" Ten-chan to take him to his own small craft in the woods, there to attempt to make contact with Lum. Ataru is stunned when one of Shuutaro's body guards answers instead of Lum. The guard will not answer any questions and disconnects.

At school, Lum's absence is felt and Shinobu is surprised that Shuutaro is leaving so quickly after school. Ataru won't tell Lum's Storm Troopers anything about Lum's absence and requests a bit of Shuutaro's time. Chibi tries to eavesdrop but is discovered and sent packing. Ataru calmly tells Ataru to return Lum to him. Shuutaro refuses, saying that Lum has left Ataru for good, not wishing to see him. Ataru knows Shuutaro is lying, so Shuutaro gives Ataru a warning about what will happen if he trespasses on the Mendou Estate.

In the nurses station, Ten-chan is taking with Sakura-sensei about Lum's departure and they are overheard by Perm. Word spreads quickly and the other Storm Troopers are aware of the news by the time Perm gets there. So they decide that it is time for some words with Ataru on this subject. Ataru doesn't want their help in getting Lum back from Shuutaro and no amount of convincing will change his mind. So they head to the beef bowl restaurant where Chibi, Perm, and Kakugari have 2nd thoughts about retrieving Lum, especially if it means they'll be hurt. Megane can't believe what he's hearing, but the others leave him and the food bill.

Megane decides to go alone and puts on a protective suit of some kind. As he makes his way to the Mendou Estate, he is joined by each of the Storm Troopers, who've all had a change of heart. Megane's plan is simple -- assault the front gate and go from there. Before they can leave, Ataru pops his head from behind a wall. They are surprised to see him and wonder how he found them. Ataru explains that he knew they'd do something foolish like a frontal assault, so he waited at the best place to intercept them. Now that it is clear that Ataru is going to join them, Megane wonder's how Ataru will fight with no weapon. Ataru shows them Ten-chan's toy gun, which apparently is more powerful than Earth weapons. With that, it is time to rescue Lum.

Thoughts/Review: Wow. I know that Ochan mentioned to me that with episode 105, we'd see an improvement in the series. Seeing is believing as they say and it became clear within minutes that this wasn't the same old tired, boring, stupid, pointless Urusei Yatsura that I'd forced myself to endure of late. Indeed, Ataru's missing of Lum struck me immediately. His "fight" with Ten-chan, which while still humorous, combined the humor with a nice serious nature. Ataru is not dumb here and not just obsessed with self. Yes, his asking other girls out caused the fight which lead to Lum's UFO crashing and her amnesia, but because that's done off camera, it really made the story much better.

Anyway, as I said, Ataru is not dumb in this episode. After learning that Shuutaro has Lum, he knows that this is between himself and Shuutaro. He confronts Shuutaro in a calm, collective manner. Shuutaro has Lum and Ataru wants Lum back, plain and simple. Shuutaro refusing is to be expected. Ataru initially refusing the assistance of Lum's Storm Troopers (once they learn about things) is expected. Lum is Ataru's girl and he must fight for her. However, not being stupid, Ataru does accept their help for the task ahead. Man, I just loved that.

The Storm Troopers were done rather nicely this time. Indeed, I don't think I've ever respected them before this episode. They've always just been cannon fodder for comedy purposes as the self-proclaimed protectors (and #1 fans) of Lum. But here, the seriousness of trespassing on the Mendou Estate wherein they might get hurt or worse causes everyone but Megane to question things. After all, it has been a long time since Lum arrived (though of course, no one gets any older) and their feelings toward Lum aren't quite what they were when she first arrived. Megane's hasn't changed but in the end, when the others joined Megane, it was a nice moment, capped off with Ataru joining the group.

There was another nice touch in this episode. Prior to this, episodes have been centered around a specific character or event. However, this episode, while covering an event intelligently, makes use of some of the supporting characters in a nice way. Ryoko gets used for a bit of humor at the beginning. Shinobu and Ryuunosuke have their small parts to play in the normal progression of the plot, as does Sakura-sensei. As such, they come off differently and in a better light then they have been recently and frankly, I rather enjoyed that.

Clearly, for me to have written everything I've written, the episode had to do something for me and it did. I'd planned to fast-track the rest of the series but as good as this episode is (and it continues into the next episode), I'm going back to single-episode blogging again for the moment. Hopefully, things will continue to be as good as this episode, which Ochan promises me will happen. ^_^

Slayers Evolution-R 06

スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina and party arrive in Vezendi with food being chief on Lina and Gourry's mind. Amelia doesn't think that they should be worried about food but since Lina's plan is to wait and let Zuuma make the next move combined with Gourry saying they need to stock up on nutrition while they can, she reluctantly goes along with the plan. Zelgadiss does not approve and decides to do some investigating on his own. Lina is about to head to a nearby restaurant with Gourry but is stopped by a young boy who asks if she's Lina Inverse. She acknowledges it and he has a message for her.

The follow the boy to a giant mansion and estate where a middle-aged gentleman gives the boy a couple of gold coins for completing his mission. Lina makes a remark on the man's generosity and the man introduces himself as Radok Ranzaad (Ranzard?). He reveals that his life has been threatened and he needs her as a bodyguard. Further, the one threatening his life is none other than Zuuma. Radok's adult son Abel enters the library where they are all seated and does not approve of hiring Lina, considering the whole thing to be a big scam. In the process, he insults Lina a few times and she's had enough. Even an offer of a reward is not enough to keep her there until that reward is revealed to be the Hellmaster Jar, and it is brought in by none other than Ozel.

After learning that Ozel is now working for Radok, that Radok was bait set by Zuuma to ensare Lina, and that the Hellmaster's Jar is within her grasp, a frustrated Lina ends up taking the job, working out some of her frustrations in a massive food orgy at the local restaurant (inn). Amelia voices concern over their new client's safety, but Lina feels that since Zuuma's main target is her, she's the one he'll attack first, not Radok. Lina isn't to worried about an attack on the inn either until the inn is placed within a mazoku barrier and two mazoku -- Gduza and Dugld -- attack. Gduza goes after Amelia while Dugld goes after Zelgadiss. Both seem mostly uninterested in Lina.

Gourry tries to help as best as he can but does little. Zelgadiss holds his own for a bit with his Astral Vine enhanced sword but is soon trapped by Dugld and Amelia is soon trapped by Gduza. Lina has had enough and casts a powerful spell that forces the mazoku to retreat and the barrier to be broken. Xellos arrives, so an angry Lina confronts him about these two new mazoku, demanding to know what Xellos is doing. Xellos claims ignorance about these two mazoku and because Lina knows that Xellos does not lie, the answer satisfies her. With that, Xellos rights a table and causes a cup of tea to appear.

Back at the Ranzard estate, Abel comes home late and gets into an argument with his father over recent events. Ozel suggests a break and tells Abel to not trouble his father so. Abel later observes whatever his father is doing and does not seem happy by it.

Thoughts/Review: Man, it has been ages since I've read the first six novels (still need to read #7 & #8). That said, I do remember that Radok is somehow tied to Zuuma beyond the threat, but I don't remember what that connection is. I also want to say that Radok did have a servant, but I do know it wasn't Ozel. I want to say his servant was a mazoku and a powerful one, but I may be getting confused here. May be time to do some research...if I'm not feeling too lazy. *_*

What I don't remember off the top of my head are the mazoku Gduza & Dugld. If they were in the novels, they didn't have a big impact in my mind at least. Of course in the novels, Radok, Zuuma, and Seigram (the mazoku) were all part of the Garv (Gaav) plot to have Lina eliminated because Hellmaster seemed interested in her. Because Slayers Next changed things quite a bit from the novels (dropping the Zuuma element), I sometimes can't remember what went where. I know that Gduza & Dugld haven't been in the anime before, but it is possible they were in the novels. Those two mazoku must be more low-level because they retreated from a spell of Lina's rather than take it like upper-ranking mazoku can.

I did find it interesting that Xellos didn't know Gduza & Dugld. I don't know how mazoku society works, but I would have thought that Xellos might know more of his people. Then again, if they work for one of the other mazoku lords, he might not know all of them.

I'm still not sure what Ozel's role in everything is. Hopefully when all is said and done, her presence will make sense.

While the plot is being established, for some reason, I was ambivalent to this episode. Nothing struck me hard on either the good or the bad. Onward to the next episode I suppose.

Save Me! Lollipop (FUNimation DVD Review)

Mamotte! Lollipop (FUNimation DVD Review)
まもって！ロリポップ

BUY FROM AMAZON --> HERE!

Save Me! Lollipop is an anime based on the manga Mamotte! Lollipop (the original Japanese name) by KIKUTA Michiyo-sensei. The story centers around a young junior high school girl named Nina, who accidentally swallows what she thinks is a piece of hard candy that came with a piece of cake she ordered at a restaurant. Instead, it is a magical item known as the Crystal Pearl, which had been sent to Earth to allow contestants in a magic exam to capture it as part of becoming a professional mage in the Magic World. Two of the exam takers, Zero and Ichi, discover that Nina has swallowed the Crystal Pearl. However, since the pearl does not pass through the digestive tract, they will have to wait nearly six months before magical medicine is ready to extract the pearl without harming Nina. That means that Zero and Ichi have to protect Nina from scores of other teams of contestants all seeking the Crystal Pearl and the status of professional mage. That also means that Zero and Ichi have to be with Nina where ever she goes, including living with her in her closet (which has been magically transformed into a new room).

This series is clearly a shoujo title with some elements pulled from the mahou shoujo genre, only this time the lead girl is a normal human rather than a magical one and she's protected by a couple of magical boys and their magical mascot (familiar). For me, there was also a feel of a series like Pokemon, especially when opponents San and Forte are sent off into the sky, disappearing like Team Rocket does. Also, the rather sub-average animation adds to the kiddy feel of the show, making me think that this would be something seen on 4Kids TV. Normally, I don't notice the animation unless it is way below average or way above average. Sadly, this fell into the negative column.

The show thrives on fast-paced, chaotic moments done mostly for humorous purposes. As I mention, some of the comedy comes from sending teams attempting to nab Nina for themselves into orbit (or otherwise defeating them). Sometimes, there are unexpected moments such as Nina and an opponent getting all cozy over some cake and tea (done for humor and adding to the chaotic feel). The action tends to feel chaotic as well, save for the henshin sequences when Zero and Ichi transform to access more powerful magic. Basically, everything feels like it is on a high-speed treadmill most of the time with new teams brought in to try to nab Nina from Zero and Ichi.

While most of the time the series comes off to me as mindless stuff to let your kids watch, there where some moments of character development and thoughtfulness. Things never get too deep, but I did rather enjoy seeing how San and Forte became a team (and thus why Forte allows San to constantly dress him as a girl and otherwise seemingly use the heck out of him). The story behind Zero and Ichi's partnership was interesting if somewhat cliched and even a bit creepy (Ichi had a crush on his non-blood related older sister). Nina's coming to not only accept but appreciate Zero and Ichi being in her life was sweet (though also cliched). However, since the story wasn't written for me, I'm not really going to complain.

Since the anime series is only 13-episodes in length and the manga contained seven volumes, there's a lot of material that clearly didn't get covered. I'm guessing the production team may have decided to squeeze in as many of the 2-person teams as they could from the manga because the end of the series is pretty chaotic with three new teams suddenly thrown into the mix for Zero and Ichi to have to fend off. Also, those wondering whom Nina is more interested in (Zero or Ichi) won't get their answer in the anime.

The 2-disc set from FUNimation has quite a few extras, which is nice. There are interviews with Nina's seiyuu (SHOJI Yui), San's seiyuu (SAITO Momoko), and Rokka's seiyuu (NOGAWA Sakura). There's also the first chapter of the manga from Del Rey, though on a regular TV, one is going to be hard-pressed to read the sucker. I tried reading it on my computer monitor but it is way to pixilated. Maybe if you have an HDTV and play the DVD on a Blu-Ray player, the manga will be readable. I kinda doubt it though, and that's a shame. Its no good including the first chapter of the manga if no one can read the thing.

As I watched this in Japanese w/ subtitles, I was struck by how erratic the subtitles were when it came to honorific usage. For some strange reason, "Rokka-sama" became "Lady Rokka." Rokka addressed Ichi as "Ichi-sama" and that survived almost 100% of the time. Rokka's butler Gou also addresses Ichi as "Ichi-sama," but sometimes that was retained in the subtitles and sometimes it was dropped. The "-kun" honorific was dropped most of the time, but occassionally, it would appear in an episode. The "-san" honorific wasn't used very often, but I think it made it to the subtitles only once. The "-chan" honorific was used most of the time, but was inexplicably left off at times, the reverse of the "-kun" honorific. Even "Rokka" had her name spelled as "Rock" once and after Nanase's gender is revealed, the wrong pronoun is used for the character. I'm not sure what happened here since there is only one translator mentioned, but a slew of subtitlers mentioned. I can't believe a professional translator would be all over the ballpark like that, so the drops and changes must have happened away from the translator.

For those wondering about video quality, that's something that is above my pay grade. I don't have high-end equipment to even notice video or audio problems that some people claim to always witness. For me, the writing, voice acting, and direction are more important with animation and music bringing up the rear (and I only notice those last two when they hit extremes).

Ultimately, the show is way to kid-based to be of any interest to me, but it is a title that your kids may get a kick out of. The poor animation also drops the score somewhat. However, I do admit that the chaotic humor at times did make me chuckle and some character development along the way for certain characters was a nice touch. As such, I'd give this a 3 out of 5.

Clannad After Story 19

クラナド アフターストーリー Episode 19

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Tomoya and Ushio return to the Furukawa residence and are greeted by Sanae-san, who is laying out baked goods in the store. Tomoya heads up to Nagisa's old room, which Sanae-san has kept the same all these years. He profoundly thanks Sanae-san for everything she's done and informs her that he will take over the responsibility of raising Ushio from here on. Sanae-san notes that Nagisa was five when they changed professions in order to care for Nagisa. With that, Ushio enters and tells her papa that Akki wants to play baseball. So it is off to a nearby park where Ushio and Sanae-san watch Tomoya smack Akio-san's first pitch through a window across the way.

That night, Tomoya wakes up to overhear a conversation between Akio-san and Sanae-san on the new change in their lives now that Tomoya will be taking care of Ushio. Akio-san tells his wife that it is OK for her to cry now. The following morning, Tomoya and Ushio take off for Ushio's school (kindergarten). After Tomoya drops her off, he goes to work where he tells Yoshino of his change in life by now raising Ushio. When Ushio's school day is concluded, Tomoya is there to meet her and take her home. He instructs her to not answer the door for strangers and to call Sanae-san if she needs something. Ushio agrees and Tomoya returns to work. That evening, he comes home with the Dango plushies, toys, and Ushio's clothing.

Sometime later, Ushio and Tomoya are returning home from some shopping when Kouko calls to them from a park. They join her and he introduces Ushio to her. Tomoya tells Kouko that Yoshino had informed him that Kouko's younger sister was released from the hospital. Kouko confirms it and calls her over. Fuuko-chan comes over and reacts negatively to having Tomoya's hand on her head. Tomoya can't help but keep placing his hand there and having it slapped away. After being introduced to Ushio, Fuuko-chan is taken with how cute Ushio is and asks for permission to hug the little girl. Not waiting for a response, she hugs Ushio and goes into spaced-out happiness. She wants to make Ushio her little sister but that's not going to happen.

That night, Tomoya watches his daughter fall asleep, a happy expression on her face as she hugs one of the Dango plushies, which Sanae-san says smell of Nagisa. The following day, Ushio and Tomoya pay a visit to Tomoya's father, Naoyuki. There, Tomoya makes amends with his father and tells him that he met Naoyuki's mother. He passes along the message that Naoyuki can return home and live with Shino. The weary Naoyuki seems to understand that his efforts to raise Tomoya to be a responsible person have finally ended. That night, Tomoya cleans up his father and his father's place. The following day, he sees Naoyuki off, promising to take care of the home. Ushio notices one of the small light globes enter her father and tries to tell him about it. He misunderstands, thinking Ushio is complaining about the bright sunlight and moves her into the shade.

Thoughts/Review: What a great episode -- absolutely wonderful.

Let me start with Fuuko-chan because I'd forgotten her (again) but she was a character I'd long hoped would return somehow, someway to this series. That came true today. When I saw Kouko, I thought, "I hope she mentions her sister but I doubt that happens." So when she not only mentioned Fuuko, but Fuuko was playing nearby, I almost let out a squeal of delight. It was a beautiful ray of sunshine and the only really humorous moment in the whole episode. I liked how Tomoya subconsciously messed with Fuuko-chan as he did back during her story in Clannad. I loved that we had Fuuko-chan be Fuuko-chan, right down to her hugging Ushio-chan and going into a blissful, spaced-out moment. Really good stuff and I hope we see more of her before the series ends.

OK, now to the nitty-gritty. We were given the explanation as to why Sanae-san had told Ushio not to cry, or rather I interpreted it as the explanation. While Tomoya had selfishly dumped Ushio on Sanae-san and Akio-san to raise while he wallowed in self-pity over the loss of his wife, Sanae-san and Akio-san were not able to grieve over the loss of their daughter thanks to the added responsibility of raising Ushio. When Tomoya overheard their conversation in which Akio-san tells Sanae-san it is OK to cry now, everything made sense. Sanae-san had been keeping everything in for five years, throwing herself both into raising Ushio and into the bakery. Now that's over and she can finally grieve over Nagisa's departure.

I like how Tomoya is throwing himself into the role of father and trying to play catch up. He knows he's been a scum but that's in the past and the only thing that matters is the here and now. I liked how he retrieved Nagisa's Dango Family plushies. The look on Ushio's face as she slept with one was so priceless. The only thing that bothered me is that Tomoya took Ushio home on their first day together, but then left her alone to return to work. Sorry, five years old is too young to be left alone in my opinion. I could just imagine something terrible happening to Ushio while Tomoya was at work.

Tomoya's reconciling things with his father was a touching moment. His father has been so out of it for so many years. I'm not sure what Naoyuki living with his elderly mother will accomplish, but nevertheless it is done. I do hope there is a followup on this element of the story before the series ends. I'm curious as to why that mystery light entered Tomoya though. Does that mean that Tomoya's wish for his father to spend the rest of his days in peace and happiness will now come true?

Since next episode is all about Ushio, if we meet her teacher, what do you want to bet that it is Kyou? No takers, eh? ^_~ Yeah, the hints are just too obvious to be anyone else.

I do look forward to seeing more of Tomoya and Ushio's life together. However, it seems to me that we are still in for at least one more major tradgedy to be resolved, otherwise it wouldn't be a Key anime would it? ^_^;

Space Battleship Yamato 2 -- 25 & 26 (finale)

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2 Episode 25 - 26 (Final episodes)
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2 Ep. 25 and 26 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yamato begins its two-pronged attack on the White Comet, which surprises the ruling elite. The emperor orders an immediate withdrawal from the planet, which activates the wind barrier around Gatlantis, destroying many of Yamato's fighter-bombers and protecting the city. Yamato follows and the White Comet shows its impressive defensive capabilities. Yamato takes heavy damage but finds the launch doors under the white comet. Using its working weapons, Yamato destroys that section and Susumu leads the last of his planes inside. The ruling elite are horrified by this and troops are dispatched. Seeing them heading to the generator room, Sabera orders them stopped but is not worried since there are so few humans to fight. Thus, she does not inform the emperor.

However, Sanada, Susumu, and Saito do make it close to the generator room. Sanada has one of his cybernetic legs blown off so he covers Saito and Susumu as they proceed further along. Saito has Susumu cover him so he can plant the bomb. He then tells Susumu to return to Sanada and escape. Susumu reluctantly agrees and gets Sanada safely back to where an injured Kato is waiting to fly them to safety. Saito is injured but sets off his bomb before he dies. The explosion cripples the White Comet. Kato lands back on the damaged Yamato and then dies from his injuries.

Meanwhile, the emperor abandons the White Comet on his super battleship, leaving Sabera and his top military leaders to die for having caused the death of so many White Comet people. Yamato opens fire on the crippled White Comet as Zwordar's super battleship emerges. The White Comet is destroyed, but Zwordar opens fire on Yamato. Yamato takes insane damage but will not be destroyed. Zwordar makes contact with Yamato and gloats, telling them he's going to destroy Earth now. So he leaves Yamato and opens fire with his mega gun, causing massive destruction on Earth and there's nothing that Susumu can do but order his dying crew off the ship in rescue shuttles. However, Susumu stays behind as does Yuki, not wanted to be parted from her love.

Elsewhere, Teresa pines over Daisuke, providing her special blood to help replenish his, even willing to die if it allows Daisuke to live. Despite her deep feelings for Daisuke, she knows that won't help him in the end. So as Yuki and Susumu prepare to ram Yamato into the super battleship, they see Teresa appear with Daisuke. She tells them to take care of Daisuke as she can do no more for him. She tells Susumu that she'll take over the fight with the White Comet and wishes them all well. She departs and reappears in front of the super battleship. Zwordar is afraid seeing Teresa alive and orders his ship to flee. Teresa uses the last of her strength to sacrifice herself and destroy the super battleship. With that, the last surviving members of Yamato head to Earth.

Thoughts/Review: Yay! It is over. ^_^;

In the previous episode, Yamato had to attack with torpedoes because that was the only real weapons they had left (save for turret 2 and maybe some anti-aircraft weapons). Frankly, I think that was an excuse since Yamato hadn't used missile weapons in quite some time. I'm sure they were forgotten. Regardless, all that turret damage was forgotten this episode because magically, the turrets all work again just so they can be destroyed again. Frankly, I would have preferred Yamato to have been completely destroyed in this with only those rescue shuttles surviving. After all, we saw lots of ships destroyed with only one hit. In the last few episodes, Yamato has taken enough hits to have been destroyed many, many, many times over.

A lot of people appeared to die in this episode, though if someone were to tell me that they all come back for Yamato 3, I wouldn't be surprised. However, I just didn't care when any of them died and these are supposed to be tragic and heroic deaths. Saito I never liked so no tears. The "rookie" nerd-dude, ditto. In fact, everyone who kicked it caused me to shed no tears or be bothered beyond a certain sense of, "When will this be over anyway?"

I'll write a final thoughts paper sometime. For now, I'll end this by saying I'm glad Desler didn't bail the Yamato crew out.

Toradora! 20

とらドラ！Episode 20

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The winter break is almost over with Ryuuji recovering from and illness and Taiga deciding to stay away with the new year's start. Ryuuji and Taiga discuss this late one evening across the alley below them. Taiga feels that Minori rejected Ryuuji because Taiga is always at Ryuuji's house and Ryuuji is always doing things for Taiga. Therefore, Taiga will keep her distance. As far as meals go, there's always instant ramen and fast food. Taiga tells Ryuuji to not run away because of the setback at being rejected at Christmas.

Ryuuji walks to school alone and at his shoe locker, he's given back his suit from the guy whom Ryuuji had borrowed the Santa-bear costume. In class, Haruta is having some fun with Taiga and is chased out by Taiga. Minori arrives but Ryuuji finds he cannot even say good morning to her. Back in class, Yuri-sensei tells her students that the class trip to Okinawa is off since the hotel burned down. As such, they will be taking a much shorter trip to the mountains for skiing. The class is not happy about this which causes Yuri-sensei to snap and write on the board that things in life don't always go like you'd like.

Ryuuji is walking home from the market when he hears people talking about a beautiful girl. That girl turns out to be Ami, who's waiting at a street corner. She's not really thrilled to see Ryuuji because she considers him an idiot. Turns out she's been waiting for Taiga, who then arrives. Ryuuji is surprised that they are friendly as the three of them head to a coffee shop. There, Ami produces an item for Taiga, which turns out to not be a gift but something Taiga had Ami pick up for her. Ami learns of the class trip change of plans and of Minori's rejection of Ryuuji. Taiga tells Ami to keep her distance from Ryuuji so that Minori and Ryuuji can maybe get together. Before they depart, Ami tells Taiga she hopes he's the only one getting hurt in this matter, which Ryuuji doesn't understand.

On the way home, Taiga tells Ryuuji she believes in him and warns him not to run away on the following day. The following day comes and Ryuuji encounters Minori on the way to school. Minori is still acting cheerful and as they go to cross the street, they hear Taiga yell to Minori to hold Ryuuji. She grabs him by the hand and then realizes that Taiga just set her up. Taiga throws a bag of stuff at Ryuuji, telling him he has to carry it as she races ahead. Minori is not happy with Taiga's stunt, but puts up a front again and walks to school with Ryuuji, both of them holding a strap on the bag. Along the way, they talk of Minori's brother in another high school and Minori's new hair style. Minori notes that she used to have a buzz cut as a child, earning her the name "Mister Lady" (actual term used in the Japanese).

At the shoe lockers, Minori and Ryuuji see Ami, with Minori addressing Ami as "Ami-senpai" for some reason. Minori asks if Ami's seen Taiga. Ami's answer is rather cryptic and bothers Ryuuji. In class, the groups are established for the ski trip with Ami, Nanako, Maya, Taiga, Minori, Ryuuji, Noto, Haruta, and Yuusaku being in one group. Maya objects to this group setting because it puts Yuusaku and Taiga together but she can't speak that aloud. Noto tells Maya to join another group if she doesn't like it. Of course she can't do that because she wants to be in the same group as Yuusaku. Yuusaku asks Ryuuji for an opinion and Ryuuji is fine with the grouping. End of discussion.

The groups are assigned to make guidebooks for the trip, so Taiga offers her place up for them to meet and do the work. So the group meets at Taiga's luxury apartment and those who'd not been there are amazed at its size and how much it must cost a month. Yuusaku takes charge to get the work done which causes Ryuuji to notice that Taiga is speaking normally with Yuusaku, something he mentions to Taiga. Taiga sends him off to the kitchen where Minori is making black tea for the group. There, Minori mentions to Ryuuji the positive influence he's had on Taiga, noting the cups Taiga has purchased for tea/coffee.

As Ryuuji and Minori bring out the tea, Nanako notices a picture in the Okinawa brochure. Maya sees it, followed by Ami who jokingly says they have to keep Yuusaku from seeing it. Yuusaku takes a look and sees it is Sumire. This causes Taiga to chastise Ami for her words. Haruta has found a dress and put it on to tease Taiga, causing her to give chase to the amusement of the others. As this happens, Ryuuji thinks of Minori's words to him in the kitchen of wanting to enjoy their final class trip and her wish that things could stay as they are now. That makes Ryuuji realize he can't stay as he is forever.

Thoughts/Review: I knew that Minori's cheerfulness was a front. This episode proved that without a shadow of a doubt. That's not to say that Minori isn't a cheerful person, but she hides behind that cheerful exterior to mask her true feelings. During the last few episodes, she's been overwhelmed but clearly, she tries to put up that front again. It slipped briefly when Taiga pulled on over on her so that she'd be forced to grab Ryuuji's arm and then walk to school with Ryuuji. Minori has spoken in the past about her own selfishness but she's mostly kept a smiling, cheerful front. To Ryuuji, she mentioned being afraid of failing in regards to her friendship with Taiga, yet when we meet Minori for the first time, she's still smiling, hiding it all inside. I still think that's why she keeps so busy -- to keep herself distracted. People with a lot of free time have lots of time to think if they so choose.

One related side note, I wonder how she views herself as a woman in light of revealing she has a brother at a different high school and that as a child, she received short hair cuts. This may add to her feelings of inadequacy.

I laughed when I saw Ami and Taiga had arranged to meet. They have become rather friendly as seen with their Christmas duet. Ryuuji proved oblivious again with their growing friendship. To me, it another revelation of how Taiga has grown and how she could survive without Ryuuji. There were the other things such as Taiga's proper sorting of the garbage (which the Japanese are pretty anal about). The biggest piece of evidence that Taiga can survive is how she no longer panics over speaking with Yuusaku. That tells me that Taiga has accepted things between herself and Yuusaku and is fine being friends with him. If she can make that leap, then she can make the leap and let Minori have Ryuuji exclusively. After all, Taiga is sacrificing her feelings for Ryuuji in order to get Minori and Ryuuji together. Unlike Minori, I don't think Taiga is putting up a front regarding Ryuuji (or at least, not much of one).

I actually kinda felt sorry for Ami in this episode. The irony is that she's this ultra-hot model. She goes to Hawaii for a photo shoot and has to miss a day of class. When standing on a street corner (waiting for Taiga), she's noticed because she's hot. She's pretty well off financially and lacks for nothing. She could have just about any guy from her class or indeed any guy older than her, yet the one guy she really would like to be with is something she can't have for now. So she sacrifices her own feelings to go along with Taiga's wishes to set up Minori and Ryuuji. Should Minori reject Ryuuji a second time, it would be interesting to see if Ami tries to make a move then.

I do have one complaint -- the character designs for Ami and Sumire are too similar. When I initially saw the brochure for Okinawa that the group used as a basis to make a new brochure, I thought the picture in the brochure was Ami since she's a model. Her comments over keeping Yuusaku from seeing the picture made me think she was just teasing her old childhood friend. However, things didn't quite make sense as to Taiga's reaction nor Maya and Nanako's reaction. So I rewatched the scene and realized it had to be Sumire in the photo since the term "rejection" was mentioned.

So a good episode and even if Minori is putting up a front, at least her gloom isn't putting a big cloud over the series.

Negima!? Final Thoughts

After the extreme disappointment of the Negima! anime adaptation, I hoped that with the transfer of the franchise to SHAFT that maybe we'd see a reboot and a proper manga adaptation. Alas, that was not to be as it was announced that SHAFT would create Negima!?, which would be a reboot, but a completely new story not based on the manga story. While this wasn't what I wanted, I felt that at least I could give the new anime a fair shake since I would not be comparing its story or even characters to their manga counterparts. So how did it fare? Not so well in the end.

The anime started out well enough with Eva being used from the start as an antagonist and the story arc having the closest link to the original manga with Eva's punishment and true nature. Asuna discovers magic, becomes Negi's partner, and then the battle between Eva and Chachamaru against Negi and Asuna is on. So for the first three episodes, I saw a lot of promise here. With episode 4, that promise started to vanish with Shichimi and Motsu's arrival and a new villain -- the Black Rose Baron and the mysterious Star Crystal. OK, I liked Motsu most of the time but this showed me that we weren't going to have an interesting anime from a story perspective, but some parody-comedy anime.

OK, I can live with that but then Asuna's character became Chupacabra-obsessed, the other girls were given time even if to say nothing, the Black Rose Baron was a joke, and the Star Crystal stuff was just a yawn. Further, the new pactio system was just dumb. Clearly, SHAFT wanted to cash in on the pactio card desires of otaku Negima! fans. In Negima!, the pactio cards serve a purpose. In Negima!?, they are used partly for comedy effect and sometimes seriously. That's because the pactio system, in which the girls have an orgasmic reaction to having their card pulled, has three cards -- the "armor" card (the real one), the "cosplay" card, and the "suka" form, which is the big joke as this card being pulled turns the partner into a chibi form, dressed in some sort of animal costume. I guess the mages in SHAFTS world prefer a bad joke over practical application.

In and of itself, having these worthless forms is just merely stupid, but could be used for comedy. However, that's where things go south for SHAFT. You see, on one hand they try telling some kind of serious story and Negi needs one of his partners to help him out. Then on the other hand, "OOPS! You scored a suka card. Try another partner." If that's what you were trying to do, then why try to do some sort of serious story at all? The two elements just did not blend together at all. The comedy elements worked only when there were comedy moments, but not always.

That's the other problem -- the comedy is hit-or-miss. Early on, I think there is a bit more hit to the comedy aspects. Motsu provides the most laughs, whether he's tweaking someone, pretending to be Makie's father (for reasons unexplained until the last episode, and then you wish that the explanation had just been skipped), or just making wry observations ending in his trademark "ii imide" line ("in a good way"). There are other light moments that work fairly well, but as the series progresses, the comedy becomes more and more tired and tedious. Episode 20 had a South Park parody but it fell flat to me. By the shows end, I was pretty worn out with it all and glad not to have to watch another episode for review purposes.

By the time episode 24 comes around, the series should by all rights be over. Sadly, SHAFT had two more episodes to fill, so after basically wasting tons of time throughout the 2nd-half of the series, SHAFT now has to kill two more episodes. Ugh. I couldn't believe it.

In the end, while this series does have some good and funny moments, the bad and tedious moments outweigh them. Hit or miss comedy, a story that tries to be serious in the middle of a non-serious environment, forced lines for all the seiyuu regardless of purpose, and just a general sense of "meh" makes for a sub-average anime at best.

Negima Chapter 243 Reminder

Since a lot of us forget and people are already searching, there is no chapter this week for Negima!. As such, there will be no spoiler images for Negima! 243 today either. Should there be an unexpected change or the like, I'll make an update accordingly. ^_^


Update: those images are now out --> HERE!

Space Battleship Yamato 2 24

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2 Episode 24
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2 Ep. 24 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Susumu faces off against Desler and wonders why Desler is fighting with the Comet Empire. Susumu could understand Desler fighting to save his people even at the expense of humans. For Desler, it is about revenge as Yamato made him suffer a terrible humiliation. So it is down to the two of them and a duel, but Susumu passes out from his injuries and is aided by Yuki, who happened to have observed the conversation. Desler does not attack but in light of Yuki's love for Susumu combined with his triumph over Yamato and his dislike of the Comet Empire's reasons for fighting, Desler holsters his weapon and reminds her of how Yamato defeated the Gamilus people with two-pronged above and below attack. With that, he and Talan leave.

A group of others arrive on the Gamilus bridge and Susumu is returned to Yamato for treatment as the Gamilus fleet turns and leaves. Once he is able, Susumu returns to the bridge to find everyone down. It is then that he sees that Daisuke is missing and Yuki tells him Daisuke died protecting her. With Earth about to sign the surrender papers, Sanada take charge of the repairs to Yamato, the hull being priority one. Susumu calls a staff meeting where they discuss the situation. The hull work can be completed in three hours, but they'll have no Wave Motion Cannon, nor will they have main turrets 1 & 3. In order to attack the White Comet fortress, they'll have to use torpedoes. Yuki remembers what Desler told her and so Susumu has a plan -- the remaining fighters will attack the White Comet from above and Yamato will attack from under the ocean.

Elsewhere, Daisuke is found by Teresa, herself also alive but too week to really do anything for the unconscious Daisuke other than bring him onto her ship (or whatever she has) and proclaim her love for him.

On Earth, the president and senior military members depart for the White Comet while Yamato arrives. Yamato launches fighters and sends a message to the yacht carrying the surrender party to get out of the combat zone that Yamato is about to create. The Earth President is reluctant, but Chief orders the yacht turned about. Yamato enters the ocean while her fighters begin their attack run.

Thoughts/Review: This anime bores me. Seriously, Teresa is alive and of course Daisuke is alive. Desler has a change of heart. Yamato isn't quite as damaged as we thought, despite taking enough ordinance to destroy several fleet. I'm supposed to be bought off with the fact that the Wave Motion Cannon and two of the main turrets cannot be repaired in three hours. However, the hull can be repaired in that time for an under the sea voyage. Whatever. I'm just weary of it all. Any real sense of drama is long gone and once that happened, I lost interest. That officially happened with this episode.

I will say that I did like it that Desler got his victory. OK, Yamato wasn't completely destroyed, but a win is a win as they say. This is the one thing I'll give the writers and I'll take it away if Desler attacks the White Comet.

That said, I will plow through the final two episodes just to see what magical things are done to "win."

Negima! Manga Vol 27 (Ch 242) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 27 Chapter 242 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 242

Summary/Synopsis: As Kotaro takes care of Kagetarou, Negi juices up to fight Jack Rakan. Jack is surprised at speeds that surprise Jack, including the Shundou technique. Negi pounds on Jack with lightning-like speed and Jack realizes that Negi's "juiced up" bit was actually the Thousand Bolts spell.

In the stands, Chisame is not even sure that what Negi did is even possible. Chamo confirms that it is possible and that Negi developed this technique with the sole goal of defeating Jack with it. Chamo notes that there are only two people who've mastered the Magia Erebea (Eva and Negi) and only Negi has used it with the Thousand Bolts spell. Negi has named his new technique "Raisoku Shundou" -- the "Lightning Shundou" (Lightning Speed Instant Movement). Because Negi is moving at the speed of lightning, Jack can't compensate. Since Shadow-Eva advised Negi to go for the kill, Negi isn't holding back presses his attacks, ending with a Chiha Yaburu Ikazuchi attack, though Rakan puts up a defense.

The furocity of Negi's attacks distracts Kagetarou and gives Kotaro a moment to make a full transformation into beast form. Meanwhile, Jack comments on how Negi isn't pulling his punches and to Jack's surprise, Negi blasts him with another massive attack while Kotaro smashed Kagetarou. The resulting energy discharge causes people outside of the stadium to decide to check out what's going on. Meanwhile in the stadium, both Kagetarou and Jack are out to the surprise of everyone with talk beinging to be that maybe this "Nagi" actually won.

Ako also sees this and and initially calls to "Nagi-san" in her mind, then corrects herself and thinks "Negi-kun." In a flashback moment, "Nagi-san" and Kotaro come back from a match and Ako is assigned to bandage "Nagi-san" up. Seeing her reaction to his bloody bandage, Negi is concerned by she pulls herself together to proceed on. Negi thinks of when Ako told him that she liked "Nagi-san" and his conversatoin with Chisame on the subject. Ako starts to pass out and falls on "Nagi-san's" lap before lifting her head to find herself face-to-face with "Nagi-san."

Thoughts/Review: So Negi used the Magia Erebea to basically become the Thousand Bolts spell rather than cast it outright. This nice thing about this is that Akamatsu-sensei laid the groundwork for this back in the Mahora Budokai when Negi absorbed his magic missile spell for an attack ("absorbed" is not the right term, but its close enough). I like how Akamatsu-sensei has such a good grasp on what has and hasn't been done before and thus Negi suddenly mastering this new technique doesn't stretch credibility. Negi's done similar things before and has always been shown to be a quick study.

As to the fight, GOOD to see Kotaro in beast form. However, it is sad that because Negi is in the fight with Jack, that overshadows Kotaro's fight.

While Jack (and Kagatorou) are down at the moment, I do not for a moment think that they are down for the count. I expect that before the count out is completed, Jack will get up and make some wisecrack comment about "is it my turn" (or something like that). I'd be stunned if Jack is actually down for the count.

This may seem weird, but the Ako revelation is more interesting to me. Now that she knows that her "Nagi-san" is in fact Negi, I like that she's accepted it. I hope that Akamatsu-sensei reveals exactly how Ako came to know the truth and how she has been able to accept the outcome. It may be a stretch to ask for this now, but I do hope that we learn more about Ako's scar at some point.

One side note -- Natsumi's reaction to Kotaro's transformation ("Kota-kun got all hairy...") was a laugh out loud moment for me.

Negima! Chapter 243 is delayed a week so no new Negima! next Wednesday (and no spoiler images this Saturday).

Minami-ke Okaeri 07

みなみけ おかえり Episode 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Makoto and Chiaki are partnered together for the upcoming school festival's 3-legged race but Chiaki isn't really interested in practicing. Makoto, as "Mako-chan" goes over to the Minami home to consult with Kana about this. When Chiaki enters and hears them talking about the 3-legged race, she concedes that her own lack of sports abilities is what makes her not want to practice, since she'd be a burden to Makoto. However, Chiaki agrees to practice with Mako-chan (with Kana "coaching"). Mako-chan is afraid to put his arm around Chiaki, so Chiaki puts it there for him. The practice encourages Chiaki. so the next time she's at school, she decides to practice with the eager Makoto. He puts his arm around Chiaki but gets punished for taking advantage of her.

Kana and Uchida are outside a tacoyaki stand eating tacoyaki. Kana is proud of her part in turning Makoto into "Mako-chan," especially since neither Chiaki nor Haruka know the truth. Uchida notes how Kana's efforts have helped keep Makoto's secret since Makoto would have revealed the truth long ago if left to his own devices. Kana ponders this a moment, then in a single bite, strips of the outer part of Uchida's piece of tacoyaki, leaving only the octopus bit on the toothpick. At the Minami residence, Makoto, as "Mako-chan," is drinking some new, bitter tea that Haruka has brewed. Kana decides to observe for a while from the doorway as Makoto drinks too much tea and has to pee. Being a guy, he's standing up and doesn't lock the toilet room door. As such, Kana comes in just as Makoto's is about to pee, bringing toilet paper. Makoto isn't to happy about being walked in on, but better Kana than Haruka. On cue, Haruka also enters and Kana has to blind Haruka quickly with toilet paper to keep Makoto's secret safe. Another early evening sees Kana and Uchida again eating tacoyaki with Kana realizing she's protected Makoto's secret again. Kana steals one of Uchida's tacoyaki pieces and vows to never let Makoto's true side ever come out while she's around.

Kana is annoyed with Riko for her arrogance regarding her larger breast size and says as much to Makoto (as "Mako-chan"). Makoto doesn't see the big deal regarding ego and breast size which causes Kana to point out that Makoto won't be able to continue pretending to be a girl with his flat male chest. She also asks Makoto where he looks when he speaks to Haruka. This troubles Makoto and when Maki and Haruka come in and Maki teases "Mako-chan" for the flat breasts, Makoto panics. Makoto wants breasts without having to get the bra that Kana suggests, which Kana says is what everyone wants. Chiaki comes in on the conversation and gives Mako-chan a dress formerly worn by Haruka to disguise the fact that Mako-chan is flat. Chiaki figures that since Haruka wore the dress and is well-endowed, it will help Mako-chan. Makoto imagines this but then freaks about the idea of him having large breasts and runs away. He runs into Haruka's room, where Haruka is shirtless and being measured by Maki for a new bra. "Mako-chan" sees this and he's unable to move while Chiaki realizes that being large-breasted can also cause problems. Makoto makes it back to the table where Kana is. Kana wants to know where he was looking when he saw Haruka.

Its another day and Kana notes the friendship between Chiaki and "Mako-chan" as Makoto has become accustomed to pretending to be a girl. Kana feels that Makoto's tail will soon be exposed. Sure enough, Chiaki spills her soda onto Mako-chan's skirt and tries to help clean it while Makoto protests. Chiaki leaves to get towels and Kana grins, knowing that the tanuki (magical raccoon) has finally shown its tail. Chiaki returns with towels to clean up the protesting Mako-chan while Kana decides to tell the story of the tanuki (Makoto) who wanted to be friends with a human (Chiaki). So the tanuki uses magic to become human and befriends the human, but one day its tail showed and the human pulled on it, not knowing what it was. Kana wants to know who's to blame in that instance. Chiaki counters with her own tanuki story so Kana tells Makoto that its not wise to pretend to be human. Chiaki states that the tanuki could have remained true to himself because they are cute. The next day at school, Makoto is happy because of what Chiaki had said about tanuki.

Chiaki accidentally breaks all three mugs so the sisters have to buy new ones. Kana picks a pink mug while Chiaki and Uchida look at other mugs. Chiaki has her heart set on a teddy bear one, but thinks she'll be teased so moves on. Haruka sees one with a fish design, but Maki doesn't think so. As such, when they get home, they see they've all bought the same type of pink cup which Chiaki finds not acceptable. The next day, Haruka and Chiaki have the mugs they wanted, meaning they have two extra pink ones. Kana gives one to Touma, who's excited to have a girlish cup. Fujioka comes by and so Kana gives him the other pink cup. Since it matches Kana's, he takes it as a sign that he and Kana are an item. However when Touma returns to the room with her pink mug, Fujioka doesn't know what to think. Kana is happy that the other two mugs have nice owners but is a bit jealous of Chiaki's and Haruka's mug.

Thoughts/Review: This may be the funniest episode of the series to date (with the Curry Fairy stuff in episode 2 being in there). The first story wasn't so much funny, but it was nice seeing how Chiaki was concerned about burdening Makoto as his partner. However, the second story is where things got really funny to me. The moment "Mako-chan" said he had to pee, I knew someone would walk in on him. Despite knowing this, the moment was still funny to me, mainly because this kind of humor has always cracked me up. The other really funny moment was when Kana stripped the tacoyaki covering from the octopus bit in the center. Uchida's look said it all.

The third story's humor came not only from Makoto's fear of being discovered, but from the breast talk. Makoto imagining himself to have breasts like Haruka made me laugh. Kana's point about where guys look in regards to why girls place higher importance on chest size was well-taken, in a humorous way. After all, when Makoto walks in on Haruka, it is her chest that stops him dead in his tracks, a point Kana brings home in the end. This is one of those cases where the end-point to the story had a humorous point rather than a head-scratcher.

The forth stories humor came from the not so subtle correlation between the tanuki's tail and Makoto's..."tail." Making Chiaki and Makoto play the characters in Kana's story made it more funny with the human in the story is surprised by the tanuki's tail and pulls on it. In reality, Chiaki came very close to personally discovering Makoto's "tail" by trying to clean up his front. I could imagine Chiaki possibly following the cliched moment of pulling on "it." ^_^;;;;

The mug story was more nice than funny, but leave it to Kana to be oblivious and cause issues. Haruka and Chiaki expected Kana to pick on them for their mug choices and in the end, she wants to trade. Further, by giving Fujioka and Touma the same type mug as her, I couldn't help but chuckle both times.

Genshiken Official Book

Genshiken Official Book

Having loved the Genshiken manga a great deal, I was eager to get more Genshiken goodness and so when Del Rey announced they had licensed Genshiken Official Book, naturally I was pretty happy. Now that I have the book, how do I feel? Somewhat disappointed though there are some good things here.

The book is larger than regular manga books -- 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches. That is not a problem for me because it gives plenty of room for art and text. I've seen other official books published at regular size and they can be a bit tougher to read.

The color foldout is nice. On one side, we have the image from earlier in the Genshiken manga with Saki (smoking) and Ohno. On the other side, there is a half-sized color image and four other color images, mostly of Ohno. Three of them I'd seen before. The image of Saki helping Ohno change into a cosplay costume while a non-thrilled Ogiue looks on is one I'd not seen. The half-sized image showing Ohno laying in a mess of otaku goods (most of them with Saki's or Madarame's likeness) was also new. So some nice art there.

Chapter 1 is called "Newbie Orientation" and pretends that the reader is interested in joining the Genshiken club. All of the text is illustrated with examples from the manga (as happens in all chapters).

Chapter 2 is an extensive character guide for the manga but contained no new information about any of the characters (at least, not that I noticed). Chapter 3 focuses on the relationships (whether love or not) between characters in the manga. Nothing new here. Chapter 4 is an otaku guide as if written by Madarame.

Chapter 5 shifts to the in-manga manga Kujibiki Unbalance. In addition to providing information, it also has a script for a supposed anime episode. I never really cared about the Kujibiki Unbalance stuff within Genshiken beyond a very passing interest. It was never enough to get me to read the pages dedicated to discussing this non-manga manga (game, or anime). Were it to have been a real manga published along with Genshiken by Shimoku-sensei, then that would have been cool. It wasn't, so I didn't care.

Chapter 6 starts with a dedication to the 1987 doujinshi that the Genshiken members found called Metaetame. So some parody stuff for 80's anime classics is discussed. However, the highlight of this chapter, and indeed the entire book, is the interview with AKAMATSU Ken-sensei, creator of titles such as A.I. Love You, Love Hina, and my favorite manga, Negima!. He talks about doujinshi and Comiket, which is parodied in Genshiken as ComiFest. The chapter ends with an otaku test.

Chapter 7 contains an unofficial side-story which didn't interest me. Chapter 8 looks at the otaku life in terms of where to go in Japan, types of things one can get depending on one's interests including doujinshi and hentai materials such as H-bishoujo games. Another unofficial story is published (in script forms) within this chapter. The script is in the center of each page and on top and bottom of the page are brief looks at bishoujo games and other otaku-related items.

Chapter 9 is another good one as Shimoku-sensei takes the character pages originally published in the manga and expands on them. So he provides some additional information, but he also "translates" the parody game/manga/anime title names back to their original form (ie: "Panther vs. Panther" is actually "Hunter x Hunter"). Unfortunately, while the explainations are numbered, there are no coresponding numbers attached to the original character page displayed. So that means figuring out what Shimoku-sensei is taking about rather than having it clearly shown.

Another problem I had with the book is that this is a book about and for otaku and fans of Genshiken. The adaptation waffles between using "fanzine" and "doujinshi," more often opting for the former because clearly, no one who's deep enough into anime, manga, or Genshiken to buy an official book like this (which is all about otaku) would know what the smeg "doujishi" is. Ditto for a term like "bishoujo." Just use the otaku terms because that's your audience. Use the translator notes section to explain things for the few that don't know.

So why was this disappointing? Well because most of the information contained herein I either already knew from reading the manga or just didn't care about. The interview with Akamatsu-sensei is great and I did like the final chapter's tiny expantions on the characters and revelations on the parody title names. Where I interested in bishoujo games, the information provided there would have been valuable. However, when weighed out, the amount of stuff I wasn't interested in outweighed the stuff I was interested in by a great amount. However, if you are a big fan of Genshiken as I am, you may want to buy this just to have it all. ^_^

Space Battleship Yamato 2 23

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2 Episode 23
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2 Ep. 23 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The White Comet re-approaches Earth after having worked over the moon while Desler's fleet has located Yamato and prepares to attack. Yamato warps away to where the White Comet had been, but it has already moved a lot closer to Earth. Before Yamato can pursue, squadrons of Gamilus fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes arrive, courtesy of Instantaneous Material Transporter. Yamato is surrounded and Desler issues his final challenge. Desler's forces begin pounding Yamato and it takes Sanada to get Susumu to snap out of it and order the heavily damaged ship to defend itself.

As Desler's fleet closes in, Susumu orders Yamato to come about to fire on Desler's command ship with the Wave Motion Cannon. Desler has been waiting on this and transports a bevy full of mines Yamato's way during the several minutes it takes Yamato to fire. Sanada sees the trap and the attack is called off. Desler taunts Susumu and then his ships open fire. Yamato is crippled, but is able to pull off a short warp, where it and a bunch of Desler's mines arrive right in Desler's path. The ship can't get out of the way and is rammed by Yamato. Yamato's crew and the Space Cavaliers then take the fight outside of Yamato to board Desler's ship. Many are apparently killed, including Daisuke. A wounded Susumu makes it to Desler's bridge for a final confrontation while the White Comet lands in the ocean on Earth.

Thoughts/Review: How convenient that Desler knew JUST exactly where Yamato was going to warp to so that he could use his Instantaneous Material Transporter to send several squadrons of fighter-bombers. Also, weren't the hands on Yamato supposed to be ready to attack as soon as they emerged from warp? So why wasn't the crew at battle stations? Why didn't Susumu order some kind of defensive posture the moment Desler disappeared from screen? Heck, for that matter why didn't he order it as soon as Desler's fighters appeared? DUH! No, he has to wait for Sanada, who REALLY should be the captain with Yuki as 1st officer, to tell him to fight back. Way to go there, Susumu. Acting Captain indeed. Desler should win on principle.

Further, why wasn't Yamato destroyed? Sheeze. Die already. Oh wait, we can't do that because that would be the end of the show. So we'll have Yamato take enough hits that would have destroyed Earth's entire fleet but not Yamato. Oh no. Can't do that. Nope, have to build the false drama. Ugh. Seriously, if they could short-warp, then frankly the second that Yamato was surrounded, I would have done it rather than waste time with a dopey attempt at counter-attacking with the Wave Motion Cannon, which considering their damaged condition and 50-million year charge time made no sense. *_*

I guess the writers forgot that the Gamilus people and the humans breathe different air. How convenient. They also forgot that Susumu had a bandaged and injured leg from earlier.

I doubt Daisuke is dead but we'll see. People have a way of not dying in this franchise.

Maybe the Space Cavaliers will do something this time.

Finally, the guys at Central Anime pointed out that the maneuver pulled off by Yamato in this episode is somewhat similar to the "Picard Maneuver" in Star Trek: The Next Generation. For those who haven't seen that, during Captain Picard's prior commands, his ship came under attack and he ordered a short warp as well. The difference is that in Star Trek, it made the ship seem to be in two places at once for a moment while in this anime, it allowed Yamato to ram Desler's ship before being totally destroyed. I didn't see the relationship because warp technology in the Yamato universe is not the same as the Star Trek universe.

It is a shame this series isn't as well written as the first. Oh well.

On a really unrelated matter, for those who'd asked about where I've been getting my larger images lately, I've been making them. ^_^ So today, if you are a Captain Kodai fan, you are in luck cause you got a poster. ^_~

Slayers Evolution-R 05

スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina is not happy that Nama-chan's efforts to help them find the Hellmaster Jar (where she had her soul swapped) and Zelgadiss agrees. So Lina begins a series of electric-based attacks and amazingly that seems to do the trick. She remembers following a rare butterfly to a ruin and as it happens, the same kind of rare butterfly appears and Nama is off chasing it. Figuring they've nothing to lose, the group follows her and sure enough, they end up at an old tower. Nama says she recognizes it and they enter. Nama issues a warning about traps too late for Lina to miss the first one. Naturally, Lina isn't too happy about this.

Because the group's conversations about Rezo have been negative, Pokota gets angry because he refuses to believe that Rezo had any evil in him despite the fact that Rezo's eye's (and soul) contained the Mazoku Dark Lord, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu and that Rezo had turned Zelgadiss into his current form. So Pokota proceeds to the next chamber through the crack in the doors where he discovers Xellos waiting. Gourry gets the door open and the rest of the party arrive. Xellos explains that the jar that "Nama" touched wasn't the same one that supposedly contains the soul of Rezo.

Gourry detects an attack and gets nicked from a weapon from Zuuma. Turns out Xellos has been waiting for Zuuma but Zuuma has only one thing on his mind -- Lina. Hearing that Zuuma is an assassin, Nama freaks out and begins going berzerk, slinging Freeze Arrow spells everywhere and apparently having a flashback. She then summons a Dimos Dragon and this action troubles Xellos, so he breaks the jar in the room that swapped Nama's soul into the suit of armor. This causes Nama's soul to leave the suit of armor and return to its original "home."

Xellos wants the Hellmaster Jar that Zuuma and his boss have, but Zuuma is still not interested in dealing with Xellos. Since Xellos is too much of a threat to Zuuma, he tells Lina to meet him in Vezendi or someone will die. With that he is gone and Xellos quickly follows suit. Now, Lina and company are left with no choice but to take a trip to Vezendi.

Meanwhile in the jungle somewhere, Nama/Naga's laugh can be heard coming from a taped box labeled "tangerine."

Thoughts/Review: Hmmmm. The Nama story continued the implication that Nama and Naga are the same person by making Nama freak at the word assassin. Since it was an assassin who killed Naga and Amelia's mother and ultimately caused Naga to leave home, it stands to reason that she'd have such a flashback. Certainly Xellos seemed to know that "Nama" wasn't the real name of the soul in the armor. The question is, why is her laugh coming from a taped-shut box after Xellos broke the soul jar? Does that mean that Nama in fact has no connection with Naga or what? It was a weird moment to be sure, but it does remove Nama from the story for a while (or so it seems).

While I'm thinking about it, I would like to complain about how the writing didn't make it clear where Nama-Naga had her soul transferred. It *seemed* like it was the place where they found the living armor so I couldn't understand why they'd be following Nama around looking for the Hellmaster Jar. Then this episode, we learn, "Oh yeah. Nama was actually way, way, WAY away from that first place when she had her soul swapped." OK. That would have been better explained earlier on IMO (though maybe I just missed something since I don't sleep much these days).

Xellos's return is always a fun moment. I liked how the writers made things seem as if Xellos might be working with Zuuma but the moment Xellos revealed that Zuuma's people have what Lina and company want and that Xellos was opposed to Zuuma and company having the jar, well that made things much more interesting to me. I can't remember how Zuuma was dealt with in the light novels, but the writers may well be setting things up so that Xellos can even the odds a bit for Lina and company (since I figure that whatever modifications Zuuma has will make him about equal strength with mazoku).

Should be interesting to see where things go from here.

Space Battleship Yamato 2 22

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2 Episode 22
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2 Ep. 22 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As repairs are underway, the heavily damaged Yamato flees to Jupiter's Ganymede Base, where they can dock the ship and make use of the facilities to perform structural repairs. Meanwhile in sick bay, Acting Captain Susumu Kodai wakes up to find Sado-sensei, Yuki, and Analyzer looking at him. His leg has been injured and bandaged up but he can't walk and Sado wants him to stay put, and Yuki has Analyzer put Susumu back into bed when he tries to get out. Sado tells Susumu that Sanada has taken command and the repairs are ongoing. When Saito comes in, Sado orders Saito to make sure the captain stays put. Sado, Analyzer, and Yuki then leave to carry out other duties.

On Earth, word of the Earth Defense Force Fleet's destruction has spread and the people panic and riot. This is observed in Gatlantis, where Sabera and the others are highly amused. Sabera wants the humans wiped out immediately, but Emperor Zwordar doesn't want to destroy such a beautiful planet. Instead, he orders Genitz to take some ships and fly to Earth to issue a demand for an unconditional surrender. The Earth Defense Force defense satellites in orbit are positioned to attack, but are too weak to do any damage and are quickly destroyed. The Earth President asks for peace talks, so in response, Emperor Zwordar orders the White Comet to attack Earth's moon, where they obliterate the entire surface, causing it to burn so fierce, it is easily seen on Earth. Zwordar gives Earth 24-hours.

Back on Ganymede Base, Yamato's repairs are wrapping up. Daisuke reports to Susumu about Earth having surrendered. Hearing this, Saito decides to ignore his orders and help Susumu up and to the ship's mess hall, also aided by Yuki. There, the crew is gathered and Susumu states that before he passed out, he heard Hijikata order him to fight on no matter what. As such, even though Earth has surrendered, this is what Susumu intends to do now that Yamato is repaired. The crew voice their approval and Yamato is off. Rather than contact HQ, Susumu decides they will warp in and surprise the White Comet.

Thoughts/Review: Not quite the magical instant repairs I had thought would happen, but they happened pretty quick just the same. I say "quick," but in reality, the only reason they were shown at all is because the production team needed to kill time. Basically, this episode is an in-story filler. WAY too much time was spent showing the panic and riots on Earth. The emperor could have communicated with Earth directly, but instead we send out small fleet and why? To kill time. Also, the emperor gives Earth 24-hours to surrender and why? To kill time. Yep, killing time is the name of the game so as to pad the episode, much as I'm doing here to pad out this paragraph so that it looks like I'm saying something when I'm really not. ^_~

The only other comment I have is the defense satellites in Earth orbit. Having watched Babylon 5, I had the eerie impression that the scene used in season 4 there of Earth's final defensive line was in fact taken from Space Battleship Yamato 2. The satellites looked a bit different and there were no missile launchers for the anime's version (and why not?) but the feeling that I'd seen this before was still there. I'm not sure why these small satellites couldn't hit the broadside of a barn but the enemy had no trouble hitting the satellites (beyond needing for the enemy to get through easily), but I would have liked the few that did to have at least caused some damage. Oh well.

Four more episodes and Desler on the horizon. *_*

White Album 07 (or Why One Shouldn't Get Involved With A Lot Of Females)

ホワイトアルバム Episode 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yuki completes her recording session with a lot of passion after talking with Rina, leading to the satisfaction of Ogata-san. Touya gets his dad to put up Misaki so she can sew costumes. Touya starts tutoring his new student, Mana, who's the girl who tried to help him on his date with Yuki. Mana proves to be quite smart. Rina also makes a case for bringing Touya back to her employment and even shows Touya the hidden pub in the back of Echos (accessed from the broom closet). Because Misaki sees Rina take Touya to the backroom, she's now in a huff while Touya worries about not being able to help Misaki. Yuki still has to deal with the bullying from Sakura-dan. Haruka is depressed, more so because Touya is not home.

Thoughts/Review: Whew. A lot of stuff to cover here.

First, there's MIZAKI Mana. I had wondered if her appearance in episode 4 indicated she'd be a player later. She is. I would guess her family is pretty loaded. After all, that sushi tray she tossed out was worth a lot of money and Mana bought McDonald's instead. Regardless, why does her mother want Mana to have a tutor? I realize the pressure to go to college is kinda high in Japan but Mana is either really smart or Touya is really dumb with the quiz he gave her. What is her relationship to Yuki? Touya was pretty dumb to let Mana's slip of the tongue go right over his head. Then again, he never seems to notice the obvious all around him.

With oblivious Touya in mind, lets move to item two -- Misaki. Somehow, Touya gets his father to put Misaki up for a while so that she can make her costumes. He's all in for helping her as we saw last episode. Yet Touya's actions lead him to be the king of misunderstandings. Touya has been seen with Misaki by Mana, who feels Touya is cheating on Yuki for being with a senpai. Touya's father seems to have the impression that Touya and Misaki might be an item. Misaki obviously likes Touya for some reason. Touya pisses off Misaki because he abandons her to chase after Rina, who was also pissed because the guy she's had an eye on is with some other girl who's not Yuki. It is a GIANT mess.

Moving on, there's Rina and whatever plan she has for Touya. She might be having some second thoughts after having seen him with Misaki but for now, she's trying to get her brother to bring Touya back to the Ogata Production's payroll. Plus, she's very keen on singing again herself. Interestingly enough, Eiji seems very on top of things. He knows his little sister has her eyes on Touya and Shinozuka-san also has her eyes on Touya to keep him from Yuki. I do wonder why Eiji calls Shinozuka-san "Yayoi-neesan" though. Is she his older sister or is this just a term of endearment? Is Touya back again an employee of Ogata Productions since he was taken to the studio again?

Haruka appears to be having a breakdown dealing with the loss of her brother. I guess she'd been using Touya as a crutch.

Yuki is still dealing with bullies. I thought we'd see Shinozuka-san go ape on Sakura-dan but Yuki stopped her. To me, that idol group is a greater thread to Yuki than Touya. I'd like to see Shinozuka-san still handle this in her own way behind the scenes.

You know, the anime had presented Touya's relationship with his father as being very strained. If it were really that bad, why would Touya even consider having Misaki stay at his father's place? Further, why would his father even put up this college girl?

Ultimately, this episode is another type of giant mess, mostly thanks to Touya being involved with multiple girls. I think of how easily the heroes of Kanon, Air, and Clannad dealt with lots of girls which is fictitious. For White Album, this feels more real -- girls aren't going to be so keen to tolerate other girls for the affections of a single guy. In trying to be the nice guy, Touya is creating a giant pit for himself and he's going to hurt people more than he has thus far and may lose everything in the end.

Clannad After Story 18 (Sponsored by Puffs Plus tissues)

クラナド アフターストーリー Episode 18

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: In the Illusion World, Mystery Girl and Garbage Bot take off to try to find a new, better world.

In the real world, a brat kid annoys Tomoya and he snaps at the kid and his mom, frightening Ushio so that she disappears to the toilet. Tomoya finds her and learns that Ushio has been taught not to cry except in the toilet. At a stop at a train station, Tomoya offers to buy Ushio a toy from a nearby toy store. Since they are on the clock, Tomoya picks one for her -- a robot. On the train, Tomoya wonders if Ushio would have preferred a more feminine toy, but Ushio is very happy with the robot.

That night is spent at a resort hotel and in the middle of the night, Ushio has to go to the bathroom. To make sure she's OK, Tomoya gets up too and waits for her to escort her back to their room. After she does her business, they look out one of the windowed halls where Ushio and Tomoya see a small, flying light just outside. Tomoya says it is a firefly and Ushio is excited since she's never seen one. The next day, a small train goes to the end of the line and a small, country town. Walking, an unpaved country road, they find a field of yellow flowers. Both Ushio and Tomoya are in awe, so Tomoya puts Ushio on his shoulders so she can get a better look.

Tomoya sits in the shade while Ushio happily runs through the flowers with her robot in tow. Tomoya nods off and when he awakens, he finds a sad Ushio who's lost her robot toy. She cant find it and while Tomoya offers to buy another one, Ushio won't hear of it. Tomoya lets Ushio continue to look, but he has flashes of himself and his father here when Tomoya was a child. Tomoya tells Ushio to wait for him here while he proceeds up the road a bit. There, he finds an old lady who seems to know him and has his family name -- Okazaki.

The woman is OKAZAKI Shino, Tomoya's grandmother and the mother of Tomoya's father Naoyuki. Shino tells Tomoya that Sanae-san had called her and told her to expect Tomoya's visit. She proceeds to inquire about Naoyuki and then tells Tomoya about Naoyuki meeting his wife Atsuko and his troubles accepting her accidental death. However, Naoyuki had vowed to raise Tomoya by himself. Shino notes how Tomoya is now in a similar situation. After hearing Shino's story, Tomoya answers Shino's question as to whether Naoyuki was a bad father or not by saying "no." Shino is relieved to hear this and the two head to where Ushio is.

Ushio is still looking for the robot but can't find it. Again, Tomoya offers to buy a new toy, but the thought of this saddens Ushio. Tomoya says there are others but Ushio says there is only one. That's because her papa chose and bought that toy for her, the first present Tomoya ever bought her. The words cut deeply into Tomoya, leading him to promise to be a better father and asking if he can stay with her. Ushio agrees and cries in Tomoya's arms, the only other place Sanae-san said she could cry. On the train ride back, Tomoya decides to grant Ushio's earlier wish to hear about her mama, Nagisa. The memories cause Tomoya to cry and Ushio as well, but Tomoya now has a new reason to live -- his daughter.

Thoughts/Review: Was it me or did the robot that Tomoya purchased for Ushio resemble Garbage Bot? I had thought that maybe Mystery Girl was in fact Nagisa but after five years and seeing the robot, now I wonder. Add to the mix that Ushio lost the robot (mysteriously it seemed), the field of flowers (which reminded me of the golden fields Mystery Girl used to be seen in), Mystery Girl and Garbage Bot holding hands (as Tomoya and Ushio did), and the mystery light that we've seen appear before in regards to wishes appears again in front of Ushio and Tomoya; I begin to wonder if I'm overthinking things. Could Mystery Girl be Ushio? If so, why? Then again, if it is Nagisa, why? It *seems* like Tomoya turned a corner here and the previews for next week would seem to suggest that this path is continued. There's just too little information about the Illusion World and its relationship to the real one (such as time passage and the like). Regardless, it is ironic that Garbage Bot and Mystery Girl head for new ground just as Ushio and Tomoya do the same.

After last week's episode, I wondered if Tomoya could be any more of a jerk. Now we see the wisdom of Sanae-san and Akio-san's plan to have Tomoya and Ushio take a trip where he would see the grandmother he's long forgotten about. Nothing they said would ever get through to Tomoya. However, giving him a train ticket to the boonies with his daughter allows father and daughter a chance to bond some and gives Tomoya's grandmother a chance to see her grandson again as well as tell him an important story. It worked (of course) and at the same time, Tomoya is forced to deal with his own grief. Hopefully, this will mean he won't be a bad father from here on out.

Ushio is such a cutie. Man, Sanae-san's teaching Ushio to never cry save in the toilet room or in her father's arms does seem harsh. Still, Sanae-san and Akio-san do appear to be teaching Ushio well. I see how well behaved she was compared to the other kid. Granted, there's still a fear factor involved between Ushio and Tomoya which would cause Ushio to behave better, but I think that even if that weren't there, Ushio would be like her mother, and that's a good thing. I just hope nothing bad happens to Ushio between now and the series end. There are a lot of episodes left. (I keep thinking about Garbage Bot and Mystery Girl and really wonder what horrible stuff to make the audience cry is in the wings.)

You know, if somehow that is Ushio in the Illusion World, it would make a weird sort of sense (I can't stop thinking about it, which is why it is taking me so long to write this article). The day her father bought her the robot and took her to the field of flowers I think is the happiest day of her young life. So if something bad happens down the road and she gets trapped and sent to an Illusion World, it would make sense to me that Ushio would try to recreate that happy moment with an illusionary world where there is a field of golden plants and a robot made of scrap metal that resembles the robot her father gave her. Now why Garbage Bot is alive is still one of those big unsolved mysteries. Is it Tomoya somehow? I couldn't say unless Tomoya goes after her to rescue her.

OK, I'm going way overboard on the thinking here. The imagery of this episode really struck a cord with me is all.

The REAL Negima! Chapter 242 SPOILER Images (Boo-ya!)

Negima! 242 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 242 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 242 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all). The entire chapter, in ultra-LQ spoiler fashion. Worth the wait and the tease, right? ^_~



Nice to see the Ako story being dealt with. ^_^

Space Battleship Yamato 2 21

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2 Episode 21
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2 Ep. 21 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hijikata dispatches the Hyperion Fleet to meet Balsey's fleet of battleships. However, as they exchange fire, it is clear that Balsey's impulse weapons are superior to the Earth forces big guns and the Hyperion Fleet is quickly destroyed. Hijikata takes his other ships and moves out to meet Balsey's fleet and waits with Wave Motion Guns charged and ready. Balsey has another trick up his sleeve though -- the Energy Transport Weapon, which allows him to fire a massive energy bolt, which is then teleported to a specific location where it then emerges at point-blank range. Hijikata sees his fleet being decimated as Balsey stays outside of the Wave Motion Gun range.

Hijikata orders a retreat to Saturn and Balsey's fleet follows, determined to destroy all Earth ships. Hijikata orders Susumu to launch his fighters, which he does as his fleet attempts to catch Balsey from behind while taking note that the White Comet has disappeared. Hijikata takes his fleet into the rings of Saturn and Balsey begins to follow as fighter from Susumu's fleet arrive and cause some damage and even destroy a few ships, though at the cost of a great many planes. Once in the rings, Balsey orders the Energy Transport Weapon fired again. However, this causes such a massive turbulence and wake in the rings that his weapon is damaged and his fleet are sent out of position in the violent currents.

Hijikata takes advantage of the situation and turns his fleet around out of the rings. There, they are able to pick off the hapless White Comet fleet, with only Balsey's ship surviving, though heavily damaged. Balsey turns his ship to attack the Earth forces one last time before they destroy him. With his ship gone, the Earth forces have won and as Susumu's fleet rushes to rejoin Hijikata's fleet, the White Comet suddenly appears, the gravity well severely damaging or destroying the ships in Susumu's fleet, including Yamato. Susumu is forced to abandon ship while Sanada and

Seeing this, Hijikata has his ships turn and fire their Wave Motion Cannons on the White Comet. The result causes the core of the comet to be revealed but nothing else. The fleet shifts to firing with their main guns, targeting the city but to no effect while at the equator of the comet's core, a ring of missile launchers takes out Hijikata's fleet. The Andromeda heavily damaged, Hijikata sends a final message to Yamato telling him to target the base of the comet core and not the city before ramming his ship into the White Comet.

Thoughts/Review: It seems to me that the Hyperion Fleet would have used their Wave Motion Cannons (Guns) and just blasted the area in front of them, thereby forcing the enemy to reveal their energy transport weapon earlier. That weapon was no different that the Gamilus transport weapon, only instead of transporting planes, it transported the energy. I don't know why the Earth force shouldn't have expected something like that since Desler is known to be working with the White Comet people.

Hijikata's attack on the White Comet started out smart with the use of the Wave Motion Cannons, but then got stupid. Why not try to have a 2nd barrage from the Wave Motion Cannons (at least some of the ships could have done this). Regardless, it should have been clear right away that they weren't going to hit the city. I would have been targeting the missile ring at the equator but that's just me. Instead, the fleet is wiped out with one ram attack hitting that missile ring and Hijikata is now dead. No tears here I'm afraid. Then again, this franchise is notorious for giving the impression that a character is dead and his ship destroyed, but, "SURPRISE!" He's alive again (Desler). That could happen with Hijikata.

While I'm thinking about it, it is annoying that the episode's title pretty much spoiled the entire episode. Seriously, the titles of the episode (in English) is, "Heroic Captain Hijikata's Death!" Wow! I wonder what's going to happen in THIS episode 'cause I certainly have no clue.

I was surprised at the abandon ship order but it soon became clear that Yamato would not be destroyed. Instead, as I saw in the previews, it will be magically repaired somehow. *_* Well, I should be used to that by now. And at least Saito was useful this episode in fighting fires.

Not many more episodes left. Just the confrontation with the White Comet, then Desler.

Toradora! 19

とらドラ！Episode 19

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ryuuji calls Minori and leaves a message asking her to come to the party as Taiga is yelling from across the way for Ryuuji's attention. Taiga has a present for Ryuuji -- a nice suit that had belonged to her father. Taiga is also dressed up and looks good. They head to the party where they see Yuri-sensei, who's heading for a seminar on buying an apartment. Inside the party, Yuusaku is dressed as a shirtless Santa and gets things started. Ryuuji can't stand how the fruit punch is being done so he takes over serving. After some time, the lights go out and Ami and Taiga are on stage and perform a Christmas song, idol style.

After the performance, Ami comes over and sees Ryuuji, who compliments her on the singing. Ryuuji is surprised to learn that Taiga went to get Minori and then go home to wait for Santa-san. Ryuuji is confused and Ami gets irritated by Ryuuji's ignorance and reminds Ryuuji of what she had told him previously -- stop playing house with Taiga. She leaves in a huff and Ryuuji realizes that what Taiga intends. So he takes off from the party.

Meanwhile, Taiga has paid a visit to Minori to tell her that Ryuuji is waiting and then comes home. She's feeling a bit sad and lonely, more so knowing that she's setting Ryuuji up with Minori. Taiga nods off and is awakened by pounding coming from her bedroom window. She goes and finds a person in a Santa-bear costume. Taiga is excited by Santa-san's visit and shows him her little tree. Taiga is very happy but she knows who's in the costume -- Ryuuji. She thanks him and then shoves him out so that she won't be a liar. After all, Minori is going to the school to meet Ryuuji. Reluctantly, Ryuuji takes off.

After Ryuuji leaves, Taiga becomes sad and suddenly doesn't want Ryuuji to be taken from her as he's been the only always there for her. So she races outside to see if she can see Ryuuji. Since he is not, Taiga sinks down to the ground and cries. This is seen by Minori, who is inexplicably outside Taiga's apartment complex. Minori heads to the school and finds Ryuuji waiting. She reminds Ryuuji of their conversation at Ami's summer place regarding UFO's and ghosts. She tells him that she doesn't feel she needs to see those things any more and then leaves. The stunned Ryuuji realizes that he's been rejected by Minori.

Thoughts/Review: I had only one real problem with this episode -- why was Minori outside of Taiga's apartment? The series has shown that Minori doesn't live in the same nearby area as Ryuuji and Taiga as they would meet Minori on the way to school. Since the Christmas party is at the school and presumably Minori was out to see Ryuuji at school, then why would she be at Taiga's house? That seemed a stretch to me. If she wanted to talk to Taiga, she could have called. Taiga stopped by Minori's place rather than call because she wanted to make a personal plea to Minori. There's no reason for Minori to see Taiga in person. As such, the whole scene of Minori getting to see Taiga weep smacked of unbelievability.

Ryuuji is really rather dense. Ami could see that Taiga was developing feelings for Ryuuji (as could Maya). Ami could see that Minori had feelings for Ryuuji. Ami knows her own feelings for Ryuuji. Ami had tried to warn Ryuuji about "playing house" and Ryuuji didn't listen. Ryuuji does feel very protective of Taiga and doesn't want to lose her, but romantically, he's still more interested in Minori. Taiga, who'd recently suffered having Yuusaka confess to someone else, knew she had no chance with Yuusaku despite how nice he is nor how others were forcing them together. Yeah, she liked the idea but in reality, Taiga knows the one guy who's the perfect companion for her -- Ryuuji.

I've read some people complain that this episode was full of lazy writing and was all but a "jump the shark" moment. I don't see that at all. One of the complaints was how Taiga just changed gears from Yuusaku to Ryuuji, but as I said before, Taiga already knew that she wasn't going to be with Yuusaku. Plus, Taiga has already noticed how close she and Ryuuji are. When they were in Ami's large summer home, Taiga and Ryuuji spend the evening in the living room with Ryuuji sitting on the floor and Taiga on the couch using him as a foot rest. I don't know about you, but I'm not getting that cozy with a female friend without some acceptance in my mind that she could be a potential girlfriend and I believe girls feel much the same in reverse. So at least in the back of Taiga's mind, Ryuuji was potential boyfriend material (as I see it).

Another complaint is that the characters are acting like idiots and everything depends on coincidences. For the idiot part, I didn't see the characters acting any differently. Minori has been depressed for a long time and I suspect her happy-go-lucky nature was to cover her depression. Taiga has often shown a softer side so no difference there. Ryuuji is pretty thick so no difference there. Ami is the one character who seems to see everything clearly but she's not really acting any differently. So I don't know where this idiot charge is coming from.

The coincidence part has one valid argument -- Minori (and I've already addressed that). The other things that happened didn't feel coincidental. However, everyone has their own opinions for what they like and don't like as well as what they perceive and don't perceive.

One side note -- Ami and Taiga performing the duet sorta helps cement in my mind that they are indeed friends. I don't think they would have bothered to sing together otherwise. Yeah, the song may have been done to get otaku to buy the single, but I liked the moment just the same. No, I won't be buying the CD, even if I had a job.

Negima! Chapter 242 SPOILER Image (Finally...or maybe not)

UPDATE: The real images were finally uploaded and can be found --> HERE!

Negima! 242 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 242 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 242 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

NOT!!!!!


So, we wait over 24-hours longer than normal for the first spoiler image and THAT'S what we get? *lol* Me thinks the person (or persons) uploading these loves jacking with us fans. ^_^; That's actually from 239. *_* Bastages. *lol*

Didn't mean to tease like that but I did want to illustrate what's going on on with the Japanese fans. :-P

Update: The Japanese have uploaded two more images, both OLD. *_* Not sure what is going on over there but I hope it doesn't mean that our source(s) for spoilers has dried up. That would suck.

Yes, There is a Negima! Chapter 242 This Week. However...

Since there's a lot of "Where's Negima! 242?" questions out there, I'll put out a quick blurb. Yes, the chapter is being published this week. So where are the spoiler images I normally post? Well, the Japanese haven't uploaded any. I just checked and even the Japanese fans are asking where the spoilers are. *lol*

RUMOR has it that we may get an Ako-related story somehow worked in with the Jack-Kagetarou vs. Negi-Kotaro fight. That's just rumor at the moment, but if true, it would be sweet. Scar answers anyone? Possible pactio? Who knows.

Regardless, hang in there. I'm as eager as you guys to get new spoiler images and when (or even IF) they do show up, I'll post them as soon as I see them.

Update 1: It is now Sunday in the U.S. and STILL no spoiler images. Amazing. I really hope this does not mean that there won't be any this week. Like you guys, I rather enjoy them because it whets the appetite for the actual manga release. I'll keep looking.

Update 2: The entire spoiler set was uploaded a few minutes ago and can be found --> HERE!

Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuutsu 01 (No Fansubs Required)

Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya 01
涼宮ハルヒちゃんの憂鬱 Episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Kyon has a strange dream where his school companions take on new forms. See the legal, subtitled video --> HERE.

Thoughts/Review: The orgasms are already going on heavier than those lucky enough to own a copy of Rapelay before Amazon banned it are having. *_* But that's another blog entry (maybe).

For me, there wasn't anything special, brilliant, great, superb, wonderful, outrageously funny, or even plain funny in this short. At best, I had a couple of smile moments at Haruhi-dog's crack of the whip so that Kyon could count sheep. The stuff about Itsuki being a representation of Mt. Fuji wasn't funny. I didn't laugh at Yuki being the eggplant. I didn't laugh at the crane (Tsuruya? I'm not versed enough with the characters to know for sure). I did note the McDonald's sponsorship of the anime though.

I am going to be in the very tiny minority here based on the copious amounts of male bodily fluids all over YouTube's servers, causing them to experience problems even as I write. That's fine. I've never seen the brilliance of this franchise and I never will. That said, I do give Kadokawa kudos for bringing the anime over with subtitles legally to the U.S. (even if they did drop the honorifics from the subtitles while leaving "chan" in the official English title).

Happy Valentine's Day (Shakugan no Shana Style)

Just wanted to take a moment to wish all those interested, "Happy Valentine's Day!" ^_^ Hope you have a good one. I know I will. In the meantime, enjoy a Shana and Kazumi wallpaper image from Shakugan no Shana. ^_^

The Manga Guide to Databases

The Manga Guide to Databases <-- Buy From Amazon!

No Starch Press is back with a second book in the "Manga Guide" series, this time The Manga Guide to Databases. Since I have worked in the IT/IS field for years and even have some database training, this book gives me a chance to look at the subject matter from a more enlightened perspective.

This time, the manga story centers around the Kingdom of Kod and characters Princess Ruruna and her aide and long-time companion Cain. Princess Ruruna is in charge of the kingdom's fruit-selling business now that her parents are traveling and Cain helps her. Princess Ruruna wishes for an easier way to keep track of exports, costs, inventory, etc. and a package from her parents may have the key -- the Book of Database. Unlocking the book releases the fairy Tico, who knows everything about databases. Only Cain and Princess Ruruna can see her and through the chapters she teaches them about databases. There's a small romantic element with Princess Ruruna and Cain which comes to a head when Prince Raminess from a neighboring kingdom arrives on the scene.

As with other titles in this series, the book is laid out in traditional western form -- left to right. That is how it was published in the original Japanese, so those concerned about flipped art need not worry.

As to the actual subject matter, databases as a general matter are defined, relational databases are defined, SQL commands are learned, database operations are covered (including database security, locks, disaster recovery, and more complex queries), and finally database usage is covered. This last chapter will give novices some eye-opening experiences, especially when the book talks of web-based databases, such as an online store where one searches for a product and then orders it. While the end-user never sees it, database queries learned are performed behind the scenes. Other items such as distributed databases, XML, Object-Oriented Databases, and more are also covered.

Chapters are broken down into three parts. Part one contains the manga portion, which has the story but also gives a high-level look at the subject materials covered. The second part of each chapter is dedicated to a somewhat more low-level review of the materials to obtain some greater depth of the subject. Finally, the last part of each chapter contains a quiz to see if you have learned what you've read.

After reading this manga, I would expect the user to have a basic understanding of databases and their fundamentals as well as an understanding of the core SQL commands. The end of the book contains a nifty, frequently used SQL statement list, which I think is quite handy. However, to obtain maximum benefit from this book, I think that having access to some sort of database software would be helpful as then you could practice building a database and then perform queries on it (or other task). That's how I remember things is to actually do them. I'm guessing this part won't be a problem since those buying the book will be interested both in manga and in learning about databases and thus will likely have access at school, work, or even home (MS Access for example).

For me, the book helped make a few things a clearer. Since I'm not a DBA and haven't worked too heavily on databases in a few years, I thought of how my updated knowledge would have made things a bit easier back when I did work more with databases since I would have an understanding as to the "why" of things when it comes to how databases are set up. Should a future job require me to do some database stuff, you can be asured that I'll be re-reading this manga first before going to some tech guide. ^_^

Bottom line: The Manga Guide to Databases is a cute and clever way to introduce a novice to databases of all kinds and their workings. You won't be a Database Administrator after reading this manga, but it will lay out a foundation so that if/when you study the topic of databases in greater depth, things won't seem nearly as scary or deep as they might have before. That alone makes the book worth owning. The manga stuff is just icing on the cake. ^_^

Keroro Gunsou 90 - 91

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Episode 90

It is Christmas Eve and since Aki-san will be late coming home, Fuyuki and Natsumi plan to prepare the house for a Christmas party. Keroro promises the platoon's support to decorate while Fuyuki and Natsumi buy supplies. However, this ends up in them destroying the Christmas decorations already put up, angering Natsumi. To complicate matters, HQ has sent Keroro a notice that they will come to Earth to inspect the progress of the invasion on December 25. Moa comes up with the idea of making a large statue of Keroro to let the inspectors know what's going on. A large group comes together to build this on top of the Nishizawa Tower and in the end, even Natsumi joins. However, while the statue is completed, an accident causes it to fall. The resulting charged static causes a star shape to appear in the city, leading the inspectors to believe Keroro is in control. Now, the Christmas Party can proceed as planned.

Episode 91

The first story has Kururu's newest weapon turn Dororo into a lazy bum and Keroro into a studious student.


The second story has Koyuki-chan get to experience family life as Grandma Hinata comes to visit to partake in traditional Japanese foods for the new year such as osechi and mochi.

Thoughts/Review: For episode 90, if it is dry and the air is full of static, it can't very well snow can it? ^_~ Otherwise, a pretty standard-fare episode with Keroro getting people to help him convince HQ to allow him to stay on Earth. Meh. Been there, done that (though Keroro in an afro still makes me smile).

For episode 91, the first story made me chuckle with Keroro being the stereotypical studious Japanese student. It was somehow funnier having Dororo be the bum though. The second story also has some amusing moments but the more interesting element was Koyuki-chan getting to experience family traditions, something she hasn't done before thanks to her ninja upbringing.

OK, onward with the accelerated blogging of this series until I run out of episodes.

Minami-ke Okaeri 06

みなみけ おかえり Episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Uchida and Yoshino are at the Minami residence eating watermelon along with Kana and Haruka. Chiaki comes in looking for her teddy bear Fujioka and she suspects Kana of doing something with it. Kana denies being involved and believes Chiaki must have left it at the beach during their recent trip. This leads to Kana recounting that indeed Chiaki had brought the bear to the beach. The real Fujioka arrives and he has Fujioka-bear with him, having discovered it in his bag. This leads the others, including Fujioka, to recount their experiences with the bear at the beach. That causes Kana to remember that she was indeed the one who put the bear in Fujioka's bag to make sure it didn't get lost. However, she can't confess that now lest Chiaki get angry.

At the Minami residence, Haruka and Maki are doing their summer homework while Chiaki watches TV, Touma reads a manga, and Kana reads a magazine. Fujioka stops by with a watermelon, which is an immediate hit. Maki realizes that Fujioka is attempting to win Kana over with food and teases him about it. After attempting to eat his slice of the watermelon with a spoon, Fujioka is told by Maki that this spoon is one used by Kana. Embarrassed, Fujioka eats his slice by hand, challenging Touma to an eating contest. Kana starts annoying Touma with seed-spitting and gets chastised by Haruka. Kana volunteers to make curry and Chiaki wants the carrots kept to a minimum but Kana doesn't oblige. Food is served and Maki is going to tease Fujioka again, but that's stopped when Kana gives him a spoon and mentions it is a guest spoon though Chiaki mentions that spoons don't belong to anyone, so Fujioka decides on a curry eating contest with Touma. Touma has already finished and wants seconds.

Uchida is at the Minami residence attempting to work on her summer homework just as summer vacation is almost over (Chiaki and Touma fast asleep). Mako-chan comes over and is horrified to see homework being done since "he" hasn't done his yet. He learns from Uchida that Chiaki won't let Uchida copy Chiaki's homework. So Mako-chan makes a deal with Uchida -- he'll help her get Chiaki's homework if she then lets him copy Uchida's later. Mako-chan makes his pitch but is rejected. Since Chiaki doesn't recognize him as Makoto, she goes on to tell Mako-chan how Uchida came over a lot during the summer while Chiaki was doing her homework, but Uchida's laughing, drink spilling, and other actives during Chiaki's studies irritated her and so Uchida is out. However, in the end, Chiaki agrees to give Uchida her notes. When Touma wants to copy from Uchida, Uchida refuses, even when Touma intervenes.

Kana is depressed that summer is almost over so she wants to reminisce about summer since she hates fall. So she and Chiaki get into the bath in their swimsuits where Chiaki remembers all the food-related pranks Kana pulled on her during the summer, including putting wasabi paste into her soumen. Meanwhile, Uchida come over with a dish of chestnut rice, Yoshino comes over with some extra fish, Touma comes over with some mushrooms from her brother which she thinks are weird. Haruka and the others react to the "matsutake-sama" and begin addressing Touma as "Touma-sama." When Kana and Chiaki see the matsutake, the have a similar reaction, only now Kana says she loves autumn. At dinner, everyone starts to eat when Kana notices that she has no chestnuts in her rice. As she's pondering this, her fish is taken (by Chiaki). When Kana notices it missing, Chiaki wonders if the fish ran away from her. As Kana ponders this, Chiaki steals her matsutake. Kana starts to realize what is going on as Chiaki chews and speaks. Later that night, Chiaki hesitantly starts to place the eaten fish into a pot on the stove.

Thoughts/Review: I think I've figured out one of the elements that makes this series weaker than the first. My memories of Minami-ke were that the story segments, whether linked or not, ended with a kind of punch-line (maybe not an actual punch-line, but ended with a period on the joke that was good). So you had the humor of the episode and the humor of the end. For this episode of Okaeri, I kept noticing that there was no punch-out to the episode. They just end and it feels awkward, more so for some stories than others. Take the last story -- what the smeg is Chiaki doing with the eaten fish? Why would she want to put it into the large pot. Made no sense to me, even if it is Kana's. Yet that's where the story just stops and that wasn't funny. It is strange and as I said, awkward.

Further, I don't think the comedic timing of this series is down as well either. There's still funny stuff at times, but like I mentioned before, things sometimes are just flat or inexplicable.

As to the stories this episode, the flashbacks to the beach weren't funny. Every flashback was simply setting the table for Kana to realize she had been the one to cause Fujioka-bear to go missing. That's some long, long setup for a joke. Don't get me wrong, once it became clear that Kana was guilty, I laughed, especially when Kana tried to cover her "Ah" vocal slip. However, the story just dies on her failed cover story and so doesn't end on a laugh (which is anther example of what I complained about earlier).

For the second story, I liked how Maki teased teased Fujioka about eating from Kana's spoon. That amused me. I expected Kana to screw up the curry, so it was a pleasant surprise when she didn't. I laughed at Chiaki refering to carrots as the "hidden flavor" and wanting less of that in the curry. However, Maki's teasing throughout the episode just died with with the "no one owns a spoon" and Chiaki eating curry. Terrible ending but funny stuff with the teasing and Chiaki's revution over carrots.

For the third story, there were no laughs for me. I suppose Uchida's desperation to get Chiaki's homework for copying but refusal to allow Touma to copy is supposed to be funny, but it didn't do a thing for me.

For the fourth story, I did laugh at Chiaki's recall of summer events and revenge on Kana for all those food pranks. I've already complained about the story's end so I won't say more there. I will say that while I know of the Japanese love of the VERY expensive matsutake, this episode marks the first time I've seen them given an honorific and the "sama" one at that. I've never had a matsutake so maybe if I return to Japan, I'll have to try a "matsutake-sama." ^_^

Good stuff with a lot of bad story ends for this episode. I know other episodes have had stories end awkwardly, but this time, it really stood out to me.

Negima! -- A New OAD (OVA) Series -- The Magic World

There's been talk of a new Negima! anime series for a few weeks now with most of the assumption being that it would be a 3rd TV series. However, with word spreading that the new Negima! series is going to be in fact another OAD series (OAD being the term used for OVA's that are sold along with a manga tankoubon) spanning four episodes and covering the Magic World arc, warning klaxons suddenly start going off in my head.

Don't get me wrong, the first two episodes of Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA have been pretty good and pretty faithful (a few tiny things dropped here and there). No doubt when I finally get to watch the 3rd episode, I'll be OK with it as well (though I do hear that a chapter won't be covered in that episode). Still, those following the current manga chapters of Negima! (and chapter 242 will be published next week) know that the Magic World arc is pretty long and hasn't even concluded yet. As such, I can't see how this arc would squeeze down into four episodes. I'd much prefer the Mahora Festival arc to be animated. Heck, go back one more and properly animate the Kyoto arc, where Kotaro is introduced. That would rock.

Its too early to get worked up one way or the other, but I kinda wish this was either longer or that we were getting a full TV series. I hope that instead of trying to do the whole Magic World arc, they just cover the chapters of the arrival in Wales (hopefully that was not part of ALA ALBA), the arrival in the Magic World with its fight, and the subsequent journey of Negi and Chachamaru to find the others. If they try to squeeze it all in, a fair amount will have to be dropped and that will be a crying shame. We'll see what happens.

Urusei Yatsura 102 - 104

SPOILER Summaries/Synopsis:

うる星やつら episode 102

With Sakura feeling somewhat depressed, Cherry slips a pill of the childish mind into her giant breakfast which causes her to first remember her heartbreak as a teen, then her loneliness as a frail little girl. When Sakura wakes up at school, she finds her child self has taken physical form and everyone believes the child to be Sakura-sensei's illegitimate child, which depresses Ataru and the guys. That's something Lum and Shinobu don't understand. Sakura goes to drag Cherry back while Young Sakura is taken care of by the students. Onsen decides over a beef bowl that he'll still love Sakura and her child despite the indiscretion. Meanwhile, with Cherry in tow, Sakura sees her younger self has summoned youkai monsters to play with. After having a talk with her younger self, Sakura decides to let the girl play, which she does, summoning youkai again. This ends up destroying the school but Sakura-sensei is smiling.

うる星やつら episode 103

Ran gets video mail showing her all the mishaps she had because of Lum as well as her failures since coming to Earth to get back at Lum. She sends them to herself to feed her rage.


うる星やつら episode 104

A recap of adventures with Sakura.


Thoughts/Review: For episode 102, I have some mixed feelings. I liked the idea of learning about Sakura-sensei's past. However, the presentation of the story is one I don't like with its stylistic approach to the flashbacks. I admit that seeing Sakura eat her breakfast out of the metal "tub" (big metal pan which we used down south for cleaning or gathering vegetables) made me laugh as did the guys being depressed over the thought of Sakura-sensei having a bastard child. I smiled at the summoned youkai (though that term was not used in the episode), knowing Takahashi-sensei's love of those creatures (Inuyasha). However, the episode was mostly weird and a little sad regarding how lonely Sakura was as a child.

For 103, a clip show and nothing to see here. Ditto 104.

Ochan mentions that 105 starts a new director, so we'll see how things go there. ^_^

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA 02

魔法先生ネギま！～白い翼 ALA ALBA～ (OAD) 02
Negima! Ala Alba (White Wing) OVA/OAV 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With Asuna's training complete, Negi and his "battle harem" along with Kotaro head to a Japanese beach for a much needed break. Ayaka arrives with her group, those who'd failed to take the Ala Alba badges, and they intend to hang out as well. Nodoka and Yue ponder their chances at a relationship with Negi when they see Asuna and Negi walking on a secluded section of the beach. They are joined by Anya, who's not happy to see Negi with this other girl and she attacks. Negi and Asuna react defensively, but the fight is quickly over when Anya discovers she's set her cloak on fire. After making nice with Asuna (the enemy), Anya plans to take Negi back to Great Britain immediately. Asuna and Negi talk her out of it with the temptation of delicious Japanese food.

While eating, Ayaka and a lot of the girls spy on Anya and Negi, who are bickering like siblings. Paru notes how informal Negi's speech is with Anya, which he does not have with any of the girls in the class. Thus, Negi has a wall in his heart keeping him at distance from the girls. During the commotion that follows that revelation, the girls accidentally cause the door to the room where Anya and Negi are to fall. Anya sees she has lots of enemies but decides to play cool and polite. Later in the onsen, Anya decides that the flat-chested Yue and Nodoka are her friends, but the rest of the girls are enemies.

The next day, Anya agrees to stay again and it is more play time at the beach. First though, Yue and Nodoka decide to keep the others from revealing they have pactios with Negi, which is a bit difficult. That night, everyone is forced to sleep in a single, large room and once it is known that Negi likes to spoon, the game is on to somehow get Negi into some of the girl's futon. Ayaka, Makie, Nodoka, and Yue get caught up in this as does Anya so that in the morning, they are beaten from the battles they fought and Negi feels exhausted, having been unconscious and tossed around all night.

Thoughts/Review: Man, this episode made me forget that the whole training arc came before episode 1. This episode starts with a tiny scene showing Asuna training, then a statement on how their training is complete. I actually had to go back to volume 19 to see how it went, but that's a minor issue. One day, I hope all that training stuff will make it back in with an accurate TV series. Then these comedy moments between the festival and the arrival in Wales can be referenced when the TV series skips them.

Despite knowing the story very well, I have to say that seeing this animated, complete with sound effects, made me laugh even though I already know the jokes. So when Anya set her butt on fire and started running around, I snickered. When Anya and Negi bickered over who was taller, I chuckled. When the big breasted girls arrived in the onsen, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I never laughed at these moments when I read them in the manga -- I only smiled. However, the "action" of the moments combined with those comedy sound effects shows why a faithful adaptation does not mean boring or stupid. ^_^

On the other hand, it does negate any real discussion of the story I suppose. ^_~ So I'll say that I wish the character designs were a little more spot on with Akamatsu-sensei's designs, but I'm not going to complain all that much.

One more episode to go. I do hope FUNimation can land this OAD/OVA because frankly, its the first Negima! series worth owning.

Negima! Manga Vol 27 (Ch 241) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 27 Chapter 241 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 241

Summary/Synopsis: The fight between Team Negi (as "Nagi") and Kotaro against Jack Rakan and Kagetarou begins with Negi activating his pactio artifact. Negi begins incanting the Thousand Bolts spell and as Jack ponders what exactly Negi's artifact will do, Kagetarou attacks to prevent Negi from completing the incantation. Kotaro deflects the attack to protect Negi while Jack summons a massive halberd. Kagetarou attacks again with his "shadow streamers" (for lack of a better term), forming them into a giant spear. Kotaro deflects the attack with his fist, which he'd transformed to beast form.

Jack has powered up and tells Negi that he's going all out. He launches his energized halberd at Negi and Kotaro, but Negi doesn't move to avoid the attack but instead moves forward to shield Kotaro. The resulting explosion is so massive, an emergency barrier has to be activated to contain it and while it doesn't kill anyone or really injure anyone, it still caused some damage and causes the Knights on patrol to suspect terrorism until their mother ship tells them otherwise. Princess Theodora had been knocked down by the explosion and as she receives reports from her aide, she's angry and grabs a mic and screams at Jack for not thinking -- if there'd been the slightest thing go wrong, people would have died.

While Jack laughs this off, inside he's a bit worried that he may have killed Negi. Seeing Negi and Kotaro emerge unscathed impresses him and shocks Kagetarou. However, Jack is surprised to see Negi holding the Hama no Tsurugi sword artifact that belongs to Asuna. Jack uses his own artifact to summon a large number of swords to attack, but Negi destroys them all with his sword. Jack summons a large sword and a giant hammer, but Negi destroys both of them as well. That proves that Negi actually has the Hama no Tsurugi but Negi has another surprise. He dispells the Hama no Tsurugi and summons Setsuna's artifact, surrounding Jack's head with Japanese daggers (tantou?).

Jack now understands that Negi has a super-rare artifact that allows Negi to uses his ministra's (or if he had them, ministers) artifacts. Further, Jack understands whom Negi made a pactio with -- Theodora. Jack chews on two of the daggers and teases Negi about drawing power from a girl. Negi is a bit embarrassed but says that he needs all the advantages he can get against Jack. With Negi's artifact, he can successfully counter Jack's massive blasts and artifact. So Negi proposes shifting the fight with fists. This pleases Jack, who reminds Negi that Jack is pretty good at unarmed combat.

Thoughts/Review: So the strategy of Negi becomes clear -- remove the flash and fight with fists. Kotaro seems able to handle Kagetarou OK, so will Negi be able to handle Jack with mere fists? I actually think that the old Thousand Bolts spell will come back into play. Jack is not a mage but if Negi has mastered delayed spells (using his time in the scroll), then that could come into play with the Thousand Bolts. I believe that's why Negi started by incanting the spell immediately. Kotaro buys Negi time and by the time Jack acts, Negi has the spell "stored" and then uses Asuna's artifact.

I liked that we got to see Kotaro use his beast form again, even if in a limited fashion. When he used it on Negi, it was already too late for the most part. When he tried to use it against Al in the Mahora Budokai, he was already defeated and again too late.

We already knew that Jack had these insane, DBZ-like abilities, however for Kagetarou to even be surprised by Jack's ultimate technique initially puzzled me. Then I realized that while Kagetarou may know how powerful Jack is, sometimes these things have to be seen and experienced to fully be appreciated.

I chuckled at Theodora going off on Jack going all out like that. Whatever Jack's plan is, taking Negi out is not part of the plan. The idea that Negi might skip out on the fight troubled Jack somewhat and the idea that he may have killed Negi also troubled him. I think that while Jack is a mercenary, Jack needs Negi alive for whatever reasons (beyond the "this is Nagi's son"). I may be over thinking this but I just am not sure what Jack is up to since clearly he's not interested in purely helping Negi in the traditional sense.

I don't expect the fight to go beyond a couple more chapters but we'll see what happens.

Space Battleship Yamato 2 20

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2 Episode 20
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2 Ep. 20 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Earth President receives a briefing from the military while Earth Defense Force Fleet Commander Hijikata summons all of his captains for a briefing on the situation and the forthcoming battle. Afterward, he summons Susumu, where he has a special mission for the captain of the Yamato. Since the enemy fleet is divided with the battleship fleet taking point and the carrier fleet (with escorts) a distance behind. Hijikata knows that the enemy can wipe them out if the carriers launch their planes. The Earth fleet will be severely damaged and by the time the enemy battleships arrive, all they'll have to do is mop up. So Susumu is ordered to take the Earth carriers, find the enemy carriers, and destroy them before they can launch.

Susumu briefs his crew on this and takes his fleet to Iapetus. He dispatches two of his own fighter squadrons to search for the enemy carriers while Sanada and Analyzer take a scout craft to search. After some time exploring the region around Saturn, Sanada flies to Phoebe where they find the enemy fleet. After reporting this to Yamato, Susumu orders his carriers to launch their planes for attack. At that time, Admiral Gerun is getting ready to execute Admiral Balsey's order to attack the Earth fleet at Saturn and he is stunned that his fleet is under attack. Because the carriers were bringing bomber craft to the deck, no fighters were ready to defend them. Admiral Gerun reports the surprise attack to Balsey, who won't change his plans because of this.

The Earth planes begin damaging and destroying the enemy carriers, having been ordered to ignore the escort ships and concentrate on making sure no carrier can launch any planes. This the Earth planes do quite well, even destroying several carriers in the process. Susumu, who'd joined the other fighters, orders Sanada, who's back on Yamato, to take Yamato and destroy all surviving carriers. Seeing the battle is lost, Admiral Gerun commits suicide. News of the carrier fleets annihilation is reported to Admiral Balsey. Despite this loss, Balsey feels the Earth fleet is no match for him. Hijikata also gets the news of the enemy carriers destruction and orders Susumu and his fleet to come home. Susumu plans to do just that, attacking the enemy's rear while Hijikata meets the enemy head-on.

Thoughts/Review: This episode was enjoyable from a certain tactic perspective. Balsey's plan of attack made sense seeing as how he expected the Earth force to simply wait for the attack. Balsey keeps his carrier fleet and escort protection back to avoid direct combat, then those same carriers will have their planes soften up and cripple the defending fleets, after which, Balsey's forward battleship fleet mops up and moves to Earth. Hijikata realizing that the best defense is a good offense did the right thing and caught the enemy with its pants down. Now that the enemy carrier fleet is gone, Susumu can take his carrier fleet with Yamato and hammer Balsey from the rear while Hijikata hits from the front. Goodbye enemy fleet.

The one thing that was eye-rolling was Susumu running off to join the fight in his special fighter. He's the captain of the Yamato and as such, that's where he should remain, like it or not. He didn't even leave anyone in charge. That's almost as stupid as something that gorilla Saito would do.

Unfortunately, the title for the next episode pretty much spoils what will happen there. Oh well. I'll watch anyway to see what happens, though I expect Balsey to be wiped out, then the White Comet to be destroyed somehow, after which that idiot Desler will make his final attack before being defeated.

White Album 06 (or If Access To Your Girlfriend Is Blocked, Find a New Girl)

ホワイトアルバム Episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Touya gets a call from Misaki and agrees to help her with her problems. In the meantime, he tries to visit Yuki only to find Yuki's manager Shinozuka-san literally parked at the front door, insuring he can't spend the night with Yuki. Yuki's concerns over Touya cause her to flub up a recording session. Rina tries to make contact with Touya but fails, so comes by to see Yuki. Meanwhile, Touya learns about what happened between Tamaru and Misaki two years earlier from Akira. Touya goes out of his way to help Misaki as promised and they are seen by the high school girl who'd helped Touya try to connect with Yuki previously, so the girl follows them. Misaki tries to have her costume designs made, but the Design Club has no room and rejects Misaki's request.

Thoughts/Review: So let me get this straight. Shinozuka-san is just going to camp out at Yuki's apartment tower's front door just to scare off Touya? Sure, it worked but what about next time? Why didn't he just try to sneak in? And why doesn't Touya have Yuki's phone number to call her once in a while? Seriously, I don't get that. I can sorta understand Touya not telling Yuki about Shinozuka-san's attempts to seduce him, her kissing him, her hanging out at the bar he works at, and her attempts to keep him and Yuki apart. However, I can't understand his lack of effort in that he doesn't even have her number. Makes no sense to me.

I was hoping that after Yuki's call to Touya, she'd improve in her recording session, especially since Shinozuka-san could hear it and might change her mind about Yuki and Touya being involved. Unfortunately, that didn't happen but maybe Rina's arrival will help. I kinda feel sorry for Yuki. Rina wants to see Touya behind Yuki's back. Yuki's manager will boink Touya until he is satiated, should that keep Touya away from Yuki. Haruka wants Touya. Misaki wants Touya. Touya often lies to Yuki, with what I'm sure he feels are noble intentions, but they are lies nonetheless and so basically, Yuki is just in a bad spot no matter where she turns. Heck, Touya can't even be a man and thumb his nose at Yuki's manager to be with his girlfriend. I guess it is good she doesn't know how bad things are.

Speaking of which, I see Rina is still keen on connecting with Touya for whatever reason.

Another thing I don't understand is how Tamaru can force Misaki to stay in the Theater Club if she doesn't want to. I haven't seen this aspect in anime or manga to-date that I recall. I've seen people be in clubs where they don't do much. I've seen people transfer from one club to another. So it is bizarre to me that Misaki can't just leave her club, thereby allowing Tamaru to "make the bitch pay" for turning down the wonderful opportunity to be his girlfriend. It boggles the mind, yet in the episode, Akira and Touya both accepted it as "this is the way it is."

The fact that she'd then go so far for a club like this makes no sense either. Seriously, my instinct when losers try to take a dump on me is not to help them out. Instead, I'm going to do my own thing and you guys can get lost. I know Misaki wants to have the play she wrote "told to the world" (or some such nonsense), but how is a college play seen by a few people getting your story out there? Is it really worth eating such a huge excrement sandwich for? Lucky for Misaki, she has that sucker Touya to help out.

I wonder if Misaki will make a move on Touya. She knows Touya likes Yuki from all the Yuki stuff in his apartment. She was awake when Yuki called. Yet she has him like a dog on a leash helping her out. I figure that she has to think she must have a chance, otherwise why would Touya go out of his way to help her and lie to Yuki about her being at Touya's apartment. It might be interesting to see Touya try to wiggle his way out of that. It is easy to wiggle when someone repulses you (Shinozuka-san) but maybe not so easy when you like the girl.

In the end, this episode didn't grip me that much. Maybe it is because I'm not that interested in Misaki or maybe it is my failure to understand why people are (or aren't) doing certain things. Still, I plan to be here for the next episode.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Iku (Ooops! Time for a Cold Shower!)

My, oh my, oh my. It has been with some amusement that I've watched the orgasmic reactions to the mere hint of a possibility that another Suzumiya Haruhi series could be in the works, let alone on TV this spring. Indeed, forums burned with excited postings singing of this new series. Male fans found their underwear catapulting across the room, smacking against the opposite wall with a thunderous crash. Blogs that normally make no mention of anime news shouted from the mountaintops the glorious and wondrous news, so much so that the angels who came to announce Christ's birth were made to look like they'd just whispered quietly into the night. I'm sure that had Suzumiya Haruhi been around back then, they would have been just as excited as many anime fans are.

Or rather, should I say "were."

At the moment, I imagine that Kadokawa Shoten's announcement that there is no second series coming out this spring, only a rerun of the original series, has fanboys (are there Haruhi fangirls?) feeling like Kyon in this picture (600+K image!).


So we either have another marketing gimmick on our hands or fans WAY out of control over a simple anime, no matter how good it may or may not be.

I've never understood the orgasmic and worshipful attitude people take toward this series (and I've already blogged about that here and here). For me, there's nothing special about scrambling up the episodes in non-chronological order. It was a marketing gimmick that paid off hugely for the Japanese production people. The proof that it was a gimmick is in how the Japanese DVD release had the episodes in chronological order, not TV order. That's because the serious episodes were from the first novel and the rest of the stuff came mostly from the second novel (where the goal was to entertain Haruhi) and that's how the story flows naturally.

Still, this kind of over-reaction to an anime (or indeed to any sequel be it TV, movies, books, manga, etc.) can only lead to one place -- disappointment-ville, anger-ville (or rage-ville), or some other similar place.

As a story, the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise is indeed interesting and should a second series be created and released, I'm sure I'll watch it. I am interested to learn more about things here and just who Haruhi is in this story, but even the original author apparently has no idea and has reportedly run into a brick wall called writer's block. That said, my interest story-wise is no greater than most other interesting anime titles I've watched. Scrambling up episodes and inserting a random episode between a 2-part episode doesn't make it better. But I digress.

Anyway, I said I was amused by all this and I am. However, I'm also saddened because I do feel that all of these anime fans who seem to think that a new Suzumiya Haruhi series will be the best thing since the orgasm was invented are in for some rough times ahead, even if they get their wish for a sequel to be created and aired. If that happens, I won't gloat...well, not very much at least. ^_~

Minami-ke's Cheese Lemon Custard Chiffon Pie -- You Know You Want It and I Have What You Need!

Ever since Minami-ke 09 and then followed up with Minami-ke Okaeri 04, I've been wanting to make a Cheese Lemon Custard Chiffon Pie. It took FOREVER to find one, but I have done so and with Miwa-sensei's help, I am providing the recipe in English.

Note: The Japanese are on some strange measuring system known as "metrics," so that's going to provide some small challenges to us non-metric users in the U.S. ^_~ However, if you have metric measuring instruments and weights, more power to ya! I've included the metric and approximate U.S. measurements. Oh, and there are some footnotes for the custard cream section, so be aware of that.

Ingredients:

1 22 cm pie crust (8.7", so just buy a 9-inch shell or make your own)

Custard Cream

• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tbsp. corn starch
• 120 cc (4 oz) milk
• 40 g (~1/3 cup) sugar
• 30 g (~1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• Vanilla Extract to taste
  

100 g (~3/4 cup) cream cheese
2 tbsp. lemon juice
100 cc (~3.4 oz) heavy cream
1 large egg white
60 g (~1/2 cup) sugar
mint sprigs as you like (for decoration)

Instructions (Recipe):

Buy or make the pie shell.

Make the custard cream.

1. Beat egg yolk and corn starch until well mixed.
2. Put the milk and sugar into a pan and add the beaten egg yolk/corn starch mix. (1)
3. IMPORTANT! Over low heat, constantly stir the contents of the pan until it gets THICK
4. Remove pan from heat and add butter and vanilla extract.
5. Pour into bowl (or onto a cookie sheet) and cover with plastic wrap until it cools down. (2)
   

Make the filling.

1. Set out the cream cheese so that it is at room temperature.
2. Using a whisk, add lemon juice and the cream cheese to the COOLED DOWN custard cream.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream (unspecified amount of time).
   
4. Using a spatula, mix into the "Cheese Lemon Custard" filling part you've already made in step 2 of the filling instructions.
5. In yet another bowl, beat the egg white and the sugar until the whites have stiff peaks (like a meringue).
   
6. In small portions (at least three), place the stiffened egg white mix into the "Cheese Lemon Custard" mix. Stir well after each portion until all of the egg white/sugar mix has been used up.
7. Pour this filling into the pie crust, making sure to do it evenly.
8. Refrigerate for at least 30-minutes before serving.
9. Decorate with mint sprigs (if desired).
   

(1) The Japanese states something about filtering the product at this point, but that seems to be a Japanese quirky thing they do from what I read. However, in the name of accuracy, I mention it.
(2) The Japanese states using a cookie sheet for the cooling process, likely because it will cool quicker if you do this. Whether you use a bowl or a cookie sheet is up to you. It is the cooling that needs to happen.

Now, this recipe is how I've seen the few actual images of Cheese Lemon Custard Chiffon Pie made -- a single layer. However, the Minami-ke anime always shows two layers. Now, I haven't made this pie yet (one day I hope to once I get a job) but I plan to make it two ways. First, I'll make it as described here. Second, I'll make it with the custard cream being one layer and the Cheese Lemon Chiffon part being the second (which seems to be how it is in the anime). Whenever I get to do this, I'll post the results. However, should one of you get there first, PLEASE let me know how it turned out in the comments section. If you have pictures of your creation, so much the better. ^_^

Special thanks to Cielosiesta for providing the recipe (in Japanese) and again to Miwa-sensei for the translations.

Mahou Shoujo Tai Alice: The Adventure 05

魔法少女隊アルス the Adventure 05
Magic Girl Squad Arusu: The Adventure 05
Tweeny Witches the Adventure 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Back in the days before Alice came to the world, a small dragon named "Dragon-chan" lived with a young witch named Eva. Eva had a small home and otherwise lived alone and apart from the other witches. One day while out gathering lavender for the Day of Sleep ritual that the witches where soon to perform, she is attacked by a Mekku Sprite and saved by a girl named Sheila, who happened to be out looking for Sprites to capture for spell ingredients. The Mekku's thorn is used for time-stop magic. Eva is thankful and gives "Sheila-chan" some of the flowers after being introduced. Sheila isn't thrilled to be addressed as such, but gives Eva a Mekku thorn in exchange.

Eva starts coming by the dorm where Shelia lives, bringing presents and food. This annoys Sheila, who doesn't want to be bothered, though her dorm mates love the cakes and food. Eva tells Sheila that she looks up to strong witches like Sheila since Eva isn't strong. Sheila tells Eva that she hates people who call themselves weak. Thus her attempts at friendship with Eva fail.

It is time for the Day of Sleep ritual and all the witches in the Witch Kingdom go to sleep. It is then that a robot enters Witch Heaven and attempts to rouse someone, saying an emergency is at hand. The only witch awake is Eva, who couldn't fall asleep. The robot convinces her to help, so she takes the small Dragon-chan with her and off they go. They arrive at a hidden base in the middle of the desert where the hospitality robot (named Jiji) escorts her in. However, they are soon stopped by the base's security robots and attacked. Jiji and Eva try to escape but are trapped and Dragon-chan gets zapped. However, this does not kill the little dragon, but instead makes him immediately grow to adult size.

Eva is shocked when Dragon-chan can speak, the dragon telling her and Jiji to go on to the main computer to stop the automated attack. As Dragon-chan battles the robots, Jiji and Eva make it to the main computer, where they are unable to stop the program. A young warlock enters, telling is hospitality droid that it is pointless. Dragon-chan forces his way through the wall and offers to smash the computer. The warlock states that this would simply assure the destruction of the Witch Kingdom, which was his deceased father's plan after which his father planned to destroy the Warlock Kingdom. The only thing that can stop the program is a time-stop spell.

Dragon-chan and Jiji go back to Eva's house to look for the Mekku thorn but since Jiji can't find it and time is of the essence, Dragon-chan simply inserts himself into the house and flies the whole thing to Eva. Now equipped with the proper ingredient, Eva casts the spell as Jiji and the young warlock work to disengage the program. The spell takes a lot of power and Eva loses it for a while until Dragon-chan encourages her, after which Eva finds power reserves to allow Jiji and the warlock to end the program just before the battle robots attack Witch Heaven. Eva returns to where the witches are just waking up. She calls down to Sheila, who's impressed that Eva not only has a large dragon, but that Eva's entire house can fly. Thus granting Sheila's request for a ride, a friendship starts.

Thoughts/Review: You know, this is the one series where I will sometimes what the pre-OP sequence with that beautiful, haunting music repeatedly. I also watch the OP and ED themes for this series too every time. There is no other series that I do that for. Man, I love the musical score for this franchise and really need to buy the CD once I'm off the dole. ^_^; In fact, that may be my "welcome back to the workforce" gift to myself.

Yay! The nice character designs were back this time! Finally. Let's hope the final episode has them as well.

As to the episode itself, I have to say I like this one a fair amount, not because Alice is gone (though Dragon-chan's referring to Alice as annoying cracked me up), but because we got to see how Eva and Shelia became friends and roommates as well as how the Dragon House came about. I don't remember "Dragon-chan" speaking in the TV series, but I could be mistaken. I'm pretty sure that EBARA Masashi (Alastor from Shakugan no Shana) is the voice of Dragon-chan and he is a good choice.

By the way, why didn't Dragon-chan extract himself from the house after the mission? I suppose that would be the only way for him to stay with Eva, but it seems rather odd in retrospect.

It was also nice seeing Eva take the sole lead role since Shelia was a supporting character this time. The idea of the Witch Kingdom needing to sleep for an entire day (thereby making them vulnerable to attack) is just nutty on a believability scale but that was the only way to get Eva to be the star I guess. The warlock kid's seeming wish to destroy the Witch Kingdom before changing to wanting to help Eva seems contrived at first until I remembered that his father, Joker-sama, wanted to destroy both the Witch Kingdom and the Warlock Kingdom. So while the anime didn't emphasize that point, it made sense that to save his own kingdom, he'd save the Witch Kingdom.

While I'm thinking of it, what happened to all the attacking robots once they shut down? Seriously, I expected Sheila to come out after waking up and ask, "What the heck happened here?" Instead, there are no robots to be seen, only Dragon-chan now part of Eva's house. That alone is enough to wow Sheila into moving in with Eva and becoming friends with her I guess. Again, that is a bit of a stretch but at this point, I have to remind myself the same thing I had to remind myself of during the TV series run -- this show is geared toward girls.

One more thing, I chuckled at Sheila's reaction to being addressed with the "chan" honorific by Eva. Considering how proper Sheila is, it makes sense to me that she wouldn't care for that, but obviously makes allowances as she befriends Eva.

In the end, a fun episode and a joy to watch despite those story logic problems.

Clannad After Story 17 (or How To Be a Worthless Scumbag)

クラナド アフターストーリー Episode 17

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: In the Illusion World, Garbage Bot is not making any progress with the flying machine and Mystery Girl knows he'll be lonely without her.

In the real world, it has been five years since Ushio's birth and Nagisa's death. During that time, Tomoya dumped his daughter on Sanae-san and Akio-san and only sees her if they bring her over, and then he won't really look at her. Tomoya wallows in self-pity, focusing only on working, eating, sleeping and other activities to try to forget he even knew someone named Nagisa much less had a child with her. One day, Sanae-san comes by wanting Tomoya to take her on a date. The head to the family restaurant where Sanae-san proposes a group outing to take a trip when Tomoya has vacation. He says he'll consider it since his boss is pressuring him to take a vacation. Sanae-san calls Tomoya as soon as he gets home to ask if he's agreed. He hasn't yet but when she calls again, it is clear that she won't take no for an answer. So he agrees.

The day for his vacation starts and he comes by the bakery-residence of his in-laws, but discovers they aren't there as they had to leave for unspecified reasons. Tomoya hears steps and sees a small child running to avoid him. It is his 5-year old daughter Ushio, and she's very cute but also shy. She has her backpack on ready to go on the promised trip, but since Sanae-san and Akio-san aren't there, Tomoya isn't taking her by himself. There's some awkwardness in the air as Tomoya doesn't know how to deal with Ushio, but when she trips and breaks her turtle toy, Tomoya does repair it with super glue. Ushio didn't wait for the glue to dry so the wheels get stuck. When Tomoya suggests throwing it out, Ushio will not hear of it.

Since Sanae-san and Akio-san aren't back, Tomoya decides to go get some food. He doesn't even notice that Ushio has followed him until a neighbor lady talks to him, then to Ushio. Tomoya buys ingredients to make fried rice, but Ushio doesn't like the taste much, preferring Sanae-san's cooking. She will eat plain rice and even seasons it with special rice seasoning. That night, Tomoya stays over since his in-laws never returned and the following morning after observing a father taking his two kids somewhere, Tomoya decides to take his daughter on a trip, if she still wants to go. She does. As they walk to the station, she begins skipping.

Thoughts/Review: Oh heck no. I cannot begin to describe the anger inside of me as I watched this episode. Yeah, it is a work of fiction, and yet I know that there are loser scum like Tomoya out there in this world who have no problems fathering a child from the sex aspect but when it comes time to actually being a father, they are no where to be found (or as in Tomoya's case, there as little as possible and then only when the child's grandparents bring Ushio over). What a *@&^$ scumbag. What a self-absorbed piece of crap (and that's an insult to the self-absorbed piece of crap community).

Whaaah! My wife died. Whaaah! I have a kid. Whaaah! I can't raise it. Whaaah! I'll dump "it" 'cause I wish "it" had never been born. Whaaah! I was mistreated as a child so I'm going to follow my father's footsteps like the tail-hole I am. Whaaah! All I have is my work. Whaaah! I hate this city. Whaaah! Poor me. Whaaah! I wish I'd never met Nagisa. Whaaah! My life is so hard. Whaaah! I can't be a father to my child. Whaaah! I don't want to look at what I've spawned. Whaaah! Whaaah! Whaaah!

Ugh.

Seriously, this kind of thing just angers me to no end. I recently read a horrific story of a woman who put her daughter into an oven and burned the little girl. Child abuse is something I cannot stand and cannot abide. OK, Tomoya didn't do something so horrific, but abandoning your child and ignoring your child for no good reason is inexcusable to me and as such angers me almost as much as the trash of a mother that put her daughter in the oven. Now, had Tomoya simply used his in-laws to help take care of Ushio for a short time after Nagisa's death as well as used them for free babysitter services while he's at work, well that is something I can understand and accept. Beyond that is inexcusable and Tomoya needs to be beaten with baseball bats.

Ugh.

Clearly, Sanae-san and Akio-san realize that Tomoya needs to be involved in his daughter's life. While they've obviously had no problems raising her for the last five years, they've decided to not follow ANB's suggestion (wherein Akio-san takes his bat and clubs his son-in-law until he knocks some sense into Tomoya to take care of his precious daughter) and instead they staged this whole trip thing so that Tomoya would be forced to spend some days with his daughter. His daughter needs him. Ushio clearly is interested in her father and clearly loves him in some level and clearly misses her father, even if she's not known him very much.

Poor Ushio. Gah. From the moment she appears, one can't help but feel for her. She's drawn very cutely, so much so that it just makes ones heart melt. That's good because it makes the whole idea of Tomoya's abandoning such a precious child even harder to accept. I hope that somehow Tomoya wakes up after this trip and takes care of his daughter, but he's such a loser that I don't see this happening, at least not realistically. I've no idea what the visual novel did with the story but whatever it is, I'm guessing that if Tomoya decides to be a man and love his daughter fully, it will be done in a way that maybe even I can accept it.

One side note -- when Ushio refers to Akio-san as "Akki," I couldn't help but smile. After all, when Nagisa was pregnant, Akio-san said he wanted his grandchild to call him "Akii" and he got that wish. I am a bit surprised that Ushio doesn't address Sanae-san with one of the Japanese titles for "Grandma" but as "Sanae-san." However, for whatever reason, Sanae-san and Akio-san decided not to go this route.

Finally, there's the Illusion World. It has to be tied to the Nagisa-Tomoya story somehow but still, there's no clue as to the how.

*sigh* On to the next episode. Thankfully, I think there's a comedy I can watch to distract my mind.

Even More Negima! 241 SPOILER Images!

Even More Negima! 241 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 241 (Images)

Here's the 3rd round of spoiler images from Japan, y'all (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


Is Jack scared, constipated, or about to bust another ad lib maneuver to win. Did Negi drop the bomb? ^_~

1st image --> HERE!
2nd set of images --> HERE!

More Negima! 241 SPOILER Images

More Negima! 241 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 241 (Images)

Here's the 2nd round of spoiler images from Japan, y'all (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

Negi uses Setsuna's and Asuna's artifacts. ^_^

If you missed it, the 1st spoiler image is --> HERE.

Update: 3rd batch of SPOILER images is --> HERE!

Toradora! 18

とらドラ！Episode 18

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Taiga and Yuri-sensei crash into each other, cause Taiga to drop a box of confetti and Yuri-sensei to drop her papers. As Ryuuji helps clean up, Yuri-sensei wants to make sure that their grades don't slip while doing all this prep work for the Christmas party. Taiga and Ryuuji head to the gym where the others, including Ami, are working. The group quickly pairs Taiga up with Yuusaku, much to Maya's annoyance. However, she's soon dealt with as well, leaving Ami and Ryuuji alone in the storage room. Ryuuji comments on how everyone is so keen on pairing Taiga and Yuusaku together. This leads Ami to comment on how Ryuuji cares for Taiga like a doting father, who doesn't want his little girl to move on since only he can take care of her. Ami reckons that it is time for Ryuuji to stop playing house with Taiga. As an aside, she quietly adds that she'd like Ryuuji to give her a second chance, but when asked to repeat that, she declines.

With tests completed before the winter break, Ryuuji again attempts to talk with Minori but as usual, she has an excuse and leaves. Taiga has an errand to run at the post office and Ryuuji volunteers to help her but Maya (along with Nanako) wants Ryuuji to eat lunch with her. Ryuuji has no intention of doing such a thing and despite Taiga's insistence otherwise, Ryuuji goes with her to the post office, first stopping off at Taiga's apartment. There, he discovers a mountain of presents that Taiga is sending to her family and friends, including her estranged parents. Ryuuji can't believe she'd do that, but for Taiga, the reason is simple -- it is Christmas. So, on the trip there and back, Taiga discusses it, including her meeting with Santa-san as a kid, which may have been a dream. She also talks of why she sends presents to "Santa Claus," which in fact are sent to the orphans.

Ami used her model connections to score a Christmas tree, which is actually a giant, wire-framed thing mainly for Christmas lights. Ryuuji notes how popular Taiga has become as they work and once the "tree" is set up, Taiga brings out her cherished Christmas decoration -- a large, crystal star to place on top of the "tree." Closing the blackout curtains and turning on the Christmas lights, the thing is beautiful but suddenly, something crashes through a gym window and knocks the tree over, shattering the star. Minori and some of her softball club mates enter, having caused the accident. Minori is crushed to see that her ball destroyed Taiga's precious ornament and she insists on trying to glue it back together. She tries to refuse Ryuuji's offers of assistance, but he tells her he's not helping her but he's doing it for his own sake. Further, while the star can't go back to where it was, it can be fixed not matter what and it still shines. After fixing the star, Minori and the softball club depart, Minori still refusing to attend the party but Ryuuji vows to wait for her just the same.


Thoughts/Review: This anime has gotten somewhat more interesting to me, even as it has ratcheted down its comedic side, this despite Minori's angst, which frankly doesn't bother me. The irony of the scene with Ryuuji and Minori gluing the pieces of the start back together was not lost on me. Clearly, their conversation was full of double entendre (I'm trying to think if there is an actual literary term for this but none comes to mind) -- on one hand it directly relates to the broken star and putting the pieces back together but on the other hand, it symbolized the broken friendship between Ryuuji and Minori (and to a lesser extent, Minori and Taiga) and the effort to put that back together. Yeah, it won't be quite the same, especially if Minori and Ryuuji become a couple, but no matter what, Ryuuji thinks things will be fine -- the star still shines. I'm sure there are some literature teachers out there I need to thank for making me appreciate this scene.

Taiga's love of Christmas causing her to be so friendly is worth a chuckle. I liked how we got to learn some nice things about her past such as her Catholic Schooling and her memories of waking up to find Santa Claus and receiving a present from him. Plus, Taiga puts her money where her mouth is when it comes to the spirit of giving. I looked at all those presents she bought, even for those who haven't treated her well (her parents) and I couldn't help but be touched. It truly is better to give than to receive and Taiga's actions prove that's her belief as well. While there's certainly an element of "Santa-san is watching you" at play, I believe Taiga's generosity comes from the heart. That's further reflected in her gifts for the orphans.

Ami. Well, I'd say that this episode confirms for me that she is interested in Ryuuji with her expression of wanting Ryuuji to give her a second chance. When they were left alone in the storage room, I wondered if Ami might try to come on to Ryuuji. Instead, she did not, choosing instead to point out the nature of Ryuuji's and Taiga's relationship and the oddness of it. I'd never thought of it this way, but after Ami compared Ryuuji to a doting father toward his daughter, I thought, "that is the nature of Ryuuji's and Taiga's relationship." Ryuuji has never expressed any real signs of attraction to Taiga, only to Minori. Yet Taiga getting close to Yuusaku means letting go of someone special to him. Score big time for Ami. Plus, Ami also hit is that Ryuuji doesn't even know himself, which is why he was puzzled by some things Ami said.

Finally, a brief word on Maya. Someone told me that she is a "kogal," which are these girl who wear too much makeup, dye their hair, and dress a certain way, even within the restrictions of a school uniform. Maya has never really struck me as kogal, but I could be wrong. I really can't see Ami hanging out with a kogal though and Ami does hang out with both Maya and Nanako when she's not with Taiga, Minori, Yuusaku, and Ryuuji. It does appear that Maya will have more of a role now.

So a rather good episode which I guess will wrap up next episode. I'm looking forward to this.

Space Battleship Yamato 2 19

Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2 Episode 19
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2 Ep. 19 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As Yamato approaches the 11th planet, Saito requests permission to go down to the planet to pay respects to the men he lost. Susumu refuses since they are on a tight time line as it is. Saito is angry, so he tries to steal a fighter, backed up by his men. The pilots refuse, so the squadron leader and Saito come to blows. On the bridge, Susumu asks the opinion of the others about making a very short stop at the 11th planet. The senior staff are opposed to the idea when Analyzer comes in to report the fight. Susumu and others break it up and Susumu gives Saito an order -- go down to the 11th planet with Analyzer and perform a quick investigation.

After accepting a large sake bottle from Sado-sensei, Saito and Analyzer are off in a scout ship and land on the planet, where Saito makes for the remains of the old space cavalier base. His actions are noted by a force of White Comet troops, who've set up a secret base there. When Yamato is spotted descending to the planet (to better grab Saito), the worst is assumed and the base reveals its large missile battery while the 25th Assault Fleet comes in to attack Yamato. Yamato avoids the first wave of missiles, but soon starts taking damage and returning fire. Saito uses the scout ships own weapons to destroy some of the missile launchers before being ordered back. His attempts to land his ship are thwarted by the intense enemy fire. He manages to land the craft, but not without totaling it.

With Saito and Analyzer back on board, Susumu orders the Wave Motion Weapon fired, which then takes out both the 25th Assault Fleet and the missile base. This is reported to Admiral Balsey, who is not happy with this bit of Yamato news. However, his fleet presses ahead and destroys an Earth observation drone, while Yamato makes magical repairs to the ship. With the repairs done, the only way for Yamato to get to the Earth Defense Fleet in time is to warp to Saturn. This they do, whereby they accidentally destroy a manned White Comet observation craft. Meanwhile, Saito and Sado-sensei share some sake with Saito commenting on how Acting Captain Kodai is.

Thoughts/Review: I've never understood the whole Saito element to the story. He's a complete and utter waste of space and acts like the giant gorilla in the room. I just can't imagine a real military leader acting like such a buffoon. He's completely unprofessional, completely unable to see anything past his nose, and he's no leader. He and the space cavaliers have been such a wasted opportunity. I had hoped that these guys would provide a ground-force punch in the series for those ground encounters with the enemy. They only time they were used, it felt contrived. It is just one of many disappointments that this sequel series has had to offer.

Not that Captain Kodai is any great leader. Gah. He's pretty pathetic most of the time, but at least he is better than Saito.

So where is Desler? I had thought for sure that Desler would get an attack in just before Earth was attacked, but I guess not. Maybe he comes in to help Admiral Balsey, who suddenly finds himself not doing as well as he'd hoped.

Another thing -- if the White Comet forces on the 11th planet could observe Saito, then why couldn't they figure out that he was there to visit the graves? That was another head scratcher.

Overall, thus far things have been very disappointing with this sequel. I'll continue to the end, but I don't expect anything great or good even.

Negima! Chapter 241 SPOILER Image (The Artifact!)

Negima! 241 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 241 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 241 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

One card to rule them all
One card to find them
One card to bring them all
And in Negi, bind them
In the Magic World
Where the tournament lies.

Heh! We'll see exactly what his artifact can or cannot do regarding his other partners' artifacts. However, seeing as how Negi is both magister and minister combined with Negi having nine ministra under him, it seems like this kind of card may be the perfect result. After all, I dare say there aren't too many people in all the MW who can support nine ministers/ministras, even within the provisional pactio card system. I dare say there aren't too many magisters who are also ministers or ministras either.

As always, whenever more spoiler images from Negima! 241 appear, I'll post them. ^_^

Update! 2nd batch --> HERE.

Update! 3rd batch --> HERE!

Lupin III: Sweet Lost Night ~Mahou no Lamp wa Akumu no Yokan~

ルパン三世 sweet lost night～魔法のランプは悪夢の予感～

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lupin is out looking to steal a "magic lamp," having been "talked" into it by Fujiko. Meanwhile in the Arabian city where the lamp is, Inspector Zenigata is waiting and pays a visit to one Dr. Jordan regarding the theft. Dr. Jordan is Lupin in disguise, but Zenigata was already onto Lupin despite Lupin having grabbed the lamp. Lupin thinks he has Zenigata trapped, but Zenigata was prepared for that too and easily escapes. In fact no matter what Lupin pulls out of his tricks for escape, Zenigata is right with him, stopping each escape attempt including Lupin's favorite disguise -- dressing up as Zenigata. Lupin is getting frustrated and uses a rocket sled in the elevator to try to escape but Zenigata is still with him. Finally as the sled is about to crash, Zenigata falls to the jungle below and Lupin crashes where he wasn't supposed to be -- on a beach near Phuket.

Lupin checks out his prize and a female genie emerges from the lamp, calling herself the fairy of the lamp. She promises to grant Lupin any wish in exchange for half his life. Lupin decides he wants to start with a kiss and the lamp starts flashing before shooting him with something. Just as his watch strikes seven, he suddenly finds himself in Singapore in the middle of traffic and on the phone with Jigen who's asking about the woman. Lupin is confused and gets hit by a car, driven by Fujiko. An ambulance carries Lupin away with Fujiko accusing Lupin of working with "that" woman.

Fujiko demands to know where the lamp is, which Lupin doesn't have. Lupin is shocked to discover Zenigata in the next bed, but Zenigata has amnesia. Lupin escapes from the hospital and is hitching a ride on top of a bus trying to figure things out when he's attacked by a large, armored military vehicle. The commander inside is Colonel Garlic and he wants the lamp too and doesn't hesitate to blow up a fuel truck to prove how serious he is. Jigen rescues Lupin in a car and the chase is on. The giant armored vehicle causes major mayhem and damage, but Lupin and Jigen elude it, only to end up trapped in an alleyway.

Lupin is disguised as Dr. Jordan again and Jigen is amazed that Lupin seems to have forgotten the last 12 hours. Jigen explains that Garlic and his men were waiting for Lupin in Fujiko's room, a chase ensued, and Fujiko ended up rescuing Lupin on a boat. The next time Jigen heard from Lupin was the next morning at breakfast when Lupin called about a woman. About that time, Colonel Garlic makes an announcement on all the TV's in the restaurant demanding Lupin bring the lamp in exchange for Fujiko. Despite knowing it is a trap, Lupin cannot let Fujiko be harmed, so he loses the disguise follows instructions and boards the last car of a train, which is a luxury car. It is empty, save for a red-haired woman that Lupin had noticed before.

Lupin has the woman come with him but he has no memory of her, which seems to insult the woman. Lupin tries to play it off, hoping for a score but then his car suddenly is not attached to the train any longer. Garlic's armored beast is on the tracks and attaches itself to the car. Garlic and his soldiers enter, followed by Fujiko who's working with Garlic. She recognizes the woman as "Drew" and since Drew clearly wanted Lupin's help, it is time for an escape, courtesy of Goemon. Goemon's actions cause the armored vehicle to fall into the water, but it is equipped for that. When Drew takes off the gas mask Lupin had given her, Drew's wig is removed and Lupin recognizes her as the "fairy" from the night before. She runs away and Lupin gives chase.

Lupin catches her in a nearby woods and they talk. Lupin learns that the lamp is not magical but technology -- Laser Automatic Memory Program -- L.A.M.P. Lupin had been tagged with a chip and it causes him to lose 12-hours of his memories from 7pm to 7am every day. One of Garlic's helicopters is searching for them, so they board a passing train. The helicopter finds them just the same, but Goemon again comes to the rescue. Garlic is amazed that the samurai can deflect bullets. Drew continues to tell Lupin her story of her brother Adam and her coming from war-torn regions and loving the Aladdin and the Magic Lamp story. Then they started working with a Dr. Eichmann on a memory project. Somehow, she has lost three years of her own memories.

They make it back to the city, but Colonel Garlic's armored behemoth is again in pursuit. Goemon and Jigen do what they can to put it off. When Goemon spots Drew across the river bank, he leaps over, only to see the LAMP emerge and shot him. Despite using Zantetsuken, he is captured by a sub that emerges, all of which is seen by Drew. Lupin finds Drew and they hide on a river boat, where Lupin assures her that he doesn't believe she did anything bad (which she's afraid she did during her three years) because he has a feel for these things. Since it is now after 7pm, Lupin is writing stuff all over his body so he won't forget.

The following morning, Lupin awakes in a hotel with love-heart decor but has no memory and a clean body. Drew emerges from the bathroom only in a towel, meaning Lupin has forgotten an incredible night. She seems disappointed that Lupin has forgotten and Lupin is mad that he's forgotten. This is interrupted when an attack helicopter carrying Fujiko and Garlic shows up outside the window and they attack. Lupin and Drew escape, though Drew only has Lupin's jacket to wear. In the sewers, Lupin takes a call from Jigen, who is warning him about Drew. Drew pulls a gun on Lupin and Goemon, now apparently free of desires, is helping her.

Elsewhere, Garlic and Fujiko find that Garlic's men have all been taken control of by Dr. Eichmann and that Fujiko has double crossed Garlic. Garlic barely escapes back to the helicopter while Lupin is lead inside the facility and secured with rope. Dr. Eichmann's holographic image greets him and while Lupin tries every ploy in his bag of escape tricks, sadly Goemon has prepared for them all and Lupin is still trapped to his frustration. Drew ends up giving Lupin a gun as Jigen attacks with a high-powered .50 caliber sniper rifle. Lupin and Drew escape to where Jigen is waiting. Jigen isn't sure about Drew, but seeing as how Drew kept Lupin's phone so Jigen could track it combined with the note in his underwear telling him to trust Drew, Lupin knew Drew was OK.

Drew warns Lupin that he can't afford another memory wipe as monkeys in the memory experiments lost all their memories on the third wipe. So it is off to the converted prison where Dr. Eichmann's lab is. That is where Fujiko is, where she sees the results of Dr. Eichmann's work -- hardened criminals now all passive and working with flowers and the like. After Dr. Eichmann leaves, Fujiko suspects that she may also be a test subject and discovers that her luxury room is actually a cell. Meanwhile Lupin, Jigen, and Drew arrive on the island but are attacked. Drew escapes but Jigen and Lupin are captured, Dr. Eichmann seeing that Drew is heading off someplace. The troops bring in Lupin and Jigen, so Dr. Eichmann orders them to wait so he can take care of something and he's off to find Drew.

Lupin is infact disguised as one of the soldiers and one of the real soldiers is dressed to appear like Lupin. Now free, Jigen is going to follow Drew's instructions to return Lupin's memories. Goemon comes to interfere but is tricked by Jigen and knocked out. Lupin then sees Dr. Eichmann in the monitor going after Drew, so he leaves as well, promising to return before the deadline. Dr. Eichmann turns out to be Drew's missing brother Adam, who'd taken Dr. Eichmann's place after Dr. Eichmann died of a disease, using Dr. Eichmann memories. He'd had Drew's memories erased so as to protect her from bad memories since she objected to what they were doing.

Jigen restores Goemon's missing mental parts to him, but Goemon has lost his memories of recent events in exchange. Outside, Garlic attacks with his helicopter, planning to kill everyone. He somehow binds Fujiko with rope and attaches her under his helicopter before attacking the facility. Goemon tries to free her, but ends up only shredding her clothing. He gets it right on the 2nd time though. Lupin helps Drew back to the lab and has her memories returned to her even though she'll forget recent times including Lupin. Then with no time to spare and the facility being destroyed, Lupin has his own memories returned, though with no apparent side-effects. Adam is ready to die at the hands of Garlic when Goemon saves him, causing the helicopter to be destroyed.

After the adventure is over, Lupin and Jigen are back in town. They see Drew drive past, but she doesn't acknowledge them since she doesn't know them now. Jigen kids Lupin about this, but Lupin isnt worried, having decided that she really didn't forget, she's just to busy to remember. It is then that they see a bearded Zenigata approach them, still having no memories. He is clothed as a beggar, so Lupin has pity and gives Zenigata Lupin's jacket. Zenigata slips on a banana peel but that doesn't jog his memory. When Lupin's cell phone accidentally hits him on the head, Zenigata remembers and the age-old chase is back on again.

Thoughts/Review: Outside of some animation issues, this was one of the better Lupin III specials I've seen. For starters, it is pretty clear that the writers wanted Zenigata to not just be a buffoon, but an actual character. Having chased Lupin around for so many years, he should be well prepared for all of Lupin's tricks and indeed he was. That's what made it funny. I've seen Lupin get away with so many of these things in previous specials, movies, OVA's, and TV series. In Seven Days Rhapsody, Zenigata was prepared somewhat and that was funny. Having Zenigata completely prepared for everything and even having some of his own tricks to use against Lupin was pure win! Kudos to the writers there, even if that was the only place Zenigata got time to shine since the rest of the special, he had amnesia and little else to do but cameos.

Because Zenigata was used quite well at the beginning and his absence is credible, the writers then have Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko to work with. Fujiko is her normal double crossing self, only she's a bit bloodthirsty this time as she participates in some of Garlic's vicious attacks (not pulling a trigger, but she's there). The writers make her pay more than once for her treachery though, which was something interesting and enjoyable. Goemon does his normal thing too, but the writers gave him an interesting twist by having those evil thoughts purged from him for a time. Jigen does his thing, but the twist on him is (1) his gun-shaped lighter and (2) there were jokes about him not being able to light his trademark cigarette. So kudos to the writers for these little things.

As the new Lupin babe that's often in these stories, I liked Drew a lot. The writers played her just mysterious enough to never leave the audience quite sure if she were trustworthy or not. I liked how Drew and Lupin were implied to have spent the night together (something Lupin's always game for) but he had no memory of the event after it happened. That too is a nice little twist to allow Lupin to get the babe but without making it vulgar. While Drew's background and involvement with Dr. Eichmann's work was cliched, in the end that didn't matter. The writers did just enough to keep her interesting and combined with the bits they added everywhere else, they slide on the cliched stuff.

I mentioned some poor animation parts. I should rather say that these are moments when still shots are used rather than animation. For the most part, these stills weren't used but during a few action sequences, it was as if the special had no more money for shots of the giant armored vehicle doing its thing so stills were used with some limited motion stuff and camera movements. Because the special is otherwise animated quite well (including other action sequences), these still shot segments are quite jarring, at least to me.

So, there were laughs, a great Zenigata in the beginning, good tweaks on well-established characters, an interesting story with the memory loss, and a villain that looked like Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist. Go figure on that one. Regardless, the show had enough entertainment value to warren t a marginal purchase recommendation from me, should it ever be licensed in the U.S. (which I doubt).

Slayers Evolution-R 04

スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lina and company are eating in an unnamed town's inn and Lina is not happy with Nama's lack of helpfulness when it comes to finding the Hellmaster Jar. A pink fish-person named Kuppi enters, wishing to again thank "Gourry-san" for helping the former "Miss Mermaid" escape the captivity of the pirates and introducing him to his family -- a boy and girl fish-people named Yappi and Uppi. So Gourry goes off to start a new life with them, working hard to provide for his family, where he fishes and even works as a blacksmith.

A week goes by and Lina is not happy with the current situation. Since they need to locate the Hellmaster Jar, she says they can just leave him, but the others know that Lina cares a great deal about Gourry and misses him. So the group pays Gourry a visit and while he's happy to see his friends and former comrades, he's not returning to the life of adventuring. Lina and the others leave with Lina annoyed by everything. They encounter Kuppi returning home from the market and since Lina is annoyed with Kuppi's gushing over Gourry, Amelia gets excited over the makings of a classic melodrama.

After Kuppi leaves, Lina's group is met by Toppi, Kuppi's former husband. Because he'd been foolish with what little money they had, Kuppi had left him. However, he's desperate to return to Kuppi. Zelgadiss is not interested in all this love stuff, so he leaves, only to be met by young Uppi, who's fallen in love with Zelgadiss. So when Lina and the others return to Kuppi's house, "Zel-sama" and Uppi also show up. Kuppi isn't happy about Toppi's return and Nama confuses things more by claiming that Gourry is the father of her child. After a great deal of mayhem, a tsunami hits the city and carries all the fish-people back to sea. Nama says that the reason the fish-people had been acting odd was because of this event, which annoys Lina since they wasted time dealing with it. Gourry is a bit depressed that his family is gone, but Lina is glad to have him back on her team.

Thoughts/Review: OK, a pure filler episode, but not without some nice elements. The parody of Japanese melodramas was amusing in an of itself, but what I rather enjoyed was seeing Gourry as a father figure. So even though he's with Kuppi, I kept thinking, "You know, if he and Lina ever got married, Gourry would be a good father." Touching on the Lina-Gourry romance was a nice element. Now, if only the anime would make some more advancements on the Lina-Gourry front, that would be nicer. I rather doubt that happens as I suspect this episode was the only real nod we'll get for that romance.

I'm glad the fish-people haven't been much of a factor in either Slayers REVOLUTION or Slayers EVOLUTION-R. I've never been a fan of the species in the Slayers franchise, save for the joke where one of them got fried by a spell and ended up being consumed by by his former comrades (which was a funny joke). Still, the times Kuppi has shown up hasn't been annoying, so that's good.

Beyond that, there's not much to say since this is a filler episode. I will say in close that the last quarter of the episode did get somewhat funny though.

Xellos and Zuuma return next episode and we'll finally get some story advancement.

Minami-ke Okaeri 05

みなみけ おかえり Episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Its summer which means pool time at school and Chiaki isn't happy. Makoto spots Chiaki not cleaning and gets onto her for it. She insults him in return, since getting the pool clean would mean then having to use it. Since she has control over the water hose, she can bring their cleaning to a halt. Makoto, Yoshino, and Uchida confer and come up with a plan whereby Makoto gets the water hose. In celebration, he ends up soaking Chiaki, who gets the hose back and plans for some revenge. However, spraying Yoshino and Uchida is something they enjoy, which frustrates Chiaki. Makoto notices all three girls now have wet shirts, and since he looked, Chiaki must hand down punishment involving buckets of water and brooms.

Its another hot class day with Uchida and Yoshino looking forward to the pool. Chiaki is tired of them saying how hot it is but their plan is to keep saying it so that the pool will be that much better. Chiaki decides that since the human body is 70% water, if she can get it up to 80%, she'll be more like water and thus OK. So she goes to start consuming water where she hears that another non-swimmer from another class now can swim. Since getting her water percentage to 80 is out of the question, she heads to see the nurse Kumada-sensei, since she feels pudgy after drinking so much. Her plan is to get a bandage for her finger to distract people from looking at her pudginess. It fails to work. However, since Yoshino and Uchida think she's cut her finger, they keep her out of the pool. Now Chiaki has to suffer the heat.

At Kana's school, they've just finished with pool and Kana decides she needs more pool on her day off. So she invited Riko, who is really excited to go, and Keiko, who agrees but really doesn't want to go. Riko is surprised that Kana didn't also invite Fujioka (whom she wants to get closer to), so she starts hinting about inviting others. Fujioka, who'd overheard the pool plans, also starts hinting about wanting to go to the pool again. Only Keiko knows that this tactic won't work. When Riko mentions boys and girls, Kana finally gets the picture, then backs out of her invites, saying that maybe she'll invite her sisters and their friends instead.

Chiaki awakens to find Kana already up. That's because Kana has a pool day planned, where she meets up with Keiko, Riko, and Fujioka. She gets upset with Fujioka at the pool for not doing what she wanted, so much so that on the walk home, she kicks him in the shins. Once home, Kana still sulks and no one, including visitors Touma and "Mako-chan" can figure it out. So Touma asks Fujioka, who explains that they were playing a game of "tag" ("touch" as the Japanese call it). However, being the only guy in the group, touching a girl for tag isn't proper. Touma understands and decides to teach him how easy it can be. So she tags Chiaki, who tags Kana, who tags Mako-chan, who tags Fujioka, who then tags Touma very near her breast. Touma recoils at this and they have a second round. Again, Fujioka touches her near the breast and Touma really isn't happy about that. Fujioka, thinking Touma is a guy and wants to increase the roughness of the game, gives chase to Touma.

Thoughts/Review: This week saw the return of many, many forgotten characters including the long-forgotten Shuuichi. When was he last around anyway? I think it was episode 9 of Minami-ke Okawari. Also returning were Yoshino, Makoto (and Mako-chan), as well as Riko (who's had a cameo recently but little else). So it was really nice to see all of these other supporting characters once again. Hopefully, they aren't forgotten again for ages. Just don't bring back Fuyuki-kun, please!

Episode-wise, the first story was pretty amusing with Chiaki busting out her trademark "bakayarou" on Makoto for being stupid in suggesting Chiaki clean the pool. It was funny to then turn around and praise him for being ready with the buckets for his punishment.

I enjoyed the second story as well, though as Chiaki started drinking the water, I thought about that young woman who died from water poisoning (water intoxication) from having drunk too much water in a radio contest. So I was actually relieved when Chiaki soon abandoned that plan.

Story three made me laugh at how desperately Riko tried to hint at getting Fujioka invited to the pool trip so she can spend time with him while at the same time, Fujioka is doing the same thing to be with Kana. Kana is so thick sometimes but eventually she caught on. Heh!

The fourth story was the funniest, though not really big time funny. Still, I laughed at Kana's anger and her taking it out on Fujioka's shin. Of course poor Fujioka doesn't know Touma is a girl so tagging her on the chest isn't a problem for him but sure is for her. Plus, we got to see "Mako-chan" in this episode, though some people's favorite "trap" didn't have much to do.

So while this episode wasn't deeply funny, it did have its moments and can be best described as "fun." Next episode is a beach-related one.

Negima! Manga Vol 26 (Ch 240) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 26 Chapter 240 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 240

Summary/Synopsis: Kotaro is still training in the Diorama Magic Sphere while Illusion-Eva has transferred Negi into her scroll. Nodoka wonders how Negi can physically train in the scroll since that scroll is for mental training. Illusion-Eva is impressed by Nodoka's knowledge and confirms her statement, but says she doesn't know what Negi is planning.

It is time for their match against Jack Rakan and Kagetarou and Negi and Kotaro haven't emerged from training. With no time to spare, both emerge and are hurried to transform to their teen forms as well as wear new combat gear provided by Ricardo. They arrive at the stadium with a worried Tosaka and cronies afraid of the riots that would have happened should "Nagi" not have shown. They are met by Yuuna, Makie, Akira, and Natsumi with Kotaro telling Natsumi that should they lose, he'll stay here with her so as not to face the wrath of Chizuru. Negi looks for Ako, but she's not there so Akira has a message for Negi saying that he's believed in and wishing him well.

In the fortified stadium (to protect the crowds), Jack and Kagetarou face Kotaro and Negi. Negi says he's found something else to fight for and asks Jack if Jack will accept Negi as a man should Negi win. Jack agrees, so Negi promises to come full power and pulls out his pactio card.

Thoughts/Review: I'm guessing Akamatsu-sensei is doing this on purpose so as to differentiate the real Eva from this Illusion-Eva, but have you noticed the wild-eyed look Illusion-Eva has?

That aside, it will be interesting to see what tricks Negi picked up within Eva's scroll. I do have a theory about that. His card clearly depicts a kid and knowing the nature of pactio cards with their "henshin" (transformation) abilities upon the user, that would be bad if Negi activated his artifact and suddenly turned into Negi-form. So one of the things he may have studied would have been a way to prevent that. Just a theory. Also, whatever his artifact is, no doubt he worked on how to use that to maximum effect.

Jacks comments on it being an issue if Negi didn't show up for the tournament struck me for some reason. One never knows what Jack is up to or whether there's some bigger plan going on here but his wording did catch my eye.

With Tosaka back in the picture, there's a lot of talk of him betraying Negi and company as soon as the tournament is over, regardless of whether Negi wins or loses. While I think there is a lot of credibility in that theory, I can also see Akamatsu-sensei pulling a fast one, wherein Tosaka has already confronted Negi at some point and agreed to keep Negi's secret. I admit that this is not likely, but for some reason, it is a thought that popped into my mind as I read this chapter.

Nodoka kinda had to take Yue's role this chapter since she figured out what kind of training Negi actually went through within Eva's scroll -- mental training. Normally, it would be Yue making such observations but I'm glad Nodoka got a chance to shine in this regard.

So, where was Ako? The most obvious answer would seem to be that she was to nervous to see Nagi before his big match and decided to send a message. However, there's a part of me that wonders if Makie, Yuuna, and Ako now know that "Nagi-san" is in fact "Negi-sensei." Now, Akira does address Negi as "Nagi-san," but that's to be expected since Negi is in that form and considering "Negi Springfield" is a wanted criminal, she can't very well address him as "Negi-kun" or "Negi-sensei," especially with "Mama Bear" there. However, its the reactions of the other girls when Negi asks about Ako that makes me wonder.

Again, Akamatsu-sensei dangles the idea of a Natsumi-Kotaro pairing. Personally, I rather like the idea but that's just me. Of course, Kotaro will need to grow up a bit but that's OK. ^_^

Finally, I want to go back to Negi's pactio card. That obviously confirms that he's a minister to Theodora, who's the magister. I've said this before but I'm not really a fan of this. To me, it complicates matters a lot and lessens the whole idea of being a magister in my book. After all, as I see it now, it is very possible for Konoka to pactio with Negi, only with she being the magister and he being the minister. After all, she does have a big well of magic he could draw from to power his other ministra (since he has no ministers).

While I don't like it asthetically, Konoka and Negi in a power-loop could make a weird sort of sense now that I think about it. She draws power from Negi for her own artifact and uses her healing magic. Negi needs the combat magic, so in a sense, Konoka could suppliment Negi's own power drain from his rather large battle harem. Further, she'd allow him to use whatever his artifact is in battle. I wonder if Akamatsu-sensei has thought about this or not.

Still, what could Negi's artifact be? We'll have to wait until next week, but I am amused that his card caused quite a stir for its number ( a "perfect" number) & its dual-color mention (I never noticed the color mentions before). Frankly, I think the later could be more proof of Negi actually being Nagi. Further, the way that "whatever" Negi has looked like the cheat spell book Nagi always carried amused me as well. If it does turn out to be some sort of cheat spell book, I'm going to freaking laugh, though even I'm reluctant to suggest that's what it is.

Fortunately, I was wrong about my belief there would be a chapter break after the volume completion. Yay for being wrong! I love it in those cases. ^_~ Anyway, we'll have to wait until next week to see what kind of artifact Negi has.

Keroro Gunsou 88 - 89

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Episode 88

When Dasonu Maso arrives with his mecha Dasonu Maso army to give everyone in Tokyo an afro, thus making his own invasion of Earth happen, the real Dance Man comes to train Moa-chan, Natsumi, Momoka, and Koyuki to sing and dance so as to counter Dasonu Maso's influence.