Fate/stay night - 01

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 01
Fate/stay night episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ten years after an incident that was part of the Holy Grail War, the lone survivor of a devastating attack, Shirou, is now a high school student. He was adopted by a wealthy man, who revealed himself to be a mage. However, his step-father is dead and Shirou is taken care of by underclassman Sakura (who cooks and cleans) and FUJIMURA Taiga, whom he refers to as "Fuji-nee" and who's also his homeroom teacher. Shiro has a gift for "seeing" things within objects and with this power, he is able to easily fix something like the broken heater in the student council room for his best friend Issei. Also attending his school is Rin, a mage who has summoned a Servant named Archer for an upcoming continuation of the Holy Grail war.

Around the area, there have been an unusual number of gas explosions and robbery killings. When Issei points out a recent one to Shirou, Shirou becomes troubled and ends up leaving school a bit early for his part-time job. He returns briefly to the place where he was found before working at a local liquor store. Shirou wants to be able to save people, which is a trait that Sakura loves but Fuji-nee dislikes for someone Shirou's age. On his way home, Shirou encounters a young girl who tells him he better summon a Servant or he'll die. Meanwhile around town, Rin and Archer are scouting locations for the upcoming fight.

Thoughts/Review: This has been on my radar to watch for quite some time but now I finally decided to watch it and even blog it on an episode basis rather than just as a DVD-whole (which is probably what I should be doing). I'm always amazed at the number of eroge titles that are then converted into non-hentai anime series. Some, like Popotan, keep an ecchi feel to them while others (Air, Kanon) abandon the ecchi stuff altogether. I believe that's how this anime is going to do things but we'll see.

Regardless, this first episode was not all that I expected. I did expect some intrigue, which we received with Rin summoning Archer and then scouting out the town. We received more of that with the young girl giving the warning to Shirou and with the brief flashback showing how Shirou has at least some minor magical abilities. One would assume that the deaths and explosions are part of the hinted forthcoming conflict, whether from Rin, the little girl, or other party.

What I didn't expect was the comedic moments. For example, since Fujimura-sensei's given name is "Taiga," the students sometimes tease her and call her 'Tiger" or "Tiger-sensei." Considering my recent viewing of Toradora! where the lead female character is also named "Taiga" and is known as the "Palm-top Tiger," this tiger joke for Fujimura-sensei went over well with me. Further, there were several other comedic moments and frankly I didn't expect there to be any comedy at all. So that was a pleasant surprise.

I'll continue to try to blog this episodically and hopefully complete it sooner rather than later so as to knock down another backlog anime title. *lol* I do welcome the thoughts of those who've already watched this anime and would be interested in knowing details from the eroge story if anyone has played it (details in comparing the anime adaptation to the original game).

The Last Remnants of Central Park Media Have Been Swept Away

Yesterday, I read that Central Park Media (CPM) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, meaning they are out of business for good. To be honest, it doesn't surprise me that CPM finally is officially closing shop, but I am surprised it took this long. After all, it was almost three years ago (May 2006) that CPM got rid of a bunch of its staff and for all practical purposes were out of the anime and manga game. Sure, they promised cost-cutting measures that would supposedly produce future growth, but lets face it -- who truly believed that CPM wouldn't go bankrupt?

Regardless, it is finally over but that leaves some decent anime titles in limbo. With FUNimation having been on a roll when it comes to license rescues, could more be on the horizon? Here are some titles that are possibly affected by the bankruptcy (if their licenses haven't already expired).

• Grave of the Fireflies: This movie needs rescuing for sure. If this movie doesn't have you crying like a baby when all is said and done, I would question your humanity.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena: Never watched this late-90's series nor have I seen the movie, but people tell me it is pretty good.
• Patlabor: The Mobile Police: Another series I've not watched, this one from 1989. It has been something I've been interested in seeing though.
• Record of Lodoss War: I've seen the original OVA and the TV series (which are the two pieces of the franchise licensed by CPM as well as the manga). As a fantasy series, it is decent enough. Certainly, it has had an impact on Japanese anime and manga fandom as there are references to it from time-to-time (Genshiken and Hayate the Combat Butler spring to mind) and is worthy of a license rescue.
• Night on the Galactic Railroad: I know nothing of this movie, but it has pretty decent reviews.
  
• Project A-ko: I've seen the movie and subsequent OVA sequels and spinoff. As a mid-80's title, there is a personal level of nostalgia for me since I saw this in Japan originally, so I wouldn't mind seeing the franchise rescued.
• Dominion Tank Police: Another 80's anime title which I only saw bits and pieces of (I wasn't into anime back then). It is something I'd be interested in seeing now.
• Demon City Shinjuku: I didn't watch this OVA title in Japan, but after I got into anime in 2002, a friend let me borrow the DVD. As a late-80's title, I'm in favor of a license rescue though. ^_^
• Armored Trooper Votoms: Never seen this franchise, but again, we have something that starts in 1983. I may have caught a bit of it in Japan since I knew the term "Votoms" after I left Japan.
  
• DNA²: Another franchise I've not seen but I've heard about. This mid-90's title gets some decent reviews.
• Fire Tripper: This is an OVA from Takahashi-sensei, creator of Inuyasha. There's no doubt in my mind that the original manga she did (which the anime is based off of) is the basis for what would become Inuyasha.
• Gall Force: Another mid-80's franchise. I'm pretty sure I've either watched the original movie or one of the OVA sequels, but I did it without translation and so have no real memory of story or the like (my roommate Robert loved watching anime even if it had no English dub or English subtitles). I'd like to see this classic rescued.
  
• Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer: Wouldn't it be nice if AnimEigo could somehow get this movie license, seeing as how they have most of the rest of the franchise?
• Yu Yu Hakusho The Movie: Poltergeist Report: I know a lot of Yu Yu Hakusho fans would LOVE for FUNimation to score this movie. Actually, I think that should the original scripts and audio source materials from Japan still exist, FUNimation might just spring for a redub and retranslation (to match the TV series).
• Photon: This is a creation from the creator of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, KAJISHIMA Masaki. It has some funny and interesting moments to be sure and I wouldn't mind seeing it rescued.
  

There are tons of other titles I haven't mentioned, including hentai ones such as La Blue Girl, & Fencer of Minerva as well as Kajishima-sensei's (Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki) Spaceship Agga Ruter & Masquerade.

So it is an end of an era and hopefully some of these anime titles can be rescued by other companies.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 04

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 04
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A serial killer is taking out State Alchemists and Lt. Col. Hughes is leading the investigation, which King Bradley has taken a keen interest in. Meanwhile, after the resolution of the incident in Liore, Col. Mustang decides to take Ed and Al to the Sewing-Live Alchemist, Shou Tucker. Tucker specializes in chimer and even got a chimera to speak once two years ago but it only said that it wanted to die and refused to eat or speak again. Tucker lives with his young daughter Nina and a large dog named Alexander. Tucker has an extensive library of books and so Ed and Al get down to reading and even taking time to play with Nina and Alexander over the next few days.

Tucker has an alchemist evaluation coming and since he failed the last one, he's pretty desperate. When Ed and Al come over again, they find Nina and Alexander missing but Tucker has created a new chimera -- a dog-like creature who can speak. When the chimera calls Ed "oniichan," Ed suddenly realizes the horrible truth -- Tucker has transmuted Nina and Alexander into this chimera. Further, Ed realizes that Tucker's wife, who supposedly left two years earlier, was the original chimera that Tucker made. Ed beats Tucker, who considers himself no different than Al and Ed for what they tried to do. The chimera cries for its father and Ed and Al leave.

The serial killer pays a visit to tucker and kills him in front of Nina-chimera for his crimes. Seeing that there's no way to return Nina back to normal, the killer ends the chimera's life as well. Meanwhile, Ed and Al are depressed by what they've experienced and are mildly chastised by Col. Mustang, who tells them they are likely to see other such atrocities as they go about their business.

Thoughts/Review: Don't you just hate it when you know some cute, sweet, innocent character is going to die? I couldn't remember much about Shou Tucker when the episode started, but when I saw Nina, I remembered -- she would become a chimera. It really is heartbreaking too because while this may be a work of fiction, in reality, there are parents who would sacrifice their children for their own personal gain. Its more heartbreaking when, as in this episode, those children still love their parents deeply despite what horrible crimes, abuse, etc. have been done to them. I'll never understand this kind of behavior as long as I live.

As to the story itself, I don't remember Scar killing Shou Tucker in the original anime. In fact, I seem to remember him becoming some sort of strange chimera who showed up later in the series. So his death surprised me. Now that I think of it, I can't remember what ultimately happened to Nina in the original anime. Did she get killed by Scar? Regardless, after the tragedy of Nina, it does seem a mercy to put the poor thing out of her misery. Man, I'm going to be depressed the rest of the day now.

Now that Scar has entered the picture, I have to say that I was surprised that Bradley became personally involved in the killing of State Alchemist. When the leader of a nation gets involved in a serial killer's activities, it does suggest major concern on the part of that leader. I know Bradley is different from the first series so I just wonder how Scar works into the grand scheme of things this time. Did Bradley get involved in the first series?

Again, the series is moving forward at a lightning-like pace. The referenced mining incident seems to be something I remember from the first series (or am I just suffering from sleep deprivation 'cause I seem to have forgotten a lot ^_^;;;) as something Ed and Al took care of after Liore but here, it is something they've already done. Was this mining story in the manga or no?

I do appreciate all of you FMA fans who've read the manga and who remember the first series better than I providing your insights. Please keep them coming. ^_^

Anyway, while a horribly tragic episode, it was still a good one with a lot of table setting for the Scar story. I look forward to the next episode. ^_^

Lessons From Japan -- How to Get Up, Get Dressed, Cook and Eat Breakfast and More, All in 5 Minutes!

Ah, leave it to the Japanese to come up with something like this. *lol*



In the words of Darth Vader, "Impressive! Most impressive." ^_^ Thanks to Trenaway for sending me the link to this video. ^_^

Urusei Yatsura 110 (of Yaoi and Yuri Kisses)

うる星やつら episode 110 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 110

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lum and Ataru are at a ramen restaurant when Lum sees an ad for lipstick and decides to kiss Ataru, who's not interested in kissing her but other girls. Lum leaves dejected and sees all the other couples around her acting all lovey-dovey , so she returns to her ship to create the perfect lipstick. Elsewhere, Shinobu, Ryuunosuke, and friends are at a shiruko restaurant (sweet red-bean soup) filled with girls and talking of love an romance. Shinobu is being teased about not having her first kiss and Ryuunosuke sees a print ad for lipstick and wants some. Still elsewhere, Megane pines over not having kissed a girl and he desperately wants to kiss Lum. Meanwhile Lum returns with the lipstick, which will make both parties wearing it kiss. Ataru realizes her game and takes the lipstick, pretending to throw it away.

The next at school, Ataru tries to figure out whom to target with the lipstick. Ryuunosuke is the obvious choice and she's only too happy to be allowed to put on lipstick. Ataru puts some on as well but when their faces are drawn together for a kiss, Ryuunosuke punches Ataru instead. Lum arrives, still wearing her lipstick and just before Ataru's face can meet hers, Lum's Stormtroopers and Shuutaro stop Ataru. Lum is not happy and soon all of the girls and guys in the class save Megane (who's trapped under a pile of desk) and Shinobu are wearing the lipstick, but never kissing their intendeds -- rather they end up kissing members of the same sex. Shinobu gets lipsticked and ends up accidentally kissing Ryuunosuke. In rage, Ryuunosuke and Shinobu begin beating back all of the guys in the class. Lum has had enough and everyone pays when she electrocutes the entire classroom.

When all is said and done, Lum goes to the ramen shop to eat. She's depressed by the turn of events even though the shop owner says she looks charming with her lipstick on. Ataru happens by, still trying to pick up girls who are disgusted by his use of lipstick. When Lum turns, their eyes meet and Ataru finds himself kissing the glass window with Lum on the other side.

Thoughts/Review: This was a pretty predictable episode, and yet was still pretty funny. The moment Shuutaro put on the lipstick, I knew he and Ataru would end up kissing and they did. Ditto when Ryuunosuke and Shinobu got close to each other -- I knew they'd end up kissing. However, Cherry suddenly appearing and kissing Ataru was the real kicker. When I saw Cherry's hand, I thought, "No way!" Oh, yes way! *lol* Funny stuff there. ^_^ (It would be nasty, freaky if there were an H-yaoi doujinshi about those two. *_*) Outside of Lum kissing Ten-chan early on, I don't think one guy kissed one girl in the whole episode -- it was guys kissing guys and girls kissing girls -- yaoi and yuri. *lol*

An episode all about chaos, youthful passions for the opposite sex, and failed kissing attempts don't leave a whole lot to comment on. However, I was surprised that Shinobu hadn't kissed a guy before. I thought for sure she had, possibly with Ataru. Its hard to know for sure since I've been watching this anime off and on for a number of years now.

So despite being a pretty fun episode, there's not much else to say. ^_^;

Check Out Akihabara -- LIVE AND DIRECT!

The great thing about so many people both in my real live and in cyberspace knowing my interest and love of things Japanese is that they will often provide me with nifty things I might have missed. This time, the guys who moderate the blog comments for me sent me a link they figured I'd love -- a webcam looking at a section of Akihabara, Japan -- the otaku capital!


As you see here, it is a cool, rainy morning in Japan. ^_^;

Officially, the controller at the top-right directs the camera to several preset positions. Sometimes this works but most of the time, it gets blocked. I sometimes think it is because the request is coming from an American server and not a Japanese one. To get around this, just use number buttons 1-6. That will take it out of "Mode=Motion" to screen refresh every 10 seconds though ("motion" mode displays a frame roughly every second without a complete screen refresh). As you see, one of the views zooms in on the street below, where we see a Japanese man eating breakfast. *lol*


While it wasn't a great day for screen captures when I wrote this blog entry, I can say that there are days when the streets are just bustling with people. So if you are bored or just like having something different and Japanese displaying on your monitor, the Akihabara webcam just might be the thing for you. ^_^


Oh, I should point out that it seems to work best in IE rather than Firefox, but it will work in Firefox.

Update: I fixed the broken links. Sorry about that. ^_^;

Hayate no Gotoku!! 04

Hayate the Combat Butler!! Ep. 04
Hayate no Gotoku "Season 2" Ep. 04
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With Valentine's Day approaching, Nagi holes up in the kitchen to try to make Hayate a chocolate while Ayumu has Wataru sample some chocolate she's made. Wataru doesn't see the big deal about Valentine's Day and ends up hurting Ayumu's feelings by bluntly stating that if the guy she's giving the chocolates to has already rejected her, why would he accept her chocolate? Ayumu quietly agrees with this assessment and is depressed.

Valentine's Day arrives and Hina finds herself the recipient of a ton of chocolate from girls, which Miki gently teases Hina about before giving Hina a chocolate as well. Hina decides to eat all the chocolate for the sake of the different girls' feelings but needs some milk. Upon coming to the school entrance, she finds a girl being held by security and realizing the girl is there to deliver a chocolate, Hina takes control of the situation. She offers the girl, Ayumu, assistance in delivering her chocolate by having the boy summoned to the student council room in the clock tower.Hina 's not too pleased that the boy is Hayate but she does the right thing and arranges the meeting. However, Ayumu ends up leaving quickly and after Hayate states that Ayumu gave him giri-choco (obligation chocolate), Hina sends Hayate after Ayumu.

Hayate finds Ayumu under a railway bridge and she realizing she's been given another opportunity, she gives him the honmei-choco (sweetheart chocolate), telling him he doesn't have to answer her now. When Ayumu sees Hina later in the city, she thanks her and they properly introduce themselves and Ayumu presents Hina with the giri-choco. This leads Miki to point out to Hina that this kind of thing is how Hina ends up with more chocolates every year.

Meanwhile, Hayate is in a quandary on what to do. After speaking briefly with Father Radiostar on the subject of love, Hayate speaks with Maria, assuming she has a great deal of experience. She does not and ends up being depressed by this. So she decides to make a chocolate instead while the frustrated Nagi gets Hayate to make her a chocolate. Maria sees Hayate make an elaborate chocolate and decides to outdo him, only to find that in the end, Hayate went with a simple chocolate for Nagi. Seeing Maria's chocolate, Hayate and Nagi assume she made it for herself. That evening, Hayate presents Maria with a small chocolate he's made as a means of thanks after presenting Nagi with hers.

Thoughts/Review: The great adaptation continues through four episodes now. ^_^ This story is a favorite of mine in the manga, especially with Hina getting so many chocolates and Miki teasing her about it. Plus, it establishes the friendship between Ayumu and Hina, which plays a greater role in episodes to come (assuming the manga is still followed pretty faithfully). Ayumu didn't get portrayed that well in the first anime series as she was often just the love-sick girl pining for Hayate and the butt of many food jokes. The manga never portrayed her as such (she is in love with Hayate, but not the butt of food jokes) and I'm very glad this new series is not either. ^_^

One thing this episode did is expand a bit on Nagi's efforts to make Hayate a chocolate, which may be filler but I did like it.

Speaking of the whole chocolate making thing, this episode really brought to life the elaborate chocolates made by both Hayate and Maria. Long time readers of my blog will remember my annoyance with Viz over ruining the image of the chocolate by writing "DOOOOM" in big letters over the image in the manga (the review of volume 7). No worries here as we get to see just how fancy those chocolates are. *lol*


Good stuff I tell ya. ^_^

Back to Hina, one thing that the anime brought to my attention was the small chocolate she had with her and ultimately ended up eating. In the manga, it came across as just anther one of the many chocolates that Hina had received. However, as things were done in the anime, I realized that this small chocolate was likely one that Hina had to give to Hayate, but then decided against it as she supported Ayumu's love confession. Neither the manga nor the anime express this, but I now think it is implied to a degree (or at the very least, one can make that assumption if one chooses to do so).

The first four episodes here really have me excited for a proper anime adaptation of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga. I really hope this continues through the rest of the series.

大きな箱とねこ （A Big Box and a Cat)

As I write, I'm keeping my parents' cat while they are on vacation. So it is always an adventure of sorts whenever she's in the place. So when LH shared this video of a Japanese cat and a large box, I couldn't help but laugh since the cat looks almost like my parents' cat. I'm sure you cat owners will appreciate this one.



The cat (named "Maru") is featured in this blog: http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/.

Slayers Evolution-R -- Final Thoughts (SPOILERS)

While taking the 2nd-half of Slayers Revolution and turning it into a separate series may have been a marketing ploy on the part of the Japanese, I decided that I didn't mind this if the writers continued to attempt to shift the anime in line with how the novels are. So how did things go? Well, the alignment with the novels continued and there was one nice teaser, but in the end it was a mixed lot for me, depending on whether I saw this as a hardcore fan or a casual anime fan.

The series starts with the Nama-chan arc, which provides two things. First, it shows how soul transfers can ultimately work. Second, it gave the writers a means of adding the character Naga to the series without adding the character Naga to the series. *lol* Naga is a character from the prequel novels (which are still ongoing) and has been animated in the various Slayers' movies and OVA's. She is also Amelia's long-lost sister. Hardcore Slayer's fans have longed for a reunion of these two sisters and so the writers gave it here by having a new character named "Nama-chan" who conveniently has no memories and who's soul conveniently occupies a suit of armor. Now we can have Lina go off on her old nemesis (though without completely understanding why Nama-chan would annoy here so) and we can have Amelia and Naga meet, but without violating anything since they've never done so in the novels.

For those hardcore fans, this pseudo reunion is a fun treat, especially when Lina goes off or in episode three where Amelia finds herself trapped inside the suit of armor that is Nama-chan. From a non-fan perspective, the Nama-chan arc is mostly a complete waste of time as it does nothing to advance the main story plot. Some character development in episode 3 for Amelia is the one gem of this arc for non-fans and fans alike. However, the other four episodes in the arc will be nothing more than pointless filler for non-fans I'm afraid.

After the Nama-chan arc is over, we pick up the Zuuma thread left over from Slayers Revolution. Here, the story gets interesting again as Zuuma is a credible threat to Lina and company as are the two mazoku that are introduced. The story basically follows the novel plot thread for Zuuma with a few changes that had to be done to make the story fit into the anime canon. The only negative here would be the distraction that is Ozel. The writers have teased her for so long that it becomes rather tedious to get no answers.

With episode 9, the plot finally begins to move forward and we see a nice flashback of Zelgadiss as a human and working with his old team from before he met Lina (whom were introduced anime-wise in the original Slayers series). That's another nice bone for hardcore fans and a nice taste of character development for Zelgadiss. Ozel continues to be somewhat of a distraction until Rezo comes back to life. After that it is "game on" as they say.

The highlight of this -- Xellos, hands down! Actually, Xellos comes off pretty well throughout the whole series, acting very much in character with his novel counterpart. Xellos is merely tailing Lina's party and is never a member of it. Xellos does not like disrespect but gives Lina a bit more leeway than most, but that's because he respects her and knows she respects him for what he is -- a very powerful mazoku. Xellos is a mazoku with his own agenda. That's how it should be. I really liked seeing Xellos this way and kudos to the production team for making it so. Also, props to the production team for not only finding a way for Xellos to be shown in his actual body (which is cone-shaped), but for allowing him to cut loose during the fight with ghost Ruby Eye Shabranigdu.

Ultimately for the hardcore Slayers fan, there's a lot to like in Slayers Evolution-R from the pseudo-Naga revival, typical Slayers humor, an accurate portrayal of Zuuma, an accurate and excellent portrayal of Xellos, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, and Giga Slave. For non-fans, there is a weakness in writing with too many bones tossed to hardcore fans so that casual viewers are either left in the dark or are bored to tears at times. So if you are a hardcore fan, this is easily a 4 out of 5. If you aren't, 3 out of 5.

Note: As of this writing, I'm told that FUNimation will market this series as "Slayers Evolution-R" as they did in Japan. Initially when FUNimation had their press release announcing the license, FUNimation simply referred to both Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R as "Slayers Revolution."

Better Archive Those Old GeoCities Anime Sites

It has been reported in many places that Yahoo is going to close down GeoCities, that now ancient-of-days free homepage hosting site that so many people used back in the 90's when the Internet was new, fresh, and exciting. In recent years, I'm not sure how many people are creating new accounts in order to build a home page but with the advent of blogs, social networking sites, and cheap domains, the age of GeoCities has come to an end.

I never used GeoCities for any of my own stuff because I've had a domain for a number of years. However, as I looked through my list of bookmarks, I was surprised to see how many of these were bookmarked to a GeoCities site. Case in point, Punistation's Tenchi Muyo fandom site, with lots and lots of goodies one likely won't find elsewhere (I have talked with Punistation and she's going to look for a new place to host all her stuff). How many GeoCities' anime and manga sites for older titles will simply vanish.

"Well ANB, the Wayback Machine will have everything archived, so no worries, right?"

Ah, if that were only true. There have been a number of sites which have disappeared off the Internet and while traces of them may exist on the Wayback site, often images and whole pages won't be archived for whatever reasons.

So, if you've got any old GeoCities sites bookmarked and they contain great stuff (but maybe not something you'd visit too often), you might want to think about saving those pages, images, and other materials to your hard drive, JUST in case.

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA -- Final Thoughts

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA

I love the Negima! manga. Akamatsu-sensei has crafted a well-written story with interesting characters and fun to boot. So when an anime adaptation was announced, I was happy. However, the Negima! adaptation ended up falling well short of the mark for a whole slew of reasons. Then SHAFT got involved and made up their own version of Negima! with Negima!?. I accepted that for what it was but it really wasn't what I wanted -- I wanted a faithful adaptation of the Negima! manga. With this thee-episode OAD/OVA series, we get just that.

The anime starts with the tail-end of the Mahora Festival main arc before moving onto the creation of Negima-dan (soon to be Ala Alba), which is around Volume 19, chapter 176 and continues to chapter 177, which has Eva's test of Ala Alba at the summer festival. It is a shame that the Mahora Festival arc from the manga is skipped, but that would likely take an entire season's worth of anime episodes to properly produce. So the anime writers skip this AND they skip the very important Asuna Training mini-arc. Oh well, at least we have something.

Episode 2 basically covers chapters 178-180 (volume 20) which is the Anya introduction mini-arc. Things pretty much play like the manga, but seeing things come to life made the episode enjoyable just the same. I couldn't help but laugh again at some of Anya's antics and her rivalry with Ayaka. The episode having a brief glimpse at Asuna's training reminded me of how I would have liked to have seen that as an episode.

Episode 3 basically covers chapters 175, 183, then 181 - 182. This is mostly the little shorts Akamatsu-sensei did as well as the final preparations for the trip to Wales by Ala Alba. The good is seeing all this in anime form. Plus, the anime team added one story about Misora, Cocone, and Satsuki. I loved seeing Cocone finally animated. The negatives here were that one Sayo story showing her getting her mini doll to possess is dropped and the episode has a distinct feeling of Negima!?, which was a bit unnerving.

There are weaknesses in art and animation which are mostly corrected by episode 3, but then that also helped give that episode its Negima!? feel. However, this focus on fun over substance may harm the next OAD/OVA series, which is supposed to be 4-episodes in length and take place after Ala Alba gets to the Magic World. So all the important stuff about Asuna, Ako, etc. are all missing. However, this is where the Japanese fall back to their standard position in such cases -- this anime is designed for fans of the manga and therefore we expect them to fill in the blanks for the stuff we skip. That's truly unfortunate but there's nothing we can do about it. For those who've yet to read the manga, just do that. ^_^;;;

In the end though, I think Negima! manga fans got what they wanted -- a fairly faithful adaptation of some more low-key anime chapters that focus more on fun than on substance. After two failed TV series (in manga fan's mind at least) as well as two blah OVA's, this OAD series is a breath of fresh air. As such, I'd give it a 4 out of 5, but only for fans of the manga. If you haven't read the manga, at best you might get a 3 out of 5 for this.

A Negima! Chapter 250 Reminder (and a nifty Eva picture too)

Just to remind everyone (cause people are already looking *lol*), there is no Negima! this week or next. I'm not exactly sure when the spoiler images for Negima! 250 will be posted (possibly in two weeks, but maybe next week), but I'll be keeping an eye open and I'm sure some of you will too. ^_^

As usual, I'm posting a Negima! related image. However, I'm going against my standard practice of using art from Akamatsu-sensei or other official source and instead and going with art from an artist known as AMANE Takashi (hope I have the name right). His picture of Eva and Chachazero is one I found to be most compelling and so I am sharing it with you guys.



Thoughts (if any)? ^_^

Natsu no Arashi! - 03

夏のあらし！ Episode 03
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hajime is writing a science fiction tale featuring himself as the hero and Arashi as the heroine when Arashi comes in to get him for work at the cafe, Ark. While there, Master is happy for the increase in business and feels that all these young university guys are there for her. Hajime sees the truth that they are there for Arashi and he's not happy with how much they hit on her but relieved when she gently turns them all down. Jun notices Hajime's reactions and warns him that being the nice guy won't get him the girl. Jun further warns that all girls have an objective and that it is strange for Arashi to suddenly start living with Hajime -- so what is Arashi after?

After work, Hajime takes Arashi to her first arcade where the encounter the fearsome UFO Catcher game. With Hajime playing the role of captain and Arashi playing the role of underling, the mission is to grab one of the sci-fi dolls. After burning through ¥300, Arashi decides to use her own money. Finally getting what she wanted, on the way home, she gives the doll (which looks like Hajime) to him. She tells him that she has a secret -- she can only travel in time with a boy she connects with. She gets him to agree to go back in time, this time to January 1945 and World War II.

Together, they encounter a MURATA Sankichi and then his father, who are about to go fishing. Arashi warns them of a bombing raid that will strike the river. Murata-san is suspicious of a girl who hasn't been conscripted for the war effort and Sankichi wants to fish. So Arashi takes Murata-san's pole and flees with Hajime. After losing them, Arashi wants to make sure they cannot make it to the river. They come to the Murata home and find Murata-san there. Since there's no time to make it to the river now, Arashi feels relieved but when Hajime points out that Sankichi isn't there, a desperate search begins as the bombers arrive and drop their loads. Arashi finds Sankichi and saves him from being killed by a bomb. After being reunited with his father, Murata-san accuses Arashi of being a spy. Hajime is angry but Arashi stops him from being rash and they return to the present. Arashi apologizes for the danger she put Hajime through but Hajime decides he can be the hero and help Arashi with whatever her mission is.

Thoughts/Review: Very interesting. This episode has fun, laugh out loud moments, and a completely unexpected trip to World War II Japan. Wow.

I like how the episode creates the air of mystery around Arashi while at the same time, making her to appear this beautiful, sweet and wholesome young high school girl. Jun raises and excellent point regarding why a girl like Arashi would choose to live with Hajime. Of course we know the answer now, and that is because through Hajime, they can travel back into the past. Just what is her mission anyway? Why attempt to save certain people and not others during the bombing raid? It is still mysterious and yet Arashi has been established so that we, like Hajime, trust her.

Now to the unexpected trip to World War II Japan. Yeah, that was weird. While the animation budget isn't such to create some of the same feelings of a bombing run that something like Grave of the Fireflies had, I still couldn't help but feel a chill as the bombers appeared and then we got an aerial view of the bombing. Maybe its because I'm older, but when the air raid sirens went off and the bombs started exploding, I couldn't help but empathize with the situation and have a limited understanding of how tough the war was on the civilian population. Don't get me wrong, the U.S. did exactly what it had to do in that war and that included carpet bombing -- beat your enemy into complete surrender. However, this scene made me thankful that except for things like Pearl Harbor or the 9-11 attack, the U.S. hasn't had to face the true hardships of war on its shores in a very, very long time.

Shifting to the fun, I was highly amused at Hajime being jealous over the different guys hitting on Arashi. Hajime is playing the nice guy and I suppose I can't help but home that despite everything, he can have his dream of a romance with Arashi come true. Ah, but childhood crushes. *lol* Still, Hajime is doing what any nice guy would do -- try to give Arashi space to do what she wants and yet be so glad that Arashi gives him time at all. In real life, that is a road to not getting the girl (as Jun pointed out) but in an anime, anything is possible, right? ^_~

The trip to the arcade was a lot of fun too. I'm not sure if Arashi and Hajime were parodying a specific anime or not when they became a captain and underling, but it was not only fun but funny too. I was introduced to the UFO Catcher game in Japan -- everything Hajime said about the game is true. I got lucky though the few times I played in that I scored a toy without spending a lot of money. ^_^

Finally, the laugh out loud funny -- the detective and his phone call. *lol* For starters, the extremely long line he gives at the start of each call he receives cracked me up a bit. Naturally, when the caller is wanting a detective to explain the differences between tororo soba and yamakake soba, it is amusing even if an old joke. I knew what was coming next and yet with each incoming phone call, I found myself laughing harder and harder at this old joke. Maybe it is the lack of sleep but by gum, I loved it. ^_^

As I wrap this episode blog up, I can now say that the series has completely won me over. I love the fun, I love the humor, and the unexpected trip to World War II Japan was the icing on the cake for me. I look forward to seeing where all this goes.

Hoihoi-san -- Never Got Far, Did It?

Sometimes I wonder about the thought process behind what is determined to be a "good" anime adaptation and what is not. Take Ichigeki Sacchu!! HoiHoi-san. This started as a short manga (see my review here) and even had a short anime created in 2004. When that short hit the fandom circuit, I remember there being a fair bit of positive buzz about this and two hopes -- one being that the manga would be licensed and the other being that we'd see an anime series based on this very moe bug-killiing doll. We scored the first one with the first book having been published (the second book has not been published) but we never did see an anime series created. Why?

I suppose the easiest answer would be that there just wasn't a lot of souce manga material to adapt into an anime. That shouldn't be a problem in my mind because shorts such as those in the original manga could be expanded upon and stories written around the premise or premises. On one hand, you could have the more human story with the human characters and then the sheer comedy of Hoihoi-san's bug hunting combined with Combat-san's attempts to take out a rival product. *lol* The short anime is such a delight and in the hands of a good writer (or writing team) could be a good hit.

Alas, I don't think we'll ever see a proper anime adaptation and I'm not sure if we'll even see the second manga book published in the U.S.. Still, I believe in supporting stuff I like and so I thought I'd give a shout out to one of my favorite yet mostly unknown short manga series and to that loveable Hoihoi-san.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 03

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 03
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Arriving in Liore to investigate the miracle performing priest named Cornello, Al and Ed meet Rose, a devout follower of Cornello who believes the priest can raise the dead. After talking with her about faith and alchemy, they do convince Rose to set up a meeting between them and Cornello. When Cornello hears of their arrival, he realizes his plans are in jeopardy as Elric brothers are working for the government. After being shown in, they are beset upon by Cornello's people, but those people are quickly defeated. Cornello shows up and after exchanging words with Ed over miracles and alchemy, Cornello has a chimera set upon them, which Ed defeats. Cornello instructs Rose to shoot the brothers after realizing they had attempted to perform human transmutations but she hesitates. Cornello creates a Gatling gun with his Philosopher's Stone ring, but Al grabs Rose and with Ed they escape.

Cornello gives chase and has his followers try to stop the trio, but Ed is too strong for for them. Al is with Rose on a balcony with Rose struggling regarding her faith and the revelation of what Al and Ed did. Ed confronts Cornello in Cornello's office and tricks the priest into going off on his followers to reveal the truth. This is broadcast over radio and loudspeaker in Liore. Cornello is infuriated and in an attempt to attack Ed, his Philosopher's Stone rebounds and basically turns Cornello into a chimera. Ed is the better fighter but when he attempts to grab the stone, it falls out of the ring, breaks, and dissolves. Ed declares it a fake and leaves. Rose confronts Al and Ed one more time since her dream of having her lover brought back to life is shattered. After Al and Ed leave town, Cornello discovers Lust and Gluttony waiting for him. Lust kills Cornello for failing his mission and Gluttony eats him.

Thoughts/Review: I remember in the first series that this story covered two episodes and that Rose had a baby. There was a distinct, darker feeling to the original series' story and while those elements are here, the production team opted for a mix of comedy and drama. Rose has no baby (does she have one in the manga?) so that added extra of danger is removed (actually, I'm told the baby didn't come until later in the first series -- I had to sell it a couple of years ago so I didn't remember when the baby showed up -- thanks for the corrections!). However, Rose's character design gives her a less cutesy feel and a more genuine one, thus making her belief feel real despite the added danger element of a baby. Things move at a rapid pace rather than take a leisurely stroll as in the original anime. Both versions of the story have good and bad to them and I can't say that I like one over the other.

Animation-wise, the production team have been doing an interesting thing to cut costs -- use the humor moment to have cheap animation. Normally, I'd be annoyed when animation shifts in quality as it does here, but now that the animators are using the cheap art/animation moments to exaggerate humor stuff, they get a pass. The cost savings from those moments are then channeled into the action sequences, resulting in some nicely-animated fight scenes. This method of production may account for why there has been an increase in humor moments and "chibi" jokes against Ed. I don't know how dark or comedic the manga is (those who've read, please feel free to enlighten me) .

Another interesting production item is the use of split-screen. I know this method of story telling has been done on the American show 24, but I don't remember it ever being done in anime (and I'm not talking about those brief "show shock" splitting of the screen to show multiple characters but rather having an animation sequence done in two separate screens). That's not to say it hasn't been done, but in my limited viewing experience, its never been done. That said, I have to say that it gave a more weight to the conversation between Rose and Ed about faith and alchemy. We could see his flippant attitude while at the same time we could see Rose's reaction to Ed's words. So I really like the judicious use of split screen and if needed, I hope we see it again.

The "Father" character gets name-dropped here, which I know comes from the manga. So that is the one element of newness to the story that is nice for me seeing as how Father was not in the original anime. I will enjoy watching how this element to the story plays out. I'm guessing that Father is the creator of the homunculi, otherwise he wouldn't be addressed as such (the Japanese word "otousama" was used, so I doubt there's a religious element to the title "Father" beyond parenthood of some sort).

Three down and I'm very pleased with this reboot of the franchise. ^_^

The Manga Guide to Electricity

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

The Manga Guide to Electricity is the latest in the Manga Guide series to provide educational material in an entertaining way. The standard format of having a manga story to cover a chapter's topic followed by a more traditional, in depth look at the subject is used. No quizzes are here, which is fine.

Story-wise, things start on the planet Electopia (clever, eh?) with female high school student Rereko being summoned by her teacher, Teteka-sensei, regarding Rereko's failing grades in electrical studies. Thus Rereko is being sent to Earth and specifically Tokyo, Japan for summer lessons on electricity. She's given a transdimensional walkie-talkie and observation robot named Yonosuke and sent on her way. Her instructor on Earth is a research scientist named Hikaru-sensei. The price for his services is that Rereko clean his apartment and cook meals for him.

One thing I noticed about the story is that it came off funnier to me than the previous books. I won't give away specific jokes, but things will be funnier to those with a greater knowledge of Japanese culture, situations (as seen in anime and manga) or places in Japan. ^_^

The first chapter covers a rather detailed explanation of what electricity is, including static electricity. Terms like volts, amps, watts, etc. are explained. Chapter 2 covers circuits. Chapter 3 covers how electricity works. Chapter 4 discusses how electricity is created. The fifth and final chapter covers how one can conveniently use electricity through means such as semiconductors, diodes, transistors, etc.

As expected from the Manga Guide books, the manga stories help give a high-level look at the subject and put things into a light that doesn't seem so overwhelming. The lower-level section of the chapter then reinforces the materials covered in the manga section to aid the reader in obtaining a greater understanding of the subject. I really think this is a great way of teaching and is a wonderful aid for those taking classes on electricity. I know I learned quite a few things that I didn't know and since I haven't taken a class on electricity since the 5th grade, there were other things that were refreshed in my mind about electricity.

A note on the translations here, No Starch Press decided to go ahead and keep the "sensei" honorific (though done Japanese style, which means no hyphen between the name and the honorific) which I approve of. I doubt it will be an issue for those who aren't versed in anime or manga but lets face it -- anime and manga fans are the ones this book is targeted too and the kids today who are part of fandom are well versed in Japanese honorifics.

Bottom line: This is a nice resource to take a potentially overwhelming topic like electricity and break it down in such a way so that nearly everyone can understand. While it will be of most use to students, it isn't bad for those just wanting to gain some personal knowledge on the subject of electricity.

Additional: On a personal note, the gang at No Starch Press quoted from my review of Manga Guide to Statistics, which is pretty cool. ^_^

Negima! Manga Vol 27 (Ch 249) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 27 Chapter 249 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 249

Summary/Synopsis: Ostia is celebrating the fight of a decade as the match between "Nagi-san" and Jack Rakan ends in a draw. Ako, Akira, and Natsumi congratulate Negi for the job he did and despite the fact that he only won half the money needed to free him, they are still happy and feel that the rest of the money can be obtained somehow. Natsumi makes a point of congratulating Kotaro, who wonders why she's acting all weird.

Jack arrives and after playfully chasing Natsumi a bit, he tosses his half of the money at Negi, telling him he earned it. Though the match was officially a draw, Jack states that in his mind, Negi actually won. Jack and copy-Eva are very impressed with everything Negi has done and heap praise on him for his mental solutions to the problems in creating and adapting new attacks and spells. All of this talk leads Chisame to remark to Chamo that Negi has officially joined the "Monster Squad." Negi thanks Jack and copy-Eva and cites Ako and Tosaka as the driving force behind what he was ultimately able to pull off.

During a ceremony, Theo summons the three keys needed to unlock the collars of Ako, Natsumi, and Akira. Kotaro unlocks Natsumi's collar while Negi first unlocks Akira's collar, then Ako's. Afterward, Negi is alone when the Magia Erebea begins to get him. The process is interrupted when Jack arrives. Jack makes no mention of the Magia Erebea, but tells Negi that the injuries he sustained will take more than late artifact work (from Konoka's artifact) and arena healers to cure. Jack sends Negi to the medical room as Jack has summoned a doctor from Megalo.

Once Negi is gone, Jack asks copy-Eva if what he saw was in fact Magia Erebea. Copy-Eva confirms this and notes that Jack pushing Negi like he did on a whim is the cause. She states that eventually they'll have to do something about it but that her real body should be able to handle that. Jack tells copy-Eva that it wasn't whim that made him push Negi, but Fate Averruncus (from Cosmo Entelecheia) and whatever plans he has. Jack feels that Negi and crew will be tied up in the ultimate fate of the Magic World.

Thoughts/Review: A draw! Good. I like that AND I like the throw-away line by some random person about Jack merely testing Negi and still holding back. Let's face it -- despite everything Jack did, he did hold back some, even if it were to simply enjoy fighting. He may have cut loose toward the end but by not going for the "instant kill" is a form of holding back.

So officially, Negi doesn't get a win and yet Akamatsu-sensei provides a logical means for Jack to hand over his 500,000DP and thus wrap up the slave sub-plot. That's where Akamatsu-sensei is so good -- writing in a logical fashion. He sets the table for things to happen, sometimes months and years in advance (in real time of course, not story time). He sets Jack up to be a total mercinary, yet provides a means for Jack to give up his half of the money to free Ako, Natsumi, and Akira in a way that is believable. I like that a lot.

Also in the like category is Natsumi's little crush on Kotaro. *lol* That's been teased for quite some time and while Kotaro doesn't get it, I liked that he was the one to unlock her collar. It was a sweet and cute moment to be sure. Of course that takes nothing away from Negi unlocking Ako and Akira either. ^_^

Yue's cameo is a nice touch. I kinda hope that she is up next on the list of dangling plot threads to be resolved. Her's would be the quickest and easiest to do I think, but obviously Negi's scout team trying to find Anya would be more important since officially, Anya is the only one still missing. So maybe we get to see Yue and the scout team as A-B stories. We'll see.

Akamatsu-sensei wasn't subtle at all about the Magia Erebea and Negi, was he? *lol* With copy-Eva's remarks, I wonder if the real Eva will show up before this arc has concluded. I don't think it is too much to say that the ME issue will play a role somehow in the story and that I would guess Akamatsu-sensei is making it so that he doesn't have to deal with that plot thread at the moment. Still, as Negi walks to the medical room, I couldn't help but wonder if someone we've met before might be waiting for Negi there, whether for good or ill.

So we have a nice wrap-up chapter to end the slave sub-plot and the tournament sub-arc. ^_^

Negima! chapter 250 won't be out until May 13th! Spoilers will likely come out on May 9, but could possibly be out earlier. I'll try to keep an eye open for them and as always, I appreciate the rest of you who let me know when you notice spoilers appear. ^_^

(Clannad) Nagisa Love!

Nagisa is such good stuff, I couldn't resist sharing some wallpapers of her. Not sure where I found all these since I just absently save images I like. As such, I'm sure that some or all of these may be old hat to you, but just maybe, there were some new ones you haven't seen yet.





You guys didn't mind, did ya? ^_~

Slayers Evolution-R 13 (Finale)

スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 13 (last episode)
Slayers EVOLUTION-R Ep. 13 (final episode)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With the Dark Lord, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu having come back to life, Xellos attacks what he refers to as the "Ghost of Shabranigdu" but his attack is easily thwarted. Shabranigdu increases in power and Xellos uses the last of his strength to get Lina and company to a safe distance. Xellos explains that this is not the same Shabranigdu Lina fought before. Much as the way the mazoku lord Gaav was reborn in an unexpected way, this Shabranigdu was as well and thus is a threat to the mazoku. Shabranigdu sends waves of oriental dragon-like creatures their way and the party does what they can to defend themselves. Pokota casts a Dragon Slave and to Lina's amazement, it achieves some success on the dragon creatures.

After retreating once more, Lina and Pokota provide a barrage of Dragon Slaves as the spell is drawing energy out of this ghost Ruby Eye and thus weakening him. The plan would be that Lina would then use Ragna Blade to kill the weakened creature. However, both are getting spent as the attacks aren't enough. As Shabranigdu takes out the members of her party one by one, Pokota gets Xellos to take him to Pokota's Hellmaster Jar. After smashing it, Pokota's spirit returns to his body. This gives Lina an opening for the one spell she'd been avoiding casting -- Giga Slave. After using her amplification stones, Lina casts Giga Slave and kills the ghost Ruby Eye, earning Xellos's respect as she has earned the title of "Slayer." Pokota survives thanks to Rezo and in reunited with his people, only in stuffed animal form. Zelgadiss returns to looking for a cure for his condition, Amelia returns home, and Lina and Gourry are off to find a sword for Gourry, watched by Xellos.

Thoughts/Review: After watching this episode, I do think the production team are setting up the potential for another sequel to cover the novels which haven't been adapted into anime form. Gourry gives up the faux Sword of Light so that he and Lina can go on their trip to find a new sword. While it is easy enough to bring in Amelia and Zelgadiss, if the writers should decide to be faithful to those novels, we won't have to worry about them because as I understand it, they don't play a role in the next storyline.

As to the episode itself, I was surprised that Lina was allowed to cast Giga Slave. I didn't think they'd actually do it, but they did and they pulled it off pretty well, even remembering to turn Lina's hair white. I liked how the writers worked things so that Dragon Slave actually worked (even if only a small amount) and that Lina had a plan to use Ragna Blade so as to avoid Giga Slave. However, her use of Giga Slave is a plus an minus. It is a plus in that is shows her power but it is kind of a minus because having used it again successfully, can she not use it in a future anime adaptation (assuming we even get one)?

I had more thoughts too, but recent real life events have kind of left me unable to focus and for that I apologize. I'll try to write them when I write the final review for Slayers Evolution-R. That said, I will say that I did enjoy this episode a fair amount.

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 179

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 179

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Watanuki's cooking student hates her own cooking especially in comparison to Watanuki's, which she tried. She realizes that this is a reflection of her own hatred of herself. After some consideration, she has placed her wedding on hold. She addresses Watanuki as "Sensei" and asks to be taught to cook again. Watanuki happily agrees. The woman comments on Yuuko-san's shop and how it had the power to grant wishes, but that didn't happen as it was Watanuki visiting every day that convinced the woman to move forward. Watanuki says he did what he could but if Yuuko-san had been there, she likely would have found a better way.

Thoughts/Review: Are we finally done with the cooking woman or will she keep showing up as Watanuki teaches her? Considering that Yuuko-san is tied up with the Tsubasa story right now, it will likely be a while before we see her in xxxHOLiC again. Therefore, something will have to be done to fill time within xxxHOLiC and unfortunately, this woman is the only story arc that has no connection to Tsubasa. Also, all CLAMP can do is throw out teasers to show stuff going on in Tsubasa and then throw in a promotional to tell people to read Tsubasa to find out about Yuuko-san.

Ideally, I'd love for Watanuki, Doumeki, Himawari, and Kohane-chan to have some new adventure involving Ame-Warashi and Zashiki-Warashi somehow. I think that would be more interesting than some tedious cooking story arc. Hopefully the cooking arc is over but somehow, I can see it continuing.

Hayate no Gotoku!! 03 (Lord British sez, "Brother or Sister Fortesia?")

Hayate the Combat Butler!! Ep. 03
Hayate no Gotoku "Season 2" Ep. 03
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hayate hears the announcer speak of his party and thinks he's made a mistake. Katsura-sensei is taken out right away with a treasure trap, leaving only Hayate, Nagi, and Wataru. They encounter a strange spirit creature and run screaming. Sister Fortesia wonders about the excessive screaming and goes to investigate, only to encounter the same creature. Meanwhile, as the trio flees, Nagi trips a poison dart trap which Hayate takes. Father Rean Radiostar shows up and instructs them on where to find the flower that can heal Hayate, so Nagi and Wataru are off to find it. At the same time, Father Radiostar reveals that he is a ghost, having been killed by the same trap.

A giant robot dog attacks Nagi and Wataru but they are saved by Hina, who had joined Isumi to come down to the dungeon to expunge the evil spirits and had been lent "Wooden Sword Masamune" by Isumi. Isumi uses her ofuda to shield Father Radiostar and Hayate from an attack of more spirit creatures and heals Hayate so that he can join Nagi. Isumi asks Hayate to take Father Radiostar with him since his ghost status prevents her from using her major powers. He agrees and they are off in time stop Nagi from calling the whole thing off in order to save his life.

Sister Fortesia arrives for the final challenge, having survived her own encounter with the spirit creatures. Father Radiostar demands to know why she's calling herself Sister Fortesia when the real one is an older lady. This Sister Fortesia (whom I will now call "Sister Sonia," though the anime has not revealed that yet) acknowledges this and summons more robot dogs as well as another giant mecha. She wants revenge on Nagi's family after her father failed to assassinate Nagi as a child on Mykonos and was defeated by the Sanzenin family butler (Hayate, who'd traveled back into the past). However, when Hina unplugs Sister Sonia's robot, she ends up fighting Sister Sonya.

Katsura-sensei arrives, possessed by evil spirits for the promise of ¥1-million, and puts an end to Sister Sonya and Hina's fight. She then takes possession of the giant mecha. Hayate, with the aide of Father Radiostar, prepares an ultimate attack to defeat the giant mecha, not realizing that Isumi has just exorcised the evil out of Katsura-sensei. Hayate destroys the mecha but unfortunately destroys the Alex San Marco Church as well. Hayate gets to keep his job as a result with Nagi proud of him. However, the events of the day soon catch up to Hayate and he collapses instead of looking cool.

Thoughts/Review: Woo!hoo! This episode covered chapters 9, 10, and 11 of volume 6 of the manga. Three episodes into this new series and I can tell you that I am VERY happy with how things are going. This is a much better produced series as it is following the source manga so closely, thus the flow of things works much, much better. Further, in addition to Sister Sonia making it into anime form, we also have Father Radiostar. After I read the manga, I couldn't understand why he and Sister Sonia were so totally skipped like they were. However, they are here now and that's good.

I loved how the "Lord British" (the name of the creator of the Ultima RPG franchise in the U.S. starting in the 80's, who was also an NPC in the games -- or at least the ones I played) reference makes it here too. "Amazingly," the Japanese could actually use the honorific "Lord" rather than change it to something like "British-sama." Then again, the Japanese don't have a beef against western honorifics. That's why "Sister" is used to address the Catholic nuns and "Brother" or "Father" are used for the monks/priest.

Speaking of "Brother," I laughed out loud when Sister Sonia acknowledged she was not a "Sister" and Hayate asked if she were a "Brother." The official subtitles use "Brother" in the honorifics but when I went back to the Viz manga, they decided to word things in such a way so that Hayate doesn't use the term "Brother" but instead says "male priest." I guess the Viz translator thought leaving "Brother" would be confusing but the translator for the anime decides otherwise, possibly because we could so easily hear "Brother" being said in the Japanese audio. Regardless, the joke is funnier with "Brother" being used, which is why I laughed out loud.

Also, the animation here is pretty good. I thought about that during the brief fight between Hina and Sister Sonia, where they make several moves as they clash. There were a lot of little moments where the excellence of the animation stood out to me. Since I don't normally harp on animation, it means I don't usually pay attention. For me to pay attention means that the animators went above average in their efforts and it shows. So kudos there.

As I said, I've very happy with how things are going for this new series. Heck, they can even show blood now (see the first image in this article). I think that next episode will start the Valentine's Day story which will feature Ayumu. Can't wait to see that come to life. ^_^

Springtime Sakura (Cardcaptor Sakura that is)

Good old Sakura-chan from Cardcaptor Sakura. With her (apparent) recent appearance in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- combined with springtime in the air, I figured, "Why not find an image of Sakura-chan to share." This is from the Japanese 2002 calendar (obviously) but still a great image. ^_^


This is a show that I'd love to see license-rescued and re-released in an unedited form. I know there are lots of you who'd love to see the series with a dub too, seeing as how the only dub of the series was for Cardcaptors, which basically stripped about half the anime and wrote their own story. Maybe one day we'll get our chance especially with the Japanese releasing a VERY expensive Blu-ray version.

Also, for those interested, Josh is going to be blogging Cardcaptor Sakura as he has time so be sure to check him out and give him some feedback. ^_^

Mahou Sensei Negima! ~ Shiroki Tsubasa~ ALA ALBA 03 (Finale)

魔法先生ネギま！～白い翼 ALA ALBA～ (OAD) 03 (Final)
Negima! Ala Alba (White Wing) OVA/OAV 03 (End)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Anya learns of how powerful Negi's "battle harem" is but she also learns of Negi's determination to find his father and avenge their village. With that, Negi and company as well as the rest of the class spend some of their summer vacation watching movies, hanging out, going to Comiket, etc. Afterward, the members of Ala Alba return to Eva's resort to pack and get ready to go. Eva wants to test Asuna and Negi one last time and Asuna manages to score a scratch on Eva's cheek. This results in Eva encasing Asuna in a giant boulder of ice, which she escapes from. After the group plus Chisame take off for Wales, Al, Eva, Chachazero, and one of Chachamaru's "younger sisters" are having tea and discussing the trip that Negi and company are taking.

Thoughts/Review: SHAFT had to love this episode -- after all, it was a lot like Negima!? in presentation, which didn't exactly give me a good vibe. However, except for some bits skipped here and there, the shorts from the manga were all pulled to my satisfaction so in the end, all's well that end's well. Still, I never could quite shake that bad vibe every time SHAFT did their Negima!? imitation, which was quite often. ^_^;

There was one new anime-exclusive short featuring Satsuki, Misora, and Cocone. I liked it because it fit well within the context of all the other shorts about what different students were doing over the summer. At the same time, it did have Misora state that she's going on a trip to the same place as Negi, which was something we didn't learn until later in the manga when they were already there. So having her say, "I'm going" works for me and since Satsuki is aware of magic and such based on the manga, it may be that she knew where Misora and Cocone were going for their summer vacation.

Another item of interest is the Zazie short where she joins Sayo outside the convenience store. This is a moment where SHAFT cut a tiny bit from the story by not having Zazie's critters talk. So we didn't get to see Sayo actually concerned for her safety when one of the critters asks if it can eat Sayo. Also, SHAFT had them like ghost in that they were somewhat transparent like Sayo. That didn't come across in the manga.

Finally, there's Chachazero. I love Chachazero as a character and in anime form, she's had so freaking little to do. So hearing her actually converse was a bit strange. Due to the animation, she loses her constant grin to talk and drink, which was very strange. I wonder if that is how Akamatsu-sensei envisioned things? Regardless, Chachazero has a "Keh!keh!keh!" laugh that I always imagined was a slow, evil laugh. However, SHAFT has the seiyuu voice the laugh rather fast and to me, it doesn't make Chachazero sound like a devious doll -- it just made her sound kinda dumb. ^_^; Maybe that's how Akamatsu-sensei envisioned things.

For the most part though, I rather enjoyed this episode despite the Negima!? feeling. Some of the stories having been brought to life in anime form gave me new chuckles while some just left me with a smile. Either way, it was still an enjoyable experience.

(Minami-ke) Chiaki the Teruterubouzu! How ANB Needed Her This Weekend!

With all the rain and snow we've been having in the area, I know there are some who'd love to see some sunny days. Me, I don't normally complain about these rainy days because we'll be dry soon enough. However, this time, I wish we had gotten the 2-feet of snow rather than the inches of rain. Why? Because with such a soaking, my basement window well filled with water, which then began pouring into my basement through the window. That meant a FUN-filled day of running around in the cold rain with my neighbors (one of whom is on the HOA board) trying to locate the HOA's sump pumps (they ended up buying a new one just for me). K-kun and I then constructed a shield to try to keep more water out of the window well, but then water began coming in from underneath as well. *_* We managed to get all the water out of the basement with little loss to my stuff stored there. Whew.

As the giant floor dryers were doing their thing, I crashed to get some sleep around 08:00. I woke up a few hours later and noticed it was raining. On a whim, I went down to check and the basement was getting water AGAIN! It was a scramble to get the sump pump in the window well back on and then another round of water removal. *_* Now, the fans are again drying the basement floors. Its funny, but the humidity in the basement is 80% right now. ^_^; I just need to get some bleach tomorrow in order to spray down strategic spots that had gotten wet and thus might grow mold.

Anyway, since the Japanese like to hang teruterubouzu as a ward against rain, I thought I'd post an appropriate image from that most excellent Minami-ke first series where Chiaki was used as a human Teruterubouzu. *lol*


Lord willing, there won't be any massive rains like this again until the HOA can fix the drainage problem in my window well.

Negima! Chapter 249 SPOILER Images

Negima! 249 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 249 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 249 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


Hmmmm -- slaves freed, some prize money, and is that darkness I see with Negi? Very interesting.

Natsu no Arashi! - 02 (And So It Begins)

夏のあらし！ Episode 02
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is a stormy day when a girl named ARASHIYAMA Sayoko (Arashi) comes to a cafe to ask for a job. The "master" of the place isn't hiring but ends up hiring the girl anyway. Someday later, the boy Hajime arrives at the cafe and realizing this may be a pricey joint, he starts to leave. When Arashi greets him, Hajime changes his mind and has an iced coffee. At the bar, Hajime sees another boy named Jun who's also a 1st-year junior high school student. While Arashi is in the back, a large muscle-bound private detective arrives, having been tasked with taking Arashi back to her family. The detective shuts Master up by revealing he knows her. When Arashi comes out, the detective is going to take her but Hajime does a "Jump Kick" and knocks the man down. When the detective pulls a wooden sword to teach Hajime a lesson, he's stopped by Arashi and decides to give up for the day.

Arashi thanks Hajime for helping her and when they are about to shake hands, there is a literal discharge of energy, telling Arashi that they are connected. She grabs Hajime and races outside. Running down the country lane, Hajime suddenly finds they are at the same place, yet not. He passes out and when he comes to, Arashi offers to escort him to his grandfather's house. Along the way there, Hajime is amazed when Arashi literally flies up to rescue a cat and reveals that she is a ghost. Further, she's decided that she's going to live with Hajime and his grandfather agrees.

The the detective on her case, Master decides to fire Arashi. Hajime objects to this and agrees to a game of dice against Master. After Master flips the cup down on the counter, Hajime sees a pair of dice outside and thinks they've come out. So he makes his wager and loses as Master had planted those dice while the real ones remained inside. After losing his clothing, Hajime gives up and he and Arashi leave. Later, Master leaves, having conned Jun into becoming an employee of the store. The detective comes in and is told by Jun that Master has gone. The detective scoffs at the idea of this con woman being the true master of the place.

Meanwhile, Master has come upon Arashi and Hajime and overhears Arashi mention a treasure at the cafe. So when the detective shows up, she ends up challenging him to a race back to the cafe. The detective agrees but ends up getting pulled over by a motorcycle cop while Master, Hajime, and Arashi return to the cafe at normal speed. The detective had been set up to fall. Unfortunately for Master, the "treasure" turned out to be a box of old top toys, which had belonged to a boy Arashi knew when she was alive. As such, the box is buried again and Master weeps at not having a real treasure.

Thoughts/Review: Well this time we get a proper introduction to Master, Arashi, Hajime, Jun, and the detective. I didn't expect Arashi to turn out to be a ghost but if she is, then I guess that Kaja (pronounced "Kaya" as I'm told she's a German girl which is why her name is not spelled as it sounds) must be as well, whenever she shows up. That still leaves the questions of what business Arashi has for her to remain on Earth and how she acquired her powers. I'm guessing this will all come to light over time. Then again, maybe not since I think I read that the manga is still ongoing in Japan.

As seen with the first episode, Hajime is the fun character and I expect we'll have a few laughs thanks to him. His "Jump Kick" attack cracked me up, less for the attack but more for the result on the detective. Interesting how the Japanese used the actual English words "jump kick" for the attack name. Maybe they think using English is cool in such a situation, much as there are westerners who think that leaving the Japanese attack names untranslated is cool ^_^

Another fun character is Master. I can't help but wonder if she ends up conning most of her employees to work for her. *lol* I like how this detective seems to know her well so that could provide for more amusement, especially if we get more events like those in the first episode or even her tricking him right into a traffic ticket. *lol*

There is a cameo of Tenma and Harima from School Rumble, which had been previously pointed out to me. Seeing them as I watched the anime cracked me up just the same. ^_^

Speaking of parodies, too back the motorcycle cop couldn't have been a parody of NAKAJIMA Ken from You're Under Arrest. Oh well.

So a fun episode to be sure. I look forward to seeing more.

Urusei Yatsura 109 (Hey! A Paper Tape Punch!)

うる星やつら episode 109 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 109

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ran has a nightmare that while on a picnic date with Rei, Rei ends up consuming her. She wakes up and decides Rei must be hungry. After tracking him down with technology, she uses a mandala to teleport to his location to feed him. Lum sees this and is happy for Ran. Lum returns to Earth and when Ataru asks about Ran, Lum lets him know she's on a date. Ataru is not happy about this and when Ran finds out Lum has blabbed, Ran's not to happy about it. Determined to win Rei's heart with food, Ran acquires rare ingredients on another world to create a special diet taiyaki. She delivers these to Rei, who consumes them all. Seeing a tiny bit of anko (sweet red bean) on Ran's face, Rei removes it with his lips. Naturally Ran assumes this was a kiss and she's happy.

Ran breaks the news to a suspicious Lum, who's very happy when she finally gets Ran to spill it. Lum feels that if Rei did kiss Ran, then Ran will be off Lum's back. However when Lum returns to Ataru's home, she finds Rei there, apparently missing Lum. Lum is furious about this but also scared that Ran will find out. Sure enough, Ran arrives as Lum tries to escape from Rei's grasp. Ataru tries to hit on Ran while Rei keeps trying to show affection for Lum. Both males take beatings as a result but soon Ran realizes that it is hopeless. Kotatsu-neko offers Ran some taiyaki, which she ends up eating to forget. Rei sees the anko on Ran's lips and kisses her to get it off. Ran is super happy about that but for Rei, it was just food as he still only has eyes for an annoyed Lum.

Thoughts/Review: This episode started off rather uninteresting to me, mainly because I don't care for the character of Ran. However, things grew more interesting to me as time went on with some humor moments coming here and there (such as Lum having enough of Ran's "shy" routine and trying to get away). I also laughed out loud when Ataru got turned down by an elementary school girl, though I was creeped out that he'd even try to hit on one even for practice. By the end of the episode though, things got funny as the physical comedy kicked in with Lum and Ran not hitting each other but beating the object of the other girl's desire (Ataru and Rei). Of course when Rei "kissed" Ran in front of everyone, I had a good laugh at the reaction of everyone to this, aided by the flying taiyaki, the "broken down" instrumental of "The More We Get Together," and Ataru. That was a good piece of comedy. ^_^

On a personal note, I was highly amused by the "advanced" paper tape punch produced by Ran's computer to locate Rei's whereabouts. *lol* I got into the IT field before the last of these ancient-of-days pieces of computer technology were removed. So I was actually trained on paper tape punches and readers and I can honestly say that one evening at the Comm Center, a message came in on the paper tape punch machine. I couldn't believe it. I think it may have been the last official message we received by that method as the Air Force began migrating off of 60's technology and onto mid-80's technology (even though we were in the early 90's).

So in the end, this turned out to be a rather fun and funny episode despite it having a not so promising start.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 02

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 02
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As Al and Ed head to the city of Lior (Liore in FUNimation's subtitles) to investigate a priest who can perform miracles (hoping he may have the Philosopher's Stone), Ed thinks back several years when he and Al were small children learning alchemy. Their mother encouraged them as they studied their missing father's books but illness soon took her life. In the years that followed, Ed and Al learned alchemy with one goal in mind -- bringing their mother back to life by performing the forbidden human transmutation. After gathering all the ingredients that make up the human body and some of their blood for the soul, Al and Ed perform the alchemy but it goes wrong and Al is consumed. Ed finds himself at a giant door which opens and he's pulled inside to be shown the truth. The price for this his his left leg. Returning to the real world, the bloody Ed gives up his right arm in order to attach Al's soul to a suit of armor.

Back in the present, Roy has returned to the Eastern Front and takes the report on Isaac from Hughes. He thinks back to his meeting with Al and Ed shortly after their failed transmutation when he and Riza were looking for a talented young alchemist they'd heard about. Despite the misgivings of Al and Ed's friend Winry and her grandmother, the dejected Ed eventually decides to take Roy's offer to become a State Alchemist. Sometime later when Ed takes the test, King Bradley is also there to observe. Everyone is impressed that Ed can perform alchemy without a transmutation circle. When Ed creates a spear and attacks the Führer, he stops short and suggests that maybe the king should be better protected. Bradley is amused by Ed's bravado and after he leaves, Ed's spear tip falls off, the shaft having been cut by the Führer's sword and Ed wasn't even aware. However, Ed passed the test and became a State Alchemist, King Bradley giving him the name Fullmetal Alchemist.

Thoughts/Review: Things moved through at a pretty rapid pace this episode. I want to say that the original anime took its time telling Ed and Al's back story. I believe it was spread out over a few episodes and then Ed's journey to becoming a State Alchemist took a few more episodes. I don't know how much detail the manga has about this, but I would love to hear from those who've read the manga -- are all those details from the first anime in the manga or was that basically a lot of good filler?

Regardless, I'm pretty sure I don't remember King Bradley being at Ed's test because I want to say that Ed took it with a bunch of others. Making the test more of an individual thing with lots of judges worked (even if quick) and I laughed at Bradley schooling Ed with the sword when Ed was trying to show off. I don't remember Bradley being shown to be such a gifted swordsman and the first two episodes of the reboot have really highlighted that skill. Impressive! Most impressive. ^_^

While I can't remember what Winry's voice sounded like, somehow I knew her voice was different from the moment she spoke. It won't be hard to get used to her new seiyuu but it is funny how something simple like a voice does so much for a character.

With the next episode going to be Ed and Al investigating Lior, Rose is back. I'll be interested to see how the story of her and the priest vary from the original anime.

So far so good on this reboot. I'm liking it a lot even though I know the basic story. Here's looking forward to the next episode. ^_^

Minami-ke Okaeri -- Final Thoughts

Minami-ke is such a great series that when Minami-ke Okawari came out, I was very excited. However, Minami-ke Okawari ended up being a great disappointment both in terms of humor, in changes to story presentation, and the inclusion of the "Black-san" characters. With the announcement of Minami-ke Okaeri, I had hopes of improvements but quietly kept low expectations. So how did this third series do? Better than Okawari but not reaching Minami-ke.

The series started off well enough, though not with the bang that Minami-ke grabbed me with. The return to the short-story presentation works so much better for this series rather than the single episode approach. Also, the removal of the "Black-san" characters improved the enjoyment. That method of having generic characters really annoyed me.

With the second episode, I really had high hopes for the series because that episode was really good, on par with the good stuff I'd enjoyed in Minami-ke. Unfortunately, this was the best episode of Minami-ke Okaeri (Curry Fairy!) and the third episode didn't do a lot for me. The fourth episode was good again. The fifth one, no so great, and so forth. That ends up being one of the problems with the series -- it is a lot hit-or-miss when it comes to the humor. Hosaka ends up providing some of the funniest material with Natsuki coming in second. Some episodes had stories that ended oddly, which was somewhat of a negative for me because it wasn't funny.

This third series makes an effort to bring in many forgotten characters from Minami-ke and that's a welcome thing. Unfortunately, some of them still didn't add to much such as two of Touma's brothers. As I mentioned before, Natsuki was a win, but the other two brothers were rather tiresome and tedious. In addition, the character designs are changed so much that some characters are just about unrecognizable. The anime adds a new character -- Hitomi. I liked her character and her interest in Natsuki, but she only appeared in one episode. I don't know what was up with that but it was disappointing.

In the end, Minami-ke Okaeri ends up being better than Minami-ke Okawari, but not living up to the standards set by Minami-ke. While the series does have moments that are as good as the original when it comes to humor, most of the time it does not. Since this series doesn't have the replay value in my mind that Minami-ke has, I can only give it a 3 out of 5.

Negima! Manga Vol 27 (Ch 248) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 27 Chapter 248 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 248

Summary/Synopsis: Negi presses his attack on Jack with the "Taiindou" -- Magia Erebea's ultimate move. Copy-Eva is impressed with Negi's moves as is Jack, who realizes he's in big trouble. Negi's attacks beat Jack and Negi's spear attack stabs through Jack's body before Negi summons a ton of lightning on Jack. This attack is so massive, the barrier around the arena shatters, startling Yue who's on patrol outside.

As Negi stands and wonders if he's won, a fist from Jack wakes him up -- he hasn't won yet. Everyone is stunned by Jack Rakan still being able to stand and Negi is awed by Jack's power. Jack tells Negi that the awe is mutual as Negi is now a man in his eyes, ranking up with Jack and Nagi. The fight now becomes a bare-knuckle brawl with Jack thinking of how this fight feels like he's fighting Nagi again.

Thoughts/Review: I guess the fight will wrap up and be much like the Nagi-Jack fights we were told about. Jack thinking of how this fight now reminds him of his fights with Nagi makes me wonder if this is another bit of foreshadowing about my Negi=Nagi theory. However, I've mentioned that a fair amount recently so I'll go on. ^_~

The fight is what it is and while initially I thought that Akamatsu-sensei would have Jack win, a draw does appear to be the way this will close out. Technically, Negi has won because had Negi gone for the killing blow, Jack would be dead now. Since Negi didn't do that, Jack's still standing and fighting. I think that's the thing that ultimately gets Jack to acknowledge Negi as a man with the other stuff Negi has done to become one of the "monsters" being icing on the cake.

Also, I noticed how Negi is enjoying the fight with Jack. I not only thought of Nagi's fights with Jack, but I couldn't help but think of Graf Herrman's fight with Negi and Kotaro. Remember how the Graf challenged Negi on his reason for fighting? Now Negi is not fighting with anything in mind but the sheer pleasure of the fight. I can't help but think that Graf Herrman would be proud. I wonder if the old Graf will make a return.

Nice to see Yue in a cameo. I can't wait to see more of her story developed.

So, what else is to be done in the MW arc? Even if there is a draw, I can see Jack releasing Ako, Akira, and Natsumi now. They hang with Yuuna and Makie and are guarded by Team Takane? The Scout Team still is looking for Anya and may uncover the truth of Asuna (though I'd like for Negi to begin to suspect something is wrong now that the fight is over). We still have Takahata and Mana to show back up. We have Yue getting her memories back and possibly rejoining Ala Alba. Wrapping things up, Fate and company. Am I forgetting something? ^_^;

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 178

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 178

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Watanuki makes a desperate look for Yuuko-san but cannot find her, Maru, Moro, or Monoka. It appears that the place is beginning to disappear and as Doumeki stands outside, Watanuki holds Yuuko-san's pipe and wonders.

The following day, Watanuki and Doumeki pay their daily visit to the female cooking student's house. They ring the bell at the gate and the woman comes out and looks angry. Watanuki apologizes for continuing to bother her and the woman answers by telling Watanuki that she ate the onigiri he made.

Thoughts/Review: Again, we have filler while all sorts of "fun" are going on on the Tsubasa side. With CLAMP continuing to bring back this boring "can't eat, won't eat" woman, a part of me believes that maybe, JUST maybe they will tie this with Yuuko-san's disappearance in a meaningful manner. Mostly though, it just feels like the manga is merely marking time to allow Tsubasa to do its thing. That's why I keep thinking, "get on with it." ^_^;

When Watanuki was looking around Yuuko-san's place, it appeared as if things were being wiped out of existence, at least in parts. However when the scene is shown from outside with Doumeki standing there, there didn't appear to be any problems. Is that Doumeki's power? Is it his egg? Or was Watanuki imagining everything?

Hayate no Gotoku!! 02 (No Butler for You, Ayumu!)

Hayate the Combat Butler!! Ep. 02
Hayate no Gotoku "Season 2" Ep. 02
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With Hayate having failed his bet that Nagi would win first place, Klaus is going to fire him until Nagi threatens Klaus with a firing. Klaus gives Hayate a second chance, providing he pass the training at the Butler's Tiger Den. Hayate accepts and on the way there by train, he meets a nun. When he's accosted by an unemployed embezzler, the nun steps in. When the bum tries to attack her, she puts him out immediately. After getting off the train, he finds the Butler's Tiger Den is at the church the Sister works at. Meanwhile, Nagi gets a visit from Ayumu where the seed is planted that Hayate could get caught up with a strange woman. Finding this to be the case, Nagi sets out to join Hayate for his training, which consists of gathering a party of four and exploring the dungeon under the church as part of a "Butler's Quest." Joining Hayate's party are Katsura-sensei and Wataru as well as Nagi. Hayate had attempted to recruit Hina, but she was still upset with Hayate having tricked her onto a suspension bridge to let Nagi win the marathon. Meanwhile, Isumi is hired by an elderly nun named Sister Fortesia to purify the dungeon underneath the church, the same name as the young nun that is helping Hayate train.

Thoughts/Review: A really enjoyable episode with just one problem -- THEY CUT AYUMU's BUTLER STORY! With the time left for this episode, it appeared to me that this story could have been comfortably placed into the anime with Hayate getting to serve Ayumu's family. For whatever reason, the story was cut. That said, at least the writers acknowledged the story by having Ayumu have a brief fantasy sequence where she imagined Hayate as her butler. That fantasy sequence actually happened in the manga (along with some other stuff including a humorous Tama moment) except at Ayumu's parent's home. That was were me met her brother for the first time, if I recall correctly.

So sorry, Ayumu -- no butler for you in the anime. That's OK 'cause I can read it in the manga anytime I want to. ^_^ Also, since the anime isn't making you into some walking food joke, its all good.

That was the only negative for me. Everything else was pretty spot on from the manga. Despite knowing the story so well (ever since I found out Viz is doing the manga series right, I've purchased the manga and have read the English volumes a few times through -- great reading material before going to sleep ^_^), I found myself chuckling and smiling a lot. Sure, any belly laughs were gone, but that didn't matter. I got to see things in action, in color, with sound from a storyline I rather enjoyed in the manga. Thus seeing this adaptation of it was most enjoyable indeed. ^_^

As an aside, I did laugh out loud when Maria speculated about a man picking up Hayate as well as the scene where the bum is telling Sister Sonia about how Japanese men prefer miko (Shinto shrine maidens) over nun when it comes to religious costumes. *lol*

I do wonder if the priest will be used in the anime. I sure hope so because he's been a fun character. The writers have shown they can be faithful when it comes to characters (Sister Sonia is in) , but somehow I have a feeling the priest won't show up at all. I hope I'm wrong about that because technically, he did cameo this episode when he's shown digging the tunnel to build the dungeon.

Because the anime is following the manga more closely, the number of parody references is way down thus far. There are parody references in the manga, but the first anime series went WAY, WAY out there on parody references. The one parody reference I caught in this episode was Katsura-sensei refering to herself as "Deedlit." Deedlit is the high-elf character from the series Record of Lodoss War. I blogged a good bit of the TV series here if anyone is interest. ^_^ Of course this can also be seen as a parody of D&D.

Two episodes and so far I'm very pleased with how the series is going.

Gangsta Rap, Japanese Style! (Riva side Jamm)

Since my friends all know I'm into Japanese things, they often show me stuff they think will amuse me or interest me. So the other day, someone hit me with a YouTube link for a Japanese gangsta rap video. ^_^ I'd already seen it a couple of years ago but what the heck -- I still enjoy this song and get a kick out of the Japanese going gangsta. *lol* Despite the fact that the background music and beats sound like they are from a cheap electronic music keyboard, it has a catchy beat and the rappers have a pretty good flow. Be warned, they start this with an English profanity to prove they are truly hardcore!



The song is "Riva side Jamm" and the rappers are Moss.Key, Dirty R.A.Y, and Jammy. I keep saying I need to look into buying the CD. For a while there, you could only purchase it from places that wouldn't sell outside of Japan. I need to see if they've gone more mainstream now.

Natsu no Arashi! - 01 ("School Rumble" This Ain't)

夏のあらし！ Episode 01
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: YASAKA Hajime lives in his grandfather's home with a girl named Arashi. Hajime is a genius and has created Ichigo Bakudan (Strawberry Bomb) for his independent school homework -- a strawberry on the outside but filled with the peppers and wasabi on the inside. Arashi decides the name should be "Cutie Strawberry-chan" and that's what sticks. However, of the three Hajime created, only one remain. He soon discovers that his grandfather has taken a bite out of one, leaving only the second's were abouts unknown.

Hajime and Arashi head to the small restaurant where they work alongside Kaya (dressed in traditional Japanese clothing), Kanako (in a maid's uniform), Jun (in a waiter's uniform), and Yayaoi (also in a maid's uniform). The owner of the place is simply addressed as "Master."

When a muscle-bound guy who's only ordering water annoys Hajime, he wants to get even using a Cutie Strawberry-chan, but he only has one. So he gets Arashi to take him back in time where she discovers that Hajime did make three of these deadly strawberries and so she takes one. The mystery of the missing 2nd strawberry is resolved. Upon returning to the present, Hajime fails to get the guy to eat a strawberry dish, but Master ends up using the killer strawberry in a fruit punch for the guy, which she made to get rid of old fruit. One sip and WHAM!

When a guy Arashi's age shows up (Yamashiro) with a book for Arashi, Hajime gets jealous and decides to take him out with his last Cutie Strawberry-chan. He had placed it on a Strawberry Shortcake individual dessert but discovers that of the two that were in the fridge, one of the desserts is gone. Learning that Kaya had taken one and not hearing anything had happened to her, Hajime presents the remaining dessert to the man. However, it is not the trapped dessert, meaning Kaya has the trapped one. When he tries to ask Kaya about it, she freaks out over the idea of her dessert being taken. In the end, she too travels back in time, only with Jun, to uncover the mystery. Hajime has Arashi take him back as well for a series of close calls and mis-adventures where it turns out that Kaya did take the missing dessert, but ended up attempting to eat it in the trip back to the past and get a Cutie Strawberry-chan as a result.

Thoughts/Review: This is one strange anime and to be honest, I don't like the presentation. Much like in White Album's beginning, we are just thrown into a mix, introduced to a dizzying array of characters, and whipped along at breakneck speeds. A second viewing made much more sense, but I think that every stinking character was introduced here, which is a bit much. I know that Fullmetal Alchemist did something similar and maybe they got away with it with me because I was already familiar with the franchise. Regardless, I don't care much for these mass introductions and would prefer that things be done as they were in the manga (which I have not read).

That aside, there is some funny stuff here starting with "Cutie Strawberry-chan." Now there is a minority of subtitle-watching anime fans who prefer that Japanese and English not be mixed and that honorifics be dropped. Yet here, we have the Japanese actually using English for the name of Hajime's deadly strawberries. I'm not sure how the name change from "Ichigo Bakudan" (Strawberry Bomb) to "Cutie Strawberry-chan" went over as a joke in Japan, but for me, I found it a hoot. There were other small laughs as well that were better served after I saw the episode a second time. I'll explain that in a bit.

As I mentioned, I think every major character has been introduced in this first episode, but in a way that assumes the audience already knows everyone. There are all kinds of things that happen that just leaves one going, "What the...?!" For example, I couldn't understand why Arashi is wearing a school uniform to go to her job (with Hajime), only to change into a traditional outfit. So why are Arashi and Kaya wearing traditional Japanese tea house outfits when two other girls are wearing maid uniforms?

Then the anime throws another curve by suddenly having Arashi be some sort of time traveler in order to score one of the Cutie Strawberry-chan's from the past. Then later, Kaya is also revealed to be a time traveler and apparently to time travel, one must have a transformation sequence whereby you are back in your school uniform (for Kaya and Arashi at least). Though confusing, these elements added to some of the humor, especially when watched the second time.

Also helpful comedy-wise the second time around was knowing the near misses of Arashi and Hajime as well as Kaya and Jun. I laughed at how the writers accounted for every scream, missing strawberry, missing dessert, etc. that we learned about before all the time traveling started, then we see the reason for all the missing items, screams, etc. were due to the time traveling. The circle is complete and thus becomes a win of sorts in the comedy aspects. Of course this is SHAFT, so I half-expect the comedy to be hit-or-miss.

I've not read the manga and judging from the fandom response to the manga, not many people in the U.S. have. With the apparent success of School Rumble for Del Rey, one would think they'd be interested in licensing Natsu no Arashi even though it is not a Kodansha publication. Regardless, I am lead to believe that the events of this episode are from the manga, only they don't happen until chapter 18 (assuming what I was told is correct).

I'll give this series a try, even though it means not doing as much anime backlog. Hopefully, this will end up being a fun series.

More Negima! 248 SPOILER Images

More Negima! 248 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 248 (Images)

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


I couldn't remember if this was from an earlier chapter or not, but I'm told this is new and the barrier is broken. ^_^

For those who missed it, the first batch of images can be found --> HERE.

Slayers Evolution-R 12

スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 12
Slayers EVOLUTION-R Ep. 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Rezo's resurrection in Pokota's human body causes Xellos to react and quietly disappear. Rezo-Posel unseals Taforashia but since the people are all ill, they will die if they aren't treated. Rezo-Posel has Zelgadiss help with a stop-gap treatment while Amelia sends a dove to Saillune to request aid. That aid soon arrives and the people recover. Pokota leaves a message for his father, saying that he is off to get more help for Taforashia, which explains Prince Posel's absence. As the people of Taforashia celebrate, Lina and Gourry decide to confront Rezo-Posel about his true purpose and they are joined by Xellos who also has questions. Lina challenges both Xellos and Rezo-Posel on their purposes. Lina believes that along with Rezo being resurrected, the piece of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu is as well, having been sealed in Rezo's soul. Xellos has a theory to test and this he does but attacking Rezo-Posel. However, even Xellos's most powerful attack is easily deflected by Rezo-Posel, who toys with Xellos a bit. Rezo states that Shabranigdu is still sleeping but Rezo could not deny his wish to see the light again. With this, Rezo-Posel opens his eyes and sees briefly before telling Lina to kill him as his eyes go red.

Thoughts/Review: So, they ARE going to bring back Ruby Eye Shabranigdu in some fashion. This should be interesting. Last time, Lina had to infuse the true Sword of Light with the ultra-dangerous Giga Slave spell to kill Shabranigdu. Now, what is she going to do to kill the dark lord? She can't risk casting the spell again (at least, I wouldn't think) but then again, she may have no choice.

That brings me to Xellos. Ruby Eye Shabranigdu is someone the mazoku very much want brought back to life. Even in testing a theory, why would Xellos attack Rezo-Posel? If Rezo's soul still has Ruby Eye Shabranigdu sealed within (or rather, resealed after Rezo's death), then it would seem that getting Shabranigdu to emerge and take over Rezo-Posel's body would be in order. I'm just not getting how Xellos attacking Rezo-Posel accomplishes that goal because Xellos's actions aren't one of joy at the thought that a piece of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu might return, but those of someone who is afraid of what might show up. Maybe Shabranigdu is tainted somehow and Rezo-Posel is able to fully control that power, which would then be a challenge to the mazoku. However, that doesn't seem right because Rezo asked Lina to kill him before his eyes went red. Either way, Xellos is a wild card at the moment and it was very cool seeing him unleash on Rezo-Posel. ^_^

Still, what we learned today about Rezo's soul and Ruby Eye Shabranigdu confirms that the writers are following the novel's explanation about where the dark lord is sealed. The only problem with this approach is that Lina didn't learn this until the novels which have not been adapted in anime form. It is likely not a major issue should another Slayers series be created (and I hope one is), but it could be one.

I am disappointed that there was still no real explanation of Ozel. Oh, there was mention of her being a creation of Rezo's, but we had already figured that out. I just wonder what gave her life and why she "died" last episode.

The restoration of Taforashia was basically anti-climatic and rather dull. It would have been interesting had there still been no cure for Durum Sickness because then Pokota's desperate "We got to wake them all" would have been for naught with no cure. Well, the series is almost over and I understand the need to have happy endings.

So, only one more episode and we are done for now.

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 245 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 39 Chapter 245

Summary/Synopsis: Keiichi's suggestion about going to Niflheim is rejected by Urd and Chibi-Hild, though mother and daughter get into a bit of a squabble over Urd's apparent lack of respect for the "Daimakaicho-sama." Belldandy wants to know why Keiichi would risk his life and Keiichi answers that if the situation were reversed, Belldandy would do the same. Urd asks Keiichi what use he would be seeing as how Belldandy would have to protect him. Keiichi acknowledges that there's not much he can do, but he's still determined. Belldandy informs him that she will have to release her seals on her powers due to the dangers involved. Keiichi also acknowledges that, but states that Belldandy would quite possibly sacrifice herself if necessary. As such, Keiichi figures he will be the one to keep Belldandy from endangering her life.

Urd likes Keiichi's proposal since she knows her younger sister. Keiichi even receives a bit of praise from Chibi-Hild. Belldandy is still opposed to Keiichi coming due to the high risk factor involved. Keiichi refuses to back down and even asks Belldandy to protect him with all her strength. She happily agrees, leading Chibi-Hild and Urd to be revolted.

At the Morisato residence, Skuld is bored and watching TV. Since no one has come home, she decides to go wild on TV watching, inventing, and ice cream eating. Peorth and Lind arrive and Lind kicks down one of the doors, causing Skuld to face-plant in a tub of ice cream. Skuld is angry about this and just when Lind thinks there's no danger, Chibi-Hild emerges from the TV to grab Skuld. Lind immediately attacks with her poleaxe, but Chibi-Hild escapes with her prize just as the TV is sliced in half.

Lind asks Peorth to repair the TV magically. Peorth asks why Lind doesn't do it, leading Lind to confess she's not good at this, even though it is basic magic. She shows it by "repairing" the TV, causing it to be malformed. Peorth is amazed at this but before she can continue, Lind senses an attack as multiple mini-demons emerge to destroy the place and the megami. They explode but Peorth and Lind managed to erect a barrier to protect them though the temple residence is destroyed.

Lind wants Peorth to restore the temple, but Peorth refuses since she's keen on tracking down Chibi-Hild. Both take off and again Lind performs the restoration magic, creating a malformed temple.

Thoughts/Review: The good stuff just keeps coming. I liked how Fujishima-sensei worked it to get Keiichi to come along on the trip to Niflheim. By having Urd, Hild, and Belldandy object and state all the logical reasons for Keiichi not to come, it felt like a real moment. Since we all know that Belldandy might foolishly give up her life to help Hild, using Keiichi as a limiter feels right as well.

Again, Fujishima-sensei brings us some humor. Skuld going nuts on her favorite things only to have Lind and Peorth ruin it for her (the face-plant into ice cream) amused me a great deal. Also, having Lind be terrible at restoration magic made me smile in amusement though no laughs.

I love seeing Peorth and Lind in action. With Hild grabbing Skuld, I'm guessing that Fujishima-sensei needed a means to have her come to Niflheim and a reason for Peorth and Lind to track down Hild so that they can also come to Niflheim. I'm rather looking forward to this trip of theirs as we'll have all five of the major megami who've come into Keiichi's life be there. I'd say Mara would be coming too, but Hild may have temporarily sacrificed her. Hopefully, Mara will be there too and get a chance to kick bottom.

So yay, Fujishima-sensei! I haven't been this excited about Ah! My Goddess in YEARS.

Negima! Chapter 248 SPOILER Images

Negima! 248 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 248 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 248 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


Heh!heh!heh! The fighting continues!

Here's an ad for the new OAD too.


I look forward to all of your interesting conversation on this matter. ^_^

Update: I've been informed of a new image which you can see --> HERE.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 01 (Reboot Fix Everything)

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 01
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The "Ice Alchemist" (or "Freezing Alchemist" as FUNimation's subtitles say) Isaac McDougal is loose and King Bradley assigns Col. Roy Mustang to take care of this rogue soldier, suggesting he enlist the aide of "Fullmetal Alchemist," Edward Elric. After failing to bring Isaac in, Ed and his brother Al are given quarter at Lt. Col. Maes Hughes home. Isaac tries to enlist help from another former State Alchemist, Kimblee (Kimbley?). Failing that, Isaac sets out to bring about his plan on his own. That entails encasing Central Headquarters in ice by setting up transmutation circles in key alleys around Central. His reasons are to get back at King Bradley for the tragedy during the fight at Ishbal. Roy fails to nab Isaac but Ed and Al manage to force him to retreat despite Ed taking injuries as walls of ice begin to turn the city into a giant transmutation circle. As Isaac flees, he finds King Bradley waiting for him in an alley. Isaac attacks but the Führer simply draws his sword and kills Isaac. When everything is over, Bradley gives the credit for this crisis resolution to Roy and to Ed. Meanwhile in the hospital, the muscular Major Armstrong comes to "comfort" the injured Ed.

Thoughts/Review: Because I've not read the manga, I've no idea on what the changes were to the Fullmetal Alchemist manga story in the anime adaptation. I'm told that the first half of the anime is pretty close to the manga source materials, then the anime goes off on its own (with the manga-ka's blessing apparently) and comes up with its own end. Frankly, I enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist and even owned it for a time (it had to go a few years ago when I needed to raise extra cash for medical bills) but for some reason, I never felt compelled to watch it again. Despite this, when I heard of this new Fullmetal Alchemist anime coming out, I was keen to watch it.

I had no clue on what this new series would entail. I had thought that it might pick up half-way on the original anime and go from there. Boy was I mistaken. This is a complete reboot back to the beginning and frankly if they are going to follow the manga story all the way through, that's how it should be. I only wish someone would do that for Negima!, but I digress.

Anyway, by rebooting the series, it will be important for me to divorce from my mind the things I remember from the original anime. Unfortunately, some things won't be so easy to dismiss (a certain death springs to mind) but that's OK. I look forward to seeing a fairly accurate adaptation of the manga story.

There are a lot of seiyuu changes for this reboot. While Al and Ed's seiyuu are the same, many others are not including Roy Mustang. Ed and Al's voices were the most memorable to me, so while others may pick up on hearing different voices for certain characters, I did not thanks to the sheer number of anime I've watched since I last saw Fullmetal Alchemist.

One final note on the production side -- the Japanese are using an English VA to say "Fullmetal Alchemist" during the eye-catches. I wonder if that's because FUNimation already has a streaming license and no doubt a full distribution license to boot though I don't think that's officially been announced (likely that is being saved for a convention). Also, on the Japanese side, the series is being called "Hagane no Renkinjutsushi FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST." The term "Brotherhood" must be a creation for non-Japanese audience since the Japanese are simply using both the Japanese and English names.

I am glad that FUNimations is providing a legal means of streaming this anime series with subtitles. However, one of the problems is that for a series as popular as Fullmetal Alchemist, the strain on FUNimation's (or whomever is ultimately hosting the episode) servers is high. Basically one pretty much has to pause the video and let it stream on down because otherwise, you are going to have a very choppy playback. Right now, that's going to likely take an hour or more to complete (make that a few hours). If FUNimation is serious about doing this kind of thing and can pull off enough ad revenue, then I'd say that investing in more servers to handle the increased load is in order.

Now onto the story. Because this is a reboot, there's simply no need to have watched the previous Fullmetal Alchemist, nor is there a reason to have read the manga. It is very tough for me to say whether or not this series would have been confusing to a newbie. I do think that while the audience is thrown into the middle of things (with Al and Ed already working for the military), the story is crafted in such a way as to sweep those people along, providing introductions to some key characters. Hopefully, the writers will remain faithful to the manga but at the same time, not just assume people have either read the manga or watched the first anime.

I'm told that the character of Isaac and the story in this first episode are original, but that manga-ka ARAWAWA Hiromu-sensei had a role in its development (at least with character designs for Isaac). I'm guessing this original episode was done to differentiate this series from the first one, which is fine with me.

It was nice seeing Hughes, Roy, and the others having returned as well as the "chibi" jokes. I'd forgotten how much fun and humor were injected into the orifinal story especially since I know it gets darker over time.

Beyond that, not a heck of a lot for me to say beyond that I am looking forward to seeing this series play out properly based on the manga.

Minami-ke -- Kana and Chiaki in "Sister Love" ^_^

Just something I put together as a farewell to Minami-ke Okaeri. Too bad Kana wasn't wearing the old "I Am Boss" shirt.

Negima! Manga Volume 21 (Now With More Adaptation Changes)

Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 21<--BUY FROM AMAZON!

For detailed chapter summaries with review, those can be found here.

• Chapter 187
• Chapter 188
• Chapter 189
• Chapter 190
• Chapter 191
• Chapter 192
• Chapter 193
• Chapter 194
• Chapter 195

As I read this volume for the first time, I laughed at the memory of reading the different chapters when they came out in Japan in late 2007 to early 2008. After the battle at the gate port, we speculated on whom Negi and Chachamaru would find first, then after they found Chisame, what next. In the end, it took about three months of real time to get through these nine chapters but in many ways I remember it feeling a lot longer. Reading it through now as an entire volume for the first time, the fact that I completed this in an hour is what made me laugh. I also am reminded that what we week-to-week readers sometimes see as dragging when it comes to story really doesn't drag when it is placed in with the rest of the chapters in the volume and read as a whole.

From a story perspective, Akamatsu-sensei does the one logical thing he can do to simplify the story -- split up Ala Alba and force Negi to find them all. In doing so, Akamatsu-sensei can focus on a few characters rather than the whole lot that came over with Negi. Of course as time passes, more and more of Ala Alba will be found, but in the short term, it did make things a bit easier on Sensei. It also provides a means for Negi and company to get stronger while coming together especially since they know that Fate and company are on the Magic World.

Speaking of which, have any of you guys who are only reading the Del Rey releases noticed anything special about the Magic World maps? ^_^

Now for the tournament. I'm sure there are a few people thinking, "oh man, not another tournament for Negi to enter." After all, we had the big Mahora Budokai where Negi took 2nd place. I won't spoil anything for those of you who haven't read ahead, but I will say what I said back then the tournament was revealed which is basically that it won't be the same as the Mahora Budokai. ^_^ That's a reason that I like Akamatsu-sensei's stuff so much -- he doesn't follow the same path twice even if initially it appears he might do so.

Now onto those ever so lovely changes to the adaptation. I had praised Ikoi Hiroe in volume 20 about having Chachamaru, Chachazero, and Eva's other servants address her as "Master." All that is gone as Ikoi has decided that everyone should address Eva as "Mistress" except for one place where apparently Ikoi forgot and accidentally left in "Master." Why can't they just leave this as "Master" and be done with it? Negi calls her "Master" and so does Chachamaru, Chachazero, and the others of Eva's staff of automatons.

Another strange change with the way Eva is addressed is that now Ikoi has Negi and Chachamaru say "the Master" or "the Mistress" when talking about Eva. So rather than say something like, "Master said that this would be an easy trip," that would become, "The Master said this would be an easy trip." Technically it may not be wrong to do the 2nd sentence, but it is not correct IMO. Negi and Chachamaru use the term "Master" in place of Eva's name. Since you wouldn't say, "The Eva said...," why then have them say, "The Master said...?"

Next on the list is a small but I feel important name removal. When Negi winds Chachamaru and she's left a quivering mess on the ground, she calls out for "Master" and "Chao." Ikoi has Chachamaru call out for "Mistress" only and that is terrible. In removing Chao's name (and I think that we will see Chao again before the manga runs its course), Ikoi has effectively changed Chachamaru. It is such a small thing, but think about it -- Chao is revealed to be someone VERY important to Chachamaru, even more important than Hakuse. Why? Because Eva called out for "Master" (Eva) and "Chao," not Hakuse, thus revealing the two most important women in Chachamaru's life. Now for the Del Rey release, there is no Chao, only "Mistress." *_*

Another drop is during the gate fight scene when Asuna is warned of an immenant attack and is able to defend against it with her artifact. In the original Japanese, the telepathic message addresses Asuna as "Neechan" but that's gone from the Del Rey release. Again, this seems like a minor point, but the term "neechan" is believed to have come from Kotaro because that's how he addresses Asuna and other girls -- "neechan." While I give Ikoi props for keeping *most* (but certainly not all) of Kotaro's use of "neechan" as an honorific, losing the term during the fight removes an aspect of the story that clues the reader into the fact that Kotaro is about to re-appear. Otherwise, the call could have been from anyone, including the person they were going to meet in the Magic World.

I almost forgot another name change. Ikoi obviously only reads whatever volume he/she is given to translate and does not read ahead or anything else. Despite this, there is NO reason to change the way Tosaka (and others) address the female bear-humanoid from "Mama" to "Mistress." Ugh. "Mama" is not a "Mistress." At the risk of spoiling things, she's not even the owner of the three girls! Further, Tosaka's releationship with Mama is gone into in a future volume and guess what -- you'll find out that the term "Mama" is a term of endearment. However, that possibility doesn't exist in Ikoi's world view. Nope, Ikoi has to change things to what they think is a better choice. So "Mama" (and that IS the term used in the Japanese) is now "Mistress." GAAAAHHH! Stop changing things, Ikoi!

Finally, for some strange reason, the explaination about Chachamaru having a loli body is changed to drop the "loli" reference. Its a minor thing I know, but Akamatsu-sensei made sure to remove all doubt by stressing that the loli body was because of the powerful illusion magic. Akamatsu-sensei did NOT say that Chachamaru didn't bring over a spare robot body. He only said she didn't bring over a loli body. It may well be that Chachamaru didn't bring a spare body of any type, but what if she did? Now Ikoi has changed things that ought not be changed. It seems small on the surface until other things happen that make your tiny change to the script become a plot hole (as we saw with Peter David's adaptations).

Assuming Ikoi will be in charge of things again (Ugh!), I really hope this person will stop changing things just because they think they can do a better job than Akamatsu-sensei. Just translate the story, make it readable, leave in ALL the honorifics and titles, and don't remove of change things and we'll all be much happier.

Otherwise, this beginning of another long story-arc gets off to a bang and it is a good one. ^_^

Clannad ~After Story~ -- The Devistating Ushio-chan

Now that the Clannad ~After Story~ anime is done, I thought I'd relive some of the goodness by bringing out Ushio-chan for an encore performance. ^_^



Man, is she ever adorable. ^_^

Negima! Manga Vol 27 (Ch 247) *SPOILERS*

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 27 Chapter 247 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 247

Summary/Synopsis: Kotaro has bought Negi the time he needed to complete the Duplex Complexio. Jack is impress and Negi calls this "Raiten Taiso 2."

Meanwhile in the stands, Konoka and Faux-Asuna wonder if Negi can win. Takane explains that "Nagi" is using a lot of delayed spells and is quite good at it. Mei agrees that "Nagi-sama" has a chance of winning and Misora remarks on what he could have planned in the arena. There is great shock by Konoka, Nodoka, and Faux-Asuna over seeing their friends from Japan but the match is on so no time to talk further.

Negi uses the Kakuda Chouchuu combined with his now perpetual lightning form to land some major blows on Jack, which Chisame and Chamo discuss. There's much excitement over Negi's constant attacks but shadow-Eva knows it is not enough since Negi lacks sheer power. Jack compliments Negi on doing well but says that if that's all Negi has, he's lost. Negi pulls out his fourth trump card and informs Jack he's walked into a trap laid out by Kotaro. Negi then readies his Raininsou Titanoktonon (Lightning God Lance: Titan Slayer) which impresses Jack because it is an original spell. However, since Negi is going for pur strength, Jack feels compelled to do the same.

In the stands, there is shock over Negi's change in strategy with only shadow-Eva seemingly aware of where Negi is going. Both contestants charge up and Jack releases the energy at Negi. Negi does not throw his energy spear, but instead drops it and activates the Agite Extractio before activating a giant magic circle as well as the Negica Magia Erebea Curculi Absorptionis Extempore. Jack realizes that he'd been baited into a strength contest as part of Negi's 5th trump card. Now armed with Jack's power, Negi is about to unleash it back on Jack.

Thoughts/Review: One of the things about a shounen manga with lots of battles in them where people get stronger and stronger is that if the hero gets strong enough, eventually he or the manga he's in will be compared to Dragonball Z. It is not an unfair thing to do since DBZ is the standard bearer for people rising to insane levels of power and having fights that could destroy cities or maybe even worlds.

That said, despite DBZ's popularity, many fans of Negima! have been fearing that the manga is taking that turn with Negi now becoming so incredibly powerful. It is understandable that they should fear this happening to Negima! but I don't actually sense this as being the case.

Do we have Negi getting long (and electrical) hair for his power up? Yeah. Is he getting insanely powerful? Yeah. Despite this, we do have the reason Negi can win logicially -- strategy and cheats.

The "cheats" we know -- Negi made a pactio with Theo and it provided him with additional magical resources as well as an ultra-rare artifact whereby he can access all of his ministra's artifacts (providing he has the master card). We also know that Negi is using the Magia Erebea to juice up.

Where the strategy comes into play is in how he and Kotaro planned things. That's what set this apart from Dragonball Z IMO. Logically, Negi should lose the fight BUT Negi has always been shown to be crafty when it comes to coming up with plans on the fly. So even though Negi should have been beaten, whatever he used to overcome his injuries (sheer magical power I'd think, based on how he held himself together after Fate's surprise attack at the gate port) gets him on his feet and then phase 2 of the plan comes together -- Kotaro buys Negi 45 seconds of time to "store" some massive spells while at the same time taking Kagetarou out of contention. Then when Negi draws Jack in, Kotaro helps with a trap to lock Jack in place, then Negi uses Jack's own ego against him to absorb his power and I think in the next chapter, we'll see Negi win.

So it is strategy that wins the day and I think we see something of how Nagi may have beaten the "final boss" for those Cosmo (Kosmo) group Fate's a part of -- absorb your opponent's power and turn it against them.

One more thing about Negi -- one of the reasons I feel that Negi is in fact Nagi is not only his sheer power, but his rapid rise in strength combined with a rapid rise in knowledge and abilities. I keep thinking of the phrase, "the mind may forget but the body remembers" (paraphrasing CLAMP) and it would seem to make perfect sense for how Negi can get so strong so quickly. Following Akamatsu-sensei's wont of using logical means of progressing the story, that would provide such a logical vehicle to explain Negi in so many ways. But I digress...^_^

Once the tournament is over, Negi's pactio with Theo is gone, so his artifact is gone and his major cheat is gone. I think this is Akamatsu-sensei's way of allowing to story to continue beyond the tournament and possibly even the Magic World by having Negi fall back to a weaker state and still need to advance. Again, it is all done in a logical fashion.

I loved seeing Takane, Mei, Misora, and Cocone back. Do they know about "Nagi-sama" being in fact Negi? Both Takane and Mei refer to Negi as "Nagi" and "Nagi-sama" respectively, which may indicate their being careful or may indicate they are unaware that this is indeed Negi. If they do know, then the Japanese speculation about Takane possibly being a closet shoutacon makes me laugh even more.

While I'm not surprised to see them at the arena (and I expect to see Takahata and Mana too), did Jack hire them to guard Asuna? I would figure that Takahata and Mana would have been the ones Jack hired, but I have seen speculation on the girls being the ones hired.

I had to laugh at how Chisame is getting into the fight. Man has she come a long way. No longer is there this denial of reality. Instead, she's totally taken in by the fight which Chamo and her having a discussion about it. It is a really nice moment for me.

As I said, I do sorta expect the fight to be over next week. We'll see if I'm right or not. In the meantime, as always, I love to hear what you guys have to say on the matter. ^_^

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 244 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 39 Chapter 244

Summary/Synopsis: Chibi-Hild takes a knew before Urd and Belldandy and begs for their help. This move stuns Urd considering Hild is the former Daimakaicho of Niflheim. Chibi-Hild explains that her pride is not on the line and to do what needs to be done, she'll bow as many times as it takes. Hearing this, Belldandy happily accepts Chibi-Hild's request for assistance but Keiichi asks if humans can go to Niflheim.

In "The Heavens," Peorth notes a large amount of demonic activity on Earth and that the Gate is under assault to shut her down. Lind tells Peorth that if the forces of Niflheim are trying to shut them in, then they need to leave. Peorth leaves Chrono, Ere, and Ex in charge as she and Lind take off. Lind's Valkyries are trying to keep up but fall behind to Lind's and Peorth's superior speed. Lind chastises her girls for not keeping up as Peorth speculates that Hild has been overthrown which is why Gate is under assault. Lind realizes that if Hild is gone, Niflheim won't abide by any of the previously established agreements.

Gate yells at them to hurry up as she cannot hold the passage to Earth open for much longer. Peorth and Lind make it through before Gate closes.

Thoughts/Review: YES! This current story arc started out by getting my attention and having Peorth and Lind return to Earth gets me excited. Gate didn't impress me when she was introduced, but seeing how she operates to connect Earth with "The Heavens" is a nice touch.

Lind's comment about Peorth's need for a more conservative outfit made me laugh. For whatever reason (likely fanservice), Peorth almost never wears anything other than her standard uniform. She did wear human clothing on her date with Tamiya, but that's the only time I remember it. So maybe Fujishima-sensei will give her someting nifty and new to wear before the manga ends.

I also laughed at Chrono's, Ere's, and Ex's request for Peorth to bring them back presents. *lol* Nice touch.

Finally, there's the Daimakaicho -- "Hild-sama." OK, Hild is in chibi form, but her bowing to make a request of Urd and Belldandy was something I didn't expect. However, her explaination makes total sense to me and actually makes Hild come off as a smarter ruler, even if she did get blind-sided and overthrown.

So hat's off to Fujishima-sensei for coming up with the best story arc he's had in a very long time. I really look forward to reading more.

Clannad After Story -- Final Thoughts

Clannad ~After Story~

After having enjoyed Clannad so much, it is no surprise that I would be looking forward to the sequel, Clannad ~After Story~. Fortunately, it pretty much lived up to the Key standards for these visual novel adaptations by Kyoto Animation.

The story picks up where Clannad leaves off and follows the same pattern as before, showing school life for Tomoya, Nagisa, and their circle of friends. Mei-chan's story started out humorous enough with Youhei failing to get any of the girls to pretend to date him and him settling for Sanae-san and even falling for her. However, Mei-chan's attempts to help her "oniichan" by trying to get him to play soccer fell flat to me. 沉默的吟游诗人 pointed out to me that she's only 13 which is very true. However, Tomoya and Nagisa aren't 13 so why did they go along with this hideous plan and take all that verbal and physical abuse from the soccer club? I will admit that I did like seeing Youhei eventually stand up for his little sister.

Then we have the Misae arc, which provided some interesting information about wishes and the mini light globes we see floating around. As a story, it worked pretty well for the most part. Actually, Misae turns out to be a pretty interesting character and funny to boot.

This was followed by the Yukine arc. This was a mixed bag for me as I like Yukine, but the story of the two rival gangs and her older brother just didn't quite work. I can see why in the original visual novel (game), she was dropped as a main girl and left as a secondary one since her story is kind of weak.

After Tomoya graduates, the anime kind of shifts a bit. With Nagisa having to repeat her 3rd year of high school again and Tomoya on his own and working a job, things start feeling a bit more mature. Their high school friends are reduced to cameo roles from here on out as the anime then focuses on Nagisa and Tomoya's life together. Nagisa's father, Akito-san, takes over Youhei's role as comic relief ("M.C. Akito" just made me laugh out loud), but unlike Youhei, Akito-san also provides serious guidance to Tomoya.

While I liked that the anime eventually shows Nagisa "graduate" in a mock ceremony (complete with all of their friends and helpers), I was sad that Nagisa and Tomoya didn't get a proper wedding, only an official registration with the government. From this point on, the anime moves through time rather rapidly with Nagisa getting a part time job, then getting pregnant, having Ushio, and dying. I swear the anime writers all but telegraph the notion that Nagisa will die and despite this, her death is major tissue time. I cried like a baby.

Then the anime skips five years to pick up Tomoya and portray him as a scum who's basically abandoned his child to her grandparents for them to raise. I just can't imagine any parent doing such a thing and yet the real tragedy is that there are parents who do just that -- abandon their children. However, a convenient father-daughter trip arranged by Sanae-san where he and the ultra (and heartbreakingly) cute Ushio end up visiting Tomoya's grandmother turn that around but also turn on some lights.

Up until this point, the ongoing Mystery Girl and Garbage Bot story had made no sense to me. We'd had some clues of course but nothing solid -- just a bunch of teasers. However, after seeing Ushio absolutely love the day with her father in the field of flowers and the robot doll he bought for her (which she lost), suddenly I realized that the Mystery Girl was somehow Ushio and that the Garbage Bot was her way of trying to recreate the robot doll her father bought for her. That meant that for Garbage Bot to be alive combined with Tomoya having somehow known the story of the Mystery Girl and Garbage Bot, Garbage Bot somehow had to be Tomoya. What I couldn't quite figure out was the entire "how" as I speculated that Tomoya had gone in to rescue Ushio from this place and had taken the form of the Garbage Bot to do so. I was wrong on that count but I appear to have been right about Ushio's Illusion World being her attempt to recreate the happiest day of her life when she went on the trip with her father and it ending in snow much as her life ended in the snow in the real world.

BTW, what were those sheep things anyway? A representation of the Dango plushies is all I can think of.

Because of the limitations of the anime's method of storytelling, the whole connection of the Mystery World and Tomoya's trips back aren't clear. Also not clear is the hospital's connection with Nagisa and Ushio's illness. I've since read a banished Wikipedia article on the characters (they were banished because some wiki-god decided that Wikipedia didn't need that much character information) and I can see how the visual novel's platform made telling the story in a way that is much more understandable when it comes to Tomoya and Nagisa knowing the story of the Illusion World. To further help us understand, some anonymous commenter provided me with an image which diagrams how things worked. I share it with you all here (Click image to see the full 504KB image).


I was disappointed that Kotomi didn't play a role in the ending of Clannad ~After Story~ since it was established in Clannad that her parents were researching the Illusionary World and that she also picked up their research after college.

I was not disappointed by the return of Fuuko-chan, though unfortunately, the "miracle" of her recovery isn't really explained in the anime. You really need to have either played the game or read the additional materials.

That leads me to the final point -- the ending at episode 22. I know some people were really put off by the dues ex machina ending in how Tomoya made everything right and gets to live happily ever after. However, going back through Clannad and Clannad ~After Story~ combined with the other materials, I can see how this end was actually foreshadowed going back to episode 1 of Clannad. Its just that because we had so few pieces of the puzzle back then combined with the length of time the two series cover, it is easy to forget little details. However, they were there and so the ending doesn't bother me.

In the end, Clannad ~After Story~ provides much of the same stuff as Clannad, then takes things to another level by having Nagisa and Tomoya marry. From here, the troubles of high school are long forgotten in favor of the troubles of adulthood. For that alone, I could easily give this a 4.0 out of 5 but factor in some really nice comedic moments to keep things from being too depressing and I'll give it a 4.5 out of 5.

Live-action "Full Metal Panic?" Say It Ain't So!

I see on Sci-Fi Wire that Mandalay Pictures now has the rights to create a Full Metal Panic motion picture. Hmmmm. Zac Efron is rumored to be attached to the project. Hmmmm.

I'm all down for live-action adaptations but frankly, I don't trust Hollywood to produce any live-action title based on a popular Japanese work. Why? Because Hollywood simply sees this.

{said in a "duh" voice} "Anime is popular. Manga is popular. We don't know why it is popular, but let's make a live-action version 'cause it will surely be popular."

I do think that FMP can make a REALLY good live-action movie franchise to tell you the truth. However, the writers will first have to understand that CHARACTERS and staying true to the source material when it comes to STORY is KEY. That's why Gonzo made FMP work in the begining. They did have some weak episodes, but for the most part, they understood that characters and the source story made the series. When KyoAni picked up the franchise, they too understood this with their two FMP series (the very funny comedy of Full Metal Panic ~Fumoffu~ and the darker story of Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid).

I'll watch the progress of this movie and see what happens but frankly, I'm not holding my breath for anything special. All I need to do is look at the recent releases of live-action adaptations of anime/manga titles to keep my expectations to zero. Let's hope I'm wrong and this movie, when released, kicks major bottom. ^_^

Hayate no Gotoku!! 01 (On the Crunchyroll Tip, Y'all!)

Hayate the Combat Butler!! Ep. 01
Hayate no Gotoku "Season 2" Ep. 01
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is time for for the annual marathon at Hakuou Gakuen (Academy) and Nagi is being forced to enter. She's not thrilled but when Klaus makes a bet with her that she has to win her specific race or Hayate is fired, she takes the challenge. As she sees it, Hina is her only real obstacle so she dispatched Hayate to find out which race Hina is not running in. Hina is running in them all, but suggests the freestyle race which is a course, but short cuts through wooded areas are allowed. After two days of training, the race is on. Hayate and Nagi encounter many hindrances including rival butlers and even Hina herself. However, Hayate manages to thwart them all and just as Nagi is about to win the race, Katsura-sensei squeaks out a win since teachers were also allowed to race. Thus, the ¥150 million prize money and Hayate's job are apparently gone up in smoke while Katsura-sensei sees Dom Pérignon in her future.

Thoughts/Review: YES! This was one of the early chapters in the manga that the first series (or season since the Japanese are determined to use that phrase) skipped in favor of something else. So I was very glad to see it come into anime form.

However, before we go there, let me say something about Crunchyroll, who are officially releasing the anime with English subtitles as it is released in Japan (instantly if you pay them, days later if you want it free and not at the best resolution but good enough). When I first saw this, I thought, "A fansub group had to upload this. There is no way that any official translator would be this cool with otaku-friendly subtitles." Yep, that's right. The official Crunchyroll subtitles make full use of Japanese honorifics. Heck, they are even using "ojousama" which really made me happy. The title/honorific "bocchan" was scrapped though as was the title "Waka." That's a shame but I'll let it slide. They translated "Waka" as "young master" which is fine (it is the male equivalent of "ojousama") but for "bocchan," they just left that as master when "young master" should have been used. I really do wish they'd have left them in as Viz did in the manga, but again, I won't quibble.

The video quality of the H264 was fine, even at my 1920x1200 screen resolution. That's the free video size. The two HD versions are for paying customers so I can't say how they are. I'm quite sure they are good though.

There were no OP/ED translations for the music or even Romaji lyrics. That's a real shame and hopefully future releases will have those.

So overall, kudos to Crunchyroll for having an otaku-friendly release that could have been a bit more otaku-ish, but it could have been a LOT worse. ^_^;

Now back to the story.

As I said, this story had been skipped in the original anime and now it is here. For the most part, the anime team followed the manga pretty closely. There were some minor changes here and there so that they could introduce ALL of the players in the series thus far. Heck, they even introduced Ayumu and her little brother Kazuki and he didn't even show up in the anime last time (as an aside, Ayumu being forced to be the butt of food jokes every week seems to be gone since that didn't happen this time). They also quickly set up the premise of the series (Hayate's debt and how he became Nagi's butler) and then crack a joke on themselves via Maria. I liked that a lot as it ensures those who didn't watch the first series or haven't read the manga can still get into this current series.

I did have a few minor quibbles with the anime writers though. For starters, when Hina and Risa show up on the day of the race to join Izumi and Miki, the manga sets up the joke that Miki believes she's going to skip out on racing at all along with Izumi and Risa, only to learn to her horror that Risa and Izumi already ran the shortest race which leaves her being forced to run the freestyle marathon with Hina. The looks on Risa and Izumi's face when they let Miki know in the manga just cracked me up. While the scene is still there in the anime, the joke is scrapped as Izumi tells Miki up front that she's already run and then Hina forces Miki to run to her horror. The manga version was much superior.

Next is when Himuro tries to stop Hayate and Nagi during the short cut through the woods. Things happen pretty much as they did up in the manga complete with Maria and Saki being "Maid Black Max Heart" and "Maid White Max Heart" respectively. Maybe it was because the writers didn't have enough time but the joke about Hayate knowing who those two were and Nagi not recognizing them but only seeing "super heroes" was dropped from the anime. Further, the "combat" of the two maids against Himuro was dropped and that was an even bigger shame. Why? Because to defeat him, Klaus comes up with a briefcase full of cash, causing Himuro to bleed from greed and collapse defeated. That's why he didn't pursue Nagi and Hayate in the manga. In the anime, he just leaves the scene after the two maids show up which as I state is a bummer.

Beyond those minor issues, I have to say that I loved this episode and am glad to see this new series get off to a bang. Some of the jokes worked a little better in the anime (I think of Hayate luring Hina to the suspension bridge or Katsura-sensei racing with Kaoru-sensei) and some were about the same (Nagi punishing Klaus) but I was smiles and chuckles throughout. ^_^

With Hina's seiyuu singing the ED theme and the ED sequence all about Hina, I wonder if other seiyuu will sing the ED theme and have sequences about the character they play. That would be a nice touch but we'll see what happens.

The preview for next week have me excited because its the Butler's Pit arc (which likely should be three episodes to do the story any justice). I see Sister Sonia is going to be involved but will the priest show up? I sure hope so.

So kudos to Crunchyroll for a quality translation for the most part (though lets get some song translations, shall we?) and kudos to the anime production team for a good start to this new series!

Japanese Child-robot with Biomimetic Body (CB2) -- Come on, Chachamaru!

It is being reported in various places about the latest Japanese robotics project -- Child-robot with Biomimetic Body, otherwise known as CB2.



I'm always amazed at the staggering array of robotic projects coming out of Japan. While it does bring me to think of anime titles like Bubblegum Crisis 2040, I can't help but also think of Chachamaru from the manga Negima!. Granted Chachamaru is much more attractive than CB2, but I figure that sometime in the future, Akamatsu-sensei will be approached to have a robot designed to look like Chachamaru. She may not look like her earlier design shown below, but like her new body as seen naked in volume 21. ^_^;;;

Slayers Evolution-R 11

スレイヤーズ EVOLUTION－R Episode 11
Slayers EVOLUTION-R Ep. 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Pokota flees to Taforashia with Lina and company in pursuit. He makes it through the barrier and attempts to hurry to resurrect Rezo. Rezo (in the jar) tells him that it is pointless to rush since the ceremony to free Rezo has to be done at night in the moonlight. Pokota is soon joined by Ozel where they have a talk about emotions (which Rezo had taught Ozel about) and Pokota's hesitancy despite his desire to free his people.

Meanwhile, Lina and company have also made their way inside Taforashia. The group can't figure out the connection between Ozel and Rezo. Further, they find themselves lost when Xellos shows up. He won't provide any answers to Lina's questions, but does offer to lead them to the temple where Pokota is sure to be. He goes one step further and opens the temple doors for them but again, he refuses to answer Lina's questions. Xellos's behavior confirms Lina's suspicion that there's more to the Hellmaster Jar than just Rezo's soul. However, they have no choice but to enter and find Pokota to stop him.

As Lina and company attempt to make their way through the maze of the temple, Pokota and Ozel lead the casket containing the human form of Pokota to the place of the ceremony. Now Ozel hesitates despite Pokota's pleas to help him free his people. Xellos arrives, insisting on the jar. When Pokota refuses, Xellos is not amused by this and shows Pokota just how serious he can be when provoked. Lina and company arrive just at that moment with Lina shouting for Xellos and Pokota to wait. She again implores Pokota to not go through with this, but he doesn't want to hear her suspicions. Xellos approaches Ozel and gives her the choice on what to do, saying he'll respect her wishes either way. With that he leaves and Ozel chooses to bring Rezo back to life.

Handing the jar over to Pokota, he smashes it and the soul of Rezo is released, entering the crystal and destroying it. She faded form of Rezo appears and after exchanging some pleasantries with Ozel, the doll falls to the ground lifeless, thanked by Rezo. Rezo then turns and greets Lina, whom he has not seen in a long time.

Thoughts/Review: You know, last episode, I was mostly joking when I said this, "With Xellos observing, I'm sure more fun is to be had. Maybe a return of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu? Nah, they wouldn't do that, would they?" After this episode, I'm really beginning to wonder if the writers don't end this with a bang and old Ruby Eye making some sort of appearance. The writers have shown that they are pulling more and more elements from the novels that were passed on in Slayers and Slayers Next. If they pull the concept of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu being in Rezo's soul, then it would explain some things. For starters, it would explain Rezo's hesitancy in being resurrected. Rezo remembers Lina and remembers what happened to him before. Thus, if Shabranigdu is in Rezo's soul as in the novels, then we could well see the piece of the chief mazoku return.

Second, there's Xellos. Xellos has really behaved as his novel counterpart in both Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R. He is ruthless, coy, has an agenda, and you don't want to mess with him. Granted, the writers tossed in a comedy bit with Lina threatening to whack Xellos with a harisen (and that helps it be consistent with the previous anime titles) but otherwise, Xellos has been played mostly the way he should be played, seeing as how he is such a powerful mazoku.

Anyway, with Xellos clearly having a stake in the Hellmaster Jar, it wasn't until his words to Ozel where he gave her the choice on what to do with the jar that I began to suspect that we may very well have a return of Ruby Eye. Xellos made some cryptic remarks about having a theory about what would happen should Rezo's soul be placed into Pokota's human body and I think that Xellos believes that Ruby Eye will indeed come back to life. If this happens, I would think it would be a great thing for Xellos and if not, well no harm done. Question is, if the writers DO have Shabranigdu come back, Lina isn't going to be able to perform another Giga Slave and I doubt Xellos would allow anyone to harm Shabranigdu short of the dark lord behaving in a way counter to what mazoku most desire.

The other thing is that the anime focused on Rezo's blind eyes. That could either be foreshadowing or a red herring. We'll see which it is down the road.

Regarding Ozel, there are still a lot of questions such as what was she truly. Obviously, she's a life-sized doll, but what made her "alive?" Why didn't Zelgadiss know about her since he worked for Rezo for such a long time? Hopefully, we'll get some answers next episode.

One more thing -- I thought it was a nice touch having Pokota say a few words to Duclis's body before leading his own encased human form outside.

So a pretty enjoyable episode despite some Pokota whining. Two more episodes in which we'll learn exactly what all is going on and whether my suspicions about Ruby Eye are correct. ^_^

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 243 *SPOILERS*

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 39 Chapter 243

Summary/Synopsis: Sora has tickets to a movie and is contemplating asking Aoshima out. She carelessly wishes for bigger breasts so that Aoshima will notice her and a nearby mini-demon grants the wish. Aoshima comes by and sees Sora bent over in pain due to her expanding chest. She manages to ask him to go to the movies with her before her bra snaps and her new, large breasts literally knock Aoshima out.

In Niflheim, "Hagal-sama" is pleased with the results of her actions now that demonic contracts are way up. Chibi-Hild rightly predicts what Hagal is thinking. Keiichi asks why demons make contracts with people. Hild explains that the reason is the same as the gods -- these contracts are the source of their power as they receive energy from humans in exchange for the wish being granted. Belldandy confirms this, reminding Keiichi the reason Belldandy came to Earth in the first place. Chibi-Hild explains the need for the system to stay in balance between the gods and demons lest there be terrible consequences. As such (and for Urd's sake), Hild accepted the creation of the Doublet System, even though she didn't like being bound to a god.

Belldandy feels responsible for the original imbalance since she has stayed on Earth so long. Chibi-Hild agrees that this is partially the reason, but that's not the issue. Hild's people apparently never liked Hild agreeing to the Doublet System and so they finally rebelled.

Elsewhere, Tamiya and Otaki have their mini Japanese castle complete with fortification. A man from Nekomi Institute of Technology comes by and tells them that the structure has to go since it is on school property. Tamiya and Otaki refuse, saying it represents their soul. However, a mini-demon grants the man's wish and the castle collapses.

Keiichi can witness various strange things going on nearby as demons grant wishes as Chibi-Hild bows to ask for Belldandy's help. Urd smokes in and her foot attack is blocked by Chibi-Hild. Urd warns Belldandy not to listen to Chibi-Hild since Urd suspect a trick. Chibi-Hild understands but takes a knee and asks for help just the same.

Thoughts/Review: I have to admit that I giggled at Aoshima getting knocked out by Sora's expanding chest size. I also was highly amused by Tamiya's and Otaki's castle. *lol* Good to see those two doing something typical of them. ^_^

I liked the explanation and re-introduction to the Doublet System. I also liked how Urd stormed in there since she feared the worst. It makes sense seeing as how Belldandy can be a little too trusting and Hild in any form cannot be completely trusted. If I had to guess, I'd say Hild is being truthful here; she knows the dangers of there being an imbalance and her goal to restore that balance has ultimately been to have Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld return to "The Heavens." As a stop-gap measure, she's allowed Mara to remain on Earth to help balance things and then her chibi split off also assists in that matter. That's why ultimately Hild played down Belldandy's role in imbalancing the system because Hild has already countered that for the most part.

Regardless, Fujishima-sensei has a rather interesting and sometimes amusing story arc this time. Its been a while since we've had one of those. Here's hoping the next chapter is just as good or better.

Negima! Chapter 247 SPOILER Images

Negima! 247 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 247 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 247 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


Whoo! Hoo! Whomever brought up Takane's name gets brownie points (for whatever they are worth). Nice to see Takane, Misora, Kokone (or Cocone, depending on which spelling you choose), and Mei again. ^_^ Plus, more fightin' goodness, y'all. ^_^

Minami-ke Okaeri 13 (finale)

みなみけ おかえり Episode 13 (final episode)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Chiaki notices that Haruka seems down. At first, Kana thinks Chiaki is making to much of it, but eventually even Kana has to admit that there's something wrong when the following morning before school, Haruka seems depressed. Kana and Chiaki plan to meet after school to discuss the matter, which they eventually do. Meanwhile, Yoshino and Uchida come by for a visit after school to find Kana and Chiaki gone. Uchida notices Haruka looks down and asks about it. Haruka says she has a cavity and then asks if there is something wrong with Chiaki and Kana, who are acting strange lately. Yoshino suggests making funny faces to lighten the family mood and gives an example on Uchida. Kana and Chiaki come home to find this merriment, leading Chiaki to assume the worst. Kana thinks otherwise and the two enter the room to join the face-making fun.

Chiaki has a nightmare that Kana leaves and never returns, so she climbs into Kana's bed. Haruka is surprised to find Chiaki clinging to Kana the next morning and she's amused by it. Chiaki clings to Kana all day through meals and nap time. When Haruka returns home from a trip out with Maki and Atsuko, she finds Chiaki still clinging to Kana but Kana is now very upset. Kana races to Haruka to hug her and Chiaki is close behind to hug Kana. When Haruka asks about this, Chiaki explains that Kana had a nightmare that Haruka left and never returned.

Uchida and Yoshino are about to depart the Minami residence when they ask Kana to write down her wish for Tanabata. She does but doesn't want them to see. Then, she tells Haruka that she's going to escort the girls home and do some shopping. Haruka forbids Kana from buying sweets, so reluctantly Kana agrees. After they are gone, Chiaki notices a slip of paper whereupon Kana had written her wish. It appears to be a suicide wish and since Kana has been gone for a while, she and Haruka fear the worse. However, Kana does return very late, saying she had to go to another store to find milk with a better date on it. Happy that Kana is OK, Haruka and Chiaki eventually learn on the day of Tanabata that Kana's wish had been for sweets, but the Kanji they saw made them think otherwise.

Thoughts/Review: So, the series comes to an end. I'll have final thoughts later. Meanwhile, we go out without any real humor at all. Instead, the episode is basically all about sisterly love with Kana and Chiaki becoming concerned about Haruka and she them, Chiaki becoming concerned that Kana might leave followed by Kana becoming concerned that Haruka might leave, and then wrapping up with Haruka and Chiaki thinking that Kana might commit suicide. It was sweet for what it was worth, but lets face it -- what works best for the Minami-ke franchise is the humor of the first series, not the drama, no matter how nicely done.

Chiaki did get in some of her trademark "bakayarou" remarks and they were done more in the style of the first series, only without the humor attached. I have to think that it is partially the way this is being done and partially because maybe the joke is getting old. I'd have to watch the first series to see for sure.

So really, not too much to say on this episode. Shame really, but hey -- at least it wasn't Minami-ke Okawari. ^_^;

FUNimation Gets Some Old School Anime! (oh, and some not so old school stuff too)

As reported on ANN, FUNimation is going to start a "digital distribution" of several titles including Air Master, Pretty Cure, Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Digimon Adventure 02, Slam Dunk, and Fist of the North Star. These will all be on FUNimation's video site for streaming but no word on whether there will be a download option or not.

While I care nothing for a title like Digimon Adventure 02, I am VERY excited to see old school anime titles Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 (both from the creator of Space Battleship Yamato, MATSUMOTO Leiji) licensed. FUNimation already had licensed the 2003 Galaxy Express 999 spinoff, Galaxy Railways (which is in my large DVD backlog) and I had heard that some of the folks at FUNimation were interested in getting the earlier stuff in the franchise.

I don't know if either of these titles will be any good, but I've wanted to see them. I've also been somewhat curious to see the classic 80's anime Fist of the North Star (I did watch and review the first episode) but I've never gone to Crunchyroll's site.

Ultimately, I'd like to see this mark the start of more such digital distribution of classic anime titles. There are so many unlicensed classics out there that may not warrant a full-blown license (DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) but could be licensed for streaming so that folks could legally watch these anime titles. I'm sure that FUNimation tracks who's watching what from their video portal and should an old school/classic title get tons of viewings, who knows -- maybe FUNimation springs for a full blown release if the market feels right and customers clamor for it.

At the top of my "I wish we had this licensed in some form" is the TV series Dirty Pair. I'm sure I'll add others to the list in the comment section after I've had my first caffeine injection. I'd be curious to see what classic anime titles some of you would like to see come to life, even if only in subtitled streaming form.

School Rumble -- Harima's Women

Reading the recent School Rumble Z chapters (five and six specifically), this autumn wallpaper featuring Harima along with Yakumo, Eri, and Tenma made me smile since these are the main girls in Harima's life (discounting his cousin, Itoko-sensei).


Heh. Can't wait to read the next volume of the School Rumble manga as well as the next chapter of School Rumble Z. Weird how I never read ahead on School Rumble but I do on School Rumble Z. ^_^;

White Album 13 (or "Ooops! Our Animation Budget Has Been Spent!")

ホワイトアルバム Episode 13
White Album Ep. 13

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yuki's concert goes off without a hitch as apparently does Rina's. Sakura-dan is not so lucky. Yuki gets to see Touya again after the concert where she gives him her Christmas present. She lets him know that the phone call ban is over and tells him she loves him. After they leave, Ogata-san and Touya head to the production studio where they have a talk about Yuki's singing. Shinozuka-san takes Touya home and he rejects her sexual advance. Touya finds Mana has been waiting for him and after some convincing, manages to get her in from the cold. Shinozuka-san returns to bring Touya something he forgot and ends up taking the ill Mana to the hospital. Haruka comes by Touya's place to see evidence of another woman being there. She leaves and when Touya finds her and tells her the things are Mana's, she demands to know why they are there. Misaki and Akira race up in her car to inform Touya that something terrible has happened to his father while Yuki attempts to call Touya, having given him a nice, new phone for Christmas.


Thoughts/Review: Almost the first half of this was dedicated to Yuki singing and the whole concert thing, but it was clear to me that in addition to wanting to sell a CD single, White Album's animation budget had been shot. This became even more evident during much of Touya and Ogata-san's talk. Then it showed up again with Akira and Misaki's talk. The worst of the lot came during Mana's and Touya's talk outside, where the two characters looked just ugly from the cheap, "half-arsed" drawings. The ugliness is so distracting that it was hard to focus on the story. Indeed, I kept thinking about how something similar happened in Yu Yu Hakusho, where several episodes had scenes clearly done by another animation company and then several entire episodes where done by this company. The art was so off-putting that I almost stopped watching that series. Fortunately here, we won't see another episode until late fall/early winter when the next season starts. Hopefully, they'll increase the budget a bit on animation and not come up short in the end.

Now, onto the story. Rina is pretty much reduced to a cameo role, but I think it is safe to say she'll play an important role next season. Questions I wonder are (1) will she let Yuki know what she knows about Touya and Shinozuka-san getting busy? (2) Will she still try to see Touya or is that completely over? (3) Will she and Yuki remain friends now that Yuki's star is clearing in the heavens?

Ogata-san came off interesting to me this episode. Obviously he knew about Shinozuka-san being the guard dog to prevent access to Yuki by Touya, but since he also knew about Touya banging Shinozuka-san, I can't help but wonder if he didn't play a role in orchestrating it. Of course, Shinozuka-san may have just told him about it or he may know the lengths she'll go for the person she manages.

I felt badly for Mana. She may have some feelings for Touya (I say this because she has several times remarked about him taking advantage of her, which could be seen as a way of hinting that she wants to do more with him rather than the "I don't want you taking sexual advantage of me"-type words that come out of her mouth. I think she's a very loney girl. The whole tutor thing is clearly not for her grades, but for her to have someone older to spend time with -- an "oniichan" if you will. No doubt Shinozuka-san knew who Mana is or she wouldn't have been so eager to get the girl to a hospital.

One side note -- Mana made me laugh in her bundled up look. *lol*


Looks like Akira still can't get over Misaki having had feelings for Touya. I get the feeling that she's decided to toss her lot in with Akira but he does have a point -- she doesn't address him by his given name "Akira," but as "Nanase-kun." We'll see how Touya's father's medical incident affects their relationship.

Speaking of not getting over things, there's poor Haruka. She's desperate for her shot at the Touya plate and has to see Yuki take the plate, followed by a whole string of other girls. No wonder she was so upset when she heard Mana had come over -- in her mind, Touya would rather bang a high school girl than Haruka.

Then there's Yuki, of course. So she hasn't let go and she's offering Touya a way back. I had complained about Touya not calling Yuki and I still think he should have at times. However, I guess the calls were all monitored and so Touya wouldn't do it at all. Now he has a fancy, 80's phone and he's not home. I don't think it will be much of a problem though unless Yuki already knows that Touya has been banging Shinozuka-san.

The event with Touya's father was dropped after episode 10 and brought back up now to end the first season on. I don't think it is too much to say that this event will be a turning point for all involved to one degree or other.

So, no more White Album until late this year. Hopefully, that will give me a tad bit more time to catch up on other titles I need to watch. ^_^; I do plan to return to this soap opera of an anime though.

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 177

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 176

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Doumeki ponders the egg that Yuuko-san gave him as payment some time ago when Watanuki comes out and is amazed that Doumeki hasn't finished the adult beverage yet. Watanuki decides to get the umeshu (sake with plums). He then notices that there are two Sakura's and two Syaoran's standing there facing each other. One of the Sakura tells him that it will be OK. Watanuki tries to go out to them but is stopped by Doumeki. Watanuki tells Doumeki that somehow he knows them without knowing them. Watanuki then goes on a frantic search for Yuuko-san.

Thoughts/Review: Again, this chapter is heavily linked to Tsubasa, so I'm going to have to drop back and catch that back up. Well, at least it wasn't more to do with that boring woman who won't eat her own cooking, eh? ^_~ Anyway, it will be nice to have Doumeki's egg thread resolved.

Since it seems clear that the manga is winding down (howbeit slowly), I have to say that I think I'll be glad of it. 'Tis a shame really since this manga started off as such an enjoyable piece for me. We'll see how CLAMP pulls it all out in the end, but frankly I don't expect more than an average title in the end.

Fruits Basket Manga Volume 22

Fruits Basket Manga Volume 22 <--Buy From Amazon!

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Kyo goes to see his father to try to put things right there. He then returns to the hospital to learn from Hana and Uo that Tohru misunderstood his words to her as saying, "get lost." As such, they aren't going to allow Kyo to see Tohru until she gets better since the mere mention of his name seems to upset her. Hana encourages Uo to see Kureno who's also at the hospital when they meet Akito. Hana figures out that Akito is a woman. Uo goes to see Kureno, who tells her that he has to disappear for Akito's sake. Uo says she'll follow him and she does when he finally leaves sometime in the future.

Kyo meets Akito who tells him to live his life as he wants. He visits his adopted father, the martial arts master Kazuma and discovers that Hana is also there.

Later at school, Hatori tells the others that Akito wants to meet with them all, including Kyo. In class, Kyo learns that Tohru is getting out of the hospital. Uo and Hana will allow him to take her home and even suggest a gift he could buy for her, teasing him all the while because Tohru thinks Kyo doesn't want to be with her. Outside the hospital, Uo and Hana wait for Tohru and Kyo comes up. When Tohru comes out, she sees Kyo and runs away. He gives chase and as Tohru runs, she thinks of how she doesn't want to be parted from Kyo and that she loves him. Kyo is having similar thoughts.

Kyo catches her and makes a lengthy apology, ending with his love confession. Tohru is happy with this and they kiss. Kyo wants to be held by Tohru even if it means turning into the cat. Tohru doesn't care about the curse because she loves Kyo. They embrace but nothing happens and off someplace else, Akito says goodbye, remembering the conversation she had recently had with Tohru in the hospital. Tohru and Kyo realize the curse is broken, so Kyo removes his beads. At that moment, Aya, Ritsu, and all the other Zodiac realize they've been freed from the curse, save for Yuki.

Yuki has arranged to meet Machi because he wants to be with her romantically. After she arrives, the curse begins to lift from him and the Rat has a conversation with Yuki. telling him the complete story of the Zodiac and how they became cursed. With the Rat's departure, the final Zodiac is free, so Yuki changes things a bit and embraces Machi. Machi asks for permission to address Yuki as "Yuki," and he gladly gives it.

Kyo and Tohru go to Kazuma's house to show him that Kyo is free from the curse as each of the Zodiac begin new lives free from the curse.

Thoughts/Review: It is nice getting to see so many of the characters (even if only briefly) from the manga again. However, as I've said before, Takaya-sensei's current character designs make some of the characters hard to distinguish. In the early volumes, there was no trouble telling characters apart. They all had personality that came through the art. Now, the characters look generic -- there's no personality that really comes through. Machi and Tohru often look identical. Kagura and Kimi often look identical. It is really a shame too because that was one of the nice touches about Takaya-sensei's style of drawing back then.

Regardless of these issues, I'm glad Uo and Hana had a much larger roll to play this volume. It felt right that Hana should figure out that Akito is a woman even if she attempts to appear as a man. I liked how they protected Tohru from the pain of seeing Kyo, yet when Tohru was ready to be released from the hospital, they were also ready to let her go by allowing Kyo to pursue her, even teasing him prior to the event. I like that Uo will be with the guy she likes (even if she doesn't know him very well). I laugh at the thought of Hana spending time with Kazuma. *lol*

Of course, there's a lot of sweetness in this volume from Kyo and Tohru confessing to each other, kissing, then embracing. Ditto for Yuki and Machi.

So all in all, an enjoyable read as things wind down to the final volume. It will be interesting to see how Takaya-sensei wraps things up.

Clannad's Nagisa (No April Fool's Here)

I've never cared much for April Fool's day though I did find some of the possible origins of the event to be of interest. Regardless, since there are going to be a lot of people with their desperate attempts at pranks, I figured I'd be a voice of sanity and give you Clannad fans a cool image of Nagisa that I found on my HD.


This just feels like an April image to me. ^_^