Fate/stay night - 16

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 16
Fate/stay night episode 16

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With Rin in danger of being crushed by Berserker, Saber attacks, but does no damage and takes damage instead. Shirou launches a weaponless attack and gets beaten back as a result. With Shirou acting reckless, Saber activates her Nobel Phantasm which forces Shirou to use one of his command spells to stop her. Instead, Shirou thinks of Archer's words and decides to form the sword he saw Saber with in her past. After creating it, he attacks Berserker and manages to cut off the arm holding Rin. However, the sword is not perfect and is destroyed in the process. So Shirou constructs a second sword and with the help of Saber, they run Berserker through to Ilya's astonishment.

As Berserker dies, he regains his sanity as Heracles remarks on the illusionary sword that Shirou created, a replication of the sword Caliburn. However, despite only being a recreation, Shirou's Caliburn was powerful enough to take Berserker's remaining seven lives. With Berserker dissolved, Rin is now free of the giant hand and can breathe freely again. Shirou is in pain but notices the depressed look on Ilya's face as she mourns the loss of Berserker. Saber is about to take out Ilya but is stopped by Shirou, who considers her to just be a little girl now.

After returning to Shirou's home and getting some much needed sleep, Saber is not happy to learn that Ilya was sleeping in the same futon as Shirou. He doesn't see the big deal about this since she's just a little girl but when Rin gets up, both protest Ilya's being there, citing the fact that she's still a master, even if Berserker is dead. Ilya arrives and informs them that Berserker is the only servant she wanted. As such, Ilya will not try to grab another servant unless Shirou dies and Saber becomes free, something Saber opposes. However, Rin sees an advantage in keeping Ilya close at hand so she changes her mind and back's Shirou's decision to keep Ilya on site.

During the morning sword training session, Ilya remarks on how Saber seems to be going easy on Shirou. Saber denies this but Shirou feels she went easy as well and asks her not to. Saber is worried about their bodies coming in contact in a man-to-woman fashion, but this goes over Shirou's head. At lunch, Saber shows that she's accepted Shirou's decision regarding Ilya and after lunch, she has a bath. Shirou decides to take one and accidentally walks in on her. Unlike before, both are now embarrassed by the situation with Saber feeling that Shirou wouldn't want to look at her body, which is not as feminine as Rin's.

Rin decides to have a talk with Shirou about his ability to create items, which is part of Shirou's tracing ability. Since it is impossible to perfectly recreate an object, such magic is not very highly thought of. She warns him against using it, since recreating Saber's sword would take more magic than Shirou apparently has. Rin and Shirou then talk about Saber's sword Excalibur, where Rin informs Shirou that more important than the sword is the scabbard that held it. Were Saber to get that, she would be nigh invincible. However, since the scabbard was supposedly stolen, Rin's thoughts on the subject get flushed.

That night, Saber finds Shirou in the storeroom practicing his creation magic. She mentions seeing one of his dreams now that they are connected. As such, she feels closer to Shirou and understands him more, seeing that they are very much alike. With that, Saber feels that Shirou's attempts to be a hero of justice is not the right thing to do. Since both need the Holy Grail for their wish to be granted, Saber believes that Shirou summoning her was inevitable.

Elsewhere, the witch talks her plans to force-summon the Holy Grail, using a mage as a container. She considers Rin but decides the best choice is Sakura.

Thoughts/Review: I mentioned last episode that I thought that Berserker would be killed this episode. What I didn't expect was that it would take Saber and Shirou piercing Berserker midsection only once to kill him. I really didn't expect Berserker to regain his sanity as Heracles before disappearing. That makes the creation of Caliburn by Shirou even more impressive in my opinion since it took the final seven lives of Berserker.

As I understand it, Caliburn and Excalibur are in fact the same sword but with different names. Since Saber is already using a sword that I assume is Excalibur, then I'm guessing the anime is making Caliburn and Excalibur different blades.

Also of interest is Ilya now being with Shirou, Rin, and Saber. I'd forgotten that a servantless master still has the ability to take a new masterless servant. However, it seems that Ilya has some sort of special relationship with Berserker. Too bad we only got a glimpse of that. However, it would explain how Ilya can control Berserker because by nature, a berserker is at best, hard to control.

Anyway, if Rin and Saber were worried about Ilya still being a master, I'm confused. After all, Rin would then still be a master without a servant and could easily take another one if avaiable. That aside, why couldn't Rin or Ilya simply transfer their command spells to Shirou? Would that nullify them forever as being part of the Holy Grail War? I just don't know.

Moving to Shirou's ability to create artifacts, now we have the explanation of sorts as to the objects that Rin and Saber found a few episodes back. Still, with Shirou having such an ability, I do find it interesting that Rin would warn him about using such an ability while Archer seemed to encourage it.

With Ilya having spent the night at Shirou's house, I thought for sure that Sakura or Fujimura-sensei would arrive to have a comedy scene about a little girl now living with Shirou. Then I remembered that Fujimura-sensei is likely still in the hospital and Sakura may well be mourning the loss of her brother.

Interesting that the witch appears to have targeted Sakura for her plans. So I guess rescuing Sakura will be on the menu.

So there an unexpected ease at killing Berserker and an unexpected new resident at Shirou's estate. *lol* Who's next?

Negima! Chapter 253 SPOILER Images

Negima! 253 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 253 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 253 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


While Negi is blowing away the knight's clothing and Setsuna goes on a date with Konoka, Paru is doing what? *lol*

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 08

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 08
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 08

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Al squares off with an armored suit that introduces itself as Number 66. Inside, Ed finds a transmutation circle and theorizes this must be where Philosopher Stone research is done. Another living suit of armor emerges (known as "Number 48") and confirms Ed's belief. Number 48 goes so far as to even reveal the location of his blood mark because before his official execution, he was a murderer known as "Slicer." So he wants to make things more entertaining when he fights Ed. As they battle, Ed finds the use of his arm not as good as it had previously been. Further, he's taken some damage from Number 48 and that's weakened him somewhat. Number 48 remarks on how good Ed is but he reckons the fight will soon be over and that his companion should have dealt with Al by now. Ed laughs since Number 48 says his companion is weaker and Ed has never defeated Al in combat.

Outside, Al and Number 66 continue to fight. Number 66 takes time to explain that he'd been a meat butcher named Barry in his previous life, but then took to butchering humans and was sentenced to death as "Barry the Chopper." He reveals that he is a living suit of armor and is dismayed that Al doesn't freak out over his being a suit of living armor. Al reveals his own living armor status which causes Number 66 to freak out. When Number 66 learns that Al and Ed are brothers, he questions Al on whether he's really who he thinks he is or if his memories and everything are just an invention, thereby meaning no soul is attached to the armor. Al denies this, but the words strike just the same.

Inside, Ed thinks he has a victory when he takes Number 48's head off. However, Number 48 has a secret -- Slicer's soul was attached to the helmet but his brother's soul is attached to the body, meaning the fight is not won. Ed is forced to use the technique Scar used on him and Al in order to take out Number 48. Now defeated, in thanks for being treated as human, Slicer is going to give some answers to Ed but is prevented when Lust's extended fingers pierce his blood mark, eventually killing him. Envy takes care of Slicer's brother. Since Ed can't fight any more, Envy knocks him out. Lust and Envy set about destroying the lab.

Outside, Lt. Ross and Sgt. Brosh to bring Al and Number 66's fight to a stop. The destruction of the lab building causes Number 66 to flee. Al wants to go in and rescue Ed, but Ross wants him clear of the area for his own safety. Envy emerges with the unconscious and bloody Ed, instructing them to take Ed to the hospital. Envy disappears in the confusion, leaving Brosh to carry Ed on his back as they escape the destructing lab. Meanwhile next door in the prison, Kimbley is excited over hearing the sounds of detonations coming from the lab.

In East City, Col. Mustang takes a call from Lt. Col. Hughes. After putting up with Hughes going on about his cute daughter and wife, Hughes and Mustang discuss the possibility that Scar may be dead. Further, Hughes informs Mustang that Mustang may soon be brought to Central City thanks to a shortage of personal. This is an opportunity for Mustang to gain advancement and Hughes informs him that should he rise in the ranks, Mustang will make many enemies. As such, Hughes advises that Mustang bring over trusted people and to get married.

Thoughts/Review: As I've mentioned, I've forgotten a lot about the first Fullmetal Alchemist series, though when things happen, I go, "Oh yeah! Now I remember." Such was my reaction when Number 48 "Slicer" turned out to be two people instead of one. However for some reason, I don't remember Lust or Envy being at Research Lab 5, nor do I remember them killing Number 48, nor do I remember them saving Ed. Strange, isn't it? So now I'm left to wonder why they'd keep someone clearly a danger to them or their goal alive. Now, if this were the original anime, it would be because of Ed's father. However, I'm told that won't be the case here, but I guess I'll learn more in time.

I do remember Al being question about his humanity and that this episode starts his journey of self discovery. I do know the issue will be resolved but I just don't remember how. *lol* Bad memory, eh?

Again, I'll mention that I like the humor moments that are injected into the series from time-to-time. It would be so easy to forget those and just go with the traditional action scenes and no humor, but having humor placed into tense moments (such as Number 66 freaking out when he saw that Al was the same as he -- a suit of living armor) works pretty well in my opinion.

The animation seemed much better this episode, which is good considering it was mostly fighting scenes.

While I didn't have a lot to say this time around, I still enjoyed the episode quite a bit.

Fate/stay night - 15

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 15
Fate/stay night episode 15

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Shirou carries Saber as they and Rin continue to flee. However, they still have a long way to go and aren't moving very fast, so ignoring Saber's request to leave her behind, they continue on to an abandoned house that Archer had previously scouted out. With Saber so weak, Rin says that they will have to transfer Shirou's magic circuit into Saber, and this is accomplished through pseudo-sexual means. After the transfer is complete, Saber has returned to normal, though still limited by a lack of a constant power supply. Rin strategizes that they will need to take Ilya and Berserker by surprise and Rin will be that surprise element since she can hide her presence. Shirou thinks of Archer's final words to him, so he takes a tree branch and transforms it into a bow to help support Saber from a distance.

Outside, Saber and Shirou are soon found by Ilya and Berserker as Rin hides in a nearby tree. Shirou explains that Rin took off but Ilya isn't concerned since she knows Rin has not left the woods and she can track Rin down later. Berserker and Saber clash with it clear that Berserker outpowers Saber. All Saber can do is be on the defensive. Shirou forms arrows and while his shot hits Berserker, it does no damage. Ilya instructs Berserker to ignore Shirou for now and take out Saber. Berserker attacks again, shattering Saber's armor.

That's Rin's cue to attack by throwing several gems at Berserker. He deflects most but some do hit. He catches Rin, which allows her to throw more gems at his face with enough power to blow Berserkers head off. However, Berserker is not dead and is regenerating, which Ilya explains is because he still has seven lives left, based on the legend of Heracles as Heracles achieved immortality. Ilya is impressed that Rin had the power to kill a Servant but now orders Berserker to kill Rin.

Thoughts/Review: I see the hints at the hentai elements of the original visual novel in this episode with Rin first kissing Shirou, then performing some mostly implied yuri action on Saber before having Shirou get on top of Saber for the transfer via a tunnel of sorts. ^_^; I don't know what a dragon would have to do with this process but I'm guessing something had to be done in order to remove the hentai without removing the transfer element. ^_^; Still, this doesn't seem like it will work again unless Shirou can somehow give her more power. That might be accomplished with that sword he keeps thinking of.

Archer and Shirou -- OK, now I'm really starting to think that they have to be connected somehow. After all, Shirou created a bow and arrows in much the same way that Archer did, which is very interesting to me. How could they be the same person? I don't know -- I may be running down an empty rabbit hole but sometimes these things just scream out at me. So I may be reading too much into things or I may have something, I just never know which until things play out. If Archer and Shirou were the same person somehow, that would explain a great deal though.

Rin -- wow. Granted, her attack came from her gems, but still it is impressive that she was able to kill Berserker, even though he's able to regenerate to be killed again. If Rin can kill Berserker, then it may be possible for Shirou to do the same. Again, I go back to that sword and whether he uses it or Saber uses it, I get the feeling that this may end the Berserker piece of the story, which would then leave us with Lancer and Assassin. OK, killing Berserker seven more times seems a stretch, but I bet Archer killed Berserker a few times so it theoretically could be done.

Ilya having magic marks all over her body seems to not only show her impressive power, but could it also be that she has more than three command spells? I wonder.

This anime really does fly along though with the end of recent episodes seemingly coming out of nowhere and a cliffhanger of a story still to be resolved. *lol* However, that's the mark of good storytelling IMO when time seems to move faster than it really is.

Japanese Dog Does Squats With His Master

Just when you think you've seen everything...*lol*

And if that weren't enough, here's another.



*lol* What can I say except, "woo hoo!" ^_^

Natsu no Arashi! - 08

夏のあらし！ Episode 08
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hajime walks in on Jun and Kaja changing and teases Jun for being a girly man. After Jun changes, Master decides she wants some watermelons that are currently on sale and sends Hajime to get them. Hajime drafts fellow "male" Jun to assist since this is man work. Coming back, Hajime is amazed at how weak Jun is since Jun can only carry one watermelon and Hajime carries five. He decides to help by taking a short cut but that means climbing the steps of a nearby shrine. Reaching the top, both are parched and only have enough money for one beverage from the vending machine. Hajime has Jun drink first, then he takes a swig. When offering Jun a second drink, she declines (indirect kissing) and when he insists, Jun loses her balances and falls. Hajime attempts to grab Jun and the two tumble down the stairs and discover they've swapped bodies.

Back at the Ark, Master discovers a carton of unopened milk is way passed its expiration date. Since she hates the waste, she has a brilliant idea -- send Arashi and/or Kaja back in time to a date prior to the expiration date on the milk carton. Kaja tries to explain that this won't solve the problem of the milk being spoiled but Master says that if the milk is taken back into the past before the expiration date on the carton, everything is fine. Arashi sees the logic in that and agrees that this should be done, which frustrates Kaja as she can't make Master or Arashi understand that this won't actually solve any problems.

Jun-Hajime and Hajime-Jun arrive and try to explain that they've swapped bodies. Arashi thinks they are just pretending to be each other, so she does a good imitation of Master. Jun-Hajime and Hajime-Jun protest that this isn't what they are trying to do, but even Kaja doesn't believe their story and does her own imitation of Master, which Master finds very annoying.

Its lunch time and Hajime-Jun is scarfing out to Jun-Hajime's dismay. Hajime-Jun feels that Jun needs to put on some weight and since Jun's stomach is too small, eating a lot will expand it. Hajime-Jun realizes he needs to take a wiz to the horror of Jun-Hajime. As such, Jun-Hajime pleads with Hajime-Jun as a friend to never go to the bathroom in her body. Hajime-Jun isn't down with that and goes to the bathroom, only to find he has no penis or balls. Hajime-Jun is horrified and demands to check Jun-Hajime to make sure his body still has all its equipment, which Jun refuses to allow. In the end, Jun-Hajime whacks Hajime-Jun on the head to allow her body to take a leak.

Hajime and Jun attempt to decide what to do next and how they will live if they can't swap back. Neither is happy with the performance of the other. Master wants to resolve the milk issue so she wants someone to go back in time and drink the milk in the past to see who's right and who's not. Neither Jun nor Hajime are down for this especially since it could make them stay in their current bodies or they may actually be forced to drink spoiled milk. The two flee with the milk on a bicycle and when Master gives pursuit on her scooter-bike, Jun-Hajime tosses the expired milk back, hitting Master in the face and forcing her to crash. Jun and Hajime arrive back at the temple grounds and share a beverage again. An angry Master soon arrives and when they try to flee, all three end up tumbling down the steps and land with the detective -- all four swapping bodies.

Thoughts/Review: This episode will likely get added into my top-20 funniest anime episodes of all time (that I've seen of course). First, the absurd logic bit with Master trying to get Kaja and Arashi to take expired, spoiled milk back in time so that its not expired any more was funny. Arashi totally bought into the absurd logic that if you take an unopened milk carton with an expired date stamp into the past prior to its expiration date, it has to be OK because not expired any more -- that was very funny, especially with how frustrated Kaja got trying to get them bot to see the wrongness of this thought concept. Of course, Jun and Hajime had their own share of absurd logic considering their situation. Absurd logic -- gotta love it (except when it come from our hideous elected leaders, but that's something for a different platform).

What made this so funny and a potential top-20 candidate is Hajime's and Jun's body-switch and the events that happened thereafter. Arashi and Kaja not understanding what Hajime and Jun experienced and thus performing an imitation of Master made me laugh. It got better with Jun desperate to keep Hajime from discovering "he's" a "she" when Hajime suddenly needed to take a leak. Hajime's freaking out over losing Jun's balls and penis nearly had me falling out of my chair, as did his frequent come back to what he considered a terrible problem. *LOL* Lucky for Jun, Hajime is so thick and didn't catch on the Jun's body is in fact a girl's body. So I have to give it to SHAFT for creating something so very wrong and oh so funny. ^_^

On the negative front, I'm really starting to get annoyed with SHAFT's hideous jokes that are run so deeply into the ground, they've pass through the Earth's core and are now boring their way through to the crust on the other side of the planet. *_* Seriously, how did these boring joke sequences get here in the first place? I imagine someone in charge at SHAFT saw the first one with Yayoi and Kanako and the book reading and laughed until they crapped their pants. So the production team said, "If the boss laughs that hard, we have to put more and more of these into each episode, right?" *_* Well, at least they changed up the salt joke this time.

Amazingly though, this episode is the best and worst that SHAFT can bring to a table. At times, SHAFT can be amazingly funny and at times so stupid and pointless, one wonders what the heck they were smoking when they produced the tripe.

Despite the episode ending the the 4-way body swap, I rather doubt that the next episode touches on this aspect. After all, that is generally how these things go in comedy anime tales -- have a nutty comedy ending and then move on next week with everything back to normal. We'll see what happens though.

So through eight episodes, I still like this series well enough despite those terrible Yayoi-Kanako segments.

Here's a bonus image of Jun as a girl. Scary, isn't it? ^_^

Gakuen Alice Manga Volume 7

Gakuen Alice Volume 7 -->BUY FROM AMAZON!

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Mikan and company learn the location of the hidden tunnel and discover that Hotaru's brother Subaru and fellow high school student Sakurano are the ones with the secret. Mikan convinces them to allow passage and before they leave, Tono gives Mikan a gemstone on a necklace. Mikan, Natsume, Luca, and Tsubasa arrive in a wood having passed through the magical tunnel. Their presence is detected by the fleeing Z members who believe the Alice's in the forest will take care of their pursuers.

Mikan discovers Pengy, Hotaru's mechanical penguin, in her backpack where it has consumed her supplies of food. Natsume wants to get rid of it but Mikan wants to keep it. With the help of Tono's stone, Mikan is able to use her Nullification Alice to protect Luca from being petrified by an Alice trap. Mikan learns that the stone was created by Tono and contains a bit of his Alice power. When she promises to exchange stones with Luca, Natsume is irritated since that is the equivalent of being boyfriend-girlfriend.

With only two days to find a cure for Hotaru and restore Inchou's Alice, the group presses on. The first night, Tsubasa discovers that Natsume is coughing up blood. Natsume forces Tsubasa to promise not to reveal what he's learned as Natsume has had this condition for some time since he's been working for the academy.

As the Z members make it to their hideout, Mikan's group is still in pursuit. Mihara, a member of Z who's waiting on the other Z members, notes they are still being pursued despite the traps in the woods. Yuka, a female member of Z who'd been fleeing, is stunned to hear that children are pursuing them. Mikan's group manage to make it into the facilities hidden entrance where a trap catches Mikan and has her in a cell with a skeleton that moves. Upon learning Natsume's identity and that Mikan has a Nullification Alice, Mihara and the others are very interested. Yuka decides to speak with Mikan to get the girl to give them information.

Thoughts/Review: A lot of stuff going on with this current story arc, which initially has some struggles carrying on for this volume of the manga. Outside of the first chapter though, things flow much better.

The way Yuka reacts combined with other clues, I'm going to guess that Yuka is Mikan's mother and not a time traveler as I previously had stated as a possibility to her identity. If so, Higuchi-sensei isn't hiding it too well, but then again, that is likely not her point otherwise she wouldn't have introduced the character already.

I'm guessing that Pengy and Hotaru are connected since Pengy's antenna sometimes seems active and Hotaru in the hospital reacts to events happening with Mikan.

More interesting than Natsume's continued crush on Mikan is his illness. Coughing up blood is never a good thing and the academy seems intent on working him to death then, considering how powerful Natsume's Alice is and the negative consequences of that.

I'm going to guess that Narumi-sensei will end up encountering Mikan and company and help free them from Z. Again, not a wide guess, but it seems to be where Higuchi-sensei is going.

Not much in the way of humor this time, which is not surprising considering the current story arc. I suppose Pengy's arrival and Hotaru's connection with the robot are the funniest stuff, but they only made me smile and not laugh. That's not a problem, just an observation.

Now to TokyoPop -- they've gone cheap. It appears that in order to cut the costs of printing the manga, TokyoPop is using cheap paper. The manga volume feels wrong in my hands -- there's no firmness to the volume as has been the case in previous volumes. Instead, the book feels limp and just very, very wrong when holding it. There is some minor bleed-through on images where a lot of ink is used (dark background, dark clothing) thanks to the cheap paper.

Another TP manga came in the same shipment and it too feels cheaply made and limp. As such, I don't think I scored a bad book but rather TokyoPop's cost cutting measures. *_*

So story wise, things are moving along and printing wise, things are going downhill and cheap with no manga cost reduction.

Negima! Manga Vol 28 Ch 252 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 28 Chapter 252 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 252

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Konoka and Setsuna are about town when a couple of local guys try to pick up Konoka and she seems OK with it. Setsuna sends them packing but frets over spending such down time with Konoka. Setsuna thinks back to her last fight with Tsukuyomi as well as Eva's words to her and wonders what she should do about the situation. Has she gotten weaker? Should she choose the sword or happiness? A couple of nearby guys are battling for fun when the one guy with a mace on a chain has the mace-ball break free and head for Setsuna. Instinctively, Setsuna uses a blade to slice the ball in half, not even conscious of what she'd done as she still frets over spending time with "ojousama" like this.

Konoka gives Setsuna a kiss on the cheek for her actions. Konoka then tells Setsuna that she knows what Setsuna's thinking. Konoka believes that happiness can be a source of strength and she's decided to be a Magister Magi like Negi's father and mother. As such, Konoka wants Setsuna to be her partner, so the two head off to find Chamo, who figures this is long overdue. They kiss and Chamo retrieves the pactio card where he sees it is a completely new design.

Elsewhere, the Governor-General of New Ostia, Megalomesembrian Senator Kurt Gödel, has arrived to see Negi, Nodoka, Shiori-Asuna, and the four knights. He greets Emily and states that he was there with his guard after hearing reports of an incident. He produces pictures of the girls when their clothing had been blown off. They deny it was them. Despite Emily having signaled Bea to get Negi's hood up, Gödel addresses Negi. Gödel first calls him the son of the hero who saved the world, then changed it to the son of the witch who destroyed Ostia -- the Queen of Calamity, Arika Anarchia Entheophysia.

Thoughts/Review: First, I'm going to address what many will see as the death nail in my Negi=Nagi theory. If you think that, you are sadly mistaken. After all, what good is a theory if it can't handle a little stress? *lol*

This may very well indeed be the moment where Akamatsu-sensei decides to let everyone know that Negi is the son of Nagi and Arika, so I'll concede that right now in case it becomes true. That said, one of the reasons I have long believed Negi to be Nagi in disguise is that (1) Nagi has been PERFECTLY hidden for about 10-years (almost everyone believes Nagi to be dead), (2) Negi is about 10-years old, and (3) the best place to hide is in plain sight. I remember as a teenager having a coworker tell me he decided he wanted a magazine without paying for it. I wanted nothing to do with this, but my coworker told me I was worrying for nothing. He simply rolled the magazine into his hand, then as he walked towards the exit, he made a point of saying goodbye to our store manager and waving the magazine in a "goodbye" fashion. Score coworker a free car magazine with the hot bikini babe on the cover. ^_^;

With that in mind, IF Negi is in fact Nagi in disguise and hiding, then it would be very reasonable that he planned this event. Such planning would include making sure everyone knew that he was about to have a son, that the mother of said son is Arika, and that this information was officially recorded in some fashion or other. Ten years ago, he also arranged for Al to give his son a message -- interesting how Nagi knew his son would come to Mahora, don't you think? Also interesting that Nagi knew that Al would never leave Mahora (the maps that he had pointing to Al's location -- remember?) in order for Al to deliver said message to Negi. Further interesting that Eva and Takahata didn't even know Al was there despite the fact that he was there for 10-years (an interesting year 10-years ago was, don't you think?).

So, having the Governor-General of New Ostia bait Negi into doing something stupid by insulting Arika, whom Negi now believes to be his mother, means nothing to me at this point. The Governor-General may know something, he may only know the official record, or he may know nothing. We'll see how future chapters go, but my gut says that this is a red herring. My gut may be wrong, but as I just learned with Fate/stay night, my gut can be very right even though what I was seeing in that story didn't seem possible. ^_^

Now to the chapter itself -- there's not much to say about Setsuna's going through a bit of angst over what she should do. That said, is that her pactio which she just instinctively pulled to destroy that mace-ball? The fact that she acted so on instinct goes to show that like Negi, when she overthink things, she comes up short. When she just does what comes naturally, she really hasn't lost a step.

I like that Konoka has taken a step forward on becoming a Magister Magi. In order to be one, I feel she should be able to take charge and be in command as it were. That's what Konoka did here. Maybe we'll see her get some sort of training to advance her mage skills before the Magic World arc concludes.

As to Setsuna's new pactio card, I note that Chamo seems a little surprised that there is a new card produced and not one like Negi has. There's not really enough information to go on, but I figure that normally, a pactio card remains the same -- only the Magister changes who supplies the power to said card. We saw that with Al's many dead pactio cards and his one living one. I also believe that based on what Emily has stated, artifact cards are rare and so for Negi to create an artifact card every time is amazing. So either Konoka and Setsuna's pactio is a true provisional card (no artifact maybe?) and Negi has the different, true pactio cards or Setsuna has two artifact cards somehow.

As to Negi's encounter with the Governor-General, it is interesting to see how Emily and company have shifted into a "protect Negi" mode. Obviously, the Governor-General was expecting such a thing and to be honest, I think he's quite possibly behind Negi and company being on the wanted list. Some have speculated that this may be Fate in disguise, but I don't think so. Governor Gödel may have simply sided with Fate's people and is doing what needs to be done. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 182 Review

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 182

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Yuuko-san tells Watanuki that she spent her days in that shop granting wishes in order to do what must be done. As her final act, Yuuko-san grants Watanuki's wish to not see spirits nor be troubled by them once she is gone. Watanuki pleads with her not to go and feels there has to be some other way. Watanuki says she can't die because he hasn't granted her wish but she cannot stay. Yuuko-san says her wish is for Watanuki to keep on existing. As Yuuko-san vanishes, Watanuki feels that if dreams can come true by wishing hard enough then he will wish for Yuuko-san to return. As such, he vows to stay in the shop and wait for Yuuko-san as long as it takes.

Thoughts/Review: So, if Watanuki will be unable to see spirits, I guess that means that he will no longer be able to see Zashiki-Warashi and that will disappoint me because I like her so much. Plus, there are many others whom Watanuki wouldn't be able to deal with whom he's befriended. Assuming CLAMP keeps this up, it is rather sad for me.

I need to read the current Tsubasa chapter to see what the smeg is going on over there. I'm not convinced that Yuuko-san is gone forever but this is CLAMP and frankly they've gone all over the place of late. I can't imagine the manga continuing much longer without Yuuko-san there. I guess we'll see soon enough.

Really, not much more to say because xxxHOLiC has long been creeping along at a snails pace -- lots of pages to cover very little ground. That said, I'm in for the long-haul. ^_^

Fate/stay night - 14

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 14
Fate/stay night episode 14

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Rin, Archer, and Saber arrive at Castle Einzbern when Rin senses Ilya and has Archer disappear. Saber and Rin hide and wait for Ilya to leave before making their entrance. Despite her weakness, Saber is determined to save Shirou and is surprised when she finds him having freed himself from his bonds. The foursome them easily makes their way to the main entrance of the castle but as they start down the stairs, Ilya reveals she's been there all along, having fooled Rin's senses. Ilya promises that none of them will escape and summons Berserker. Rin instructs Archer to buy them escape time before escaping himself. He's asks permission to unleash on Berserker and receives it. Before they leave, Archer has some advice for Shirou -- master the one skill he's good at -- creation.

Saber, Rin, and Shirou flee as Archer battles Berserker. Archer takes damage even when avoiding Berserker's attacks. Even after losing two swords, Archer simply produces two more and continues fighting to Ilya's amazement. Though Archer has taken some damage, he lures Berserker into position where Archer then produces his bow and transforms a sword into an arrow and nails Berserker with it. However, the blow that would have killed other Servants does not kill Berserker. Their fight continues with Archer producing more blades and inflicting damage on Berserker.

In the end, Archer realizes that he cannot win the fight and brings himself, Ilya, and Berserker into a "reality bubble" filled with unlimited swords and gear mechanisms. All of this stuns Ilya and she's even more surprised when Archer addresses her as "Ilya." Archer throws everything into one last attack and is killed, though he inflicts heavy damage on Berserker. The bubble gone, Ilya marvels at Archer's ability to stay alive so long since he should have been killed many times over. She orders Berserker to heal himself and pursue Rin, Saber, and Shirou.

In the woods, Rin sees her command spell marking disappear and knows that Archer is dead. Rin tells them that they have to hurry since Ilya will be after them soon. However, Saber collapses from lack of energy.

Thoughts/Review: Archer -- WHOA! Hold on -- my mind is still processing this information and it doesn't help that I'm pretty tired at the moment.

If I saw this correctly, Archer was literally creating blades and even an alternate reality bubble of sorts towards the end of the fight. Other than the one attack where he turned a blade into an arrow, he didn't use any archery abilities but only sword techniques. No wonder Ilya was asking who this guy is. Heck, I'm asking myself the same thing too. I mean, Archer addressed Ilya as "Ilya" and kept having flashes of Shirou. Heck, he even gave Shirou advice on mastering the creation of things which I found very interesting. Now if Shirou were dead, I'd say that Archer was Shirou but that can't be can it? I know Ilya offered Shirou a chance to be a Servant but Shirou declined. So I'm left wondering who exactly Archer is, if that will even be revealed.

As for Archer's death, I had a hunch that might be coming. After all, if Rin and Shirou are to remain allies and not get into a fight, then one of the two had to lose their Servant. Since Saber wasn't going to be the one to die, then that only left Archer. For a moment, I thought Archer might actually take out Berserker but that didn't happen. Archer's being able to hang in the fight so long has to be in part tribute to Rin but also to whomever he was originally I'd guess. It is interesting that Archer wore one of Rin's gems as a necklace though. I wonder if that also played a part.

It is a shame that I didn't get to see Archer and Saber work as a team though. Oh well.

Oh -- it was also interesting that Archer spoke English for his blade creations. I'm guessing that's part of his Nobel Phantasm usage?

Ilya must have some incredible magical reserves for Berserker to heal so quickly though. I fully expect her to now attempt to keep her promise and kill Shirou, Saber, and Rin. Frankly, that doesn't seem too hard, even for a weakened Berserker, which he does not appear to be unless Archer left some sort of surprise that will take Berserker down later. Berserker was pretty torn up by Archer's blades and one of those could have contained a booby trap (I think of Frodo getting stabbed by a Ring Wraith in Lord of the Rings).

Of course the big gorilla in the room is Saber getting very little energy from Shirou. Now that Rin is effectively out of the war for herself, I'm guessing she might be able to have a way to get Shirou to channel power into Saber. Time to eat more gems on Shiro's part, thereby giving him energy that Saber can use?

I have to say that this episode just smoked by and despite nearly being asleep, I could not go to bed until I'd at least written my analysis. Hopefully, it will make sense when I get up again. ^_^;

School Rumble Manga Volume 12

School Rumble, Volume 12-->BUY FROM AMAZON!

Summary/Synopsis: At Tenma's birthday party, she's declared queen and gets to command her friends to do one thing each, including making Eri eat natto. Yakumo gives Harima a present since his birthday is one day off from Tenma. Harima gets summoned from the party to help "Nijō-jō-sensei," aka. Karasuma, in his latest manga. This is the ultimate irony but when Harima makes a mistake, he convinces Karasuma to attend Tenma's birthday party. Harima then disguises himself as Karasuma and calls Yakumo to help him with the manga after Harima really ruins it and is forced to recreate it from scratch.

Karen finds Imadori a surprise visitor to her little brother at their house. She's all embarrassed because she wasn't ready for this but in the end, she calms down and even plays with her brother and Imadori.

Harima is stunned when his manga is published instead of Karasuma's. He's summoned to meet the chief editor and brings Yakumo with him. The editor is a giant of a man but Yakumo has no problems dealing with him. The editor assigns Harima to create a 120-page manga. Since Itoko has gone on a trip and Harima doesn't have a key, Yakumo offers him a place to stay and her and Tenma's place. Initially, Tenma is OK with it and even decides to test Harima's love for Yakumo by pretending to be Yakumo. Harima isn't fooled and answers honestly, thinking Tenma is asking about herself. Harima is going to confess his love for Tenma that night but Tenma mistakes it for Harima attempting to make a move on Yakumo since he went into Yakumo's room. As such, Harima is on the street.

Mikoto finds the homeless Harima and offers to let him stay at the dojo. Harima takes the offer and while wearing the uniform of the workers employed by the Suo family, he's encountered by Eri, who doesn't recognize him. Mikoto learns of this and decides to have some fun, resulting in Harima not getting any manga work done. After a workout with Mikoto, Eri decides to take a bath in the large outdoor onsen-like bath where she mistakes Harima for Mikoto in the dark. Mikoto sees this through a window and tries to help Harima as best as she can as Eri reveals that she's being forced into an arranged marriage. Harima pretends to fart in the bath to keep Eri from getting in, which works well to Mikoto's horror.

Eri's servants are dispatched to retrieve her and along the way, Tenma gets picked up. Mikoto decides to have Harima, again disguised as a worker, get Eri out of the place to avoid being taken back home. They are on Harima's motorcycle when they Eri's family car with Tenma inside. They stop to rest at a temple where Harima sees a very different side of Eri than the one he's used to. Not only does Harima end up snuggling with Eri for warmth, he even agrees to go to the omiai with Eri to help end the arranged marriage.

Thoughts/Review: This is another good volume with a surprising amount of focus on the love-triangle between Harima, Eri, and Yakumo. Granted, this is a strange love-triangle since Harima isn't in love with either girl and the girls aren't fully aware of their own attraction to Harima, but there you go.

Regardless, this element of the story is what I've found most interesting for some reason. Even before I was spoiled on the ending of School Rumble, I figured that Harima would never end up with Tenma since Eri and Yakumo were in the picture. As such, I figured Harima would never stop loving Tenma, but would let her go and then choose between Yakumo or Eri. Oddly enough, Harima is always doing things for Eri that he doesn't have to do. In this volume alone, he helped her get in the laundry and agreed to attend the omiai with her. Eri doesn't appear to know it is Harima doing these things for her but when she finds out, I wonder what she will say.

Still, I do enjoy these stories with Yakumo and Eri centering around Harima. Mikoto making things more interesting in the Eri storyline doesn't hurt either. ^_^

I wonder if the temple scene where Harima and Eri spent the night is a nod to the long-running Ah! My Goddess, where Belldandy and Keiichi had to find a place to say, ended up at a temple, and then ended up taking the place over as a residence.

Karen got some love with a single chapter about Imadori coming to visit her little brother. It is interesting that Karen dropped herself down to Imadori's more immature level for the day to play though. The things one does for love, eh?

Bottom line: Another good manga volume in the series with an interesting twist on the Eri-Harima pairing that is left in a cliffhanger. Can't wait to see how that's resolved.

Shōgun -- Why You Should Watch This 1980 Mini-series

James Clavell's Shōgun (1980 TV Mini-series) <--BUY FROM AMAZON!

I was 10-years old when this mini-series was released in the U.S. As such, I would not have been allowed to watch this back then. Naturally, now that I'm into things Japanese, I had to check into this classic mini-series to see how it played out. Despite some minor issues with the late-70's hair styles for the non-Japanese actors and some outdated and loud incident music for scenes featuring non-Japanese people, this mini-series really holds up well nearly 30-years after its creation.

For those who don't know, the mini-series is an adaptation of James Clavell's Shōgun novel (I've never read the book, so I don't know how well it follows the novel), which is a fictional account of the real shōgun TOKUGAWA Ieyasu (named Toranaga-sama/Lord Toranaga in the mini-series) and British Captain William Adams (Pilot-Major James Blackthorne in the mini-series). The story follows Blackthorne from his arrival in Japan after his ship is caught in storm. Blackthorne's journey has him go native (where he is known as "Anjin-san") as he comes to see the Japanese not as barbarian savages, but a highly cultured society based on honor and might. Other stories that run in parallel are Blackthorne's and his Christian Japanese teacher (and Toranaga's translator) Mariko's forbidden romance; the struggle for power between samurai lords Toranaga and Ishido; and the Jesuit's fears over the idea of Blackthorne ruining their lucrative dealings in Japan.

Richard Chamberlain plays the English James Blackthorne with no attempt to affect an English accent but keeps his American one. Normally, something like this would annoy me since the other members of his crew do have accents, but Richard plays the character so well, it overcomes this weakness. His eventual use of Japanese is not too bad either. The only thing wrong is that Richard has a freaking 1979 hair style in 1600 Japan. He's not the only one as there are others with out of place hair styles too and that's a shame. The Japanese actors do have proper hair styles for the period though, as best as I can tell.

John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings) has an important but small role in this ~9-hour mini-series (12-hours counting commercial time) as Portuguese Pilot Vasco Rodrigues. It is such a delight seeing him on screen and kind of funny hearing him bellow out Japanese in a fashion that the general American audience won't notice, but for which those knowledgeable in Japanese will. I've never seen a movie or TV series that John plays a character in where I didn't like his character. He comes darn close to stealing scenes in his early appearances and what happens to him at the end made me smile.

Another notable non-Japanese performer comes from the Egyptian actor Damien Thomas, who plays the Jesuit priest Father Martin Alvito. Despite having a 1979-looking hair style, Damien manages to look like a devout Jesuit priest who might be evil or might be doing what he thinks is right. Father Alvito has an important role to advance the Jesuit portion of the story but also acts as a translator many times when Mariko is not translating for Blackthorne. Damien's Japanese sounded quite good, which is required since the Father Alvito character is so well connected to the ruling samurai as well as being a right-hand man for Father Dell'Aqua, the head of the Jesuit Church in Japan.

On the Japanese side, SHIMADA Yoko plays Mariko, the wife of samurai lord Buntaro-sama, personal translator for Toranaga-sama, and part-time translator and Japanese teacher for Blackthorne. She was only one of two Japanese actors who spoke any English and she had to have a dialog coach to assist her (though her English improves with time while retaining her Japanese accent). She captures the elegance and beauty of a Japanese lady very well so that Blackthorne's falling for her is very understandable.

Also of note on the Japanese side are MIFUNE Toshiro as Toranaga-sama, Frankie (Masatoshi) SAKAI as Yabu-sama, MEGURO Yuki as Omi-san, and KANEKO Nobuo as Ishido-sama. Actually, I may be biased, but I felt that while all the parts were well acted, those playing Japanese samurai were really good.

One of the things that helps this mini-series stand up to the tests of time is that it is a well-written piece bereft of Hollywood influence. Since the entire production was filmed in Japan, studio executives in the U.S. could not interfere as by the time they received the film from the dailies, it was already way too late to make any real changes. Thus the story is a strong one and is one that I do not believe would be allowed today. Why? Because it is so deeply rooted in Japanese culture.

While the majority of Japanese dialog is translated for Blackthorne (and the audience) through either Mariko, Father Alvito, another bilingual character (either a Jesuit priest or Blackthorne's samurai retainer and former Jesuit monk Urano), or Orson Well's narration, there is quite a bit of Japanese that does not get translated. Further, the production team has Blackthorne use Japanese honorifics quite a lot. While Toranaga or other samurai lord are often referred to as "Lord," they are also referred to with the "sama" honorific, something more noticeable when subtitles are turned on.

Since the production team has the entire Japanese cast act in proper Japanese, proper honorific usage of "sama" and "dono" are used for the samurai, save for Omi-san and Blackthorne after he becomes known as "Anjin-san." This is not the fault of the production team but rather author James Clavell, who decided that the lower-ranking samurai "Omi" would be addressed as "Omi-san" and that Blackthorne would insist on being addressed as "Anjin-san." In reality, Omi would be addressed as "Omi-sama" and in fact when the Japanese address him, that is how he is referred to. Also, the Japanese address Blackthorne as "Anjin-sama" at times with Toranaga and Yabu properly addressing him as "Anjin-dono" once he is made a samurai, which is also very proper.

While there is some action in this mini-series, the real power of the series are the characters and the story as a whole. Watching Blackthorne go from dirty foreigner to Japanese at heart is a joy to watch. Despite their cruelty at times (and I have avoided all mention of this on purpose), all of the samurai lords come off as powerful men to be respected and I think that is key for gaining an understanding of feudal war era Japan. The political machinations of Toranaga against Ishido aren't boring but very intriguing. The political and religious aspects of the Jesuit story are also very interesting. I think the only mild weakness in the mini-series story comes in episode 2, where things slow down a bit plot-wise for a time.

In the end, Shōgun works because it respects the Japanese culture and does not feel the need to spoon feed the audience. Add to that the series having a well-crafted story and excellent character acting. If you have not seen this, I highly encourage you to do so, especially if you have an interest in Japanese culture or history. Even if you don't, it should be noted that when this mini-series aired in the pre-VCR days of 1980 (there were VCR's, they just very were rare to be in people's home at the time due to the expense), business and restaurant sales declined because so many people stayed home to watch this. Reportedly, Shōgun caused the rise of Japanese restaurants in the U.S., especially sushi establishments. ^_^

A quick note on the DVD box set -- the five-episodes of the mini-series are spread over four discs with no actual episode breaks. Disc five contains the extras and some fascinating information on the series creation and production. The incidental music is too loud at times and sounds dated when it comes to westerners but the traditional Japanese incidental music holds up pretty well. However, this is a minor complaint. A little more annoying is being forced to go through the Paramount logo with no way of bypassing.

Bottom line: if you haven't seen this already and you are reading this blog entry, go watch the mini-series and tell me what you think. ^_^

"Ah! My Goddess" Manga Wins Award

CuSO4 informs us that "AMS [sic] was selected as the winner in the General Department of the 33rd Annual Kodansha Manga Award. A bronze trophy plus one million yen will be presented to Fujishima-sensei on 6/22 at Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, Tokyo."


Other winners include Meitantei Yumemizu Kiyoshirou Jiken Note by HAYAMINE Kaoru (Kid category), the shoujo manga winner is Kiyoku Yawaku by IKUEMI Ryou, and the shounen manga winners are Q.E.D. ~Shomei Shuryo~ by KATOU Motohiro and Fairy Tail by MASHIMA Hiro.

(source)

Natsu no Arashi! - 07

夏のあらし！ Episode 07
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hajime and Arashi play baseball with Arashi using a hishaku (柄杓) as a bat. Unfortunately her hit is too good as it not only breaks the hishaku, but also knocks the rooster off the weather vane. They are examining the rooster when Jun and Kaja approach. Both Kaja and Arashi would like to see the weather vane fixed since it has been a part of Ark for so long, so Hajime is up on the roof and attempting to get a reluctant Jun to come up and "be a man." Eventually Jun makes it up and both have a good look at the town below as well as the sea. It is here that Hajime loudly proclaims his affections for Arashi and tries to get Jun to shout something as well, but Jun refuses and Hajime ends up embarrassed that Arashi heard him.

After the weather vane is repaired, Kaja is horrified when Master and Hajime tease her about love of Tenchou. During the subsequent discussion, Hajime reveals that he has no fear of going back to World War II Japan, something Jun never wants to do again. Even Arashi tells Hajime that he shouldn't want to go into danger like that. Kaja asks Arashi if she's worried about changes to the time line by saving people in the past, which Arashi is not concerned about. However, when challenged about going back and saving her love, Kaja is put on the defensive.

Jun heads into town for some shopping and encounters her modeling friends Manami, Saki, and Youko. Jun explains why she's in a male's server outfit and why she's working at Ark pretending to be a boy when Kaja approaches. Jun's friends are impressed with the German girl's grace and classic Japanese way about her. She even knows traditional dance and tea ceremonies which impress them more. A group of guys come up for a group date with the girls, but when one touches Kaja, she's embarrassed and flees, followed by Jun.

At a nearby park, Kaja explains how she was raised to be chaste and proper and that contact with boys was strictly forbidden. She also apologizes for putting Jun into danger for her own selfish reasons -- a love of a man who will die in an air raid. As she speaks, Jun reflects on her own hatred of women and becoming like her modeling friends. Kaja figures she shouldn't go and see Tenchou again. Jun tells Kaja she's a coward and that Kaja's not afraid of changing the present but changing herself. Jun figures that the reason Kaja is still on Earth is because she has not confessed her love to Tenchou. Kaja cries and agrees.

Meanwhile Hajime and Arashi are purifying the ground outside of Ark with a hishaku and a bucket of water each. They laugh and have fun, causing small rainbows to appear as they slosh the water out and promise to show Jun and Kaja the rainbow when those two return.

Elsewhere, the detective is assigned to buy panties and bras for his client and he's not too keen on it.

Thoughts/Review: I have to say that Jun's explanation of why she's pretending to be a boy was not what I expected, nor was the fact that our little reverse trap is actually a model. I realize that Hajime thought Jun was a boy, but Jun could have corrected the record quite easily but instead, chose to allow Hajime's misunderstanding to continue and lead the others to believe she is a boy. I'm guessing that's part of Jun's hatred of women and fear of becoming her modeling friends -- shallow. It will be interesting to see how everyone behaves when they learn Jun is a girl, but I suspect that after some initial shock, no one will care.

Now that Kaja has agreed that the reason she's still on Earth is because she never confessed to Tenchou AND Jun was the one to lead her to that conclusion, I wonder if the two of them will go back so that Kaja can make that confession. My gut feeling is that this will happen but obviously Kaja won't go away, meaning there's something more to her and Arashi being on Earth over 60-years after WWII.

I did like the conversation in Ark about the trips back to WWII Japan. Hajime has that "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" mentality and Jun has the logical attitude about being in the middle of an air raid -- this is something a sane person would not wish to experience. I can't help but wonder if much of Hajime's bravado is actually cover for his own fears and doubts. I guess we'll find out his true feelings if we go back in time with Arashi and Hajime and bad things happen.

The tedious ending continues with Yayoi and Kanako.Doesn 't SHAFT ever get tired of the same worn out joke routine? Obviously the answer is no because they keep having the same guy beg for salt every episode, sometimes multiple times an episode. Does this guy even appear in the manga?

I was amused at the detective being forced to purchase female undergarments for his client. *lol* I was reminded a bit of a similar moment in Chobits, but at least here, the detective isn't a complete weeny about the issue (even though he clearly doesn't like doing it) and the sales girl is straight to the point in an amusing way.

I also got a laugh when Master confronted Hajime about the broken hishaku, since Arashi had written "Hajime-chan's" on the handle. *lol*

So despite some minor issues, this is still a pretty good episode and a pretty good series.

Even MORE Negima! Chapter 252 SPOILER Images

Man, the Japanese are posting like crazy today. I NEED SLEEP! *lol*



The first images are --> HERE!
The second images are --> HERE!

More Negima! Chapter 252 SPOILER Images

Here is the 2nd batch of images from Negima! chapter 252 (the first batch is --> HERE if you missed it and the 3rd batch is --> HERE.).


Is that Chachazero I see? ^_^


Who's got the biggest sword?


Pactio and a new artifact card? LIKE, WHOA!

And here's an omake image.


There were a whole slew of images posted, but considering how several people asked for the password, I don't think that it was legit. I tried for some time to come up with a combination before I said, "screw it." Then these new ones came out and all is well. ^_^

Negima! Chapter 252 SPOILER Images

Negima! 252 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 252 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 252 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

LIKE, WHOA!

Update: 2nd batch of images are --> HERE!
Update: 3rd batch of images are --> HERE!

Hayate no Gotoku!! - 07

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 07
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Nagi finds herself alone in the mansion and having to make tea by herself while Maria is in disguise at the school to check on Hayate, who hasn't caught on that this is Maria. However, when the elevator has a fault, Hayate realizes who this is and decides to apologize for causing her trouble. A sudden elevator lurch has both on the ground in an awkward position and when the doors open, Hina sees them and is not pleased by this. After leaving the clock tower, Maria tells Hayate that she was worried about him, which makes him cry in happiness. Nagi calls, so Maria is off, telling Hayate to come back to the mansion the following night.

Hayate changes back into his butler's uniform and after school meets with the annoyed Hina. He puts her off her irritation by announcing that he's cooking dinner at Hina's mother's request. So the two head to the supermarket to obtain the ingredients for Hina's two favorite foods -- hamburger steak and non-spicy curry. At Hina's home, Hina decides that she's going to help Hayate cook by making the hamburger steak while Hayate makes the curry. Both sample each other's food and are very impressed. However, while they wait for Katsura-sensei to arrive, Hina tells Hayate to take a bath. He thinks she wants to bathe with him, which was not her intent. However, she takes the opportunity to ask him whom he'd bathe with -- Hina, Ayumu, or Maria. Hayate has no answer but rejects the idea of bathing with Katsura-sensei.

When Hina learns that Hayate doesn't actually have a girlfriend, she's suddenly uncomfortable being alone in the house with Hayate and takes off to get some ice cream. Upon returning home, she encounters Ayumu, who'd gotten lost while chasing a sweet potato vendor. Hina is desperate to keep Ayumu in the dark about Hayate staying with her, but Hayate appears and Ayumu immediately assumes Hina and Hayate are married and flees. Hina chases her and upon catching her, convinced Ayumu to return to Hina's home and spend the night so as to understand the situation. On the way back, they find a kitten and bring it home.

After Hayate leaves to get some kitten supplies, leaving Ayumu and Hina to talk. Hina learns that Hayate had been abandoned by his parents and saddled with a ¥150-million debt. Hina realizes that Hayate has a similar past to her own. When Hayate returns, the kitten uses the bathroom on Hina and causes her to take a bath. She and Ayumu again talk with Ayumu revealing her pathetic strategy for Hayate and her belief that she wouldn't have to do these things if she were as cool as Hina. Hina denies being cool and informs Ayumu that she will root for her.

Thoughts/Review: While it is kind of a throw-away segment, I do miss that Hayate got Wataru up in order to pick out the best stuff for the kitten. Its just a little character development item for Wataru that is also pretty funny since he's so educated on the care of kittens.

Tama got a cameo. He's been sorely missed in the new series IMO. His one role from the unpublished manga that could have been added to the anime was dropped. Now that Shiranui is in the story, we will finally get a Tama story from the manga. I'm looking forward to that. ^_^

I love the friendship between Ayumu and Hina. I've read how people find Ayumu annoying and Hina lacks a spine. I don't see that at all, but admittedly, I'm biased based on having read the manga. Ayumu was there first and she's getting a proper treatment in this anime series, which is good. Her behavior is typical of a teenager who lacks self confidence when dealing with the person they really like. Hina has always been a kind, generous person and despite being very strong and popular, she puts others first. That doesn't mean she doesn't have a spine but it means she's always looking out for others (and that's why she gets so much chocolate at Valentine's Day). I look forward to both Ayumu and Hina getting their stories progressed, though the writers are going to have to compensate for the first series having already given Hina a birthday party (which is so unfortunate).

Not much to analyze, but I can say that I still continue to love this adaptation of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga over the first anime series. To me, it just proves that sticking to the manga story rather than attempting to be clever in going off on your own is the best solution.

"Yakuza hard hit by economic downturn"

Yes friends, even the yakuza are having a tough time during this current recession (which reminds me, whatever happened to the talk of us going into a depression?). Why these guys are forced to resort to petty crimes and to give up the expensive lifestyle because things are tough on everyone. Its such a shame. I've never felt more sorry for a thug in my life. *lol*

Seriously, who writes a sob piece about the yakuza? I suppose the piece could be mocking them, but that's not how it reads to me.

I had one encounter with the yakuza in my life and I'm here to tell you that I and my comrades didn't hang around to see what happened when they arrived at a local bar to help one of their members who got into a fight with some marines. ^_^;

I knew people who had ties with yakuza members though. Playing golf on the American course in Japan was considered a status symbol, so some yakuza and Japanese business men would befriend American servicemen in order to golf there. That's where I learned that the yakuza could get you anything you wanted if you were their friend. It wasn't worth it for me though and I stayed as far from them as I could. ^_^;

So anyway, when you consider how tough you have it, remember that even organized crime in Japan is having it tough too. ^_~

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 07

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 07
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Lust and Gluttony are in East City, having recently left Central City where Lust burns down the First Branch library, thus apparently destroying Dr. Marcoh's research. Gluttony smells Scar nearby and receives permission to consume the man. However, Scar (who's in the sewers) is saved when he notices rats fleeing from Gluttony and in the ensuing short battle with Gluttony and Lust, Scar manages to escape to the disappointment of Gluttony and Lust, who observe the military investigation of their battle scene. Mustang orders Lt. Havoc to have the rubble removed and Scar's body found (since they don't know he escaped).

Back in Central City, Al and Ed are depressed by the loss of the library. Lt. Ross and Sgt. Brosh arrive to relieve Major Armstrong of the task of escorting Ed and Al. They take the brothers to a young woman named Sheska, who worked at the First Branch. Sheska's home is literally filled with books and they find the poor girl buried under a mountain of books. After rescuing her, Ed and Al don't think they can get anywhere with her until she reveals that she has a photographic memory and can reproduce all of Dr. Marcoh's research, since she read it all. Five days later, she produces an impressive amount of papers, but they all appear to be cookbooks. Ed sees the truth of the matter and as a reward, makes arrangements for Sheska to be well paid, enough so that her ill mother can be put into a good hospital.

As Ed and Al pour over the research, they reveal that the cookbook aspect is merely code to hide the alchemy. Their task now is to break that code. Sheska comes to visit them and thank them for what they did for her. When Lt. Col. Hughes arrives lamenting the destruction of the First Branch and valuable documents there, Ed gets Sheska hired by Hughes to recreate those documents. Ed and Al get back to work and after ten days, they unlock the secret of the Philosopher's Stone -- its creation requires human sacrifice. This is devastating news and they make Ross and Brosh promise to keep quite, but Major Armstrong manages to get the information out of them.

After Armstrong reveals that he knows the truth, Ed realizes that they are still missing something. Armstrong produces a map of Central City with the locations of the four alchemical research facilities to try to determine which one the military might be using for Philosopher Stone research. Ed discounts all four and notes a fifth facility that is officially closed. Ed feels that this is the right place because it is right next to the prison, thus human prisoners could be sacrificed in the research. Armstrong forces Ed and Al to promise not to investigate the site as he will quietly do his own investigation. However, Ed and Al go anyway and some "people" inside discover their presence.

Thoughts/Review: As this new series progresses, I find myself completely absorbed into every episode despite having watched the first series. Granted, it has been ages since I watched the first series but knowing story elements has not dampened my enjoyment of the new anime at all.

Again, I believe we have rapid pacing here. I want to say that Sheska's recreation of the papers took the same amount of story time, but this was padded out in the first series. Y'all can correct me if I'm wrong. ^_^; However, I'm fine with that because we received the basic information needed and that's what is really important.

As dark and gruesome as the story is, I really am glad that the humor keeps things from going too dark. Ross and Brosh provided comedy moments by asking the obvious, "Why is Al wearing armor?" question. Also, their shock at the people Al and Ed know added to the comedy as did their encounter with Major Armstrong that forced them to give up the information about the Philosopher's Stone. Of course, Major Armstrong still has all his comedy moments too and it is these moments that counter the horrors going on all around them. It is a nice mixture to be sure.

Sheska (or is it Schiezka like places are saying, though the eye-catch in the episode spelled it "Sheska" -- I'll go with the anime) certainly reminds me of Yomiko Readman from Read or Die when it comes to a love of books and having one's residence packed with them. Their personalities are very different, but the book aspect is identical IMO. I didn't make the cross association with the first anime series because I didn't watch R.O.D. until 2005. Going back again, the association clicked in my mind.

I learned a new honorific today -- "shi." I'm not sure how often this is used in anime, but I'm betting not too frequently. I'll be keeping an ear open for it in future. Nevertheless, I found it interesting that Armstrong referred to Dr. Marcoh as "Marcoh-shi." The "shi" honorific is very formal and generally used by a speaker who knows of the person but has never met them. Armstrong not only met Dr. Marcoh last episode, but my understanding is that Armstrong knew him from the Ishval War. Since honorifics are often used as literary devices in anime or manga, I'm wondering about the choice of this particular honorific.

Good thing Ed has a metal arm and Al is made of metal, eh? I couldn't help but laugh at Al using barbed wire to scale the prison wall.

Speaking of the prison, I certainly remember this from the first anime. Wasn't Tucker in here in the first anime series?

Also, did Mustang mention becoming Fuhrer in the first series?

So more good stuff, even if I have to lag a bit behind most everyone else when blogging it. ^_^;

Fate/stay night - 13

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 13
Fate/stay night episode 13

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Saber is put to bed, leaving Rin and Shirou to talk. Rin won't ask about Saber's Nobel Phantasm but tells Shirou that Saber will disappear if she uses that ability again. Rin spells it out for Shirou -- he either has to supply her with mana (which he can't) or he'll have to order her to consume humans to gain mana. This option is unacceptable to Shirou and he returns to Saber's room. He falls asleep and dreams he sees Saber of the past, the female ruler of Britain. He notes her sword and wakes up.

Shirou checks outside where he finds Archer testing himself, having recovered from Saber's attack. Archer points out that Saber likely was not planning to use her Nobel Phantasm ability at all and that the only reason she did so was because she was trying to protect Shirou. Shirou gets angry at the truth being told to him and takes off to the local park. Ilya finds him there and paralyzes him, putting him to sleep. He awakens in her castle (after having a dream about Saber's sword) where Ilya makes him an offer to become her Servant and to allow Saber to disappear. She's disappointed when he refuses and she promises to kill Saber and Rin no matter what.

Meanwhile, Saber awakens and is very weak but knows Shirou is gone. She comes to Rin about this. Archer figures that Shirou is being held captive since Saber knows he's still alive but that they should not attempt a rescue of someone that dumb. Rin refuses and the two set out to Ilya's castle with Archer invisible in tow. At the castle, Shirou uses his ability to attempt to free himself from the ropes tying him to a chair, causing his eyes to change somewhat and for him to bleed from the mouth somewhat.


Thoughts/Review: Yikes! Ilya is one scary little girl, though maybe not so little if she's been waiting 10-years. That suggests she must have been a master in the last Holy Grail War if she's been waiting that long. Maybe she's the one who caused the destruction and knew that Shirou is the lone survivor of that event. I'm not sure why she would think him special because of that (assuming this is the case at all) nor why she would want him as her Servant when she already has Berserker. Then again, we've had hints that there's more to Shirou than meets the eye and Ilya may well see this better than anyone else.

Speaking of which, we have Shirou getting a glimpse into Saber's past, which is interesting in and of itself. So she's not Arthur but Arturia and treated as a king. I did a look-see and "Arturia" appears to be completely made up for this anime vs. being someone actually from the King Arthur legends. Still, with Shirou seeing her, I'm guessing this is more of his ability. I not with keen interest that he zeroed in on her sword from the past and seemed to think about creating it for Saber. I wonder if that is something he can do considering what Saber and Rin found in the storeroom. Regardless, I'm interested in seeing how the writers resolve Shirou's inability to supply Saber with mana.

Back to Ilya, I'm going to assume she's telling the truth and she had Berserker kill Shinji. I realize that the Master's are important, but with Rider gone, its not like Shinji could summon another Servant, could he? I'm just not sure why kill a Servant-less Master.

Oh, and just how did she get Shirou back to her castle anyway? I somehow can't imagine her having Berserker out in broad daylight for all to see. Then again, he could have been invisible but that still doesn't explain how he'd carry Shirou back without causing a scene.

Well, Rin, Saber, and Archer are almost certainly walking into a trap. Saber is pretty much worthless, which leaves everything to Archer when it comes to dealing with Berserker. Since Saber is a heroine, I'm guessing she'll survive but I wonder if Archer makes it. He could of course, but he's pretty hot-headed, as seen when he talked with Shirou. I like Archer but if this boils down to a "there can be only one" scenario, then for Saber and Shirou to be the winners, everyone else has to lose and possibly die. Since we are at the half-way point and Rider and Shinji are gone, I figure more pieces being removed from the board is in order.

Archer is right about Saber attempting to protect Shirou. Last episode, she had a strategy to take care of Rider without using her ability but Shirou showing up ruined that. Archer pointing this out to Shirou has to make him painfully aware the he's responsible for Saber being a vulnerable target now.

So another very interesting and good episode here. ^_^

Negima! Manga Vol 28 Ch 251 Review ("Negi don't need no stinking sneeze!")

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 28 Chapter 251 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 251

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Nodoka embraces her friend Yue to the shock of Emily and Yue actually manages to say her name. However, Yue claims to not know Nodoka, leading Negi to wonder if this is their Yue or not. When Collet recognizes Negi, Nodoka, and Shiori-Asuna as wanted terrorist, the four Ariadne Knights spring into action to arrest them, encasing Nodoka in a barrier. Negi easily destroys the barrier with his hands and schools Collet and Bea when they try to get him. Emily reports in and gets told by President Seras not to arrest them and to be wary of the Governor of Ostia. Meanwhile, Negi casts an Exarmatio spell, which strips all the girls including Shiori-Asuna and Nodoka down to their panties.

After their clothing is put back on, the two groups head to a cafe to talk. Collet confesses to causing Yue's memory loss and Nodoka is excited to have her friend back. Emily isn't having any of this as Yue is an Ariadne Knight and an exceptional mage. As such, she has no intention of handing Yue over without proof to a group of criminals. Negi produces Yue's master artifact card, which stuns Emily as they are rare. Combine that with the fact that they are connected to President Seras and Emily wants to know who they are, though she feels certain she's seen Negi someplace else other than a wanted poster.

Negi uses his card to make telepathic contact with Yue, where he praises her on what she's done so far. It is too much for Yue, who overloads to the shock of Collet and Emily. They tend to her while Bea tries to keep the accused terrorist Negi at bay. Negi getting close to Yue causes her to snap again but she doesn't remember anything. She asks if she's from the old world, which Negi confirms. She asks if he's the son of the Thousand Master, Nagi Springfield, which Negi confirms. Emily is so shocked by this but as she looks at Negi, she wonders why she didn't realize it sooner. In fact, she recons that Negi could easily be a younger version of "Nagi-sama."

This is interrupted when the Governor-General of Ostia arrives with a boy carrying a sheathed katana and two Megalomesembrian soldiers.

Elsewhere, Setsuna is troubled about spending downtime with the carefree Konoka since she attributes this as being the reason she lost to Tsukuyomi.

Thoughts/Review: The issue of the two badges and Yue being found really wasn't touched, save for an ironic throw away line by Shiori-Asuna. It seems it might not get touched again for a bit with the arrival of the Governor-General of Ostia.

Early on when Shiori-Asuna joined the party and the fact that Asuna had been replaced had not been revealed to us, many folks suspected that Asuna might be a fake because she didn't act quite right. However, in this chapter, Shiori-Asuna says and does things like the real Asuna. I noted this when Negi stripped all the girls accidentally. So her being "unmasked" isn't going to happen anytime soon I wouldn't think. I do think that this chapter sets the table (at least in part) for the future unmasking of Shiori.

I'm glad to see that President Seras stopped Emily's team from arresting Negi, Nodoka, and Shiori-Asuna. In my mind, Seras had to know who Yue was and that's the main reason for her being accepted into the school. Now the question is, why is she warning Emily about the Governor of Ostia?

Again, the concept of an artifact card being a rare item comes up. I know everyone, their brother, and their sister seems to have one with a mage connection but that's because our view is skewed. Frankly, even though they are provisional contracts, the fact that Negi has so many artifact cards is simply astounding. I've touched on this before but while Negi was fighting in the tournament, he was also supplying his team with magic via those cards. We've gotten used to the idea of the battle harem being able to just use their cards on their own, but the power comes from Negi. When you think about it like that, its pretty amazing what Negi has done.

If I'm right about my Nagi=Negi theory, we had another clue marker dropped with Emily noticing that Negi could easily be the younger "Nagi-sama" himself. ^_~ We've had quite a few remarks like this over the life of the manga, including when Negi became "Nagi" for the tournament. ^_^

Negi -- I gave him a ten on flipping Collet and Bea. They had a pretty good landing. *lol* Regarding the stripping, I had hoped the sneeze might return, but it makes more sense to have him cast Exarmatio. Actually, as I've had time to think about it, the sneeze, while being an excuse for Akamatsu-sensei to provide fanservice, was also an early indicator of just how powerful Negi truly is.

The little comedy page at the end cracked me up. Oh, Konoka. *lol* And poor Setsuna fretting over spending fun time with "ojousama" and enjoying some candy/cookie/whatever. *lol*

So a good chapter to be sure -- plot advancement and yet Akamatsu-sensei gets to do what he so loves -- strip underaged girls. ^_^;;;

FUNimation Asks, "Would you like 'Sailor Moon' redubbed?" (Oh, and some other titles too.)

On FUNimation's blog, they are doing a survey to see which anime titles you'd be interested in seeing them license. Among the choices are redub of Sailor Moon. ^_^ I know there has been keen interest in bringing Sailor Moon back to the U.S. since all the rights were pulled from ADV. Now, this doesn't mean FUNimation has the title of course, but it does show their interest in making this happen IF enough of you guys vote for it in the survey. While I'm not a dub fan, I would love to see Sailor Moon unedited and since FUNimation would almost certainly provide me with a subtitle track, it would be all good.


Other titles of personal interest on the list are Toradora! and Hayate the Combat Butler 2nd Season. Considering Bandai licensed the first series (season), it is interesting that FUNimation would try to score it. Then again, Bandai announced a license last July and I don't think anything else has been said about it. I don't think Bandai is doing the subtitles on Crunchyroll for Hayate the Combat Butler 2nd Season.

Urusei Yatsura 115

うる星やつら episode 115 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 115

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Shuutaro goes to see his "ailing" grandfather, who wants Shuutaro to go find the family treasure. This somehow brings Lum, Shinobu, Ataru, and Lum's Stormtroopers around with Ataru sucking up to Shuutaro's grandfather to Shuutaro's annoyance. The group of students set out to the arctic-climate building on the Mendou Estate which houses the Australopolar Octopus (which naively lives at the South Pole) named Matsu-Chiyo, as this octopus has the first clue. Seeing this octopus, Ataru and company end up insulting it greatly and it flees. Shuutaro calls for an estate-wide search.

In the Jungle Dome, Ataru and company encounter lots of animals, including a giant octopus which grabs them all and strips Shinobu of her shirt and bra. Lum is not happy with Ataru and electrocutes the lot of them, which also frees them all. When Shuutaro arrives to help the topless Shinobu, he's attacked by the other guys and then captured by the giant Matsu-Chiyo. Ten-chan discovers a map drawing on the back of the octopus and takes a Polaroid that Ataru promptly steals. Ataru then grabs Shinobu and they are off to find the treasure to the annoyance of Lum and the others.

Ataru and Shinobu find a cave which leads to an abandoned amusement park, complete with rides. When Lum and the others arrive, Megane is distressed to learn that the park was a gift to Shuutaro for his fifth birthday. A ride on the carousel ends when Lum gets jealous over Ataru riding the same horse as Shinobu. Her jolt of electricity turns on the rest of the theme park though and the race is on to the Mirror House. Lum blasts away, destroying the mirrors and revealing Ataru and Shinobu. However, Lum's actions have caused the Ferris Wheel to fall and chase them. Ataru and Shinobu make it to a roller coaster car and are off again, followed by Lum and her boys in a 2nd car. Again, Lum's electric blasts cause problems, this time causing the tunnel for the roller coaster ride to flood.

Eventually, Ataru and Shinobu find a labyrinth and enter, chased by Lum and Ten-chan. Lum flies high overhead while Ten-chan decides to let off some steam and burns his way to Ataru. Unfortunately, Ten-chan also burns the Polaroid but fortunately, there's a sign that points to the Mendou treasure. Shuutaro rejoins the group and their path leads them right back to Shuutaro's grandfather's room. Shuutaro reports they've found no treasure. When asked what the treasure is, Shuutaro's grandfather says it is a mask, the very octopus mask that he's wearing at the moment.

Thoughts/Review: I have to say that this episode made me laugh quite a bit. There's a lot of physical comedy and slapstick moments which work pretty well. Of course the end joke was lame, but we'll let that slide. Regardless, Lum's electrocuting everyone to get at Ataru made me laugh. Ataru somehow ending up running from place to place with Shinobu made me laugh. Ataru using Ten-chan as a flamethrower made me laugh a lot (I still don't like Ten-chan as a character so when he gets used, its funny to me). I hate to say it, but Matsu-Chiyo's giant form stripping Shinobu had to be the funniest moment for me, mainly because the guys suddenly forgot their own peril and start chanting for more "strip-age." ^_^;;; I also had a laugh at everyone's reaction to what the treasure actually was.

Speaking of that, yes there was some nipple moments. This episode would have to be edited for American TV for sure, but when it aired in Japan, Shinobu's toplessness was fine (that kind of thing was a culture shock for me when I first came to Japan way back in the day).

While we are on the subject of Shinobu, she seems to have received a makeover for this episode. She looks very cute and almost unrecognizable at times. I wonder if this is a permanent change or just a one-time thing for this episode.

Regardless, I loved the laughs here. I'm glad the series has improved so much. ^_^

Fate/stay night - 12

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 12
Fate/stay night episode 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Shirou wants to go after Rider and Shinji immediately and gets Saber to agree to this, though Saber cautions Shirou about pushing himself too much as rest is also part of being a warrior. The two talk things over with Rin regarding Rider and her abilities. Saber and Shirou set out, first stopping at Shinji's and Sakura's home, but he's not there. Shirou declines saying anything to Sakura lest she get involved in the war. They head into town and search without success. Late that afternoon, Shirou is exhausted, leading Saber to insist on getting some rest. They stop at a park near where Shirou's old home town was destroyed and Shirou gets an hour's sleep on Saber's lap.

After waking up, Saber asks about the importance of this place and Shirou tells her his story. Saber has an understanding of Shirou's honorable intentions but warns that he may regret this and tells him he has to take better care of himself. The two head back into the city and soon locate Rider in what is obviously a trap. Saber engages Rider on the side of the building while Shirou goes inside to get to the roof to find Shinji. The elevator won't go to the top so Shirou races out to take the stairs, completely missing Ilya and Berserker standing in the shadows.

Shirou emerges to find Saber battling Rider on the roof. Rider is astride the winged horse Pegasus -- a millennial phantasmal creature which is a weakness for Saber. Saber sees Shirou on the roof as does Shinji, who orders Rider kill them both starting with Saber. Saber activates her own Noble Phantasm and produces the sword Excalibur. Launching an energy attack from the sword, Saber takes out Rider, breaking her mask and causing her to disappear. Shinji screams as his book burns and Shirou races to Saber, who's fallen unconscious.

Thoughts/Review: Wow! Some interesting revelations in this episode. First, Saber carries Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur. Please don't tell me that King Arthur turned into the woman Saber for the purposes of the Holy Grail War. Ugh. I think that would make me vomit. *lol* Even if she's not King Arthur, she is somehow linked to that legend. I'm not that well versed in the Arthur legend so I don't know if someone else other than King Arthur had Excalibur.

Then there's Rider riding Pegasus and calling out "Bellerophon." This I did look up and see that Bellerophon was a male hero who along with Pegasus was born from Medusa's head being cut off (if I remember right). So Rider cannot be Bellerophon because why would she call out her own name? (I'm assuming there is a possibility of people from the past coming back to life with a new sex.) Further, Saber ID'd Rider not as a hero type and Bellerophon is a hero in legend. So even though Rider is on Pegasus, this is not Bellerophon. Could this be Medusa then? That might explain Rider's eyes being covered always and instead of snakes for hair, Rider uses those chain weapons like snakes (that may be a stretch). Rider also referred to herself as non-human and Medusa was not human. Just wild speculation on my part based on reading about Bellerophon online. Since Rider is apparently been removed from the playing field, you guys can let me know who she really is.

So, what becomes of Shinji? I guess that in losing, Shirou doesn't get to automatically claim Shinji's remaining Command Spells. What of Sakura, who saw Saber's Noble Phantasm attack from a distance (and mouthed out something)? It just seems like Sakura knows more than we've been shown.

Ilya and Berserker were also at the school. Well, it makes sense to let Saber duke it out with Rider -- one less Servant Ilya will have to deal with and should she choose, Ilya can easily take out the now ultra-weak Saber.

Still, I loved seeing Saber unleashed, even if it is on an inferior Servant like Rider. ^_^ Its about time too.

So more good stuff here. ^_^

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 181 Review

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 181

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Watanuki finds himself in the dark and assumes he is dreaming, but figures it is better than the dream he had been having where Yuuko-san had disappeared. Yuuko-san's voice corrects him and says that this is reality, causing Watanuki to face the voice. He finds Yuuko-san held up by tendrils of darkness. Watanuki finds he cannot move, which Yuuko-san explains as being the result of his being out of time. She reveals that her existence is the result of a wish made long ago and that she should have been gone. For the sake of two worlds, a choice was made and so Yuuko-san is now moving in her own time. Watanuki rejects this since he had no say in the decision that is affecting someone he cares a great deal about. Yuuko-san understands but tells Watanuki that before he was born, she was already dead. Watanuki protests this, citing that he met Yuuko-san and that she helped all sorts of people and non-people. He further cites how he changed because of her and cries, to which she simply says "thank you."

Thoughts/Review: So, how does one see in the pitch dark anyway? Just curious. ^_^

The strangeness continues with Yuuko-san's existence being down to a wish. Over in the corresponding Tsubasa chapter, the wish is explained in greater detail, but to be honest, the explanation just had me shaking my head, mainly because things feel like CLAMP didn't have an end-game plan and when they decided to end Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC, they had to make something up to tie up the loose ends.

Sometimes writers can get away with this kind of writing and I cite the recently-ended remake of the American sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica as an example. They didn't have an ending in mind when Ron Moore started the series up again, but by the end of the third season, he had an ending and subsequently wrote things to move to that end. That left some "what the...?!" moments when some shocking revelations were made, but then as the final season played out, things then fell into place and all was well.

With CLAMP, I sense that a lot of people are going, "WTF?!" as they read xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa. Instead of things naturally falling into place, things just feel forced and the writing feels like, "can we get through with this already?" The fire of when Tsubasa turned dark is gone IMO and the things that made xxxHOLiC so interesting are gone. I think that CLAMP needed to come up with an exit strategy and they did the best they could based on where the story they'd constructed took them.

I will follow this to the end because that's the only way I can fairly assess their stories. We'll see what happens and when this manga will come to an end.

Fate/stay night - 11

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 11
Fate/stay night episode 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After completing three hours of sword training with Saber, Rin grabs him to train by reinforcing the kerosene lamps. Rin finds in the store room a group of solid steel (silver?) objects such as tea kettle, a knife, and what was a bamboo sword. Saber joins Rin and states she was unaware of this ability of Shirou's. Rin too is amazed and frustrated as she believes that Shirou doesn't know his own abilities, but even she had been unaware he was capable of such sorcery.

Meanwhile, Shirou is failing at Rin's tasks when Shinji calls him. Since Shirou has skipped two days of school, Shinji hasn't been able to talk with him and Shinji wants to talk with Shirou alone, making Shirou promise not to tell Rin. Shirou arrives at the school and notices that despite being the middle of the day, no one is around. Immediately, Shirou feels pain as the barrier is erected. Shirou discovers everyone in the school are either unconscious are nearly there when Shinji arrives, boasting of his trap and how he plans to teach Rin who the better person is. He also plans to punish Shirou and Rin for rejecting his alliance offer.

When Shinji admits to possibly killing Fuji-nee, Shirou snaps. He comes after Shinji and is not harmed by Shinji's counterattack. Shinji panics Rider appears. Shinji orders Rider to kill Shirou. She attacks and Shirou is hit in both arms and legs. However, when she goes for the killing blow, her weapon seems to strike metal. Since she cannot kill Shirou with her weapons, she simply kicks him out the nearby window. As he falls, Shirou is upset with himself for not saving anyone and then summons Saber, who flies out of her teleporation gate and catched Shirou before he falls. Shirou instructs her to take on Rider and he'll deal with Shinji.

In the school, Saber and Rider battle while Shirou chases Shinji. Shirou catches his former friend and begins to strangle him, threatening to kill him if Shinji doesn't drop the barrier. Shinji tells Rider to drop the barrier which she reluctantly does. Shirou wants Shinji to give up his command spells and thus be out of the Holy Grail War, when Shinji can then seek refuge at the Kotomine Church. Shinji refuses and Rider comes to his defense, suggesting a retreat. Saber comes up and warns Shirou to get back. Rider stabs herself in the neck and uses her Nobel Phantasm ability to cause herself and Shinji to escape, leaving a massive wake of destruction at the school.

The battle over, authorities arrive to take out the students and teachers, all of whom are reported to be OK. Shirou passes out and is taken home where he dreams of the night of the attack ten years earlier and of his step-father. He wakes up to find Rin attending to him. After thanking her, Rin tells him to thank Saber too since his wounds appear to have been healed by her. Shirou finds Saber meditating in her armor and she's angry by his actions. To her surprise, he apologizes and accepts her as his fighter. However, he won't agree to not fight along side her and she reluctantly accepts this arrangement.

Thoughts/Review: Well now, well now. Finally, Shirou gets a clue, but almost too late as he faces both Rider and Shinji without Saber there. I suppose Shirou only wishes to see the best in people, even one as scummy as Shinji. Still, I loved how when he summoned Saber, she was not only at the ready but literally flew up to grab him mid-fall. Even in her weakened state, Saber is still stronger than Rider, then then I would guess that everyone is stronger than Rider to some degree. And yet Rider has to be drawing mana from the life force of others such as those in the school, right? If that's the case, then she should have more power to draw from and if that's the case, it makes Saber even more impressive as a Servant.

Back to Shirou -- I'm a bit at a loss here. I know that Shirou's ability can strengthen items and even repair them as we've seen this before. However, with the broom, Shirou seems to have transmuted the wooden handle into a metal one -- alchemy. That almost seems to be what Rin describes magic as with the laws of equivalency. If that's Shirou's ability, what has Rin so shocked about the artifacts she found and showed to Saber? Is he literally creating these things from nothing or simply turning established objects into steel? Also, while I know Saber is being credited with Shirou's incredible healing ability, might this also be an ability of Shirou's? After all, if he can repair a heater with his power, why not himself?

So Shirou realizes finally that he can't do this without Saber and promises to have her fight. Of course he's going to fight too, but I like that they both come to an understanding on the subject.

The first hints of romance between Saber and Shirou appear in this episode. Saber surprised me with her desire to wear that one dress because Shirou complimented her wearing it. Then there's the cute but cliched moment where Rin catches them in a moment and they get embarrassed and try to play it off. Rin also seems to have special feelings for Shirou again. ^_^

With Rider and Shinji having escaped, I wonder where they would have fled to. The school was a great HQ for them because Shinji could power Rider that way. I suppose they'll have to go somewhere that contains a lot of people.

BTW, was that Rider who produced wings or was it somehow Saber?

I remember someone remarking on how terrible the animation is for this series at times. There were a lot of still shots, which is surprising considering how popular the eroge seems to have been. I wonder why this didn't get a bigger budget.

Its a shame that I can't watch these faster because if I didn't need sleep, I'd marathon the rest of the series tonight. *lol*

"Japan’s collective breath, already bad, is getting worse."

I do scan Japanese news sites and the like for interesting tidbits, kind of like this article from Japan Today about how stress is causing people's stank-breath to get worse. It was this quote that made me laugh out loud though.

"Japan’s collective breath, already bad, is getting worse."

This is one of those little known secrets about Japan -- people there have some really bad dragon breath. You could start talking with some real hot, idol-looking Japanese girl and then get hit with breath that is so bad, it would dissolve a container of tic-tac's before the candies could reach her mouth. ^_^; You think I'm joking, but it is scary true (though obviously, not for every Japanese person you meet).

I remembered "Mike-san," an older Japanese guy who was our dorm's personal janitor and a really nice guy. We unofficially dubbed as "fish breath." Then there was "Sekia-san," who worked day shift. His breath just made you want to gag at times but otherwise he was a great guy. So bad breath in Japan has long been around.

As to the article, I find the notion of stress increasing one's bad breath a laugh. Yeah, if you smoke more or eat more foods that cause stink and don't brush your teeth, your breath isn't going to be minty-fresh now is it? So in that regard, I guess stress could play a role but otherwise I don't buy it. If it were true, everyone where I work now would have the worst breath on the planet. ^_^;

Fate/stay night - 10

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 10
Fate/stay night episode 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Shirou decides to skip school and train with Saber in the dojo. After two hours of training with shinai, Shirou has yet to land a blow on Saber. Despite this, Saber is impressed with Shirou's efforts. As it is almost lunch time, Shirou takes off to pick up some groceries, taking time to grab some taiyaki. As he goes to leave, Ilya is there to greet "oniichan." He's afraid since Ilya is the master of Berserker, but she assures him that Berserker was left behind as he left Saber behind. She merely wishes to talk and spend time with Shirou, which he eventually agrees to. Shirou learns that Illya is from Germany and she doesn't like the cold. He offers her some taiyaki, which she happily accepts. However, she's unable to finish as she senses Berserker waking up and so she returns to her secluded mansion.

Shirou returns home to make a late lunch and when school is out Rin returns to report that Shinji attempted to make an alliance with her. She turned him down and when Shinji wouldn't take no for an answer, she punched him. After a mishap where Shirou accidentally walks in on Saber before she takes a bath, Rin decides to turn Shirou's magic switch on by having him consume one of her jewels. With this, she hopes that Shirou will be better able to master his reinforcement technique. After their session is done, Shirou takes a break and is interrupted by Archer, who offers some words of advice. Before leaving, Archer is amused with himself for giving advice to an enemy.

Thoughts/Review: Hmmmm, and interesting interlude to say the least. Saber schooling Shirou in the art of fencing was no surprise, nor was her admiration for his progress. I am surprised at Ilya's interest in Shirou though (which I realize some of you have hinted at their special relationship). She went out of her way to warn Shirou about getting a Servant; she didn't kill Shirou when she had the opportunity, and she seeks him out without Berserker to spend some time with him, almost like a younger sister. She does refer to Shirou as "oniichan" (or did until he told her to call him "Shirou") but that doesn't mean a great deal in terms of their relationship. 'Twill be interesting to see what happens there.

Next is Rin. It makes sense that she'd reject Shinji's attempt at an alliance since she'd already rejected his advances on the romantic front earlier. However, I'm always suspicious of the old flashback sequence when it comes to someone like Rin so there's a part of me that wonders if things went down quite as Rin described. Still, Rin does appear to be helping Shirou by turning his magic switch on. I'm guessing that this will help channel what little magic he has into Saber as well as doing other things.

Archer finally made a return, as I figured he would. Granted it was no big leap to guess this since he's been MIA for quite some time and thus was overdue for an appearance. I find it interesting that despite his apparent distaste for Shirou, he is also giving Shirou advice (assuming Shirou decides to listen).

In the end though, Shirou is no better off in fighting prowess than before (or not much better) as I see it. Like it or not, he's going to have to depend on Saber.

More Negima! Chapter 251 SPOILER Images

Here is the 2nd batch of images from Negima! chapter 251.


The bigger images this time. Interesting that the knights allowed Negi to talk (and I'm guessing help restore) Yue's memories.

Additional: OK, I see 2ch had two more images posted later on so I'll add them here.


The first batch of images can be found --> HERE!

Negima! Chapter 251 SPOILER Images

Negima! 251 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 251 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 251 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

Looks like one of the old posters has returned with the small spoiler images rather than several full-sized ones. We may get some of those later today or not. Either way, I'll keep an eye open.

Additional: The 2nd batch of images can be found --> HERE!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 06

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 06
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After being seen off by Lt. Col. Hughes, Al, Ed, and Major Armstrong leave Central City for Resembool. On a stop, Armstrong sees and older man he identifies as Dr. Marcoh. The man runs off and when Ed learns that Dr. Marcoh was a a medical alchemist during the Ishbal War, Ed wants to talk to the man. In town, they learn that the man is known as "Mauro-sensei" and they soon locate him at his house. He holds them off with a gun until Armstrong forces his way in. Dr. Marcoh is stunned to learn that Ed is a State Alchemist and he shows off a gel substance he calls "The Philosopher's Stone," "The Heavenly Stone," "The Great Elixir," "The Red Tincture," and "The Fifth Element." He acknowledges this substance showed its power during the war and he refuses to allow Ed and Al to get his research no matter what, calling the Philosopher's Stone "evil." After they leave, Dr. Marcoh has a change of heart and catches the trio at the station. He gives Ed the location of his research in Central City and they leave on the train. The doctor returns home to find Lust waiting for him.

At Resembool, they are greeted by the Pinako Rockbell (Winry's grandmother) followed by Winry herself. Winry is horrified at what has been done to her precious automail but agrees to build Ed a new arm. Pinako decides to adjust Ed's automail leg since Ed has grown just a bit. For three days and nights, Winry works hard at building Ed a completely new arm. During this time, Ed pays his mother's grave a visit as well as his old home, which he and Al burned before setting out to become a State Alchemist. At the end of that period, Ed's new arm and adjusted leg are reattached and good as new. Once this is accomplished, Ed then is able to reform Al's armor back into a whole piece, something he does to preserve the seal that keeps Al's soul in the armor. The following morning, Ed, Al, and Armstrong leave with Ed and Al promising to return for a meal.

Thoughts/Review: I found it interesting how the Japanese used the western honorific-title "Doctor" for Dr. Marcoh and then had him change his title to the Japanese "sensei" (which can be used for a number of professions including authors, lawyers, doctors, and teachers). So in becoming "Mauro-sensei," Dr. Marcoh actually provides himself with a layer of extra anonymity because the title "sensei" doesn't automatically equate to "doctor." For the community Dr. Marcoh currently lives in, "Mauro-sensei" is a doctor and he can still practice medicine. I'd bet that this is how he managed to stay hidden for so long from the authorities (whom I would think would be looking for him). Obviously, it wasn't perfect since Lust also found him.

I do remember this story from the first series (both the "Dr. Marcoh" aspect and the coming home aspect). I want to say that this was two episodes in the original anime series, but I don't remember for sure. Those of you who remember, feel free to let me know in the comments. Also, how is this story compared to the manga. I'm always interested in this.

When Ed and Al's father is mentioned, I keep thinking of his role in the first anime series and I do wonder what kind of role he'll have (if any) in this series.

On the somewhat disturbing front, is it me or have they made Winry look a bit more sexy than before? ^_^;;;

Armstrong's shirtless comedy routine and hugging isn't making me laugh as it once did. I still smile and shake my head whenever I see it though. I wonder if I'm just tired of the joke or what? ^_^; No, don't get me wrong -- it wouldn't be Major Armstrong without that need of his to take off his shirt and sparkle for a bit. *lol*

So, things keep moving along at a decent clip here. While I am certainly enjoying the anime, it will pick up for me once it starts entering new territory that will allow me to analyze things better. ^_^

Fate/stay night - 09

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 09
Fate/stay night episode 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Saber faces her opponent, the Servant "Assassin" who was known as SASAKU Kojirou. Saber feels duty bound to give her real name as well, but Assassin is not interested. They exchange blows and while Assassin is able to counter Saber, he is not able to land a blow on her. To her amazement, he is able to determine the size of her invisible sword though and he accuses her of holding back. He decides to unleash an attack on her -- Hiken Tsubame-Gaeshi. Saber just manages to elude the three-slash attack and identify it to Assassin's delight, though he states his poor footing aided her in escaping the third slash.

Meanwhile, Rider uses Saber's fight with Assassin as cover to make an entrance to the temple where she finds herself under attack from skeletal warriors. Rider then encounters the witch, who remarks on Rider's using Saber as a diversion. Their fight is interrupted when Saber decides to unleash on Assassin, causing typhoon-like winds (and energy?) to affect a wide area. Rider uses the distraction to flee. Shirou, who'd waken up with pain and discovered Saber missing, arrives at the temple and can't make his way up the steps of the temple grounds. Assassin and Saber sense a third Servant, aborting Saber's attack. Assassin returns to the temple gates, remarking that if Saber wants to continue the fight, she'll have to come into the temple grounds.

Shirou makes it up to Saber just as her armor vanishes and she falls back unconscious where Shirou catches her. He carries her home where he's met by Rin, who teases him about his holding Saber. Rin takes Saber back to her room and instructs Shirou to make tea. Shirou does this and soon is joined by Rin and Saber, who has recovered. Shirou and Saber get into an argument over her going to battle on her own. Rin ends up explaining that Shirou just doesn't want anyone, including Saber, hurt which is why he gets involved in the fights. Hearing this, Saber decides to train Shirou on sword fighting in exchange for her listening to his opinions. Rin objects, citing the fact that Shirou still couldn't defeat a Servant. Saber replies that if Shirou is going to get involved, he may as well know how to fight.

Thoughts/Review: Saber's actions are not only irrational but also illogical. She knows that she has limited mana coming from Shirou, so even though the other Servants need to be defeated, what point is there in fighting at less than 100%? Granted, the knightly thing to do is to meet your enemy face-to-face no matter what the circumstances, so I suppose that explains her actions. However, that is a mindset that is difficult for me to get around because the intelligent thing to do is to plan a strategy and follow certain tactics. I guess I've played too many strategy games.

Speaking of illogical, there's the somewhat annoying tripe coming from Shirou's mouth. I understand him not wanting Saber to be hurt and I appreciate that. However, he goes a bit beyond this by not wanting Saber to fight at all when she's a powerful warrior. Logically, he should be trying to figure out a way to increase Saber's mana in an ethical and "lawful good" manner (since Saber is a knight). Saber training Shirou to fight will be interesting though. I do look forward to that.

As expected, Shinji did feed the information to Shirou, knowing that Saber would likely be used (though I bet that Shinji expected Shirou to send Saber and not Saber to rebel and go out). Still, who is this witch? She's very powerful to take on a Servant. She handled Rider pretty easily and she's more than a witch if she has skeletal warriors at her beck-and-call.

As to Assassin, I really don't have much to say there yet other than I'm reminded that I need to write an article on a certain 1980 mini-series from the U.S.. *lol*

So I got my Saber goodness to a limited degree and now I guess it is soon time for Archer to make a return. I'd love to see Saber and Archer team up, backed up by Rin (who's guarded by Shirou). ^_^

Natsu no Arashi! - 06

夏のあらし！ Episode 06
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Jun talks with Kaja about the time period they are from, showing her the research she's done on the subject. Jun tells Kaja that she won't help Kaja by forming a connection with her. Kaja, thinking Jun is a boy, assures Jun that since Kaja can only connect with girls, Jun is safe. However, when Kaja grabs Jun, they connect and disappear in front of Master. Arashi and Hajime return from the past to find Master in a state of shock. When Master reports what she witnessed, Arashi and Hajime are stunned.

Jun and Kaja arrive in 1945 Japan in the dining area of Ark. Since Kaja only connects with girls, she asks why Jun is disguised as a boy. They are interrupted when "Tenchou" arrives. A cop also arrives, having received a report of a light in Ark and initially is going to arrest Kaja as a spy since she's a foreigner. However, Tenchou tells the officer he knows the girl and that she's German. For the sake of the alliance and Tenchou's bad leg, the officer agrees to let the matter drop but warns them to keep the lights out.

As Tenchou serves them some tea in the dark, Jun realizes that Kaja and Tenchou are in love with each other. When Tenchou offers to take them home, Kaja agrees and they walk through a cherry orchard to see the sakura in bloom. Jun tries to give them space for their love but Kaja insists Jun stay close. Further, half-way through the orchard, Kaja tells Tenchou that they must part. Once he's gone, Jun demands to know why Kaja is acting this way to a guy she obviously loves. Kaja is afraid of changing history and knows that Tenchou will die in one month due to an air raid. For over sixty years, Kaja has let the man she loves die, something Jun cannot understand.

The air raid sirens go off, so Kaja and Jun hurriedly return to Ark, which was not bombed during the war, thus making it the safest place in Japan. However, Tenchou is not there and Kaja realizes she's changed the past. Despite Jun's terrified pleas, Kaja leaves to save Tenchou and reluctantly Jun follows. Jun has a severe panic attack as the bombs fall all around but Kaja snaps her back to reality. They find Tenchou at his parents house where Kaja assures him that they are safe. He's not sure since she won't explain exactly how she knows. Jun gets angry with both of them for foolishly risking their lives at this time. However, the fires from the bombs have the trio surrounded. Arashi and Hajime arrive with fire extinguishers, having seen Jun's research and realizing where Kaja and Jun went. They provide a means of escape and they all return to the present.

Thoughts/Review: I don't like SHAFT's over-stylized form of storytelling, but in this episode, the panic Jun experienced as the bombs fell and the air raid sirens wailed seemed well expressed with the over-stylized method. I still don't like SHAFT's over-stylized presentations everywhere else in the anime and I wish they'd stop but I know that's not going to happen. At here it worked because it did portray feelings of panic, terror, and helplessness pretty well.

Again, I couldn't help but feel just a sliver of terror that it must feel like when being bombed. I think back to other comedy shows like the British comedy Are You Being Served? where there were several jokes about Great Britain being bombed during World War II. Obviously, that doesn't give one a feel for what it was truly like. Next is the Doctor Who episode (from the 1st season of the new series) where the Doctor and his companion Rose go to WWII Great Britain and are almost immediately caught in an air raid by German bombers. There too, while one got a feel for the terrible beauty of squadrons of bombers flying overhead and dropping their loads, I never really felt the terror of being in an air raid. So kudos to SHAFT for twice giving me a glimpse into that experience.

I did note the almost bitter remark about civilian casualties in this episode. I couldn't help but think about today where if a civilian gets scratch during a bombing run or a fire fight, there are people screaming for war crimes trials to start and the gallows to be constructed. Heck, lying sacks of {blank} who can beat women for shopping too much or execute them for getting to close to a man not their husband or family can claim that massive civilian deaths occurred as a result of American actions when those very people may have accidentally (or on purpose if they used them as human shields) killed those civilians.

My point is that war is hell. We didn't attack Japan first during WWII -- they bombed the crap out of Pearl Harbor. Japan for a long time kicked America's butt in the Pacific until America could turn its full attention to the region, at which point the bombs rained down all over Japan. War is not a nice thing and people die, that includes civilians (unfortunately). So the bitter remark on the part of the writers may be a commentary on what they saw as American slaughter of innocent Japanese, but from the American perspective, those people were just as much part of the Japanese war effort and you destroy the enemy's resources including human ones.

OK, I'm done now. I guess the fact that both of my grandfathers served in WWII and that I did so much research on WWII during my school days make me get a bit passionate on the subject. ^_^;

Now this brings me around to Arashi's mission to save people in the past and apparently change history while Kaja goes back to the past but instead does nothing. I can't imagine going back to the past, falling in love with a girl, and then letting her die over and over and over again during a 60+ year period. Apparently, Kaja has been doing just that with her love from 1945 -- a previous owner of Ark. Kaja is scared of changing history while Arashi is determined to change things. I wonder what will become of all this?

Two interesting secrets were revealed this time around, as we knew they would be from the first episode. Kaja discovers that Jun is a girl (since she can only connect with girls in order to time travel) and Master discovers that Kaja has special powers. I can't remember, but does Arashi know that Kaja can only connect with girls? If so, she'd know that Jun is female but I doubt she'd ever say anything. Regardless, we still don't know exactly why Jun is filling the role of "reverse trap" and pretending to be a boy.

So another good episode in spite of SHAFT's presentation style and that stupid short at the end of the episode which wearies me so. I'm going to have to try to read the manga at some point.

Another Live-Action Anime Title -- Bubblegum Crisis

The stream of live-action adaptations of anime titles continues, this time the old-school Bubblegum Crisis is on the table (Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 being the reboot, but I don't think it is being considered).


I knew of Bubblegum Crisis when I was in Japan and I'm sure saw a few episodes raw thanks to my buddy Robert. After I got into anime in 2002, I did watch Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 and loved it, so I went back to see the original Bubblegum Crisis and didn't care for it so much story-wise.

Regardless, I'll keep an eye open on this project because in the hands of good writers, it could be OK. I would rather have the 2040 story but the writers may decide to do their own. We'll see.

(source)

Fate/stay night - 08

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 08
Fate/stay night episode 08

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Shinji (with Rider behind him) and Shirou talk about the Holy Grail War. Shinji denies being the one causing all of the unconscious people. He explains that the force field at the school is designed to protect him since he has no interest in fighting. He proposes an alliance with Shirou to take out Rin. Since Shirou has already agreed to an alliance of sorts with Rin, he rejects the alliance. In order to prove his sincerity, Shinji informs Shirou of a witch at the local temple which is where Issei lives and suggests this is where the source of the unconscious people.

Shirou is escorted out of the school grounds by Rider, who cautions Shirou about taking on the witch alone and comments on Shirou being good natured. On his way home, Shirou encounters Issei, who confirms that a beautiful, new woman waiting to be married was taken in by the head priest. Shirou comes home to find Rin and an irritated Saber waiting for him. Rin has decided to move in since they are working together and this will make matters easier. Shirou briefs the two on Shinji being a Master and his news of the witch at the temple. Saber wants to attack immediately, but Shirou forbids it since there is surely a trap laid there. This does not please Saber, nor does Shirou's refusal to allow her to sleep in his room.

Trouble starts when Sakura and Fujimura-sensei arrive. Sakura is not happy that Rin is there, but decides not to flee and to make dinner for Shirou as usual. Fujimura-sensei is not happy that Shirou is housing yet another girl and she's determined to not allow two students from her school to sleep under the same roof. Rin ends up taking Fujimura-sensei down by stating that her own place is undergoing renovations and that Shirou had graciously offered up his place when she had planned to get a hotel room. After dinner, Shirou apologizes to Sakura for the messy situation before she leaves. Saber again wants to attack the witch but again Shirou forbids it. However, after he's asleep, Saber decides to go out on her own and attack.

Thoughts/Review: The pseudo-harem comedy continues now that Rin has moved in with Shirou. I really do feel badly for Sakura. For starters, her (missing) brother is also a Master and after who knows how long of taking care of Shirou, suddenly she has rivals from Saber and Rin. At the same time, I can't help but wonder if she too is a Master or otherwise involved in the Holy Grail War, only from a different aspect. She may be nothing more than she seem -- a sweet girl who's sweet on Shirou. If she is, will she learn the truth of things? Why isn't she upset over her "missing" brother?

Shinji is pretty slimy. To me, it seems obvious that Shinji had Ayako consumed (which as an aside, will she recover?) but he sends Shirou after this "witch" that's apparently camped out at the temple. Since we've already seen how Shinji can manipulate Shirou, it seems clear that Shinji wants Shirou to do his dirty work. I have to say that I was somewhat surprised that Shirou actually came clean to Rin and Saber regarding Shinji, especially since he'd hidden the truth for so long (or rather what he suspected). I suppose that Shinji would have to count on Shirou doing this and sending Saber into the fray.

Saber's act of disobedience is not surprising. I've noted the lack of Saber action and since Shirou has been set up as the cautious type, in order to get some Saber goodness, she has to disobey. The obvious outcome of her disobedience is that she'll be schooled by the Servant at the temple and need to be rescued by Shirou, Rin, and Archer. Since we are overdue for some Archer action, I suppose it is time for him to show up. I wonder if Shirou will be forced to use one of his command spells.

Speaking of overdue, what's Ilya's hold up? One would think that she'd try to take out Rin or Shirou again but that hasn't happened. Then again, she did show restraint when she first encountered Shirou, so maybe she's not quite as ruthless as portrayed.

So, another interesting episode with fun and some intrigue as well as table setting for some Saber action. I look forward to it.

Negima! Manga Vol 28 Ch 250 Review (Houston , we have a story problem.)

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 28 Chapter 250 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 250

Summary/Synopsis: Negi and Kotaro return to their normal size and are greeted by Nodoka, Konoka, and Shiori-Asuna whereby Konoka gives some lovin' to Negi. Then Akira, Yuuna, Ako, and Makie arrive and after seeing how Ako and Negi act around each other, Makie suddenly realizes that the Nagi Ako was in love with is in fact Negi. Chisame reports that the scout team is back and sure enough, Setsuna, Sayo, Kaede, Paru, Ku Fei, Asakura, and Chachamaru have returned. Konoka gives some lovin' to Setsuna while the others have a meeting.

At the meeting, thanks to Asakura's artifact and Sayo's lack of a presence due to her being a ghost, a lot of information has been gathered including the location of the last gateport and two Ala Alba badges coming from what Sayo determined was Fate's hideout after she scouted it out and seeing his girls there. Everyone assumes that the badges must be coming from Yue and Anya and Negi wonders if they were caught earlier and their target is actually Asuna. Negi decides that the group will avoid battle and go for a secret rescue mission to save Yue and Anya, get to the desert gateport, and return to Earth.

Haru praises Negi for his fight, which she and the scout team watched on video. Kaede, Setsuna, and Chachamaru all praise Negi as well.

Yue and Emily are walking and talking with Emily all happy about "Nagi-sama." When Yue suggests that Nagi may have gotten married, Emily angrily rejects this. Yue agrees but thinks about how her Orbis Sensualium Pictus obtained information Megalosembria Secret Data Level and that revealed that Nagi did have a 10-year old son named Negi but no picture. The name on her artifact card says "Negi" and the most wanted has a "Negi" which could only mean one thing.

Negi, Shiori-Asuna, and Nodoka walk and talk about Anya and Yue when Nodoka sees Yue and Emily.

Back outside Paru's ship, Haru begins her pactio pitch to Yuuna, Ako, Akira, Makie, Ku Fei, Chachamaru, Sayo, and Natsumi. She tells them how it will help protect them but also tells them that they have to perform a "deep kiss." Paru and Chamo give Natsumi a pass on getting a pactio with Negi and laugh, leading Natsumi to ask what that's about.

Thoughts/Review: It is a small thing, but when the scout team returned, why was Chachamaru the only one still small?

Next, I had to laugh at Paru's latest attempt to obtain more pactios. Chamo knows he scored big when Paru joined the battle harem. *lol* Question is, will they manage to pactio everyone to Negi? I note that Sayo and Chachamaru were in the meeting and despite what both said previously, I still think it is possible for them to form a pactio with Negi. The teasing of Natsumi aside, I think that she could score one as well. I'd bet on a sure-fire Ako and Makie pactio though. Why? Because Akamatsu-sensei LONG ago designed pactio cards for them and hasn't been able to create them in the story. He showed long ago that he imagined that Makie would be a member of Negi's battle harem (volume 3 I believe, but I'd have to go to my library and as I write this, I'm out of town) with a chapter-intro image showing Negi and his various weapons, including (non-detailed) pactio cards with names on them. It will be interesting to see if these pactios happen sooner rather than later.

However, now I'd like to move right on down to what appears to be a rather nasty story problem. In chapter 229, Negi meets Yue and even lands on her broom, thus there is no way in the world that he should not know about Yue. Up until now, I attributed Negi's lack of going after Yue as two-fold. First, Yue is in a safe place among the knights and is in a possition to help Negi if needed by coughing up information or by providing cover for Ala Alba. This leads to the second item, whereby Negi can now focus on training to beat Jack and free the slaves while the scout team look for Anya.

In chapter 236, the scout team are shown on their mission. So for the scout team to be looking for Yue and Anya, that means that Negi did not tell them about meeting Yue. At the time, I didn't think anything of this beyond Negi deciding to keep the information private to help protect Yue. Now I wonder.

So, what the smeg is going on? Why is Negi acting like the 2nd badge is surely from Yue and Anya when he KNOWS that Yue is not down there. Why isn't he questioning this in his mind -- why two badges?

I would say that Negi is keeping things close to his vest so as not to alert Shiori-Asuna that he knows she's a fake. However, his thought bubbles suggest that he doesn't know. After all, if he already knew that Asuna had been replaced, he wouldn't think Asuna was a target. Likewise, if Negi thought Asuna was simply compromised somehow by Fate and not replaced, would he still be worried as much about her being a target?

Things don't add up for me and with Nodoka seeing Yue (while with Shiori-Asuna and Negi) and vice versa, I would surmise that we'll have some better understanding of what Akamatsu-sensei has in mind. I can't say that what is going on is a retcon yet because it may not be at all. However, if Yue doesn't recognize Negi and Negi doesn't remember meeting Yue, then I will be sorely disappointed in Akamatsu-sensei because then we will have a retcon for sure.

Pai Check! (Vandread Image)

I just recently finished rewatching Vandread 2nd Stage and am getting ready to write a "Back to the Vaults" article on it. As I was cruising my images though, I noticed one I'd saved of Pai, the young medic who went around with the frog puppet and took notes and pictures for her "Pai check!" gossip stuff. *lol* So, I thought I'd share it with y'all. ^_^


Where's her frog, kero?! *lol*

Fate/stay night - 07

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 07
Fate/stay night episode 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Saber confronts Shirou about his confrontation with Rider and the fact that he did not summon her. She also does not like it that he has partnered up with an enemy – Rin. He tries to play down her concerns and Saber does agree that a partnership with Rin does afford Shirou an opportunity to learn more. After a large breakfast, she plans to accompany he and Sakura to school. Before they can leave, they discover Rin there, who's planning on talking with her new partner. Sakura is distressed by Rin's appearance and hurriedly leaves for school. Since Rin is there, Saber is convinced to stay home.

Upon entering the school grounds, Shirou has a terrible feeling that Rin believes is coming from the barrier. Shirou agrees to meet her on the roof at noon to plan a course of action. When noon comes, Shirou sees Sakura and decides to clear the air with her. Upon doing this, an annoyed Rin shows up to remind Shirou of their meeting. They head to the roof where Rin states that they will be unable to lower the barrier but they will be able to weaken it, likening their actions to adding cold water to a pot of near-boiling water. After school, Shirou uses his ability to sense out the spell spots for the barrier and Rin deactivates them.

Once the job is done Rin and Shirou have a canned coffee before Rin goes home. After she's gone, Shirou gets a sense of something wrong and returns to the school. He goes to the one building that he and Rin did not enter and discovers a large magic circle on the wall. Rider appears as does Shinji, who orders Rider back. Shinji then suggest that he and Shirou play, something they haven't done in a long time.

Thoughts/Review: Obviously, I was reading too much into things last episode as it does appear that Shinji is Rider's master, seeing as how Ayako was found comatose. So how does Sakura fit into the equation, if at all? One would think she'd be more upset over her brother's apparent disappearance but she shows no sign of that.

While I'm thinking of it, how could Rin and Shirou be so blind as to miss the biggest place as to the source of the school barrier? Yeah, yeah – a plot device. However, this is a case where logic fails in the story writing IMO. We'll see how things pan out next episode though. Still, I did like how well they worked together in clearing the spell points for the barrier.

Getting back to Sakura, this episode has her playing the role of “I'm so in love with Senpai” and getting upset about Rin stopping by to visit that morning. Then Shirou has to play the nice guy bit to assure her that there's nothing going on between him and Rin. The whole thing is fairly clichéd and it made me wonder why Fujimura doesn't make more of an issue of Sakura doting on Shirou so much. I guess that a free meal is good enough to buy her off or Sakura has confessed her feelings for Shirou to Fujimura but has decided not to act on them. I guess we'll find out more as time goes on.

I'm somewhat surprised at how little we've seen Archer or Saber when it comes to action. Saber is more understandable since Shirou is so weak. However, Rin can bring Archer forward at any time without using a command spell, so why isn't Archer being used more? I figure it can't be too much longer before Shirou will be forced to use a command spell and summon Saber though.

Despite a few minor story flaws, I still like what I'm seeing overall. ^_^

Urusei Yatsura 114

うる星やつら episode 114 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 114

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ten-chan sees a young girl on a roof, apparently about to commit suicide. When she steps off from the roof, Ten-chan is amazed to find himself passing through her. She introduces herself as Kotori and is apparently eager to see her uncle's new puppies. She'd been in a hospital and had wanted to see and hold the new puppies, but she died. Ten-chan promises to help her providing she plays with him and she agrees. She thinks she spots her uncle's home, but it turns out to be an office building with a lot of cubical workers. Eventually, they wind up at Ataru and Lum's school, where they learn the story of Kotori along with Sakura-sensei. With the information Kotori gives the class, they plan a search for Kotori's uncle's house so she can hold the puppies and go to heaven despite Onsen-sensei's objection to their leaving class.

As the search progresses, Ten-chan is wanting to play rather than look for puppies but does come around. When they find Kotori's uncle's house, the woman says that the three puppies have been given away. She provides them the addresses and so the group goes to the first location. Unfortunately, due to Kotori being a ghost, she's unable to touch the puppies. Ten-chan offers his body as a means of giving Kotori physical form so she can hug the puppies. She agrees and after taking possession, Ataru and Shuutaro note that instead of hugging the puppies, it looks like they are sumo wrestling. With each puppy, Cherry declares the puppy the winner.

With the arrival of night, all puppies have been visited and it is time for Kotori to go to heaven. Ten-chan is upset that they didn't get to play and doesn't want her to leave. She has no choice but promises presents over the next seven nights. Ten-chan cries but waits on the roof with Lum, Ataru, and Kotastu-neko. They see a falling star, so Ataru tells Ten-chan to make a wish. Ten-chan wishes to see Kotori as Ataru and Lum notice the shooting star is getting closer. It is a large meteor which Kotatsu-neko manages to catch. On it is written an thank you note from Kotori. Ataru demands that Ten-chan refuse this if these are the kinds of gifts Kotori is giving.

Thoughts/Review: This is a bit of a strange episode that tugs at different emotions. For starters, the death of a child is always sad and it was made more so by the fact that Kotori so wanted to live just to hold the puppies. However, the flashback sequence showing this had the doctor wear a noh mask which I didn't understand (I'm sure there's a cultural reference there). With the tragedy of Kotori's death then came the hilarity of the possessed Ten-chan in sumo matches with the puppies. So both ends of the spectrum get covered on emotions.

Ataru hitting on Kotori was freaky, even though he had the excuse of, "well I'm just trying to get her information." Of course, he immediately asks if Kotomi has any older sisters as the punch line to the gag. This is the second time that Ataru has asked a very young girl for her name and telephone number in a manner which could be described as hitting on the girl. Just really creepy and freaky, even if there was some humor tied to it all.

Ten-chan still annoys me as a character. It is a shame that Ataru didn't get one whack on him though Ataru took a burning. Oh well.

Now down to 80 (or so) episodes, not to mention the various movies and OVA's. ^_^;

Hayate no Gotoku!! 06

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 06
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Since Hayate saw Nagi naked, she is too embarrassed to have him in the house, so Maria gives Hayate ¥1-million to take off for three nights. Despite protesting it is too much, Maria sends him off anyway and Hayate vows to spend the money wisely. Immediately, he runs into Katsura-sensei, Himuro, and Sister Sonia -- all known money hogs. To escape, Hayate throws his coat with ¥100,000 in it for them to chase. However, Hayate doesn't get far before he discovers that there are many people who need money and soon he has given them all his cash, leaving him coatless in the cold at the same park vending machine location where he met Nagi.

It is here that Hina finds him and invites him over to her place. There, her mother is all excited over Hayate staying and while taking a bath, Hayate finds himself thinking about Hina bathing in the same tub. Upon discovering that Hayate has no place to stay for the next few nights, Hina's mother invites him to spend the night. Hina shows him to Katsura-sensei's old room in the guest house. Hina learns that Hayate trains physically but is also studying as well. She checks his homework and finds mistakes. However, her mind keeps wandering to the question of whether Hayate is dating Ayumu. She gets frustrated and leaves, causing Hayate to think that he has to study more or he's going to fail.

At breakfast the next morning, Hina's mother assures Hayate that it is OK to spend the night again. Hina and Hayate go to school where they encounter Miki in the student council room of the clock tower. Hina tells Hayate not to let anyone know he's staying at her place and Miki is curious to know why Hayate is not in his butler's uniform. Meanwhile, Maria has discovered that Hayate is broke after all the people he lent the money to return it. She calls him but is concerned when he makes an excuse and hangs up. So he puts on her old seifuku from Hayate and Nagi's school and decides to pay a visit in disguise to make sure all is well.

Thoughts/Review: Not that it mattered, but I was a tiny bit disappointed that the mahjong game was cut. In the manga, Himuro sensed that Hayate had the million yen and with Sister Sonia and Katsura-sensei there as well, a mahjong game seemed Hayate's way of escaping with his money since he had vast experience with the game. Unfortunately, the others proved quite skilled too, so he left his jacket behind with about ¥50,000 with the excuse that he was simply going to the bathroom. I guess that since gambling is not legal in Japan, the anime couldn't get away with showing it and did what they could.

The other tiny disappointment was Hayate changing in the student council chambers, not realizing that Miki was there.

Those are, however, very minor issues. Seriously, this anime adaptation has really rocked and the writers are compensating for the fact that the first series has taken stories from volume 8 already (which is where this episode originate from) such as the fishing story. Its fun seeing Hina explore her feelings for Hayate and thankfully next episode has Ayumu return to the mix. ^_^

Fate/stay night - 06

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 06
Fate/stay night episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Rin's attack inside the classroom eventually forces Shirou out. She demands he hand over his three command spells or die. He refuses but before Rin can act, a girl screaming is hear. Shirou leaves to find the source followed by Rin. They find an unconscious student on the floor, whom Rin says has had her life energy drained in order to give a Servant more power. Rin says she can help. She requests Shirou close the door when a thrown spear emerges. Shirou has it stab his arm rather than hit Rin, the intended target. The sort spear disappears and Shirou asks Rin to heal the girl while he deals with this threat.

Shirou thinks he hears Shinji and soon discovers a Servant with a chain in the nearby woods. She attacks Shirou and he's able to fend her off for a bit. The Servant is interested that Shirou won't use a command spell to summon Saber. Shirou figures that this Servant must be a weaker class, so she decides to prove him wrong and reveals that the spear is still embedded in his arm and attached to a chain. She uses this to have Shirou hanging from a tree. As he tries to free himself, the Servant moves in for the kill, only to be attacked by Rin, who manages to cut the chain connecting Shirou to the Servant.

Rin gets Shirou safely to her home after bandaging him up. His injury is mostly healed, which amazes Rin. She cautions Shirou about this as if Shirou is taking mana from Saber, he is weakening her. Rin makes a truce offer to Shirou to find this Master of “Rider,” the Servant that attacked them earlier. She warns him that this is not an alliance but as Shirou says, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” She orders Archer to escort Shirou safely home. Along the way there, Archer asks Shirou if he truly intends to win the Holy Grail War without killing anyone. Archer challenges Shirou on whether his actions in not summoning Saber would be what she wants. Shirou looks in on Saber, who's gone to bed for the night. However, she knows he's there and remarks that she's glad he made it back safely. Shirou has much to think about now.

Thoughts/Review: I had previously wondered how the fight between Rin and Shirou would be resolved without one taking out the other. I liked how this truce has been arranged because it is logical – teaming up with Shirou and Saber means that it will be two Master-Servants vs. Rider and her Master. Once this tough opponent is removed, then Rin can dispatch Shirou. I still don't know why she had the reaction she did to Shirou in the first episode. I still want to say that she has feelings for him on some level which is why she doesn't go all out when fighting Shirou.

Shirou is acting pretty cocky and as such, he's now officially due for a major butt kicking. However, he's basically been killed twice before so I don't know what good a boot to his rear would do. I understand him wanting to protect people, but Saber is there to fight so why not use her and have her register at school so as to be near Shirou? It makes sense for him not to use a command spell unless it is an absolute emergency so I don't fault him there.

It seems fairly obvious that Shinji is the Master of Rider, but I'm not exactly sure. After all, why have Ayako there too? It is possible that despite her comatose look, she's the actual Master. That might be a stretch and I might be looking to hard, but the writer in me is always looking for the misdirect in a situation like this.

So an interesting turn of events but not enough Saber goodness thus far. ^_^;

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari - 01 (Tenchi's Half-Brother Takes Center Stage)

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari OVA Ep. 01
異世界の聖機師物語 OAV Episode 01 (Pay Per View version)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The flying palace containing Princess Lashara comes under attack by a white bio-mecha unit -- a seikijin. The seikijin is odd because it is solid white but it is a threat to the princess, so her seikijin pilot, Chiaia, gets into her own bio-mecha unit to meet this threat. As Chiaia battles, she's amazed that the pilot is using an unorthodox fighting style. However, a second seikijin has penetrated the palace determined to kill Lashara. This seikijin's attack is thwarted by another, unexpected seikijin piloted by Lashara's talented mechanic Wahanly. Their fight takes them out of the palace where Chiaia realizes she's fighting the decoy.

Wahanly unleashes a new weapon she's created -- a cannon -- which does incredible damage to the 2nd seikijin's body. Another rare seikijin in black comes in and rescues the damaged seikijin as Wahanly blasts away at it. Meanwhile, Chiaia continues her battle with the white seikijin and is joined by Wahanly. Together, they defeat the white seikijin but the young male pilot escapes, having been ordered to kill Lashara. He encounters her, determined to carry out his mission so he can "go back" but he's defeated by Chiaia, who's stunned to see that a boy piloted the seikijin -- something very rare. Lashara forbids Chiaia from killing the boy, so they toss him into a cage which then is hung outside the back of the flying castle grounds.

The following day, Lashara decides to put a plan into motion to obtain more information about their attackers. Chiaia is concerned since her seikijin suffered major damage, leaving only Wahanly and her seikijin. Wahanly comes in and reports that she's brought her research lab with her, meaning that in addition to fighting, she's also working on projects. Since more protection is called for, Chiaia's older sister (and seikijin trainer) Mexiah comes aboard with her seikijin. Meanwhile, Lashara's aide Ulyte is able to learn that the captured boy is named MASAKI Kenshi, leading Lashara to suspect that he might not be from their world.

As night falls, Lashara's trap is sprung when Kenshi's companions come to retrieve him. Their appearance is also noted by the Dark Elves in their own hover ship, so their leader Aura dispatches in a seikijin. Meanwhile, Kenshi learns that he was just a pawn for the people who wanted to assassinate Lashara as they apparently have no way to send him back to his world. Rather than be killed, Kenshi fights his way out onto the deck of his former comrade's ship. He's attacked by the masked person who failed to kill Lashara, leading Kenshi to jump off the ship to avoid death from the masked person's seikijin.

Instinctively, Aura saves the boy in her seikijin and is met by Chiaia. Together they return to Lashara's flying palace, where Kenshi is shown to be very ill. A rare herb is needed to heal him, so Aura and Mexiah set out to gather some. At this moment, the people who want Lashara dead attack. Chiaia takes Wahanly's seikijin and Wahanly uses another of her weapons to defend Lashara. They are outnumbered but when Aura and Mexiah return with the herb, the enemy is forced to retreat. Kenshi is given the medication and recovers and Lashara's palace continues on its way.

Thoughts/Review: Back in January, 2001, the creator of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki (KAJISHIMA Masaki) made an announcement that thrilled many fans -- he'd been given permission to create three series -- Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Tenchi Muyo! OVA 3, and Seikishi Monogatari, which would feature Tenchi's half-brother (then unnamed). The success of GXP and OVA 3 guaranteed that Seikishi Monogatari would be created, but because of the time since Kajishima first wrote this story, he decided to rewrite it, which took more time. However, after all these years of waiting, the first episode of this 13-episode OVA series has now been released. So as I can, I will blog this.

Having the episode start not at the beginning but rather well into the story is not an uncommon practice. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. This time it works, fortunately, as we are introduced to many (if not most) of the core cast, we get an idea of their function in this world, we get an idea of the political situation, and we get an idea of what the series will be about. So while not majorly exciting, I did find this all pretty interesting even without the connection to Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki.

As to the episode specifics, the bio-mecha units are certainly very interesting. Again, Kajishima-sensei looks to Neon Genesis Evangelion for inspiration but rather than be a parody of Eva (as I believe Dual! started off as), this series feels like it is its own creation, but is simply advancing the bio-mecha idea to the next level.

Those who are familiar with Kajishima-sensei's other anime titles will clearly see his trademark ecchi humor here, primarily with Mexiah getting naked and under the covers with Kenshi. Kajishima loves his shoutacon humor and events (as seen way too often in GXP) so I expect a lot more of that before this series is over. That's going to be a negative from the start for me, depending on how much of it Kajishima-sensei throws at us in his story.

I was a bit disappointed that Kenshi's ties to Earth and TM!R weren't shown this episode, but then maybe that's for the best. After all, ideally this series should stand on its own and the TM!R linkage can be explored later. I do hope to see cameos of Tenchi and company (via flashbacks if nothing else) before the series runs its course. I do wonder whom Kenshi was referring to when he called out for "neechan" though. Was it Sasami or possibly Ryo-ohki (Kajishima-sensei has a doujinshi story showing a young Kenshi and Ryo-ohki playing and surprising a teenage Sasami who was "meditating" under a tree)? Those are the two "big sister" types that Kenshi would have grown up with since any of Tenchi's kids would be younger than Kenshi. Of course, there's the possibility of a new character that Kenshi sees as an "oneechan" whom we longtime Tenchi fans haven't been introduced to yet.

I think it is safe to say that the character Doll is either a tie-in or a tribute to the character "D" from Dual!. Doll has more emotions than D did (at least, from what I recall) but I will be interested in seeing if Kajishima-sensei provides a greater link than the two characters looking similar.

My favorite character has to be Princess Lashara. Initially, I thought she'd be a stereotypical brat ruler. Instead, she showed herself to be a true ruler. She's cagey and devious when it came to dealing with the assassins and gaining intelligence from them. She's smart, clever, and funny and I'm delighted with her character.

As I said earlier, the first episode has nothing to mark it as some incredible anime, but I did find it interesting and fun to watch even without the Tenchi connection. So as I'm able, I'll keep blogging this series. ^_^

Negima! Chapter 250 SPOILER Images

Negima! 250 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 250 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 250 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


Man, that wait felt like a long one, eh? Still, nice to have some Yue lovin'. ^_^

Edit: I'm not sure what happened but the title was initially wrong and I didn't catch it quick enough before the feeds got the post. Oh well.

Fate/stay night - 05

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 05
Fate/stay night episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Shirou has Saber stay hidden to avoid dealing with her presence with Sakura and Fuji-nee. When he comes home, he's surprised to learn that Saber has spent the day sleeping to recover her energy, something she plans to continue doing since Shirou can't provide her much energy. That evening at dinner, Shirou regrets having Sakura hidden and decides to introduce her to Sakura and Fuji-nee. Fujimura is not happy about this foreigner living with Shirou and doesn't believe the old “distant relative” routine. When Saber says she's Shirou's protector, Fujimura decides to challenge that with a match in the dojo. Saber agrees to the challenge and with ease defeats Fujimura twice by taking her bamboo sword. So Fujimura and Sakura decide to spend the night with Saber to see if she'll be OK and the next morning, they agree to Saber living with Shirou.

Before Shirou leaves for school, he's warned by Saber to be careful and to summon her if needed, using one of the precious marks on his hand. When Shirou enters the school ground, he senses something bad but can't identify it and goes on. Rin refuses to speak to him and she's irritated, especially since she'd told Archer that she'd kill Shirou should he come without Saber. Shirou learns that Ayako and Shinji from the archery club are missing but he's unable to learn more about their absence. After school, he encounters the irritated Rin, who informs him that she's going to use her “Gando Shot” – a Scandinavian curse spell – on him. He ends up fleeing to a classroom but she prevents his escape out the window with a barrier. Shirou uses his ability to strengthen a desk as a shield for Rin's eventual attack while outside, a mysterious person observes the activity and smiles.

Thoughts/Review: The humor levels were much higher this time, which is a good thing. For starters, I liked how the writers played with the age-old “introduce the strange person living with me as a relative of some sort.” It was great how Fujimura refused to accept that excuse and challenged Saber to a bamboo sword match in the dojo. Not only was Fujimura's going off funny, but Saber casually schooling Fujimura by taking her sword was a laugh. The “sword turns into a bouquet of flowers” gag was completely unexpected and having Saber take the second sword was funny to me. So good job here plus we have a logical way for Saber to be with Shirou.

Next on the humor front was the initial stages of the fight between Rin and Shirou. When Shirou leaped down a section of stairs, I thought nothing of it because in shounen anime titles, the hero or heroine can make amazing leaps and jumps with no sweat. So having Shirou experience that leg shock that we've likely all experienced at some point in our life after jumping from a greater height that we should was unexpected AND was a good laugh. Having the same thing happen to Rin was funny but hers was enhanced by the old, “if you jump like that, I can see under your skirt” gag. No ecchi but all funny. ^_^

Now to the serious – the writers had established last week that humans could be consumed as a source of energy for a Servant, something abhorrent to Saber. Rin and Archer coming upon a scene where people were unconscious in an office building and apparently used as food played upon that. Rin had been playing things in helping Shirou but she actually attacks Shirou, even if not to kill him but to put him out of the game. I can't say that was unexpected seeing as how “there can be only one” as they say in Highlander. It will be interesting to see how their fight turns out since I can't imagine Rin being taken out and Shirou is the hero of the series means he can't be taken out.

So lots of good stuff here. The great thing about watching a series that has already made its run is that I can watch the episodes without waiting another week. ^_^

Urusei Yatsura 113

うる星やつら episode 113 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 113

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: When Ran is about to deliver some taiyaki to Rei, a group of Neptune Lemmings arrive and consume the food. Ran is furious and goes to confront Oyuki about this. Oyuki apologizes, but that's not enough for Ran. Returning home, Ran finds a lone lemming still in her basket and she's going to "take care of it." Meanwhile, Oyuki has noticed that the leader of the Neptune Lemmings is missing and asks Lum and Benten to help locate it. They show up at Ran's ship where they find the lemming. Benten figures Ran kidnapped the critter to get even with Oyuki. Oyuki appears on the communication screen to talk with Ran about the missing lemming. Benten figures to have some fun by ratting Ran out. Ran plans to flee immediately, having seeing the wrath of Oyuki. Benten hasn't seen this and wants to provoke a fight.

Before Ran can leave, Oyuki arrives. However, despite Benten's efforts, no fight emerges and Ran eventually flees. She sends a small doll back with an apology, but it is a bomb. Now Benten is angry as she, Lum, and Oyuki go to find Ran. Ran tries to shoot them down with rockets, which only makes Benten angrier. Every time Ran gets cornered, she manages to fool them with soft words until she can bring out another weapon. However, what stops Ran is Oyuki confronting her and threatening to get upset. The four of them return to Ran's ship with Oyuki happy they are all friends again. Entering, they discover the place has been trashed by the lemming. Oyuki gets upset, leading Benten and Lum to witness an angry Oyuki -- the side of Oyuki that so frightened Ran. After lots of near misses and completely icing the inside of the ship, Oyuki gets the lemming and lectures it.

Thoughts/Review: It was nice having an episode the centered around Lum, Benten, Ran, and Oyuki without any other character needing to be involved. I can't remember for sure, but I think this is a first. Other adventures with the four of them have had Ataru in them (I think).

Also, I rather enjoyed the whole idea of the quite, gentle Oyuki getting angry. Granted, her wrath wasn't quite what it had been built up to be, but it was still amusing nonetheless.

So we have a fun episode. No real laughs or anything, but a lot of amusement and fun. While entertaining, the episode doesn't lend itself to much commentary on my part. Of course as I write, I am about to fall asleep and no doubt that's not helping. ^_^;

Natsu no Arashi! - 05 (Admiral Akbar says, "It's a Reverse Trap!")

夏のあらし！ Episode 05
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Jun comes to work, bothered by her secret of pretending to be a guy. Her day doesn't get any better when the soda fountain fails and she encounters a cockroach. Hajime's attempt to take care of the roach ends up in Jun's waiter uniform being soaked. After a shower, Jun emerges wearing a traditional serving kimono like the ones Arashi and Kaja wear. Jun apparently didn't pay attention to what she wore but Master won't let her change, especially since it is helping the business. When Jun encounters a mouse, Hajime again causes her to get soaked, forcing her to take another shower. This time, Master has provided a maid costume and it is an even bigger hit.

Because of this, Master ends up getting everyone into different colored maid costumes to help with the business. She even tries to coach Kaja on the art of the sensual change giving, but this is too embarassing for Kaja. During a break, Hajime tries to see if Jun can connect with Arashi for time travel, but since Arashi can only connect with boys, the attempt fails. However, because Hajime is gripping Jun around the chest, she gives him yet another beating for it. She leaves and is frustrated with herself because she realizes that Hajime has done nothing wrong since he doesn't know she's a girl. Kaja comes out and comforts Jun. Upon return, yet another mishap causes Jun and everyone else to get soaked when the soda fountain spews out, hitting some hard candies and causing a massive foam erruption.

Thoughts/Review: OK, I'm just a little weary of the joke interlude sessions between Yayoi and Kanako. It was tolerable when it only came at the end of the episode because I could ignore it. However, this time we had one at the beginning, middle, and end of the episode. Ugh. Its the same stupid joke over and over, only with a different punch line each time. They've never been funny jokes and further, they require some sort of translator note since the punchline is very Japanese. Naturally, we won't be getting one of those, though.

Now onto the episode itself.

Clearly, SHAFT is having too much fun with the idea of carbonated beverages and Mentos candies causing foam eruptions. The detective guzzling cola and eating a Mentos with a major negative reaction is taken from an old urban legend on the subject. Despite this, I couldn't help but laugh when I knew what was going to happen. The joke basically repeating at the end of the episode with the model of Ark getting foamed over. I wonder who's idea it was to film a live-action sequence of a model of the Ark. However, that's why I say they are having too much fun.

I should have suspected that Jun is a "reverse trap" -- a girl who looks, acts, and dresses like a boy but isn't. Now that I look back, there were some signs for sure. I wonder why Jun is pretending to be a boy. After all, its clear that this lie troubles her somewhat. Now I guess I know why Kaja can only connect with a girl in order to travel back in time -- to connect with Jun. Since Hajime thinks that only boys can connect with Kaja or Arashi, Jun will be able to continue her lie. Regardless, this revelation did prove to be fairly funny to me. I wonder if Jun's maid costume was a tribute to Hand Maid May. Its not the same costume, but it is similar.

Since this was a pure comedy episode, Arashi and Hajime's adventures in time weren't documented but they were mentioned and indeed were the source of another joke about Jun almost being outed. However, the episode spelled out that Arashi is keen on saving people in the past. This seems a strange task seeing as how the question of "whom do you save" rears its head. It seems to me that you can't save everyone. Also, we learned why Ark is so important -- it wasn't bombed during the war.

So despite the Yayoi and Kanako stuff, the episode is a pretty funny one. Knowing SHAFT, it is time for a dud. ^_^;;;

Fate/stay night - 04

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 04
Fate/stay night episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Rin, Shirou, and Saber see the little girl, who introduces herself as Ilya, with the full name of Illyasviel von Einzbern. Her Servant is a giant known as Berserker -- a very strong Servant class. Ilya says that this Berserker was the former Greek hero known as Heracles ("Hercules" as he is known from Roman mythology). Ilya has Berserker attack to kill them all. Saber uses her speed and agility to try to outmaneuver Berserker but a combination of her injury from Lancer and Berserker's tough hide and sheer strength prove to much. Despite Rin using her own magic to assist, Saber takes a terrible beating and since Saber can regenerate over time, Ilya wants Saber's head cut off. Shirou saves Saber and gets slashed instead. This move stuns both Ilya and Rin. Ilya decides to leave for the night but promises to kill Rin next time they meet.

Shirou wakes at his home, having dreamed of his step-father and his telling his step-father that he would fulfill his dream to be a hero. Shirou can't remember how he got home, why he's bandaged, or why he's spitting up blood. When he comes to the dining room, he's surprised to find Rin there and doesn't understand when she wants him to thank her for bringing him home. Eventually he remembers what happened and Rin gets onto him for his actions, seeing as how it is unheard of for a Master to protect a Servant like that. Rin speculates that somehow Saber's regenerative abilities flowed back into Shirou. She then reminds Shirou about the war and that Ilya will return at some point to kill them both. As Shirou sees Rin to the door, she tells him that it would be best for him not to look at her as human from now on.

Shirou goes to find Saber while Sakura walks toward Shirou's home. She encounters Rin, who says she's just out on a walk. Sakura is suspicious and smells blood. After Rin leaves, Fujimura-sensei arrives and is happy to learn that clam tsukudani is on the breakfast menu. Meanwhile, Shirou finally finds Saber, who's now wearing a uniform dress and meditating in the dojo. She assures Shirou that she will improve the odds of him obtaining the Holy Grail. After their talk, Shirou sees Saber is a very honorable type and is glad for it. Since his stomach is growling, they return to the main house to eat breakfast.

Thoughts/Review: I think I now know why Rin failed to summon Saber and why Shirou, even if accidentally, managed to do so -- they share the same goal of protecting the innocent and following a "lawful good" path like a knight. Rin on the other hand is driven by her own desire for the Holy Grail and while she may be "neutral good," she does not have that knightly quality that would bring Saber out. Based on this episode, the summoned Servant is based more on the personality of the person doing the summoning. That would explain Ilya's having Berserker.

Speaking of Ilya and Berserker, why didn't she have Berserker kill them all? Granted, the shock of Shirou trying to save Saber set both Ilya and Rin aback, but rather than decide to finish off everyone, Ilya just "packs up and goes home." Not only that, but she promises to kill Rin next time. Why wait? Also, why didn't Rin bring out Archer again and have Archer assist Saber in attacking Berserker? None of this made sense from a logical standpoint. It only made sense from a "well, we need to introduce a threat and pay it off later" aspect. Without the logic behind it, such a move doesn't work so well.

Sakura showed an interesting little talent -- the ability to smell blood when she passed Rin. At first, I thought her reaction to seeing Rin was one of a girl seeing a potential rival coming from the direction of Shirou's house. That may be part of it, but is Sakura a master as well? Way to early to say without more information, but it is intriguing.

Speaking of intriguing, who's the mysterious goddess-like person observing things?

I've noticed that the production team is at times going sparse on the animation. Since this series will presumably have a lot of fights, I suppose that's understandable but for it to stand out to me kind of suggests that maybe things are being done too cheaply.

Musically, again the Mahou Shoujo Tai Alice hauntingly beautiful-type music appears. Actually, I'm sure there's another term for this kind of almost medieval vocal music, but I just don't know what it is at the moment.

So far, this has been a very interesting series and I look forward to watching more.

Hayate no Gotoku!! 05

Hayate the Combat Butler!! Ep. 05
Hayate no Gotoku "Season 2" Ep. 05
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Sometime in the recent past, Ayumu's little brother Kazuki met Nagi and gave her a handkerchief when she appeared to be crying. In the present, Nagi is attempting to get a box of delicious cookies from the top of a high cabinet and fails. When Hayate gives her the box, she ends up giving it back to him and storming off. Since she's upset at being so short, she decides to pay Wataru a visit. Wataru is currently manning his store and talking with Kazuki, who casually inquires about Nagi. Wataru doesn't understand what Kazuki sees in Nagi and to Kazuki's delight, Nagi shows up. When she insults Wataru about his height, Wataru points this out to Kazuki and asks why he'd want to be with Nagi.

Nagi leaves and Kazuki tails her. She turns and asks if he is stalking her. Instead, he makes a love confession, which embarrasses her to no end. Realizing what he's done, he decides to apologize and do something for her. She's not interested until he suggests a train ride. After some learning mishaps at the station, Nagi is excited to ride the train. Kazuki takes her to an arcade, which she enjoys. He then takes her on a boat ride. While she's enjoyed herself, she tells Kazuki that he can never get close to her since there is someone already in her heart. Kazuki thinks it is Wataru, which gets Nagi to excitedly deny this. She nearly falls out of the boat but is saved by Hayate, who'd been hidden in the water. Returning to the shore, she tells Kazuki that she'll give him his handkerchief next time they meet.

Sometime later, Ayumu is concerned that something happened with Kazuki and Wataru agrees to find out. Wataru asks Nagi if something happened between herself and Kazuki, leading to an angry response and a threat for Wataru not to talk to Hayate about this. Nagi is upset that Hayate hasn't shown any jealousy over finding her with Kazuki, but Sakuya has arrived and suggests that Nagi needs to spice things up by showing off assets. Sakuya gets embarrassed and flees when Hayate suddenly shows up, seeing her somewhat exposed. Later, Maria is giving Nagi a bath and they are talking about Nagi's "relationship" with Hayate. Maria leaves to get a towel and has Hayate deliver it. He does and ends up seeing Nagi naked. Nagi has him stay to dry her hair, which he does blindfolded. She's now calmed down and can't remember why she was angry with Hayate. She kisses him on the cheek as a reward, which Maria sees and wonders how things got like this.

Thoughts/Review: Waaaa! I cannot tell you how pleased I am with how this new Hayate the Combat Butler series is going. When I watched the first series, I loved a lot of things about it but then there were times when it just became somewhat tedious. Hugh Roe, long time reader of this blog, mentioned that I should read the manga, which I did AFTER the first series completed. Upon reading the manga, I was stunned by how well the manga flowed vs. the first anime series and I wondered why whole stories had been flushed. Now with this second series, the anime production team has clearly abandoned any attempts at doing their own thing and have focused on making a really good and faithful manga adaptation. Yeah, there have been minor changes such as Nagi having Kazuki's handkerchief (their meeting in the manga was over a balloon with a message tied to it IIRC). However, those minor changes are no big deal and so I'm a happy, happy man.

While I've been pleased with the official translations for the most part (as they've retained the Japanese perspective on things), I am a bit disappointed that the running "big sister" gag was completely scrapped in the English translation. What do I mean? Well for starters, there was Kazuki wondering about her "oneechan" acting weird and Ayumu telling Wataru that as Kazuki's "oneechan," she could tell something happened after Kazuki got back from his date with Nagi. Here, the translator at least translated "oneechan" (though I would obviously preferred it left alone, but that's OK), likely because they are brother and sister. However, when Wataru goes to visit Nagi to try to find out what happened between her and Kazuki, Nagi responds by basically telling Wataru that "oneechan" is busy. The "oneechan" aspect is dropped completely, meaning the English doesn't even try to translate it but rather avoids the "big sister" gag. The gag appears again when Maria tells gives Hayate advice as "oneesan" -- a big sister. Again, dropped. Next, Sakuya appears to Nagi and is going to give some "oneechan" help to her. When Sakuya fails, Nagi says that Sakuya is a worthless "onee" -- big sister. All of those big sister gags are dropped and that's a shame.

As to the episode itself, despite knowing the story very well, I still laughed when Nagi tried to get the cookies and couldn't. I smiled at Kazuki's crush on Nagi. I laughed at Nagi's sudden change of heart at the thought of taking a train ride, then laughed more at her experiences at the train station. I smiled at her entire date with Kazuki as well as the sweet moment later between her and Hayate when he's drying her hair. So again, I come back to the fact that the anime production team have done a really good adaptation of the manga and prove that a good adaptation is not boring nor tedious just because you know the story. The color and the characters and situations coming to life add all the additional flavor one needs in this situation. So sorry to repeat myself, but this is turning out to be a sequel that is better than the original. I hope it stays that way.

One side note -- while the references have been down this series, there were some nifty posters in the background for Wataru's video shop -- Aliens and Blade Runner spring to mind. ^_^ I figure folks on the team must love those two movies, and they are classics.

Next episode -- Hina goodness! I hope the next story is two episodes in order to be done properly.

Cool Hoihoi-san Figure!

I love Hoihoi-san. So it was with a sense of delight that I was directed to a Japanese site announcing a Hoihoi-san figure to be released this fall (2009).


I'm not a figure collector, but assuming this doesn't cost something outrageous (and assuming the Japanese don't mind shipping to a gaijin), I may have to buy this. ^_^

Thanks to Alafista for bringing this to our attention. ^_^

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 05

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 05
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: In Liore, Father Cornello urges the people to rise up and take arms. When some people question the priest's authenticity, they are attacked and riots break out in the city. "Father Cornello" leaves and joins Lust and Gluttony, who comment on how their plans are proceeding despite the interference from the Fullmetal Alchemist. "Father Cornello" reports that Tucker is dead. Lust shrugs this off as small fry but she does seem troubled by the news of Tucker's killer. At Lust's request, "Father Cornello" turns into Envy but this transformation is seen by one of Father Cornello's aides. Gluttony kills and eats the man.

In East City, Ed wakes from a nightmare about his mother and Nina. Ed and Al go to see Col. Mustang about Tucker and Nina, only to learn from Riza that both are dead and she won't let them come to the crime scene. Over at Tucker's home, Mustang learns from Hughes and Major Armstrong about the Ishbalan they've named Scar, who's been killing State Alchemist. Hughes wants Mustang to stay low along with Armstrong as they are the two State Alchemist in the city. Roy remembers that Ed is also in the city and he, Hughes, Riza, Armstrong, and a group of soldiers take off.

Meanwhile, Ed and Al ponder things in the rain when they are approached by Scar. He attacks them and when they try to counterattack, Al's armored body is partially disintegrated. The fact that the armor is empty surprises Scar. Upon learning that Ed is using his automail arm as a means of forming a transmutation circle, Scar destroys the arm, leaving Ed defenseless. Al wants Ed to run away but Ed is ready to die if it means saving Al's life, which Scar promises to do. Before Scar can kill Ed, Col. Mustang fires a gun into the air. Realizing that this is the Flame Alchemist Mustang, Scar is happy to be able to make another kill.

The rain prevents Roy from using his ability, so Riza fires both weapons at Scar to keep him from killing Roy. Major Armstrong enters the fray, which surprises Scar as does the man's fighting ability. With the odds growing against him with soldiers on the scene, Scar uses alchemy to make his escape into the sewers. Ed goes to see how Al is doing and takes a beating for attempting to sacrifice his life. Al wants Ed to live and get to where he can give Al back a real body and save people like Nina. At HQ, Mustang briefs everyone on the Ishbal rebellion and how State Alchemist were brought in to quell the fighting. After the briefing, Al and Ed make plans to get their bodies repaired by returning home t0 their mechanic.

Thoughts/Review: I liked the story flow from the previous episode. It made total sense to me to have Ed and Al pondering things, learn of Tucker's death, ponder more, and then get attacked by Scar, who'd killed Tucker, Nina, and others. So this episode makes a nice transition into getting Ed and Al involved in the Scar story. However, with them returning home next episode, I guess they won't be involved too much in the immediate future. ^_^;;;

Assuming this episode is following the manga in story as well as style, I believe I have a glimpse of the mixture of comedy into dark or even horrific events. Despite being gross, there is a dark humor aspect to Gluttony consuming the follower of Cornello who saw Envy transform. There is the comedy moment of Col. Mustang trying to act like a macho tough guy, only to have his flame alchemy ability snuffed by the rain and have to be essentially saved by Riza. Of course, there was Hughes hiding from the fight and the unexpected beating Al gives Ed over risking his life which were also funny moments. So while this anime is certainly dark, bloody, and violent at times, the humor aspects keep it from going over the edge.

It was interesting that in the map, the Japanese spelled Ishbal as "Ishval." I'm not sure if that's just one of those accidents whereby the Japanese misspell something or if "Ishval" is supposed to be an official spelling. I've long seen the name of the place spelled as "Ishbal" so that's what I'll stick with for now.

Since I've seen the core elements, it is impossible for me to speculate on things because I already know basically where the train is going. That's one bad thing about blogging a series where you already know the story to some degree. ^_^;;; However, I will say that I can't remember what Tucker did for the homunculi in the original anime, if anything so I don't know why his death would even be of note to them.

Still, I look forward to seeing Scar's story progress and am curious to know how similar it will be to the original series. I also enjoy hearing from all of you who have better memories of the original anime and who've read the manga. ^_^

Some Cool, new CGI Scenes for Space Battleship Yamato!

Watch this footage advertising the latest pachinko game featuring Space Battleship Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato 2 actually -- this is still a pretty hot franchise in Japan) and tell me if you think this is cool or not, regardless of whether you've seen any of the Space Battleship Yamato (or as it was domesticated in the U.S. as Star Blazers) titles. Try to watch in HD if possible.



I saw this footage and I thought, "Man! In the hands of a good writer who could take the original story, turn it into a 3-part movie, AND make it so that adults could enjoy it, such a movie could kick bottom and take names." Seriously, does this look cool or what?

If I get to Japan, I'll have to check for this pachinko game for sure. ^_^

Fate/stay night - 03

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 03
Fate/stay night episode 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Having been summoned, Servant Saber pledges her loyalty to her new master, Shirou. She then goes to battle Lancer outside. He uses his Gae Bulga attack which is supposed to kill, but while it strikes Saber, it does not kill her. Saber recognizes the attack and that Lancer is originally from Ireland and known as the Hound of Culann. Lancer is not happy that his attack has been read and that his identity known. However, his master is recalling him so he is forced to retreat rather than duke it out with Saber. Saber senses Archer and Rin nearby and attacks. Rin sends Archer away but is unable to defend against Saber's attack. Before Saber can kill Rin, Shirou stops her, which puzzles her and somewhat bothers her.

Rin and Shirou talk and Rin is amazed that someone with as little magical ability as Shirou was able to summon Saber. Rin talks of the Holy Grail War and the seven people selected to fight this war from time to time with their chosen Servants -- warriors from the past chosen to fill a fighting role (Lancer, Archer, Saber, etc.). Because Shirou is unable to heal or even send Saber back, she's given a robe to cover her armor and Rin leads Shirou to the supervisor of the Holy Grail War -- a priest of the Kotomine Church named KOTOMINE Kirei (Rin's legal guardian). There, Shirou learns the rules of the war and while he does not want to fight, he soon realizes that he's going to have to, especially when he comes to understand that the incident that left him orphaned was part of the Holy Grail War. After leaving the church, Rin says she's done her obligation but before they can go further, Saber shouts out a warning to Shirou. The young girl who'd warned Shirou earlier arrives with a giant warrior, greeting "oniichan."

Thoughts/Review: So, we had a lot of exposition in this episode in order to lay out what the Holy Grail War is, who fights it, what the prize is, and the rules along the way. The "reluctant hero" bit is not a new one when it comes to story telling. However, what I liked here is how the writers logically put aside Shirou's reasons to not fight and even to not kill. Of course that wasn't enough to convince him but the subtle way that he was reminded of the incident that left everyone dead but him worked for me. No telling him directly about this -- let him come to it on his own and realize what's at stake here. I like this kind of approach to the reluctant hero bit so kudos to the writers for it.

What I wonder is why didn't Shirou's adoptive father teach him more than just magic to strengthen or repair things. Clearly someone taught Rin to be a spellcaster of some sort (though her magic seems based on getting power from gems) in anticipation of the next round of the Holy Grail War. I'm betting that Shirou's adoptive father was part of that round 10 years earlier but even if not, for him to be a mage at all would seem to be that he'd want to impart more knowledge on Shirou. Then again, maybe his adoptive father hoped to give Shirou enough magical ability to have an advantage but not enough to be selected as a master. If that's the case, the man obviously failed.

Still, how was Shirou able to summon Saber when he has no great magical ability while Rin, who's trained in magic, failed to summon Saber but instead scored Archer?

I didn't detect Rin giving anything away when Shirou saved her life. In effect, they are now even. Still, I wonder what Shirou is to Rin. If it is as a possible romantic interest, she's playing it cool for now.

With the arrival of the little girl, it seems an obvious battle is going to happen. Though all contestants are supposed to duke it out for the Holy Grail, I can see how this might have Rin and Shirou form an alliance. Considering all the promo images showing Rin and Saber together, it would be strange to me if they weren't allies.

On a completely different note, I had to laugh when the anime made use of split screen. Why? Well, in episode 3 of the new Fullmetal Alchemist series, I remarked that other than to show surprised reactions for multiple people, I didn't remember the Japanese using split screen for a scene, especially when one character is talking and we can also observe the reactions of the 2nd party. I said that it may have happened before but I just was unaware of it. Here, we have an episode using split screen (horizontally rather than vertically though) for just such a moment that I talked about. *lol* So the Japanese do use split screens in some series and clearly I was just unaware of how much.

So now the table is set with the exposition and now we move to the next battle. I look forward to seeing more as well as reading your comments. ^_^

Lupin III Marries AYANAMI Rei?

In my surfing the web for images, I often stumble upon interesting images from Japanese sites as well as U.S. ones. I saw this and just laughed. It was from a Japanese image board and the notation mentioned Rei's name (from Neon Genesis Evangelion for those who don't know who Rei is). It does look like her and that is what appears to be Lupin III. *lol*


I couldn't find a larger version (sadly) but this will do I suppose. Still, an interesting crossover, eh? ^_~

Speaking of crossovers, I'm hoping to get to see the Lupin III vs. Detective Conan crossover special this year.

Update: Toonleap ID'd the above image as coming from the game Ayanami Rei Raising Project. Thanks! ^_^

Urusei Yatsura 112

うる星やつら episode 112 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 112

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The leader of a motorcycle gang is retiring to lead a normal, respectable Japanese life but before he goes, he recounts the tale of a girl and a boy that captured his heart. Sometime back, Ryuunosuke is out jogging when a motorcycle gang comes through town. She saves a young girl and her kitten from being run over and to thank Ryuunosuke, the young girl sews up a tear in Ryuunosuke's shirt. At school, Ataru attempts to hit on Ryuunosuke by using the shirt damage as an in, but before Lum can react negatively, Ryuunosuke punches him. Outside the class window, Benten arrives on her hover bike, so she, Lum, and Ryuunosuke head to a ramen place where Benten and Ryuunosuke really hit it off.

Returning home, they encounter the little girl again (who addresses Ryuunosuke as "oniichan") but when Ataru arrives, it startles the kitten, who flees. The little girl is upset but Benten and Ryuunosuke promise to find the kitten (named "Mii"). As the duo track the kitten, they see it on top of a truck going down the road, so Benten "borrows" the bike of a gang leader. Enraged, he has the whole gang summoned and when one group catches Benten and Ryuunosuke, they find themselves defeated. So the boss takes the rest of the gang and is waiting for them. They all take a beating. Benten and Ryuunosuke get into the city and question a bar owner about the kitten when they are found by the gang again, resulting in another two beatings for the gang. When they finally find the kitten at the warf, another fight between Benten, Ryuunosuke, and the gang is thwarted when a giant wave comes in, ridden by Ryuunosuke's father. The kitten is returned to the thankful little girl and Benten and Ryuunosuke's friendship is established.

Thoughts/Review: This is another pretty funny episode, even if predictable. I really loved the idea of Benten and Ryuunosuke being friends. They seem like they would be good friends so why not have them have a little adventure together. Maybe we'll see another fun episode with the two working together.

The fights with the gang were the funniest stuff and of course the most predictable. Sometimes, old jokes still can be funny and somehow, the production team managed to pull this off for me. Maybe it is just the tough guys getting beaten up by a couple of girls. Of course this gang leader with a taste for various ice cream dishes going straight and becoming respectable is a chuckle too, once the episode is watched.

The strange parts of the episode had to do with Ryuunosuke's dad. First, there's a scene where he's at the Moroboshi residence eating from a giant bowl while Ataru's mother is highly annoyed. I don't know where that came from. The other is the giant wave (I hesitate to call it a "tsunami" though it could have been I suppose) which ended the conflict between the girls and the gang. I know it is supposed to be funny seeing Ryuunosuke's father surfing this wave, but it didn't do anything for me.

So far, this current batch of episodes has pretty much lived up to promise in terms of being funny, better animated, and just better in general. I'm glad for that.

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 180

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 180

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Watanuki is talking with the cooking woman and mentions Yuuko-san, but she has no idea whom he is talking about. He tries to remind her by pointing out that she had tea with Yuuko-san. The woman denies it, saying that she never met anyone other than Watanuki. This puzzles Watanuki and as he and Doumeki walk to school, they encounter the twins from volume 4 whom Yuuko-san helped. The twins recognize both Watanuki and Doumeki and invite them to tea. Watanuki declines, saying he has to get back to the shop. When he mentions Yuuko-san's name, they don't know whom he is talking about.

Watanuki races back to the shop, feeling there has to be a mistake. He sees the shop is there but the moment he steps over the front gate threshold, he finds himself literally in the black.

Thoughts/Review: I'd been somewhat frustrated with the cooking woman not being assigned a name. When the twins showed up, no name is mentioned in the chapter, so I went back to my Del Rey books and pulled volume 4. While I didn't reread the volume completely, I did skim over it. To my amazement, the twins don't appear to have ever been named. CLAMP gets away with a bit of this by having the younger twin address the older twin as "oneechan" (or a variation of that since I don't have the source manga) which Del Rey just uses as "my sister." Regardless, I now see that CLAMP has long had a history with the manga of not naming clients of Yuuko-san. One special ones such as Himawari-chan get named apparently. I guess that when reading the manga as a volume verses chapter by chapter over a multiple weeks/months makes a big difference on noticing a lack of names.

As to the chapter, I haven't seen the current Tsubasa chapter to see if there's something new happening with Yuuko-san. Unfortunately, Tsubasa is in the middle of the most tedious climactic action sequence I have ever witnessed. I'm guessing that Watanuki may get pulled back over there or something like that. We'll see though.

It really is sad seeing how such an interesting and somewhat dark manga has turned so "meh." I wonder if CLAMP are just tired of both these series.

Fate/stay night - 02

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 02
Fate/stay night episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Rin is not pleased with herself for not having summoned the servant she wanted -- Saber. She assures Archer that it isn't against him and he assures her that with her level of power, it makes him even better. Rin wants to know other details about Archer, such as his former name but his memories are jumbled so he doesn't know much about his past. Rin decides to let the subject go and discusses the upcoming Holy Grail War between seven mages and their servants.

Over at Shirou's house, it is breakfast time with Sakura making lunches for Fujimura-sensei. After arriving at school, Sakura and Shirou are met by Mitsuzuri, the captain of the archery club. She wants Shirou to deal with his friend Shinji (Sakura's brother), who's also in the archery club but causes trouble. Complicating matters is that Rin turned down Shinji when he asked her out. This bit catches Shirou's attention and he does see Shinji on the matter of the archery club but doesn't confront him on anything. Further, after school, Shinji even agrees to clean the dojo for Shinji so that Shinji can go out with a group of girls.

Meanwhile, Rin and Archer have sensed an enemy and are on alert, figuring an attack to come that evening. Sure enough, a Lancer servant arrives and attacks Rin and Archer. Lancer figures he has an advantage and is not expecting Archer to suddenly produce two large swords and go into melee combat. The noise of the battle attracts Shirou's attention and seeing the fight, explosions, and the weapons used, he things of the recent murders around town. Lancer notices Shirou and since no one outside of the mages and their summoned servants can know of the Holy Grail War, Lancer stops fighting Archer to kill Shirou. Shirou flees to the sc