AstroNerdBoy's Anime and Manga Blog

夏のあらし！ Episode 11
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hajime and Yayoi have connected and gone back into World War II Japan. The shock of things has Yayoi unconscious and with the radio announcing a massive air raid coming, Hajime feels he has to do something. So he wheels Yayoi into town to head to the factory where he knows Kanako and the others worked. A mother and child recognize Yayoi and believe her to have been injured in the last raid. Yayoi comes to and recognizes the mother and child. Knowing they will die in an air raid, Yayoi becomes frantic in attempting to warn them. However, they don't believe her.

Hajime wheels Yayoi to a nearby hill to rest. Yayoi calls Hajime "Niisan" and talks about her friendship with Kanako and how they've lived over the past 60 summers complete with how this most recent year began to see them fade from exsistance. Hajime promises to find a way to keep them all from disappearing when Kanako from 1945 arrives. She says some hurtful things to Yayoi but when a fighter comes and strafes the area, Yayoi gets up out of her wheelchair to save Kanako's life. As a result, Kanako only gets grazed by a bullet.

Kanako limps back into town and Hajime points out that Yayoi got on her feet. She's unsteady but she's happy that she can walk again. They walk into town as Hajime has decided they should go see Arashi. Yayoi teases that no matter what era, boys like Arashi and while Hajime protests otherwise, Yayoi knows the truth. They meet the 1945 Arashi and Kaja on the road with Arashi telling Yayoi that they are counting on her for the playing of the piano at the performance later in the day. Yayoi encourages Hajime to attend the performance that her 1945 self will be playing but cannot come herself due to the risk of running into her 1945 self.

Yayoi returns to the hill as Hajime goes to the school. The 1945 Yayoi looks a bit depressed as she plays while Arashi and Kaja sing. Hajime figures it is because of Kanako so when he spots Kanako, he yells to get her attention. 1945-Yayoi sees Kanako and is very happy. Kanako apologizes for her remarks earlier and thanks the confused Yayoi for helping her. Thus a friendship is born.

Hajime returns to the current Yayoi and talks about how their trip made everything possible. The current Kanako has come back to the past with Hideo. Kanako is stunned to see that Yayoi can walk. Yayoi explains that without their current condition and abilities, their friendship wouldn't have been possible. She makes Kanako understand and in doing so, the two link hands and hold out a hand to their partners to return to the present day Japan.

Thoughts/Review: So now we know how Kanako and Yayoi became best of friends thanks to the present-day Yayoi going back in time with Hajime. While we again show a "completion of the circle" by having the trip to the past account for something in the present, I didn't like the attack that caused Yayoi and Kanako to become friends. For starters, there's no way a single American fighter would be out cruising the countryside looking for girls in wheelchairs to strafe. That factory in the town would be the target of any American attack as well as rail lines. So having a single American fighter coming out of nowhere to strafe Kanako, Yayoi, and Hajime not only rings false, but annoyed me as well. The implication is that the Americans were only looking to kill innocent civilians when that was not the case.

That aside, the other aspect of the Yayoi and Kanako friendship was sorta sweet complete with Kanako coming to the past with Hideo (which was the only comedy moment in the episode) and Yayoi now being able to walk again.

I also liked Hajime getting to see the Yayoi from 1945 play piano as Kaja and Arashi sang. I'm going to guess that Arashi knew Hajime from his trip here and that's why when he showed up, she immediately gravitated to him.

BTW, I note that no one noticed that Yayoi suddenly had longer hair when addressing her future self. Also, Kanako apparently didn't notice that not only did Yayoi have longer hair when she saved Kanako from being killed, but that Yayoi then went back to having short hair during the performance. ^_^;;;

So why do these four girls only come to life during the summer? Why are they still alive? Why does Yayoi initially address Hajime as "Niisan." These are the questions still to be answered. I sorta doubt there will be an answer since the manga is still ongoing unless SHAFT decides to make up their own answers.

Speaking of SHAFT, they continue the references but I've no clue what those things are from. It is very possible that the initial imagery after Yayoi and Hajime are historical in nature and not from any movie or TV drama. I just don't know for sure (they do look like real photos from the period) but if one of you in the audience happens to, let me know.

So we are left with an interesting episode with some sweet moments, one small comedy moment, and one irritating (and some could argue anti-American) moment. Oh yeah, and SHAFT's normal "I read a book" joke that's not funny.

As many of you know, I'm a big proponent of retaining a Japanese perspective (including the use of Japanese honorifics) when it comes to anime subtitles and manga adaptations. While this idea has its share of naysayers who believe that this should not be the case (for various reasons), Alethea and Athena Nibley proved that doing just what I want can result in a best selling manga series, namely Fruits Basket -- TokyoPop's cash cow. Because of the care Alethea and Athena gave to that series, I became a fan of theirs and have enjoyed other manga titles which they've worked on (such as Ai Yori Aoshi).

With volume 22 of Negima!, Alethea and Athena Nibley take over the reins of my favorite manga as both translators and adapters, something which pleases me greatly.

I recently had an opportunity to communicate with the twins about Negima!

AstroNerdBoy: I see you guys are doing "Negima!" and I can't tell you how happy this makes me!

Alethea & Athena: We're glad you liked our "Negima!" translation.

ANB: Were you fans of "Negima!" before this?

A&A: We weren't fans of "Negima!" before we were given the project, but now we really like it. It's quite a challenge to translate, though, so it makes us a little crazy sometimes, and we could do with a lot fewer panty shots, but we're always excited to get the new volume.

ANB: *lol* Yeah, so could I. Unfortunately, Akamatsu-sensei is long known for not only his panty shots, but for finding any number of excuses to get his girls naked. There's a lot of bathing that goes on in his manga. ^_^;;;;

A&A: Yeah, in one volume they note that they're getting a lot of fan art from elementary school girls, and it looks like it's been toned down a liiiiiittle bit since then. But Akamatsu-sensei always manages to find something ^_^;

ANB: How did you two get in this project? Did Del Rey approach you or what? (Assuming of course this question doesn't violate some non-disclosure agreement or the like.)

A&A: We don't think this is a breach of confidentiality... And hopefully it's not too much more information than you wanted.

Anyway, this might be different for some translators, but usually it works like this: The translator will contact a company (conventions are really good for this kind of thing) and say, "Hey, I'm a translator and would like to offer my services!" The company will then put you on file and when they have something for you to work on, they'll contact you. (If we don't get something right away, we like to e-mail them occasionally to remind them we exist.) They usually don't give new translators big important projects (at least that's what we think; "Fruits Basket" was an exception, and we're still not sure why we were blessed with that one as our first professional job, but we're very grateful nonetheless), so we did a couple of more minor things for Del Rey, and then they liked us enough to give us things they knew would sell, like the "Ace Attorney" manga. Come to think of it, we have heard a lot of people talk about "My Heavenly Hockey Club" (the first title we did for Del Rey), so maybe it wasn't that minor, but it's certainly more minor than "Negima!."

At some point they offered us "Negima!? neo." They sent us all the manga that they had released up to that point so we could familiarize ourselves with the series, except they were missing volume six and fifteen. That didn't matter too much at the time, because our deadline was coming up and we're not the fastest of readers, so we only had time to read about three or four volumes before we had to get to work anyway. But we were interested in the story, so we got our own copies of 6 and 15, to fill in the gaps when we got that far. (We got those in Japanese, because we just prefer reading our manga that way.)

Soon after that, Del Rey said they needed a style guide to help with consistency in both Negima series, and they wanted us to make it. They sent us the English copies of 6 and 15 so we would know how everything was translated and spelled and everything, and we spent several hours reading through the series as fast as we could. Then we typed up a list of all the character names, places, spells, martial arts moves, extracurriculars, etc. And when we finished it and turned it in, our editor said, "Now you're ready to translate "Negima!" proper, since the old translator is quitting!" And now here we are! And we're honored to be trusted with another popular series.

We hope that answered your question without too many unnecessary details!

ANB: It was great. Thanks. By the way, I think you guys made a small assumption error in volume 22 with the "Aegis-kan" as "Aegis" is a weapons platform placed on modern-day heavy cruisers for multiple nations. It isn't the name of a ship, but cruisers equipped with the Aegis system are often called "Aegis Cruisers." I think that's why in the Japanese, "Aegis-kan" is used to denote an Aegis-equipped warship.

A&A: We actually did realize, but only very very recently, that we had gotten the Aegis thing wrong. I think we were watching a movie or a TV show or something, and they mentioned Aegis Cruisers, and we were like, "Dang, it's a real thing." It was too late to change it by then (which is why we promptly forgot), but now you've reminded us and we can at least e-mail our editor about fixing later references to it. It is sad though, since 22 is the volume where they just won't let it go. Yet again, we learn never to assume that anything was made up.

(Update: Good news! Sort of. We told our boss about the Aegis Cruisers thing and she said they can fix it in reprints!)

ANB: You mentioned "Negima!" being a challenge to translate. I'm guessing one of the big translation challenges for you would be the Latin and Greek usage at times. How do you both handle this?

A&A: Actually, that can be pretty easy. Usually the Japanese lists the spell in Japanese with the Latin or Greek as furigana, so we just need to translate the Japanese into English as for as knowing what that means. Usually the Latin spellings are in the lexicons, so we don't have to worry too much about them, but the Greek can be a little hard, since we don't know how to read Greek (but we're definitely learning now!). Fortunately, we've found a Greek dictionary online, but it doesn't always have the words we need.

Our personal preference is to provide a Roman spelling of the Greek spells so the readers can "hear" what it sounds like, but it's looking like the people in charge of the final version prefer to just leave the Greek letters in there. But that's fine, too, because the Greek alphabet looks awesome.

It did cause problems for us with the latest translation, though, because there was a Greek spell that hadn't been in the lexicon anywhere, so no Greek letters were provided and we didn't know how to spell it in either alphabet. As it turned out, the spell had shown up once before (it's the spell Asuna used to dispel the illusion of Takahata-sensei in volume 16), and they used Greek letters for it, but they spelled it wrong, using lambda and kappa when they should have been using rho and chi. (Can you tell we're language geeks?)

It's actually a pretty easy mistake to make based on how Japanese works, so the lesson we learn here is to always check a dictionary. Or Greek Google (if you make up a spelling and it gets no hits, it's probably not a word).

ANB: While I'm thinking of it, since you both are new to this manga, have you figured out where the Magic World is? Akamatsu-sensei hasn't come right out and said, but if the Magic World map is inverted and overlaid on a topographical map of Mars, they match up perfectly. Also, the places on the Magic World match up with the named places on Mars. Further, Chao always said she came from Mars and that would make sense if Mars is in fact the Magic World.

A&A: We didn't know the maps matched up! But when we translated the names on the map, we would look up the katakana, because almost everything in the series is named after something from mythology or somewhere and we wanted to make sure we got the right reference and spelled it right. After a few times of getting websites about Mars, we remembered what Chao Lingshen said, and now if we don't recognize a name from mythology, we'll check the Wikipedia articles about Mars to see if we can find it.

ANB: Do you keep current with the "Negima!" manga as it comes out of Japan (whether through the magazine or latest tankoubon release)?

A&A: We have so much manga to read that when we translate manga professionally, we usually just wait for the company to send us the volumes. That got to be kind of hard when we were working on "Fruits Basket" and suddenly we kept meeting people who had already read the
end of it.

We're sort of almost current with "Negima!" though. I think 26 came outsoon after we turned in the translation to 25.

ANB: Have you read any of the "NegiPa" books from Japan (the official Negima fan books where Akamatsu-sensei often puts new art and some nifty information)? Also, do you read Akamatsu-sensei's blog?

A&A: That's a no on both counts, but now that you mention it, we probably should look into the NegiPa books. We did go to Akamatsu-sensei's forums once, to check the reaction to a chapter to make sure we weren't interpreting things wrong. It was a big enough potential error that there would have been a fan reaction to it. There wasn't, so it's a good thing we checked. Otherwise, all the American fans would be like, "What!? They're actually...!?" only that wouldn't really be true, so we would have been misleading them.

ANB: Have you read "Love Hina" or "AI Love You?" If so, any thoughts about those two series since elements of both appear in the "Negima!" manga?

A&A: We started to read the "Love Hina" manga because we'd seen the anime and really liked it, but when we were in college, we could only get manga during the summer, so we got the first two volumes and read them, then went back to school, where we got distracted by new, girlier anime.

Athena read the first two or three volumes of "AI Love You" when we were interning at TokyoPop. One of our jobs was to read manga and summarize it (it was a dream job), but there was so much that we didn't have time to both read everything. But Athena liked it!

Unfortunately, all of that was so long before we got into "Negima!" that we couldn't really say we have any thoughts on how they relate.

ANB: I REALLY hope that you two will be on the "Negima!" project until it ends because IMO, it couldn't be in better hands. This is the only manga that I "double dip" on, owning both the Del Rey volumes and the Japanese tankoubons as well. It may be a shounen manga, but IMO, it is one of the better-crafted ones in terms of writing.

A&A: We plan to stick with the series as long as we can!

ANB: Great news about planning to stick with the series as long as you can. I don't know why this series has had so many translators and adapters, but some stability would be nice.

A&A: Yeah, we made the style guide for the series, too, so we saw firsthand what can happen with no stability.

ANB: One last thing -- I enjoyed your most recent article in Manga Life about spelling. It is a shame they don't have all your articles tagged for easy access but at least they are named now. ^_^

A&A: Yay! We're always glad when people like our articles! We're not in charge of the web design at all (and we know next to nothing about it currently), but maybe some day they'll make each article easier to find.

Thanks for letting us talk!

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 12
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Izumi arrives just in time to see Kotetsu confess to Hayate. She's excited by this as she didn't know Hayate's bread was buttered on that side. Kotetsu is confused, so Izumi explains that Hayate is a boy and provides his student ID as proof. She explains to Hayate that Kotetsu is her butler. Realizing the truth, Kotetsu is angry at having been betrayed. Hayate flees out a nearby window with Kotetsu in pursuit.

Down on the school grounds where the festival is in full swing, Nagi, Maria, and the SP's come upon Hina. Nagi gives Hina the watch birthday present, which makes Hina happy. Nagi reveals that there is some sort of planned party for Hina's birthday which Hina was unaware of. As Nagi and company take off, Kotetsu kidnaps Nagi right from under the SP's nose as he wants Hayate. Maria has some stern words with the bodyguards before calling Nagi's cell phone. Nagi says she's not in danger but the guy she's with is dangerous. As such, Nagi doesn't want Hayate sent over. Maria contacts Hayate just the same, who takes off through the festival grounds despite now being in a new maid costume with a bell and bunny ears.

Hina arrives where the party is being thrown for her. To her dismay, Risa, Miki, and Izumi have set her up to sing "Cruel Angel's Thesis" on the main stage. This Hina does as Hayate races through the festival grounds. Once Hina is through singing, she turns the tables on the trio by announcing that they will be singing the theme from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Hina's mother is pleased with this wonderful party and inquires where Hayate is. Hina remembers the letter Isumi delivered and tells her mother to go home without her as she has something to do. With that, Hina makes her way to the clock tower.

Meanwhile, Nagi abuses Kotetsu verbally for being a terrible butler. When she learns that Kotetsu stopped being interested in Hayate because Kotetsu found out that Hayate is a man, she abuses him for being shallow and states that this is why he's unpopular with women. Kotetsu realizes this is true so when Hayate arrives, he quietly hands over Nagi but then attempts to make a new love confession. This results in Nagi beating Kotetsu as Nagi is her's 100%. Nagi tells Hayate that they are going home until Hayate reminds Nagi about his cursed condition. Nagi goes off on the Hina doll (Zepette) so fiercely that it dispels in order to flee.

That night, Hayate remembers his appointment with Hina and rushes back to the school. In the clock tower, he finds Hina in the student council room asleep on a couch. She wakes up to see him there.

Thoughts/Review: What a great episode! This episode ended up surpassing the manga for one reason -- "Cruel Angel's Thesis," the OP theme from Neon Genesis Evangelion. While the manga indicated that this was the song that Hina sang on stage, the actual lyrics apparently could not be recreated for the manga and so were modified somewhat. As such, I wondered if we would see Hina sing this song or some parody of it. When she actually began singing the lyrics and the music began playing, I got a thrill that I didn't expect and a desire to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion again. Further, I was reminded of what a good song "Cruel Angel's Thesis" is.

On YouTube, the user "serffix" created a clip of Hina singing the song that runs parallel the the OP sequence from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

UPDATE: Shogakukan says, "this LQ comparison clip is stealing the food out of our children's mouths and therefor must be removed."

I'm really glad that the anime production team managed to get the rights to the song to have it sung. It really works well and is a great moment.

I've not watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time but since that was the song that Risa, Izumi, and Miki had to sing, maybe I'll check that out at some point. So much anime, so little time.

The stuff between Kotetsu and Hayate was a funny here as it was in the manga complete with Izumi's excited arrival at the moment of confession. I just love how the anime writers are sticking to the manga and bringing all of those great moments to life in the anime (well, almost all). ^_^

Nagi at her funniest when she's kidnapped and abusive to her captors. I just love how despite the danger, she still looks down her nose and is dismissive and insulting to those who kidnap her. Further, the scene where Nagi's rage against the cursed Hina doll basically exorcises it is downright funny to me here as it was in the manga.

One thing that slightly suffered was Sakuya and Wataru going around the festival and Wataru's guilt over Sakuya not being able to attend this school since she gave up her slot so Wataru could attend. In the manga, this story arc had been preceded by Wataru and Hayate needing to be tutored as both aren't doing well in school. So in the manga when Wataru feels guilty, there's a bit more impact because this comes so soon after his squeaking through his tests.

The episode ended great, exactly as volume 9 of the manga did. I really hoped that's how things would end and I'm glad the writers and the good sense to see how this was the right choice based on volume 9. ^_^

So a really good episode here with lots of laughs and fun. ^_^

The Manga Guide to Physics --> BUY FROM AMAZON!

For this newest entry into the "Manga Guide" series, the story centers around Megumi, who is good at athletics but not good at physics. Her rival, Sayaka, has challenged Megumi to a tennis match and has thrown Megumi for a loop by relating physics to the playing of tennis. This causes Megumi to overthink things and thus lose the match. While cleaning up the court as part of her loss of the challenge, male classmate Ryota tosses a ball into the court to help Megumi but ends up hitting her instead.

Since Ryota is an ace at physics and he saw Megumi lose the tennis match, Megumi explains how Sayaka's remark after the physics test messed Megumi up. As such, she wants Ryota to teach her physics. He's reluctant to do so but Megumi pretends that she still feels great pain from the ball that Ryota hit her with so he agrees. Ryota's lessons often involve tennis, which is something that Megumi can relate to but sometimes he uses other examples.

Sayaka discovers what Megumi is up to and has challenged Megumi again. As the lessons continue, over time Megumi begins to address Ryota as "Ryota" instead of "Nonomura-kun," which he finds troubling. She wants him to address her as "Megumi" or better yet, "Megu," instead of "Ninomiya-san." After the lessons come to a close, Megumi has her rematch with Sayaka and with Ryota watching, she puts her new physics knowledge to work and has a much improved game and respect from Sayaka as well as a good friendship with Ryota, who now calls her "Megu."

As expected, there is a hint of romance in this manga story with Megumi becoming attracted to Ryota. Ryota is portrayed as the typical ultra nice guy but in the end, there are hints that maybe things will proceed from friendship to something more. I'm not sure why, but while this wasn't anything heavy, it stuck out to me. That's not a problem, just an observation on my part.

No Starch Press continues to forge ahead in its approach to the English translation and adaptation by allowing the "san" and "kun" honorifics through. As you guys know, I'm all down for this in any translated text from Japan and so I am excited to see No Starch Press take this leap. Granted, they used "sensei" in The Manga Guide to Electricity, but using "san" and "kun" is an even bigger step. I do wonder if the "chan" honorific was in the original Japanese text though because there were moments where it seems it would have been used.

Regardless, the inclusion of the honorifics helps with the bringing forward Megumi's change of feelings for Ryota and it does the same for Ryota at the end of the manga (though I still wonder if the "chan" honorific would have been there). So hat's off to No Starch Press. ^_^

Now to the physics.

Covered in this book are the law of action and reaction, force and motion, momentum, and energy. Newton's three laws of motion are gone over in depth as well as the other aspects of physics that you might expect.

This volume mostly follows the same form as the previous books, however there is one difference. Instead of each chapter having a single manga section to cover the subject matter followed by a more in depth look at the same material in a more traditional form, this book breaks the manga stories up with "labratory" sections to go into depth on what had been discussed. As such, there are several manga sections and lab sections per chapter. I think this helps the reader gain a better knowledge of physics by covering it in chunks within the chapters rather than retreading such a large amount of materials in a single large chunk at the end of each chapter.

This book makes extensive use of real world applications for physics and while many of them center around tennis (which is understandable), I think that things will be easier to relate to by the average reader. Having applications of physics that are easy to relate to makes things easier to understand in my opinion. That's where this book excels in my opinion and thus will be a useful aide for those looking to learn physics but find the subject daunting.

Bottom line: We have another fun story to help teach physics to the reader. By having real world examples of physics in use combined with breaking up the textbook stuff into smaller chunks makes this an excellent book for those looking to dip their toes into the waters of physics.

I attended the 2009 Denver Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday and as always it was a lot of fun (and those attending today I'm sure will have fun as well). I last attended in 2007 and had to miss last year but this year I promised Miwa-sensei that I'd come see her perform so I was very keen to attend.

First things first -- time to check out all the outdoor vendors. ^_^

The Gimme Anime booth received a lot of attention, which I was glad for.

The owner from Sumo Fish (formerly Big Sumo) made his yearly trek. What amazed me is that he remembered me, both as a customer and a blogger. *lol* I love his shirts and buy at least two every year. I encourage those of you wanting some nifty Japanese-themed t-shirts to do the same.

Of course there were booths inside the temple as well.

There was a fair amount of tasty Japanese food inside the temple as well. I decided to go for a beef bowl and man, I have to say that it was fantastic. I haven't had a beef bowl that good since I left Japan.

There were plenty of events such as martial arts demonstrations, various forms of Japanese music, and traditional Japanese dance.

Miwa-sensei's group, Rocky Mountain Sankyoku, performed again. This year, only two of them could come, so they performed koto duets. Simply amazing music to say the least. ^_^

I didn't hang out late to catch Denver Taiko (I had to get home to catch a nap), but I did get to see Taiko with Toni and Friends.

And what's a festival without interesting people around?

I didn't get a picture of the lolita girls. I say "girls" but they were all in their 20's and following the lolita fashion that one sees in Japan.

The nice thing about the weather this year is that while it was warm outside (mid-80's), it was still pretty nice. I had plenty of sunscreen on thus no sunburn for me!

So a fun day had by yours truly in celebration of Japanese culture. ^_^

魔法先生ネギま！～もうひとつの世界～
Mahou Sensei Negima! ~Mou Hitotsu no Sekai~
Magical Teacher Negima! ~Another World~

Who knows how long this will stay up, but this is the OP for the new OAD/OVA anime, Negima! Another World. Many of us have been wondering if indeed this new OVA would cover a lot of ground. Indeed it appears that though this new anime will cover through the end of the tournament with Jack and Negi and still only be four episodes in length. That means there will have to be vast amounts of materials dropped or these OAD's will have to be longer than 30-minutes.

Anyway, here is the link to the Japanese site hosting the video.

http://dic.nicovideo.jp/v/sm7419970

Very interesting but I am concerned about how much will be possibly cut. SHAFT is notorious for wanting to do their form of comedy and fanservice and so I'm not sure if they will focus on that or if they will cut all that in favor of the actual story.

Update: This video is a fan-made video, as those in the comment section have pointed out. This is an excellent fan-made video because the animation is fan-made too. Someone at SHAFT needs to hire this person ASAP!

Negima! 256 SPOILER Images
魔法先生ネギま！Chapter 256 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 256 SPOILER Images as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 12
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Al and Ed arrive in Dublith and make their way to the meat market where their sensei, Izumi Curtis, lives. They are greeted by Izumi's giant husband, Sig, who announces their presence to Izumi, who is getting some bed rest. Her greeting to Ed is to knock him out of the yard for becoming a dog of the military and to body slam Al for lack of training. Ed and Al inquire about the Philosopher's Stone, leading Izumi to say that she had spoken with a person in Central City who knew about it -- Hohenheim,the boy's father. This angers Ed, who recalls how things were after his father left and he blames his father for the death of his mother.

That night, Ed and Al recall how they met Izumi as she and Sig came through on a stormy night as people were erecting a sandbag wall to contain the flooding river. She used alchemy to build a high wall, which so impressed Ed and Al, they begged her to become her students. She refuses until she learns they are orphans. However, her condition is that they survive on a small island for a month and they cannot use alchemy. Further, they have to answer the riddle as to what
one is all, all is one" means. The boys learn to survive and learn the meaning of the saying so that when Izumi and Sig return, they know the answer.

Izumi begins to train them on fighting techniques as well as alchemy. During one of her lessons, Al inquires about about Izumi's ability to use alchemy without a circle. She states that she's using her body as the circle. Ed wants to know how this is accomplished, but Izumi won't answer, simply stating that they may be able to do that when they come to the truth.

In the present, Ed understands the "truth" as being the door that he saw when they attempted to resurrect their mother. The following day, Ed and Al begin to ask Izumi a question when she turns it into a sparring session, having figured out things they were trying to hide from her. Since Ed can use alchemy without a transmutation circle, Izumi knows that he's seen the door. After returning inside the house, she reveals to them that she too had attempted the forbidden alchemy of bringing a human back to life -- her baby. As a result, she not only got to see the door, she also had her insides messed up which is why she vomits blood at times. With that, she embraces Al and Ed, letting them know it is OK to let their true feeling out.

Thoughts/Review: What is it about comedy blood-vomiting that is both sick and oh so funny at the same time? I'm not sure if it is because I have a twisted sense of humor or not, but the two comedy times that Izumi vomited blood, I couldn't help but laugh. I remember something similar in that oh so wrong comedy Excel Saga, specifically that very gross episode "Going Too Far" where Excel became Hyatt and projectile-vomited blood all over the place. I gagged and laughed at the same time during that episode and while I didn't have quite the same reaction for this episode of FMA, it was similar.

Another humorous moment was the "we caught Thumper -- now what do we do?" *lol* Those who hesitate will lose and the boys certainly learned that lesson. Hunger certainly gets one over the idea of killing Thumper though or even eating ants. ^_^;

While we have another humorous episode, there was plenty of foundation laying here by showing where Ed and Al learned their skills from and what it took to make them what they are today. As a character, there's something special about their sensei, Izumi. Granted, two kids attacking her isn't that big of a deal, but the way she fended them both off while giving them a lesson in alchemy AND reading a cookbook was not only humorous, it showed just how good of an alchemist Izumi is.

While on the subject of Izumi, I have to say that this time around, I really like the romance aspect of Izumi and Sig. I don't really remember thinking too much about it in the first series but this time around, there seemed to be something very special about the two of them. One wonders how they met and fell in love. *lol*

Question for the audience who's memories are better than my own -- was the visiting to the "door" the reason given that Ed and Izumi could perform alchemy without a transmutation circle?

So another good episode as we move forward to the time of divergence from the original anime. I do look forward to that time. ^_^

While waiting for access to the next TWO episodes of Natsu no Arashi, I was made aware of a chart that Japanese fans are putting together to display many of the parody imagery the anime does. I know SHAFT sometimes goes overboard on the parody stuff, but even I am stunned by the sheer volume of parody material that most of us in the west will not even remotely get.

If this series ever gets licensed, I really do hope the licensing company will take the time and effort to have translator notes to educate the masses on all the parodies, including the ones in the chart.

The chart still has a few holes in it but if I become aware of an updated chart, I'll post it.

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 11
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Ed, Al, and Winry stop at Rush Valley where Winry finds herself in heaven because of all the automail on display. Ed's own automail arm gets noticed and during the chaos around him, his State Alchemist pocket watch is stolen. Ed quickly convinces some of the locals to give him a lead -- a girl named Paninya likely took the watch and she lives outside of town with an automail mechanic. Ed, Al, and Winry take off and eventually in the distance, they spot Paninya. Using alchemy, Ed is in pursuit, but Paninya proves pretty crafty. Ed herds Paninya to Al's location where Al creates a birdcage to catch Paninya. Paninya uses a blade on her one automail leg to escape and a 1.5-inch carbine in her other leg to escape. However, Winry is there to catch Paninya, however she's doing it less for Ed and Al's sake and more for the fact that she loves Paninya's automail.

Coming with Paninya to the home she resides in, they are met by a husband (Ridel) and his pregnant wife (Satera). An older man, Dominic, is the automail technician and he examines Ed's automail arm. After pointing out some flaws (such as weight) of the automail, Winry realizes she could learn a lot from him and asks to be his apprentice. Dominic refuses as he doesn't take apprentices. Meanwhile, Ed and Al marvel and the miracle of life when they touch the pregnant woman's belly.

Winry and Paninya talk with Paninya telling how a train accident when she was small left her without her legs or parents. The orphan child was later taken from the streets by Dominic, who then gave her the automail legs and has provided her with the upgrades she now has. Winry strongly insists that if Paninya wants to pay Dominic back for his kindness, Paninya has to stop pickpocketing folks. Paninya agrees and gives Ed's pocket watch to Winry. Seeing it is sealed shut, Winry pries opens up the casing to see what Ed is hiding. She sees scratched in English, "Don't forget 3 Oct 11," inside the lid of the watch. Shamed, Winry hands the watch back to Paninya to give to Ed.

Ed bursts in with news -- Satera is in labor. Dominic races off through the rain storm to fetch a doctor while Winry uses the knowledge she gleamed from reading books to help deliver Satera's baby. With the help of Paninya and Ridel, Winry delivers the child. Ed and Al get a look as Ridel gives the infant a bath. Ed is very excited by this but Winry is exhausted and needs help out of the room to a chair. She confesses to Ed that she's seen inside the pocket watch. It is something Ed has not even shown Al and is an ever present reminder to Ed to not forget his mistake.

After their talk, Winry is resolved to apprentice under Dominic, who has returned with a doctor. Dominic still refuses to train Winry. After some prompting by Ed, Dominic does refer her to another mechanic in the valley. Further, to answer Winry's question on whether she can come by to watch him work, Dominic states he doesn't mind if she comes by to see his granddaughter.

The following day, Ed and Al barely make it to the last train out of town for three days. As the train leaves, Ed tells Winry to make him a better automail arm (and leg?) when they next meet.

Thoughts/Review: Let me start by saying that I didn't remember this story from the first anime at all. That means one of two things -- it was in the first series and my memory problems are getting worse or it wasn't there. I believe I recall folks remarking in the comments for my last review that there were no new characters in episode 11. So that would mean that Paninya, Ridel, Dominic, and the rest were in the previous series and I've plain forgotten. ^_^;

I did remember what was in the watch however but I don't remember exactly when that information was revealed in the first anime.

Still, there's nothing like a comedy episode after the heaviness of episode 10, eh? I can't say that I was laughing out loud or anything, but I did smile and chuckle several times at all the antics. We saw the stereotypical woman in labor scene with the standard trimmings that come with that kind of comedy piece. Also the pursuit of Paninya was pretty much by the books, only with alchemy added this time. Despite being a classic joke sequence, I still enjoyed it and all the other comedy moments throughout this episode.

I did notice the wanted posters on the wall in the one scene. I recognized Scar but the other two didn't ring a bell with me off the top of my head. More faulty memory on my part? *lol*

So, Winry is left behind to obtain new skills in automail, which I'm guessing will come into play down the road. Next up -- Al and Ed's sensei and not as long a wait for that review. ^_^;

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 22
Fate/stay night episode 22

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With Ilya ill and overflowing with power, Rin tends to her and gives an explanation to Saber. She also reveals that Lancer's original Master had been slain and that Lancer has a new Master -- Kotomine. Rin asks if Saber knows where Shirou is and they determine that he must have gone to the church. Saber rushes out to find Shirou and at the church, encounters Lancer. As the two battle, Kotomine arrives and stops the fight, bringing Shirou along by the head. Before he turns Shirou over to Saber, he asks Shirou if he wants the Holy Grail now as it is being prepared. Shirou recalls the events from ten years ago and despite Kotomine's suggestion that Shirou could make everything in the past OK, the injured Shirou decides that he wouldn't redo things and deny the truth of what had happened and the results of that devastating day.

Kotomine offers Saber the Holy Grail if she kills Shirou. Saber too thinks about her past and comes to an understanding that redoing things is not the way to go. She wants the Holy Grail but she won't kill Shirou. Further, she chooses Shirou over the Holy Grail, which annoys Kotomine. Kotomine summons his second Servant -- Gilgamesh, aka "Archer-1." Lancer is not happy to see that Kotomine had a second servant and that the defiled place they are in now is how Gilgamesh stayed alive after the last Holy Grail War. Kotomine orders his two Servants to kill Saber and Shirou and then he leaves.

With Shirou having recovered somewhat from his terrible wounds after Saber took his hand, she advises him to stay close. However, Lancer is disgusted by the things Gilgamesh has done to survive and so defends Saber and Shirou from Gilgamesh's attack. Lancer tells them that this doesn't mean he's on their side but that he's doing what he feels is right and sends them on their way. Once gone, Gilgamesh comments that he too would have let Saber go since only one more Servant needs to die for the Holy Grail to appear. Since Gilgamesh considers Saber his property, Lancer was the one to die. Gilgamesh and Lancer fight briefly but Gilgamesh is too strong and soon kills Lancer.

Outside, Saber works on Shirou's wound and it heals. Saber tells Shirou that she replenished the mana within the scabbard inside of Shirou. Shirou is surprised by this and learns that the scabbard is the one that belongs to Excalibur. Saber explains that the scabbard is why he has his unique regenerative ability and that when Kiritsugu found Shirou ten years ago, the only way to save him was to place the scabbard inside of Shirou's body. It is that scabbard which Kiritsugu used to summon Saber ten years ago and is how a weak mage like Shirou was able to summon Saber. Saber now understands Kiritsugu's actions ten years ago and is glad that the scabbard for Excalibur saves Shirou's life. With that, the two of the promise to destroy the Holy Grail.

Thoughts/Review: Interesting -- Kotomine was the Master to both Lancer and Archer-1. I saw the clues but I didn't believe my eyes, much as I didn't when I saw the clues that Archer and Shirou were the same person. *lol* Well, this anime leaves things somewhat ambiguous in my opinion but those who've gone through the visual novel would know the truth. ^_^ And thanks to Garik and others who've given such great information from the visual novel to fill in the corners and then some. ^_^

So, when exactly did Rin determine that Kotomine was Lancer's Master and who was Lancer's original Master? Her arrival with that bit of information about her investigation came out of nowhere as I saw it as did Ilya's sudden and mysterious illness. Based on what Rin is saying, Ilya is filling with power and was designed that way. At the same time, the Holy Grail is filling as well. I get the strong impression that the writers are making a connection between the Holy Grail and Ilya but that makes no sense to me unless it is inside of Ilya. Rin's comments on Ilya possibly having to shed her human existence if things continue could suggest that Ilya turns into the Grail but that makes no sense to me either. I mean, if Ilya had won, what would have happened to her?

While I'm thinking about it, where is Sakura? I realize addressing her is a distraction from the rapid pace of the story but I would have liked some sort of something to acknowledge her.

The way is now pretty much set for Saber to remain behind after this Holy Grail War is over and to be with Shirou. I'm glad Saber finally has come to accept things, including her feelings for Shirou.

So all that remains is the final confrontation between Saber and Gilgamesh and whatever happens with the Holy Grail. ^_^

魔法先生ネギま！Volume 28 Chapter 255 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 255

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As Governor-General Gödel has Negi pinned down, he asks Negi which is Negi's true enemy -- the ones planning to destroy the world, the ones who took Negi's father from him, or the ones who destroyed Negi's village. The first choice is the present, the second is the future and the third is the past. Gödel suspects it is the past which truly drives Negi but if Negi won't join Gödel, then Gödel will have to destroy him as Negi is too dangerous. Negi uses a Magia Erebea, Enchantment Equip: Raiten Taisou Two followed by a Tastrapa Hyper Ouranou Mega Dynamena to escape Gödel. A magical smoke bomb is tossed into the area at which Setsuna, Craig, and Tosaka arrive to evacuate Negi, Shiori-Asuna, and Nodoka. Gödel mocks Seras for allowing them to escape but his mocking stops when it is pointed out to him that Negi managed to damage Gödel's clothing without Gödel's knowledge, something which impresses him.

Retreating to a safe house, Shiori-Asuna and Negi go back and forth on whom Konoka will heal. Konoka chooses Asuna and provides the perfect healing technique. Then Konoka uses regular healing magic on Negi, after which she produces a salve for the wound. Shiori-Asuna says she'll put in on Negi, so Konoka and Setsuna leave. Shiori-Asuna and Negi talk with Negi wondering about why Asuna's abilities to cancel magic and ki didn't work. Negi vows to protect Asuna which not only causes Shiori-Asuna to blush, she also ends up fleeing to the bathroom to take a break. Shiori dispels the Asuna illusion and realizes that Negi almost made her lose her cover thanks to the feelings Asuna has. Even though the Signum Bioregens perfectly imitates a person, it also has a severe weakness. Shiori reminds herself she only has to wait one more day.

Meanwhile, Nodoka has found an invitation to a ball at the Governor-General's residence inside of Negi's clothing. Nodoka doesn't see a trap on the invitation though coming to the ball as a wanted criminal may well be a trap. Setsuna warns Negi that Gödel uses the Shinmeiryuu techniques that she uses. However, he is using an ability that is only taught through the "central line" and not something one would casually learn. Jack arrives to remark to Negi on how he heard Negi got beaten by Eishun's apprentice.

Thoughts/Review: The three choices Gödel gave Negi took me by surprise. Gödel's words seem to imply that there isn't a single force behind the attack on Negi's village, Nagi's disappearance, and the plan to destroy the Magic World. Until now, I had assumed all three events were caused by the same force. It may well be that they all are caused by the same force and that Gödel is merely baiting Negi, much as he'd done throughout their encounter.

The other interesting item Gödel brought up is that the taking away of Nagi is a "future" item. How can an unknown entity taking away Nagi from Negi be a "future" event? The attack on Negi's village is the past, so that makes sense. Fate's plans for the MW are present time, so that makes sense. Nagi being gone from the scene seems like a past item as well, though I suppose what Akamatsu-sensei is getting at here is that Negi's quest to find Nagi and the truth is something to take place in the future.

So, Eishun is Gödel's master for the Shinmeiryuu techniques. Well, maybe we'll learn more about Konoka's father. That would be great as far as I'm concerned. I wonder if Setsuna knows Gödel in some form. Verbally, she gave nothing away but physically when she saw Gödel, it appeared as if she recognized him.

When Negi and company depart, Emily still calls him "Nagi-sama" despite knowing that he's the wanted criminal, "Negi." Pretty safe to say that she'll be a willing member for Team Negi should an opportunity arise and Chamo be around. ^_^

Philip made mention in the spoiler image comments that there is a parallel between the character "Zero" in Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki and Shiori here. For those who don't know, Zero was an infiltration robot that could perfectly mimic any person to include their memories and even abilities. Zero impersonated one of Tenchi's girls but while that girl had been able to keep her feelings for Tenchi in check, Zero found these emotions too strong to contain (though that wasn't the only thing which outed Zero).

Shiori is clearly going through a similar issue with the Asuna identity. That Asuna cares deeply for Negi has never been in doubt. I dare say that her romantic feelings really aren't in doubt either. However, she's been able to contain them. Shiori is having a difficult time containing these feelings and a ball dance might be JUST enough to send her over the edge. We'll see if that's how Akamatsu-sensei takes things or if he'll allow Shiori to make it through and thus allow whatever Fate has in store to happen. Hopefully, we'll see more of Asuna's story soon.

Which reminds me -- Akamatsu-sensei is playing things very carefully when it comes to Negi not figuring out Asuna is a fake. Negi isn't coming off as blind or dumb as he did notice "Asuna" not canceling out Gödel's attack. However, one can see that Negi's concern for Asuna and his feelings for her override any sense of warning that might have been generated. This careful writing is one of the things I like so much about Akamatsu-sensei.

Jack's back. *lol*

So, a rather interesting chapter that appears to be setting the table for the next sub-arc of the Magic World arc. ^_^

OK, I'm on an image kick of late but I figure that I may as well "share the love" as it were because these are nifty images. ^_^

Today, I was looking through my color art from Akamatsu-sensei, creator of my favorite manga Negima! This image features Sati (technically "30" since this is how the Japanese pronounce the number in English) from AI Love You, Naru from Love Hina, and Mai (aka: Santa-san) from Itsudatte My Santa. I'm not sure when Akamatsu-sensei did this image but if someone knows, let me know. I figure it may be prior to his creation of Negima! since Asuna isn't featured.

I've never read Itsudatte My Santa. I'm surprised that Del Rey hasn't tried to publish it as a Christmas thing.

Tsubasa: Those with Wings Volume 1 --> BUY FROM AMAZON!

Continuing my discovering of other TAKAYA Natsuki manga titles, Tsubasa: Those With Wings comes off different from the start thanks to its larger size. In reality, what TokyoPop did was not license the tankoubon release from Japan, but the bunkobon release. For those who don't know, the bunkobon manga volumes in Japan are primarily re-releases of a manga series whereby two tankoubon volumes are merged into a single bunkobon volume. So the cover here is Takaya-sensei's new (and current) art style rather than use one of the original cover's art.

It also appears that these bunkobon volumes have stripped out Takaya-sensei's side-column pieces as well as her other commentary pieces and that's a real shame. Not only do these columns provide information on Takaya-sensei, she's also used them to provide information about the characters in the story so those are sorely missed. It is possible that TokyoPop may have stripped them out themselves as a cost-cutting measure (cheaper to remove the column than have someone translate it?), but I tend to think that the Japanese bunkobon release had these removed. If someone owns or has seen the bunkobon of this series, let me know.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth and features two characters. First is the teenaged female ex-thief Kotobuki. She became quite a good and well known thief due to the circumstances of the world she lives in but now is trying to live a straight life and work a real job where she can find one. The other main character is Raimon Shiragi, an ex-military officer who had encountered and confronted Kotobuki in her thieving days. Now, he travels around with her from place to place.

Kotobuki has feelings for Raimon but isn't very good about expressing them. She holds herself back because she wants to be a person who can be a strong support for Raimon. Raimon also has feelings for Kotobuki, but he has no problem expressing himself to her which often embarrasses her. He has shown that he will wait for Kotobuki to be ready but at the same time, he gently presses forward so that Kotobuki will allow him to kiss her from time-to-time.

One thing that sets this apart from a title like Fruits Basket is that the overall story arc is only an element that links the various individual stories together. That element is called "Tsubasa," which supposedly appeared at some point in the past and is said to grant any wish a person might make of it. Each story arc takes several chapters to weave. With Kotobuki and Raimon traveling from place to place so that Kotobuki can try to find a legitimate job, the "Tsubasa" element follows them and plays a role of some sort in the adventure they have.

Once the story arc is over, Kotobuki and Raimon move on and so leave behind the supporting characters whom they'd dealt with. So this manga has a strange "adventure of the week" feel. I say "strange" because one gets caught up in the different chapters (which are only denoted by the original chapter artwork surviving) having a group of characters but when that story is done, we are introduced to a whole new cast of supporting characters. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, I found myself liking a group of characters (Shouka for example from the first story) only to have them forgotten after the story they appear in is over. This may change as time goes on though.

The stories themselves are interesting enough with the added element of the romance (such as it is) between Raimon and Kotobuki. The Tsubasa element, which has played an important part already, hasn't really gripped me yet but I take it as it comes.

I can see the seeds of future Fruits Basket characters in this manga. Kotobuki has a bit of what will become Tohru. Yan looks and has a lot of elements that will become Hatsuharu. Finally, the character Ross has elements that will become Ayame. There may be others, but these three stood out.

Takaya-sensei's art here has the personalities come through and I like that a lot. When Takaya-sensei did a new manga short at the end of the volume featuring Kotobuki and other characters seen in the first volume, one sees how much more generic Takaya-sensei's art and character designs have become. I'm glad I won't have to deal with that issue as this manga proceeds though.

I am very disappointed with the adaptation of this volume. The lack of Japanese honorifics screamed out from the pages and I found myself missing them to gain the insite into how characters view each other. Apparently the Fruits Basket adaptation is an anomoly in that is used Japanese honorifics and became TokyoPop's cash cow. Well, whatever the excuse to remove the honorifics here, I didn't like that.

TokyoPop's cheapness oozes out here too. I am very careful about all my books and as such, most of my books could be passed off as new. Unfortunately despite my attempts to be VERY careful handling this book, the spine broke and pages threaten to fall right out of the book. *_* Yeah, that's a way to keep your customers coming back for more, TP. I understand that TP is replacing faulty books like mine, but considering the manga hasn't been adapted to ANB standards and I'll be replacing one cheaply made book with another, why bother?

So story wise, things are pretty interesting and TP-wise, not so much. Your mileage may vary, of course. ^_^

Now that summer has finally arrived (officially and temperature-wise), I thought that a nice summer image was appropriate. Since I'm still working through Fate/stay night (well, as my tight schedule allows), I thought, "Why not post an image of Saber that is typical of summertime in Japan?" ^_^

For those following my reviews of the series, I hope to get more in soon. ^_^

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 11
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After dreaming about Hayate, Hina finds herself troubled about how much she's thinking about him. After school, she's startled by Hayate and Nagi coming up from her behind and learning that Hayate is having trouble in school annoys Hina greatly. Hayate decides that he needs to apologize for something and Nagi sends him off. When Hayate catches her, Hina decides to inquire about his parent's abandoning him and his thoughts there. After discussing the matter with him for a bit, Hina is OK with it and smiles to let Hayate know she's OK.

The following day, Sakuya is at Isumi's house where Isumi is setting up her Hina dolls for the forthcoming Hina Doll Festival. She warns Sakuya not to remove the head from one of the dolls as it is cursed and the head seals the evil spirit inside. If released, the spirit will seek out the unluckiest person out there. Sakuya accidentally removes the head to Isumi's annoyance.

Elsewhere, Hina is again thinking of Hayate and has a talk with Father Radiostar about this. Her conversation leads her to the conclusion that the real reason she's so consumed by thoughts of Hayate is not because she's in love with him, but because they have unfinished business after the school running event where he tricked her onto a suspension bridge and forced her to lose.

Meanwhile at the Sanzenin mansion, Hayate discovers that Nagi has purchased an expensive watch for Hina's birthday. While the money Nagi spent is a mere drop in the bucket, she's annoyed at having had to spend it at all since Hayate was so determined to buy Hina a birthday present and Nagi couldn't be upstaged by her butler. Hayate starts to work and his clothing is suddenly transformed into that of a maid. Nagi and Maria are both shocked by this, but Nagi decides that if this is how Hayate wants to be, she can accept it and has Maria relay that message since Nagi finds she can't do so herself.

After Maria starts talking with Hayate, he discovers he's in a maid outfit and things Maria had something to do with it. Isumi and Sakuya arrive to see that the curse has hit Hayate. After explaining the curse, the only way for Hayate to be freed from it is to defeat the master of the tower before the Hina Doll Festival comes to an end. Since that can only mean Hina (as president of the student council who is constantly in the Garden Gate clock tower), Isumi says she'll write a note explaining the situation and requesting that Hina allow Hayate to defeat her so as to lift the curse.

Isumi comes up to Hina and Father Radiostar and delivers the letter she's written, which is done in traditional Japanese style. Hina takes this as a letter of challenge and is impressed that Hayate saw things as she did, only Hina has no plans of letting Hayate defeat her. Isumi realizes that Hina has misunderstood the intent of the letter but is unable to persuade Hina from her goal of beating Hayate the night of the festival at the clock tower.

That night comes and Hayate is wearing a cloak to disguise the fact he is wearing a maid outfit. He's with Sakuya and Wataru and observing the festival with all its stands below when they are discovered by Izumi, who wants to know why Hayate is wearing a coat in such warm weather. Hayate's protests makes her curious and forces him to flee. That only makes Izumi more curious and she gives chase to see what he's hiding under that coat.

Hayate manages to elude Izumi and make it into one of the school buildings and encounters a guy wearing a butler's outfit. The guy assumes that Hayate is a girl and is smitten by what he sees. When asked for his name, Hayate says he is "AYASAKI Hermione," which the guy thinks sounds like a witch's name. Hayate tries to leave, but the guy decides to make a love confession on the spot. Meanwhile, Hina comes to the clock tower to wait for Hayate to arrive as part of his challenge.

Thoughts/Review: WHAAA! I got no Miki love and that was one scene I was so looking forward to. *sigh* Oh well. For those who haven't read the manga, after the koi pun, Hina heads to the clock tower where she's startled by Miki. Hina casually asks Miki about her opinion of Hayate, to which Miki produces a notebook and spews off a vast amount of information in a single frame. This stuns Hina but Miki explains that as the daughter of a politician, she's good at research. Miki ends by stating that Hina is wearing orange panties with frills and Miki doesn't think it suits her. *lol* It was a small moment in the manga, but it was a nice Miki moment as well as a Miki-Hina moment (since they've been friends for years). Oh well (again).

Hmmmm...even though I'm WAY behind on blogging this week, I'll scan the page in question (from Viz's translations) and post it here. ^_^

In lue of this, the anime added a couple of small things and fortunately both were pretty funny. For starters, when Hayate is shown in the Alps in maid costume, having the yodeling was unexpected and oh so funny. *lol* Also funny was Sakuya's lengthier attempt to see what was under Hayate's skirt. It was amusing in the manga, but having her eyes go Terminator red just cracked me up to no end.

Still, removal of the Miki scene caused the production team to have to pad everywhere else. I'm guessing that to animate the scene would have used more time than they had, so removing it meant they then had to pad elsewhere.

You know what would be cool? Having that scene appear on the DVD release. ^_^

Another plus the anime has over the manga is Hayate's seiyuu (SHIRAISHI Ryoko) getting to use her normal voice rather than her Hayate one. Its a testament to her abilities as a voice actress to be able to perform a teen boy's role and make us believe this is a guy, not a girl especially when Ryoko's regular voice is very feminine.

A scene that didn't work quite as well as the manga was Izumi's discovery of Hayate at the Hina Doll Festival. The anime production team attempted to capture things, but the facial expressions in the manga for Izumi actually worked better than the animated sequences did. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the moment in the anime but that I didn't feel they quite captured Izumi's eager curiosity that well.

Kotetsu makes his first appearance in the anime and that made me smile since I know what fun he'll cause Hayate in the near future. ^_^ The Hermione reference survived from the anime and I loved that. ^_^ (Can't wait to see the latest "Harry Potter" movie, but that's another item.)

I will note that in the normal flow of things, this episode would have been the "Hayate has to study and pass his test" story that we saw in the first anime series. That's why at the beginning, Hayate and Nagi mention studying and Hayate's need to pass. Its a shame the first series had to pluck that story out of sequence like that, but oh well. I felt the anime writers covered for its loss well enough in this episode.

So despite a bit of disappointment at the loss of the Miki scene, this episode is still a good one that had me laugh, smile, and be thoroughly entertained. That is what we want from our anime, is it not? Plus, it had yodeling! *lol*

PS: I hope there aren't too many mistakes in this thing. ^_^; As I write, it is all I can do to stay awake. Too many things going on. *_*

I don't like hentai stuff as it is just not my thing. That said, I am versed enough in anime, manga, and Japanese culture to know way more about the subject that I should. Living in Japan for two years where there seemed to be porn of some kind on (both anime and Japanese live-action) in one of the day rooms nearly every weekend (at night at least) added to my "education" if you will. *shudder* There are some things that I'll absolutely never understand as a fetish, but I for sure learned that if there is a fantasy out there, the Japanese have either filmed it, animated it, or drawn it in a hentai manga or hentai doujinshi.

Back in 2003, I saw this posting on a newsgroup from a person named "Major" and despite the topic, it made me laugh out loud. I saved it and I forgot about it until the other day when I remembered it while writing my train groping article. After some thought, I decided to share this with you all because it is funny.

And no, these are not my opinions except for this one -- "If it disgusts you, rest assured that someone, somewhere is getting off on it." Ain't that the truth. *_*

Everything I Needed to Know About Life I Learned From Hentai
If she blushes, she wants it.

"No" means "Yes."

"Yes" means "F--- me right here, right now!"

"F--- me right here, right now!" means it's a dream sequence.

"Not yet" means "Wait until the next scene."

Legal age in Japan is three.

No matter how hot a girl is, she's always hotter if she grows a dick.

All sex is good sex.

It isn't great sex unless it's rape.

It isn't great rape unless it involves tentacles.

A powerful piece of futuristic battle armor that is armed to the teeth and protects its (always female) wearer from the rigors of space travel, spine-shattering impacts and laser blasts is no match for a determined set of hands and/or a set of tentacles.

Never underestimate the power of lust.

The best place to get laid is on a train.

The next best place to get laid is at a high school, usually the roof.

All demons want sex. Everything else is secondary.

Blackmail is foreplay.

The male penis is at least a foot long, two-three inches thick and always curves up. It is almost always invisible, glowing, or otherwise distorted from view.

The female penis follows these same rules but usually isn't as long.

The hero sometimes gets the girl.

The heroine almost always gets the girl.

The heroine rarely gets the guy (usually because she's getting the girl).

The hero will never show up until after the girl has gotten raped.

The heroine is usually busy getting raped but don't worry, she's about to free herself.

Any being with the power to prevent a rape from occurring will not do so.

The penis is the world's most effective gag and is completely safe from harm since the woman never, ever bites.

A good-looking guy will usually score with a nice looking girl.

A good-looking girl will always score with someone (male, female, attractive, ugly, sober, drunk, etc.).

A guy who can suddenly turn into a girl will inevitably get lots of sex, mostly girls but some guys, too.

A girl who suddenly grows a penis will become deluged with dozens of female admirers who will all want to score with her.

A girly-looking guy who dresses in girls' clothing will never be laughed at or ostracized by his peers. Instead, he will get more sex than he could ever want from just about every woman he meets. Double this amount if he's still in high school.

Anything can be used as a sexual implement.

If it disgusts you, rest assured that someone, somewhere is getting off on it.

Lesbians are hot.

Cat-girls are hot.

Miko are hot.

Maids are hot.

Nuns are hot.

School girls are hot.

Teachers are hot.

Nurses are hot.

Senshi are hot.

Hermaphrodites are hot.

Prostitutes are rare. After all, why pay when you can take?

The school janitor is not your friend.

The principal is not your friend.

The male coach is not your friend.

The school nurse is usually your friend.

The vice-principal is probably evil.

The scruffy-looking guy in the white lab coat is never your friend.

If it's an all-girl's school, forget it. Everyone is either evil,
possessed or about to be. And the innocent ones won't stay that way
for long.

Sex with your mom is acceptable.

Sex with your sister is acceptable (and expected if you're a guy that can turn into a girl).

Sex with your brother is probably mandatory at least once in the story, if you're female.

Sex with your father is just plain icky.

Sex with the family dog... Don't be too surprised.

Bigger breasts are better breasts.

If at first you don't succeed, try chloroform.

Even plants need luvin'.

Sex is very wet and very messy.

All women spurt.

All men can perform multiple times in rapid succession without rest.

There are no STDs or pregnancy (the story just doesn't last that long).

A happily married woman will wind up having sex with just about everyone but her husband.

A happily married husband is either not at home or about to die.

Any genre is a good genre for sex.

Any setting is a good setting for sex.

Being a shy bookworm will get you laid.

Being an outrageous party animal will get you laid.

Hell, just being female will get you laid (as long as you're pretty).

Ugly chicks are as rare as prostitutes. Maybe there's a correlation?

Here's the second batch of Negima! chapter 255 images (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

Hmmmm -- Jack's back.

Negima! 255 SPOILER Images
魔法先生ネギま！Chapter 255 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 255Negima! Chapter 254 SPOILER Images as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

Well now, well now. ^_^

UPDATE: Second batch of images can be found --> HERE.

かんなぎ Episode 14 (DVD extra episode)
Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens 14

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Takako and Shino find a bundle of money on the street and turning it in nets Kanako a ¥100,000 reward. As such, she wants the art club to do a movie. Zange-chan invites herself into the picture and is declared a heroine. However, Takako wants story ideas from the other members and everyone has their own notion of what they want the movie to be about. Takako assigns Akiba the task of writing a script, which he does in 15-minutes. The members of the club read it as a group and love what they see; so the movie is on with Akiba directing. However, because of their budgetary shortcomings, the movie production is less than what Takako had hoped for.

Akiba stops production when a small cloud enters his shot. Unfortunately, that cloud turns into a bigger cloud, then more clouds, then rain, then a typhoon. After fleeing for shelter in the art club room, Takako has the club members get into their school swimsuits, hoping to strike something provocative. However, when an old video game is found, that ends those plans with the three guys getting so involved in playing, they forget about personal space -- something that troubles Takako.

When the power is killed to the school, Nagi uses her baton as a light source. Jin trips over a DVD on the floor, one which Akiba rented just for this movie. Since the movie budget money has been used up, Takako orders Akiba to return the DVD immediately lest the incur more late charges. Jin, Nagi, and Daitetsu agree to join Akiba on this dangerous quest through the typhoon. Soon, Daitetsu is knocked out by flying debris and Akiba is swept away by a flash flood but not before getting the DVD to Jin. The storm ends, allowing Jin and Nagi to make it safely to the video store, only to discover that they forgot to bring money to pay the current late fees.

Sometime later at school, the art club sans Takako are watching the movie they made and find it to be terrible, something Akiba blames on their having a low budget. Nagi wonders what Takako would say about this but Shino assures her it is OK. Meanwhile, Takako is at that moment walking the same street as before and this time discovers a large number of bundles of money on the street. She immediately decides that their movie will get a "part 2."

Thoughts/Review: Ah, it has been far too long since I had some Kannagi goodness. Hearing the OP, I was reminded of how good I found this series. There REALLY needs to be a sequel series to this you know.

Anyway, I will say that while this episode was funny with its different moments and stuff (and I even liked the parody of adventure stories), it wasn't the best episode of the series. The movie filming stuff was kind of boring and a drag but the adventure afterward and some of the elements prior to the movie were good stuff.

The funny stuff started with Takako and Shino finding the money -- just the look on their faces let me know that good things were around the corner and sure enough, Takako's brief loss of self-control when getting the art club members to go for making a movie was funny.

Of course the sudden rain shower was funny as was Takako's decision to have everyone don swimsuits. Yeah, we have the traditional breast jokes, but the fact that Nagi was so oblivious to her own small size I think is what ended up making the joke funny for me (in addition to that saxophone music used). Funnier still were the guys in swimsuits forgetting about personal space as they became engrossed in their old school video game. ^_^;;;

Next would be Nagi's use of her baton during the power outage as a light source. I couldn't help but remember her other uses of the baton for a light and it still cracks me up. This of course leads to the adventure parody with the unexpected (and yet expected) events that result in Jin and Nagi making it to the video store. I just laughed and laughed by this point.

There was one other negative element to this episode though -- I thought the animation was pretty bad at times and the whole thing felt as if it were done of the cheap. That was disappointing but fortunately the other good stuff overcame the bad. I think the remarks the art club made about how bad their movie looked and the budget problems are in fact remarks about how this episode looked. However, with Takako finding a larger pile of money, maybe that's a hint at a desire to create a 2nd series. I hope so.

In the end, the good really outweighed the bad in this episode. If you enjoyed the laughs of Kannagi before, you'll enjoy them here as well.

I got a chuckle out of this Reuters article about how the fear of being accused as a groper/molester on trains in Japan is supposedly starting to bring about a call for male-only train cars. Thanks to legitimate groping/molesting incidents on trains, rush hour in Japan already sees an inclusion of female-only train cars so the thought is that in the name of equality, there should be male-only cars. With some recent cases of men being falsely accused of groping, I suppose the shareholders making the request for male-only train cars is a "CYA" request.

Still, I have to say that I fail to understand the whole fetish about groping or molesting women in trains. If one looks, there is an astonishing amount of hentai imagery dedicated to the subject as well as regular porn on the subject. Take a look at a couple of MILD examples (obviously not so work-safe so don't expand them if you are at work).

Of course, most of these types of images go much further than groping -- women are usually raped (or worse), but as the saying goes when it comes to the Japanese and sex, "It isn't great sex unless it is rape." *_* Also, "The best place to get laid is on a train." Based on the above images, the idea is that women LOVE to be molested on trains and lose all self-control. *_*

So clearly, this fetish fantasy has some guys unable to control themselves and thus the issue of groping in trains. It is a shame really. I honestly cannot fathom the idea of violating a woman this way.

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 21
Fate/stay night episode 21

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: To Saber's dismay, Shirou tells her she has to run as he charges Archer-1 and with the snap of a finger, Archer-1 has stopped Shirou cold and has him on the ground bleeding. Saber gets angry and attacks but it is no use. To her amazement, Archer-1 has a dizzying array of Nobel Phantasms. He simply states that this is nothing considering he was originally Gilgamesh. He decides that he and Saber should go at it and despite Shirou's protest, Saber uses her Nobel Phantasm against one of Archer-1's. She loses and also falls to the ground as a bloody mess.

Shirou manages to stand up and use his ability to recreate a sword, but Archer-1 not only easily breaks this copy, he slices Shirou good too. Saber wants this to stop but before she has a chance to submit to Archer-1's demands, Shirou again is up, this time creating a sheath of energy based on Archer's words of advice to him. Archer-1 is amazed by this as is Saber, who gets up and with Shirou's help, places Excalibur into the sheath. When Archer-1 launches another ranged attack, the attack is deflected by the combined power of sword and sheath and hits Archer-1 full blast. With this, he elects to retreat and Shirou passes out.

Later, Shirou wakes in his room to discover he's completely healed. Saber comes in, having been tending to him. When Shirou again expresses his wish for Saber to give up on what he feels is her foolish desire (based on a shared dream he had with her), Saber leaves and attempts to make dinner. Shirou has to teach her and tells her he saw her dream, attempting to get her to change her mind. She leaves, but he follows her, preventing her from entering her room by embracing her. She can't push him away because she doesn't want to and despite her protests, Shirou kisses her. They then apparently spend the night together but in the morning, she's her normal, distant self.

Shirou decides to speak with Father Kotomine at the church, but doesn't find him. He has a terrible feeling and his mind urges him to flee, but he doesn't. Instead, he looks around and finds and underground church with lots of desecrated coffins and rotting bodies. Shirou backs away, only to back into Father Kotomine. Shirou is stunned and Lancer appears, piercing Shirou in the process and apparently causing Shirou to black out.

Thoughts/Review: Hey! My name is Shirou. No matter how many times you tell me I can't stand up to a Servant, I will ignore you because obviously you are lying. No matter how many times a Servant kicks my sorry rear end, it has to be just luck because I'm going to keep on fighting Servants no matter what. My name is Shirou and I cannot die.

Yeah, yeah, I know -- he became Saber's sheath (or always was in some sense) and he does have a power that combined with Saber makes him fairly powerful. Alone, he's still nothing though.

That said, you have to give the boy his props though. After all, he's not stammering around when it comes to Saber and wanting to be with her. Nope, he goes on in and even scores the kissed. Granted, he already had a sexual relationship with her (implied) in the fight with Ilya in order to recharge her mana. I gather he did the same after he kissed Saber, though she simply decided to act as if the act were nothing more than a recharge for her. My point is that while he acts an idiot by constantly going off without Saber and constantly doing things to protect the woman who's stronger than he is, he does get props for going after the girl in a fearless manner.

I'm going to guess that the sheath Shirou summoned was in fact Excalibur's original sheath. What I wonder is that as a mere copy of the original, can this copy be used as if the original once Shirou really masters his technique?

Also, I'm still thinking that Shirou is healing himself and that the power is not coming from Saber as Rin suggests.

So, my initial thoughts about Kotomine being Lancer's Master were correct. I admit, the arrival of Archer-1 threw me for a bit though since both Kotomine and Archer-1 were from the previous Holy Grail War. In my mind, it would make sense that Kotomine had somehow found a means of retaining his Servant, but then I was never quite clear on when Kotomine was knocked out of the fight.

So, if Kotomine is not Archer-1's Master, then who is? I suppose that being Gilgamesh in his former life, Archer-1 could somehow have the power to stay on his own after the war -- either that or the destruction of the Grail caused some sort of feedback that allowed him to stay.

Well, another episode down and one that just smoked by. To me, that's always a sign of a good series is when the time flies by when you watch an episode.

Genei Musou/幻影夢想
Phantom Dream Volume 2 -->BUY FROM AMAZON!

As I mentioned in my review of volume 1 of this manga, I had to reread that volume before proceeding to volume 2. That's because Takaya-sensei didn't do a great job of story presentation. So a first read-through didn't leave a good taste in my mouth (though it wasn't a bad taste), but the second read-through came out a lot better. Plus, it helped me remember the new terms for the different mystic abilities that Tamaki has.

Now to volume 2.

Aside from TokyoPop's cheap printing practices (at a higher cost of course), the thing that stood out in my mind where the surprising revelations that happened in the volume. Out of nowhere seemingly, we learn more about Tamaki's mother, who Tamaki's father was, their relationship to the rest of the Otoya family as well as the series antagonist, the Gekka family, and finally some surprising bits about Asahi. Well, I say some surprising bits about Asahi, but to be honest, Takaya-sensei hinted at them from volume one (and I did mention that in that review). Because of the twists and turns, I've elected to keep the spoilers down to a minimum in this blog entry.

As series adapter Ysabet and others have told me, the manga series gets better after volume 1 and they are right. While Takaya-sensei's story presentation can still be frustrating at times (and indeed is still the case in Fruits Basket), I found this volume to be a much more interesting read story-wise. I've already mentioned the plot twists, but there were also elements such as a small exploration of Asahi's and Tamaki's relationship, stemming from the fact that one day he will have to marry another woman in an arranged marriage in order to pass along the powers Tamaki possesses. Frankly, I don't believe this will happen by manga's end, but we'll see.

Man -- trying to keep spoilers out makes it a bit tougher since I like to write analysis of the story. ^_^;

What I will say is that Asahi does seem to be the forerunner of Tohru from Fruits Basket. I say this because both are fairly positive about their lives (well, Tohru was until she started fretting over Kyo and the curse but that's another matter) despite the circumstances. Both have expected, yet unexpected roles to play in the story's resolution (at least, as I see it now for Asahi). I'd guess the main difference is that while Tohru had difficulty expressing her romantic feelings, Asahi doesn't really have that difficulty and indeed is already sleeping with Tamaki.

I don't get a sense for Tamaki being a pilot character for someone in Fruits Basket though.

Volume 2 sees Phantom Dream get downgraded by TokyoPop thanks to their new cost cutting measures at a higher price to you. I really dislike this not only because of the ink bleed through, but the book feels wrong as you hold it. Ugh.

Regardless, I have to say that volume 2 improves quite a bit over volume 1 in terms of story and surprises. With the main plot now well underway, we're left with several unanswered questions as the volume ends so that I really do look forward to volume 3's arrival -- assuming I can get passed TokyoPop's cheapness.

魔法先生ネギま！Volume 28 Chapter 254 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 254

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Governor-General Gödel continues to goad Negi into attacking him when Seras arrives with her knights to stop Gödel from arresting Negi. Gödel claims innocence while Seras telepathically warns Negi to not be baiting into a fight. However, her telepathic communication is read by Gödel to Seras's astonishment. Gödel advises Seras to stand aside as he continues to talk to Negi. Gödel states that it would be to boring for Negi to return to his life as a school teacher. Gödel wonders if Negi is only interested in defeating Fate or whether Negi could save this world with his power. Gödel offers Negi a chance to rule this world by joining forces with him.

All of this has Negi upset and his power increases, causing the wind that blows to cause Gödel to be scratched. That's all the excuse he needs to claim self defense and attack Negi. He orders his elite Megalomesembrian troops to attack but Negi easily defeats them all, leading Emily to think that "Negi-sama" really is "Nagi-sama." As Negi powers up his Magia Erebea, Gödel attacks with a Zanganken Ni no Tachi attack, causing Negi's left arm and leg to temporarily be removed from his now electric body. Negi erects a barrier with the Paries Maximum, but Gödel easily penetrates the multi-layered barrier (with a Zanmaken Ni no Tachi attack). Negi recognizes Gödel's sword style as that of the Shinmeiryuu secret technique.

Negi goes down so Emily, Yue, and Shiori-Asuna attack. Gödel's blade easily removes their clothing but Shiori-Asuna presses on with her giant sword. Gödel uses his Zankuusen attack which Shiori-Asuna says won't work, but to everyone's surprise, Shiori-Asuna takes the his and goes down bleeding. Negi is angry as Gödel puts his knee on Negi's neck and announces he'll reveal the identity of Negi's true enemy.

Thoughts/Review: I know many if not most of you will disagree with me, but Gödel's yacking about Arika hasn't convinced me that she's his mother. After all, he has a goal in mind and has to have known that Negi has been educated about Arika (which begs the question, "how?") but hasn't been told that Arika is his mother. Therefore, Negi assumes it to be true and Gödel is using that to get Negi where he wants him, in my estimation.

Gödel's ability is one reason that I've felt that for Nagi to perfectly remain hidden (and assumed dead) for 10-years, he'd have to have a new identity so that no telepath could detect Nagi through whatever illusion he chose to hide himself in (whether I'm right and that illusion is "Negi" or not, for Nagi to stay hidden, he must be in disguise and have some ability to roam the world as needed).

Gödel's use of the Shinmeiryuu ~~Zanganken~~ Zanmaken 2nd form technique made me smile. Why? Because I believe that's the technique that Motoko from Love Hina mastered with Keitaro's help. Man, I'd love for Motoko to make an appearance in this manga, but I honestly don't believe Akamatsu-sensei will do that. If he does, I'll make some happy squealing noises for sure. ^_^

This leads me to Shiori-Asuna. I've been wondering exactly how Akamatsu-sensei would unmask her for the longest time. Until now, he'd not provided any real clues on how this would be done until Yue was revealed to Negi (and confirmed to be Yue), meaning that there was a badge showing up someplace it shouldn't be. Akamatsu-sensei brings in Gödel and now it looks as if Shiori-Asuna taking an injury like she did may be what unmasks her in the end. Further, I can also see this being a means of Negi picking off one of Fate's minions by getting her to switch sides. ^_^ We'll see though.

Still, I did find it interesting that even Gödel seemed surprised that "Asuna" didn't nullify his attack. He may be working on the same team with Fate, but that doesn't mean that he and Fate are on the same page and providing information to each other about their doings and plans.

So, a pretty interesting chapter but the next is being set up to be even more interesting as I see it. Can't wait for the spoilers on Saturday. ^_^

As I was writing my article for episode 21 of Fate/stay night, I happened to notice in my collection of images this picture I picked up at some point featuring Sakura, Saber, and Fujimura-sensei (aka: Fuji-nee). Garik had recently mentioned how much food Shirou has to spring for and that fits with this image. *lol*

On a related topic (which comes after the fact from having taken some time to surf some anime blogs), GNdynames notes a Fate/stay night maid cafe event in Akihabara, complete with food and drinks named after characters in the franchise. ^_^

Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle Episode 19
逮捕しちゃうぞフルスロットル Episode 19
You're Under Arrest anime

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: While out on patrol, Natsumi picks up a large soda from a fast food chain and uses a cup holder she purchased to hold the beverage. While in pursuit of a suspected purse snatcher in a car, the suspect gets away in an ally as Miyuki slams on brakes to avoid hitting a cat, causing the beverage to spill. She injures her wrist a bit in the event and upon returning to the police station, Natsumi offers to write up the report alone in exchange for Miyuki cleaning up the mess both in and out of the car.

Natsumi discovers she's having trouble writing the report and at the end of the day, takes Yoriko and Aoi-chan up on their offer to go to an upscale bar. She gets drunk and is annoyed with Miyuki always doing everything without allowing Natsumi to take responsibility. After ditching Yoriko and Aoi-chan with the bar tab, Natsumi returns home and tells Miyuki that she's going to start doing things for herself and be more responsible. Therefore, the following morning, Miyuki doesn't wake Natsumi as normal and Natsumi is very late. After getting in trouble about this, Kachou wants the patrol report, which Natsumi doesn't have. Natsumi is asking Miyuki for help writing it but Miyuki has already written it and turns it in. This angers Natsumi who demands to know why Miyuki did it. Miyuki angrily retorts that Natsumi should have just written it and storms off past a puzzled Nakajima.

Nakajima comes out to see Miyuki, who thanks him but says she's OK. Kachou inquires of Natsumi and asks they get along. When they next go on patrol, Natsumi apologizes for her actions and notices Miyuki's sprained wrist. Natsumi also notices that this is affecting Miyuki's driving, though Natsumi plays it down. After stopping at a convenience store for Natsumi, Miyuki gets a radio report about the suspect they chased yesterday and sure enough, that car comes by. Miyuki decides to go on her own and catch them. Natsumi is frustrated and catches them by taking a shortcut through a construction zone. With Natsumi operating the gear box, they catch up to the crooks who crash into a rice field. After the crooks are taken away, Natsumi bandages up Miyuki and they are friends and partners again.

Thoughts/Review: It has been so long since I last watched an episode of this series, I'd almost forgotten the character names. ^_^; Well, I am rather restricted on when I can watch this title.

Still, I can understand why there's such a lack of enthusiasm for this series. The writers attempt to create conflict between Natsumi and Miyuki, but this fails because frankly, long-time fans have already been here and seen that. As such, it doesn't work. Further, it just makes Miyuki look stupid and Natsumi...well, her getting angry because Miyuki had already written the report and saved her bacon didn't ring true either despite the writers attempting to set that up.

Basically, we are not covering new ground and having a couple of losers who snatch a purse be the villain of the week that must be caught is rather eye-rolling as well. An attempt to do a character story fails because it doesn't ring true and as I said, it isn't new ground.

Oh well. Who knows when I'll get to see another episode. I would like to complete the series, but that's not up to me. I'll write more as I can though.

I'm very displeased with TokyoPop at the moment. With my recent purchases of Sgt. Frog volume 17, Gakuen Alice volume 7, and Phantom Dream volume 2 (review coming soon), I discovered that TokyoPop doesn't appear to be in the manga business any more but rather has gone into the cost cutting business and that's not a good sign.

When TokyoPop emerged on the manga scene, the U.S. market was pretty limited. The idea of the day was that there would be NO way American audiences would accept "backwards" Japanese-styled published books, so time and money was spent to flip these manga to a traditional American book style. For a title like Oh My Goddess, which often includes English text, flipping the art would either mean more costly art rework or to simply unflip the panel in question so as to allow the English to appear correctly. Of course this resulting in things like characters having their hair parted on different sides of their head on a single page (as an example).

TokyoPop decided that they didn't want to get into this costly way of doing business (though I believe that they initially did do this). Instead, Stu Levy wisely decided that TokyoPop would buck conventional wisdom and publish manga in the tradition Japanese right-to-left format. Further, he would not spend money painstakingly removing Japanese sound effects from the manga pages, but would have those translated either near the original sound effect mark or as an extra at the end of the publication. Then, he allowed those translators and adapters to use Japanese honorifics and the like if they so chose. Finally, this was all marketed as "100% Authentic Manga" and brought into mainstream bookstores rather than be left in comic book shops.

It worked.

I'm sure that Dark Horse, Viz, and whomever else was publishing manga back then were amazed to see how TokyoPop shot to the top with their "backwards" published manga volumes because everyone just knew that outside of a few hardcore fans, no one would be interested in reading a book this way. Still, the numbers don't lie and TokyoPop made a killing by keeping their costs low while expanding their customer base. It was a cost cutting measure that turned into a brilliant marketing campaign and Stu is to be congratulated for this vision.

Unfortunately, I think success went to Stu's head because after a while, it seems that TokyoPop began to lose focus. Instead of "100% Authentic Manga" being the sole focus, TokyoPop briefly attempted licensing of anime. That failed but Stu decided that TokyoPop needed to be more hip and to get into the Original English Language "manga" (read: American comic with manga-influenced art and style). His pet project became Princess Ai, that hideous thing that is attached to Courtney Love. As I see it, Stu squandered a lot of TokyoPop's money trying to make Princess Ai something so hip and cool with himself worshiped as well as DJ Milky -- the ultra-cool DJ with the dope tracks!

So where did that leave TokyoPop as a company? Sadly, Stu's obsession with Courtney Love caused everything else to suffer. While TokyoPop had no problems desperately attempting to create interest in Princess Ai crap, they had nothing left apparently to promote things like the Slayers light novels, or any of their other light novels for that matter. TokyoPop didn't appear to even have anything to really push new manga titles.

With the economic downturn, TokyoPop suddenly found itself on the short end of the stick despite their cash cow, Fruits Basket. Desperate times call for desperate measures and with a drop in funds combined with TP's waste on top of normal business expenses associated with licensing and distributing manga in the U.S., TokyoPop decided to drop several manga titles. I suppose they felt it was cheaper to just eat the licensing fees without adding the additional cost of translating and publishing those manga titles. However, TP's desperation to cut those costs irritated fans of those manga series, especially when some of those manga series were almost at completion.

Sadly, this apparently still didn't cut TokyoPop's losses enough, so TokyoPop raised prices on much of their manga library. OK, we fans understand that rising costs would cause our manga to go up. However, TokyoPop needed to also cut additional expenses and that meant shifting to low-grade paper for printing purposes. As such, fans are left with poor-quality books for a higher price. Does Stu really think that manga fans will go for this? There's a lot of negative buzz about this, not only on blogs but on forums.

Kyokun703 wrote to TokyoPop about this issue and received this response.

I understand your concern. Paper, printing, freight has increased in price over the past ten plus years we have been in business. One of our competitors announced last week that they are raising prices higher than we did. We felt in order to keep the price of our manga down, we would change paper and only incease [sic] the average price by only 1 dollar. The other paper we used has not only increased in the cost but is getting harder to get.

On Amazon.com, Associate Publisher Marco Pavia wrote this.

Thanks for the feedback - I wanted to address a few of the comments on this thread. The paper we had been using prior to the stock you're discussing was only available from one mill, and suffice it to say, this didn't offer us a lot of flexibility with negotiating scheduling, pricing, etc., so we've been exploring other options. The new paper is different, of course, as you noted - our current printer let us know that other graphic novel publishers are inquiring about and using this paper, too. Now we are in the process of gathering feedback from consumers and other partners, and I appreciate all the candid comments as we assess its future. (BTW, our cover stock has not changed - it's still 10pt C1S - but perhaps the different paper gives it that impression.) Apropos postponing series, like all publishers, we have adjusted the release frequency of some series as we continue to analyze sales numbers and, in the case of slower-selling titles, build demand. Many publishers - not just manga and graphic novel publishers - follow a similar strategy, as we all try to make sense of the current economic climate. Alas, the retail landscape around us keeps shifting and as a result, as a small independent publisher, we need to be as responsive to these new realities as we can in order to survive - and to thrive.

Again, I do appreciate the thoughtful comments, and I just want to let you know we're listening. I hope to have more news in the coming months. And I'll keep reading your comments, so please keep 'em coming.

I note with a laugh that Marco tries to say that other manga publishers are using the same paper. None of my new Viz or Del Rey manga titles are using that paper. In fact, the only company I see being reported as using this paper is CMX -- a company I refuse to support from day 1 for a whole host of other reasons.

Still, Marco's presence on that discussion thread at Amazon shows that at least someone from TokyoPop is paying attention to the outcry. However, with TokyoPop's lifeline manga, Fruits Basket, coming to an end, I expect TokyoPop's foray into the business of cutting costs to continue except for Princess Ai, which I expect will continue to bleed TokyoPop for as long as Stu is at the helm. That's a shame too, seeing as how TokyoPop revolutionized the manga business and showed that American could accept both unflipped manga AND manga adaptations with a Japanese perspective. Let us hope that someone will right this ship before it is too late.

天地無用! 魎皇鬼 OVA 1

Early in 2003, I was a noob into the anime fandom scene. I had watched Hand Maid May as well as Love Hina and discovered I had a taste for the harem-styled romantic comedy titles. So I set out to find more and was told that the father of all harem titles was a series called Tenchi Muyo! After some additional research, I discovered that Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 1 started the whole Tenchi franchise and so I rented it as part of Pioneer's then 3-disc release. Man, did I discover this was much more than the harem title most people praised it for.

For those who don't know, this six-episode OVA/OAV features MASAKI Tenchi, a high school boy who spends his off time from school at the Masaki Shrine, which is run by his grandfather. Tenchi has been raised on the story of the oni who's supposedly sealed in a cave on the shrine grounds and so becomes obsessed with learning the truth of the story. Learn the truth he does as he accidentally breaks the seal and releases the space pirate Ryoko, who'd been sealed for over 700-years. Her release triggers the arrival of Princess Aeka and her young sister Sasami, who'd been out looking for signs of their half-brother Yosho, who'd disappears over 700-years ago pursuing Ryoko after she attacked their planet, Jurai.

After a battle between Ryoko and Aeka leaves them both stranded on Earth in addition to Tenchi and his father's home being transported from the city to the Misaki Shrine grounds, Tenchi's life becomes more complicated when Galaxy Police Officer Mihoshi ends up also getting stranded on Earth and thus has to live with him. She'd been in search of the notorious pirate Kagato, who was Ryoko's boss and for whom an arrest warrant still existed (while Ryoko's had been expired moments after Aeka found her). Kagato eventually arrives on Earth looking for the secret of the power of Jurai -- Tsunami. As such, he's determined to learn this at all costs. After he takes out Tenchi, Aeka and Ryoko confront Kagato on his ship while Mihoshi accidentally finds herself in the mirror section of Souja where the infamous scientist Washu has been held captive for 5000-years. Tenchi's return reveals that he's much more than the simple teen he and the others saw him as.

I tried to keep the spoilers down but I wanted to tell enough to pique the interest of those who'd not watched the anime.

On the surface, TM!R is nothing more than a harem title. After all, you have the nice-guy Tenchi who has all these young women living with him. Ryoko shows her feelings for Tenchi in various unusual ways including teasing him and playing with him in the first episode. Aeka's expression of her feelings are more traditional Japanese. Mihoshi's expression of her feelings for Tenchi aren't expressed directly to him, but to Aeka and Ryoko. Sasami-chan's feelings are shown from the start when Tenchi makes a "your cute" remark which he intends to be for her critter but she blushes as if it is directed at her (and this is a moment where Pioneer's adaptations fail because the translator decides to translate the scene to make it seem as if Tenchi specifically addresses Sasami-chan's animal when he in fact did no such thing). Washu's late arrival doesn't reveal as much of her feelings for Tenchi, but in hindsight, the clues are there.

Most people zero in on the conflict of Ryoko and Aeka over Tenchi, which really comes out in the fourth episode. It is true that their fights over Tenchi are humorous and fun, but they are only the icing on the cake as is the entire harem aspects of the show.

What caught my attention were the hints of a bigger story underneath all of this harem fun. There was Ryoko's being sealed in the cave for 700 years. There was Ryoko's attack on Aeka and Sasami's planet, Jurai, which lead to their half-brother Yosho's ending up on Earth as well as Ryoko. There was the fact that the special sword of legend from Yosho was named Tenchi. There was Tsunami. There was the secret on the ship, Tsunami. There was Kagato's quest for the secrets of Jurai and Tsunami. Finally, there was the secret of Tenchi.

At the end of these episodes, I found that these things were what intrigued me most and what I hoped future episodes would answer. I had a ton of questions because frankly, Kajishima-sensei (the series co-creator and the one who created the character designs and wrote the initial episode drafts) leaves a lot of things unanswered. Reportedly, he doesn't like getting bogged down in the details and so when he suddenly has a floating onsen in episode 5, we're supposed to just accept it and move on. Well, in a sense we do just that but at the same time, the audience is going, "just where did that come from?" As such, after the 7th TM!R episode came out to bridge OVA 1 and OVA 2 (called Night Before Carnival), Kajishima-sensei was compelled to publish a book in Japan called 101 Secrets of Tenchi Muyo! In it, he not only answers 101 questions posed by Japanese fans (101 being selected allegedly as a tribute to 101 Dalmatians), but he also began his tradition of providing additional information about the characters, story, and production which continues to this day (in doujinshi form).

Despite this book, there were still a lot of unanswered questions, which at a subconscious level fueled many fans to crave more. I think many fans focused in on the frosting aspects of the series and really missed the bigger story being woven as Kajishima began to follow J.R.R. Tolkien's example and create an entire complex universe. I'll go into that aspect more as I pull subsequent titles off the shelf. I will say that while few talk about it, there are some continuity errors in this first OVA, such as when how Ryoko got her gem back and how Aeka ended up going on the mission when it was clear Sasami-chan would be going but we'll leave that for the comments section. ^_~

That's not to say the frosting isn't good mind you and that there aren't some funny bits, such as these little "hidden" gems from episode 6 (cursor over for translation of text).

Musically, this OVA has some really good performances. I found the OP theme (an instrumental) to be very interesting. Ryoko's Theme, introduced when Ryoko emerges from an explosion in the first episode, captures the sense of fun of the character that isn't evident in that first episode. For me though, Kagato's playing the neole (think a giant pipe organ) absolutely ruled (I believe the song is officially called Kagato's Organ Recital and was composed by NAGAOKA Seikou, whom I believe wrote much if not all of the music for OVA 1). I've embedded the piece, all of which played in OVA 1.

While the series is now out of print thanks to Geneon USA's all but closing their doors, it is in

need of serious repair work, at least to the subtitles. In Pioneer's initial release, there were massive mistakes in the translations and that carried over into the dubs, which already take some liberties. While Pioneer fixed the worst errors for the 10th anniversary of TM!R, way too many poor choices are made in the subtitles. I've already mentioned the Sasami-chan issue earlier, but there are tons more which may seem minor, but since Kajishima-sensei's story is done in such a way as to leave clues for

things that are coming down the road, the translation of the anime needed special care and that's sadly lacking. As such, should this title get back into the U.S. market somehow, it is my hope that it will be retranslated from scratch by Tomato, who did the excellent work on OVA 3 and OVA 3 +1 for FUNimation.

Because of how Pioneer released OVA 1, Night Before Carnival, and OVA 2 in the U.S. (calling it all "Tenchi Muyo"),

people sometimes get confused about the whole canon Tenchi breakdown. However, if you are really keen to learn more, I have made an FAQ about the canon series.

In the end, we have an anime series that really manages to reach out and grab its audience. For most, the harem comedy aspects are tops, followed by the adventure story at the end. For me, the glimpses of a much larger universe are what sucked me in and made this series my favorite anime. If you get a chance, I highly encourage you to watch this series, which is considered the best of the lot by Tenchi fans including myself.

One of my favorite Katsuhito moments from Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 1.

*lol* That look on his face still cracks me up all these years later. Seeing it again, I thought, "Hey! A quickie marriage!" ^_^

This evening, I'll be going back to the vaults on Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 1 and since I couldn't quite work this image into that blog posting, I figured I'd give it a special lovin' post of it's own after I worked to create it. ^_^

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 10
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Col. Mustang has a dream-memory of the Ishval War where Hughes first pledged his support to Mustang's desire to become Führer. Meanwhile, Major Armstrong, Lt. Col. Hughes, Al, and Ed meet in Ed's hospital room to discuss current events and what Ed learned in the now destroyed Lab 5. King Bradly arrives to the shock of Ross and Brosh outside. Upon entering Ed's room, the people inside are shocked as well. After looking over their research, Bradley orders them to stop the investigation and to trust no one in this matter. Bradley tells them that he will have special things he'll want them to do in the future though.

Winry comes by with Ed and Al's tickets to Dublith, where their former sensei in Alchemy lives. Upon learning that Dublith is just south of the Rush Valley, home of some great automail, Winry convinces them to let her tag along with them. After the trio take off the following day, Hughes receives information about recent events which when combined with an article in the newspaper, Hughes leaves to do some additional research in the library. Upon learning more of the truth, he's confronted by Lust, who attacks him and wounds him. Hughes manages to get a tossed knife into Lust's head and escapes, not realizing this won't kill her.

Outside the library, Hughes leaves a small blood trail and is seen by the officer in charge of the phone banks. Initially, Hughes is going to make a call to Mustang from there but decides to go out and use a pay phone instead. Outside, Hughes makes his call but before he can be connected to Mustang, Envy arrives, disguised as Lt. Ross. Hughes realizes that this is not Ross and points this out to Envy. Envy corrects the disguise mistake, then transforms into Gracia, Hughes' wife. That's enough to freeze Hughes for a moment, allowing Gracia-Envy to shoot Hughes. As Envy is hanging up the phone, Mustang answers but there's no one there.

While Winry, Ed, and Al continue their journey (Ed and Winry enjoying Gracia Hughes' apple pie), a military funeral is held for Maes Hughes. Afterward as Mustang and Riza stand at Hughes' grave, Mustang decides to do a bit of investigation. He retraces Hughes last known places to the telephone booth and interviews the two people who last spoke to him. Mustang wants to know what information Hughes could have had. Armstrong arrives but cannot tell Mustang anything about what Hughes learned. Armstrong does provide some clues though so as to not disobey Bradley's orders on the subject. Mustang suspects the military leadership and promises that his first act upon transferring to Central City will be to investigate the matter further.

Thoughts/Review: Having the episode front loaded with comedy certainly disguised the fact that Hughes was going to die in the 2nd half of the anime. I knew that it wouldn't be long before he'd be killed, but I thought he'd make it through next week. Guess that goes to show what I know, eh? ^_~

I will say that while Hughes' death was sad, the emotional impact of his death was not as great for me this time. I'm sure part of that comes from knowing he was going to die, but part of it stems from the quicker pace of this anime series. As such, we don't have as deep a connection to Hughes and that's a shame. Still, any time a character gets killed, it opens up the door to kill other characters, meaning one can never know for sure if this character or that character will make it. As a dramatic tool, it works well.

There were a lot of good things in this episode. For starters, seeing how the Ishval War is what seems to have planted the seeds for Mustang to want to become Führer. Clearly, he was not happy with King Bradly even back then and who can blame him considering how the war went (even though they were victorious)? I like how Hughes was there from the start as Mustang's first supporter in his quest for power. I also like how Armstrong managed to give Mustang some information without breaking Bradley's orders.

Going to the comedy, King Bradley's visit to Ed in the hospital worked pretty well, though I can't say I was laughing my rear off or anything. Because I know a bit about Bradley from the first anime series, seeing him in these lighter moments made me appreciate more where the story will take him (or rather, where the story will take us regarding him).

So, another episode that manages to hit both ends of the spectrum -- comedy and dark drama. The previews appear to have a character I don't remember from the first series, so looks like I may be getting some new materials. Here's hoping. ^_^

Special thanks to fg7dragon, who alerted me to a late-posted image on 2ch, which was done around midnight Japan time (11:00ET).

To quote the Japanese poster, "サービス♪サービスぅ♪ " (literally, they are saying "service" twice, which we in the English speaking world know as "fan service").

Negima! 254 SPOILER Images
魔法先生ネギま！Chapter 254 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek images for Mahou Sensei Negima! 254 as brought to you buy anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).

Had I stayed up an hour and 12-minutes longer, I could have grabbed these as soon as they appeared in Japan. ^_^;

OK, time for me to get some more sleep.

Update: SPOILER images --> HERE.

OK, I've got to get some sleep. It seems that most of the time whenever I crash after a delayed upload of the Negima! spoiler images, they appear within minutes. *shrugs* Well, if that's the way it is, that's the way it is. There's always a possibility that there won't be any spoiler images uploaded.

That said, I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing, so here's a translated text spoiler summary from Xophien, for what its worth (I don't know where they scored the original Japanese text and I do know that sometimes, false spoiler text is posted on 2ch so take this with a grain of salt until we see the actual spoiler images or the RAW).

254th hour : One more wire puller!?

Since his mother was insulted, Negi takes a battle stance, and Seras shows up.
Seras calms him down, but it still turns out into a fight.
Negi easily crushed the soldiers from MM.

Next, the governor attacks and breaks through Negi's strongest magical barrier (Zanmaken "Sword that beheads demons", dual wielding long swords?).
Negi collapses, with blood dashing out of his right shoulder.

Seeing that, Asuna, Yue and Emily (I think) rush to help, and get stripped. Asuna still goes on despite that, but takes on a Zankuusen (flash that cuts void?), and collapses with her left shoulder bleeding.
Still down, Negi glares sharply at the governor, but the governor places his knee on Negi's neck and says:

"Do you really understand who you should strike with that strength of yours? Who is your real enemy? I guess I should teach you who is your true enemy."

Hopefully, when I get up, the new spoiler images will be out.

夏のあらし！ Episode 10
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Kanako is draining Arashi of her energy, so Hajime races forward to stop this. Kanako fires her crossbow at him but the bolt is shattered by the Detective with his katana, who happens on the scene. Seeing that Kanako was about to kill Arashi, the Detective declares his contract canceled and Kanako is forced to retreat but not before issuing a warning. The Detective and Hajime get Arashi to Hajime's grandfather's house. He convinces the Detective to show him Kanako's residence. The Detective goes a step further, offering to come with Hajime. Hajime isn't keen on this until he sees the Detective's name on his business card -- MURATA Hideo -- the son of the man Arashi saved in World War II.

Arriving at Kanako's place, they begin a search of the darkened mansion while Kaja, Master, and Jun tend to Arashi. Hideo and Hajime split up with Hajime going after Kanako's crippled friend, Yayoi. Kanako arrives and attacks Hideo while Hajime finds Yayoi. He's going to bind the frightened girl up but allows her to drag herself to her wheelchair as she refuses to let him touch her. Yayoi reveals that she and Kanako are ghosts as well from 1945 and they knew Arashi and Kaja. She tells the story of her friendship with the sometimes harsh Kanako to an amazed Hajime.

Meanwhile, Hideo appears to have defeated Kanako but when he takes pity on her, she takes him out with a stun gun. She comes upstairs to attack Hajime, which leads to Yayoi protesting that Hajime did nothing bad to her and pleading for Kanako to stop. Hajime wants Kanako to stop going after Arashi which Kanako has no intention of doing since she and Yayoi are fading. She attacks Hajime, who stumbles backwards into Yayoi. Their physical contact causes a reaction and they disappear into time and space, leaving a frustrated Kanako behind.

Thoughts/Review: Hmmmm -- so Kanako and Yayoi are from the same time period as Kaja and Arashi. I'd guess that after next episode, the conflict with them will be resolved and they'll be working at the Ark. It is interesting that Hajime and Yayoi went back in time though, so I'm also guessing we'll see what becomes of that trip -- another World War II jaunt I imagine. Regardless, why didn't Arashi recognize Kanako? I suppose she didn't know Kanako that well in the past.

It is also interesting that Arashi has been using the years to go back into the past and save people from air raids. Kaja apparently has done nothing but look in on the man she fell in love with. Yayoi has been reading books the whole time while Kanako has been fostering rage the whole time. On a personal level, I'd love to be more like Arashi, but I'd end up being like Yayoi mostly I think. ^_^;

Speaking of the time travel, I liked how Hajime discovered that everything done in the past established the present he's always known. Of course if one changes the past, how would one be sure that the present didn't change as well? ^_~ That's obviously not the case here as while episode 1 reveals that Kanako and Yayoi will be members of the Ark staff, it also revealed that when they time travel, they simply fulfill the duties they were meant to accomplish in order to complete the circle. Hideo, the formerly unnamed detective, is proof of that as well. As an aside, it now seems almost odd that Hajime would be so jealous of him in episode 1.

I wonder if Hajime's grandfather will end up being someone saved by Arashi.

Ugh. SHAFT is going to continue those "I read a book" jokes even if they have to change the players. These may work for some of you, but I really don't like them. Maybe if I knew the different anime/manga/whatever's they were referencing, it would be different. Since I don't, it is just an eye-rolling experience for me. Your mileage may vary though. I do like the harpsicord music for the record.

I continue to enjoy this anime on the whole though and do look forward to seeing how things turn out next episode. ^_^

I wants me some Kannagi licensing from FUNimation! I also want a second series to the anime. So far, no luck on either front but we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, here's some images from the most excellent "Nagi-sama." ^_^

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 10
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After Hayate accidentally insults Maria while inquiring about a gift she might like, he heads out to look for a birthday present for Hina. He runs into Ayumu and as they talk, they are seen by Risa, Izumi, and Miki who come up. After they learn that Hayate is looking for a present for Hina, so they make sure Hayate knows their birthday as well. Introductions are made to Ayumu with Miki declaring that they are all Hayate's lovers. Ayumu decides that since Hayate's friends are there, she will flee. The girls send Hayate after Ayumu, who gets on her mountain bike, only to learn her brakes go out. She's saved by Hayate, who reminds her that she needs to take care of her bike. Since Ayumu and Hayate were introduced through a similar bike accident on her part, Ayumu is touched that Hayate remembers their first encounter.

Kaoru-sensei thanks Hina for helping in the after school lessons and gets her to go find Risa, Izumi, and Miki, who skipped out on the lesson. Hina goes into town and finds the girls talking with Hayate and Ayumu about her birthday. Hina hides and learns some of their opinions of her. When Hayate and Ayumu take off to gift hunt, Hina comes out to confront Risa, Izumi, and Miki about a "tomboy" remark they made. Meanwhile, Ayumu realizes that going shopping with Hayate is almost like they are on a date. Things are going so well, Ayumu feels that she will immediately become the butt of a joke but no joke happens. Instead, Hayate tells Ayumu that her love confession was the first one he'd ever received. She tells him that she's never given one before but Hayate was about to leave her life so she made her initial confession.

Ayumu excuses herself after their talk and is afraid that Hayate doesn't like her. This is seen by Izumi, Miki, Risa, and Hina. They wonder about Hayate's actions so Hayate says that he doesn't dislike Ayumu. However, he doesn't feel he can be in a relationship since he can't support a girl. The girls question his notion, so he explains that his kindergarten girlfriend (A-tan) had beaten this idea into his head. Things make more sense to Hina now and Ayumu, who'd been nearby listening in, is relieved to know that Hayate doesn't hate her.

Returning home, Hayate brings in the groceries and tells Nagi that he's late because he went shopping for a gift for Hina. This irritates Nagi something fierce but when Hayate produces a gift for Nagi, she's immediately touched, saying that even if the gift is a cheap one, she'll treasure it because it is from the heart. However, she's only distracted for a moment by Hayate's gift and returns the conversation back to Hayate's desire to buy Hina a present.

A misunderstanding with Maria has Hayate seeking her out to apologize. He learns that Maria was abandoned as an infant at a church, which is why she was given the name "Maria." She was officially registered in the Japanese rolls as a citizen and officially assigned December 24th as her birthday though she does not know her real birthday. Hayate promises to get her a gift then before presenting her a gift stuffed bunny, which Maria loves. Sadly, Hayate doesn't know that the bunny is from a violent anime character.

Thoughts/Review: For some reason, it struck me in this episode that the Sanzenin family doesn't have a dishwasher. Why? It actually comes up in lots of anime and manga titles -- someone with a lot of money is still washing dishes by hand. I think the first anime I saw where a dishwasher is even used is one of the Shakugan no Shana titles and the dishwasher there is just a portable, counter top model. I can understand why some tiny Japanese apartment wouldn't have a dishwasher because where are you putting a dishwasher in a 300 square foot apartment? However, in some western-styled mansion, it seems that they'd have a western-styled dishwasher. Just a thought. ^_^;

As expected, I'm loving how the anime continues to follow the manga story. I just love Risa, Izumi, and Miki as a team. They are just so much fun as they tease Katsura-sensei, Hayate, or Hina. Their remarks about Hina cracked me up as well as Miki's frank statement declaring that Hayate was the lover of all three friends. *lol* Of course, they also provide good advice, such as when they sent Hayate after Ayumu. ^_^

Seeing Ayumu's bike, I am reminded of the recently released manga volume from Viz (volume 11 to be precise) where her bike again will come into play. Hmmm...I'll wait for the anime to catch up to that story before commenting further. Regardless, I can't help but like Ayumu as a character.

I wonder about Hayate's girlfriend from kindergarten. I didn't mention it when I reviewed the manga volume she was mentioned in, but for this episode, the moment stood out in my mind. As such, I get the feeling that she may show up in the future (I'm not reading ahead on Hayate the Combat Butler, so after the anime gets through the volume 11 stories, they will be all new to me). We'll see what happens though.

Score one for Hayate and his gift to Nagi to temporarily thwart her irritation. ^_^

The biggest laugh for me came from Tama being busted.

*LOL* This little moment was in the manga too, but it was SO much funnier in the anime for me. Tama the glam rocker. ^_^

I know I tend to gush over this anime and that's because I'm loving it. It is SO much better than the first series simply because it follows the manga rather than go off on its own with a lot of tedious, non-funny stories.

School Rumble Z Volume 1 Chapter 10 (manga)
スクールランブルZ Chapter ♮10 "Goodbye Again"

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: It is time for Tenma's class to graduate, so Yakumo and Sara get ready to leave while Eri makes sure Harima attends. At Yagami High School, Akira lets out the news that apparently Mikoto and Hanai are going to be sharing a room in a boarding house come spring, something they deny. This causes a lot of talk about couples with Megumi asking Karen if she's going to be OK with Imadori living alone in Yokohama. Max is also at school and after Harry comments on how alike Max and Harima are, Max thinks that if Harima makes Eri cry, Max will make him pay.

In the future, a married (?) Harima and Eri arrive at the hospital with their new baby to visit Karasuma as well as fellow visitors Tenma and Yakumo, who are happy to see them and their baby.

The graduation ceremony starts and Yakomo is tasked with giving the farewell speech to her senpais. Her speech is moving and she starts to cry, but is saved by Tenma's arrival on stage. Somewhere in the crowd, Harima is behind Karasuma in a wheelchair, remarking on Tenma, the girl whom both of them fell in love with.

Review/Thoughts: I didn't see a ring on Karen's finger, but then again, her hand was never really shown. If this story takes place after chapter 8's story, then she should have a ring. Oh well.

The item that has many fans of School Rumble talking is the apparent flash-forward scene with Harima and Eri in the future. You know, I would have been OK with Harima ending up with either Eri or Yakumo. Granted, I haven't read anything in School Rumble passed what Del Rey has released, but based on what I have read, either girl would be acceptable. Assuming this is what Kobayashi-sensei decided was the one whom Harima would end up with, it is a shame to not have a story taking place after chapter 5 that explains how Harima was found and how the ultimate choice came about. I suppose that doesn't matter in the end because more often than not (or so it seems), authors cop out on having a single choice made when there is a love-triangle or harem situation.

So I'm kind of disappointed this manga series is already over, but I guess this is the better farewell than what was in School Rumble (based on what I heard at least). I'll have more thoughts about the entire series later. I still need to reach chapter 9.

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 20
Fate/stay night episode 20

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Father Kotomine tells Shirou that he'll investigate this second Archer ("Archer-1" as I call him). As Shirou walks home, he reflects on Father Kotomine's words that he may have to reserve his final command spell to use on Saber if he wants his wish to have Saber stay with him fulfilled since she has her own objective. Shirou sees that he's fallen in love with Saber so the next step is to ask Saber out on a date. Rin learns of this and finds the idea hysterical, but she decides to help. Saber doesn't know what a date is and after Rin explains it to her, she agrees to go. However, Rin has to knock Ilya out so that Shirou and Saber can go in peace.

The date goes smoothly for the most part, though Shirou is foiled from holding Saber's hand in the movie theater. After dinner, they walk to look out over the ocean and an old, wrecked ship which Saber confesses was destroyed by her in the last war. This leads to a conversation where Shirou challenges Saber's idea of doing things over again in the past and her notion of simply being a swordsman. Saber is offended and coldly informs Shirou that she's not given her heart to him and that she's a Servant. She vows to fight on even alone. Shirou tells her to do what she wants and leaves angry. At home, he promises himself he won't apologize to Saber and goes to sleep.

Shirou is awakened by Rin a few hours later as Saber isn't back yet. Shirou finds her still at the location where they had their argument. Saber confesses that when Shirou told her to do what she wanted, she found she could not make up her mind and thus ended up staying there. Shirou tells her to come back home and takes her hand. He tells her that he won't apologize for the things he said. They walk home hand-in-hand until they are challenged by Archer-1, who doesn't like Shirou holding Saber's hand.

Thoughts/Review: So, Saber and Shirou go on a date. In many ways, it was the cliched anime date -- movie, aquarium, shopping, eating. Where it differed somewhat was that Shirou showed more courage when it came to taking Saber out. Further, he spoke his mind to Saber in his disapproval of her plans to try to get a do-over. Generally, that's not something one does on a date. *lol* However, despite Saber having shown some interest in Shirou, she seemed pretty firm in her rejection of Shirou's advances. Stubborn girl. Still, score one for Shirou with his hand-grab maneuver. *lol* He totally knew what he was doing there. ^_^

One other thing that set this date episode apart from normal date episodes -- Shirou has money. *lol* Seriously, I can't remember an anime date episode where the male lead has any money. To go on this date, the hero has had to scrimp, save, and work 100 part-time jobs. An incident where Saber accidentally destroys an expensive sweater would be the death of most heroes but since Shirou's got the cash, it was not only no big deal, but it was a humorous moment to boot.

Since the episode ends with Archer-1 on the scene, I suppose we'll have some action next week and possibly a revelation on why he's still around.

Now that I know that Archer is in fact Shirou from the future, I liked how Rin noticed how Archer and Shirou spoke in similar fashion about Saber.

While it was nice seeing Ilya, even if only for a cameo, my mind kept screaming, "Where's Sakura?" After all, one would think that after the recent events, she'd have some story time for her to deal with things. Thankfully, I know much of the Sakura story from Garik, but it would have been nice for the anime to have already addressed this. Oh well.

Otherwise, there's not a whole lot to discuss here since the episode was mainly a lighthearted one for Saber and Shirou's date. More fun stuff next episode I'm guessing. ^_^

Genei Musou/幻影夢想
Phantom Dream Volume 1 <-- BUY FROM AMAZON!

Having loved Takaya-sensei's Fruits Basket manga, it was only natural that I would explore some of her other manga titles done before Fruits Basket. So why not start with her first ever manga, Genei Musou -- aka: Phantom Dream? Fortunately, TokyoPop has provided a means for me to do this.

SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW!

The manga features OTOYA Tamaki, who's a high school boy who's the monshu (head priest) of the local temple. Tamaki has been trained to exorcise jaki -- an evil spirit or demon-like entity that feed off of human negativity. Some of Tamaki's powers include shichiboujin (a defensive barrier/shield), creating a shieki (something that does the will of the creator), and summoning a gohou -- a spirit-creature that protects the one who summons it.

Joining Tamaki is his childhood friend and now girlfriend Asahi, who addresses Tamaki as "Tamaki-chan." She's seemingly a normal girl who's determined to support Tamaki no matter what (and he can be a bit abusive to her as well as loving). However, she does appear to have some small abilities of her own that have yet to be truly realized. Just so you know, Asahi and Tamaki are in a sexual relationship. Its not really overt, but there is an image of the two of them in bed together apparently nude and a bit later, Asahi wakes up to find Tamaki gone and she is nude. Plus, this all happens at the temple and apparently Tamaki's mother doesn't have a problem with Asahi sleeping over.

The first story has Tamaki's and Asahi's old childhood friend Mitsuru come back into their life when she transfers to their high school. Unfortunately, she's possessed by a jaki created from Mitsuru's own fears over the loss of her twin sister. So Tamaki has to overcome his own doubts and limitations to help out their friend.

This story is rather uninspired. That's not to say it is bad, but it was difficult for me to get into the story. There was no hook that just reached out and grabbed me about the story, nor the characters sadly. I couldn't be brought to care about Mitsuru or her condition.

Unfortunately, this is the case for the other stories as well. The one with the boy who has some sort of relationship with butterflies didn't grab me. The final story where the main story plot of a rivalry between two families (Gekka and Otoya) whereby we see that the teen male from the Gekka family is causing the jaki to appear doesn't really stir me either, though I may give this a second read before attempting volume 2.

So what's missing from the stories? Conceptually, I step back and see this is an interesting idea of a Japanese mystic-priest and his girlfriend. However, I find that Takaya-sensei's method of laying out the story isn't very good. In Fruits Basket, she uses those (sometimes lengthy) dialog moments where the "speaker" of those words aren't clear. That's in play here too and it is a bit frustrating because since the stories and characters haven't grabbed me, having thoughts spread out by sometimes unknown speakers that cause the reader to stop in order to go back and pick up exactly who's thinking/saying these things isn't good.

That's not the only issue though. I think that because this is Takaya-sensei's first manga combined with tighter controls over what she could and could not write by her editor(s) also weakens the manga story and plays out in the presentation.

Art-wise, Takaya-sensei is a bit rough here, but to be honest, I think it is better than her simplistic art style she has today where characters have limited personality in their character designs. In Phantom Dream, all the characters are easily identifiable once introduced.

TokyoPop's lack of translator notes comes into negative play with this volume. The translator and adapter for this manga have elected to use several new Japanese terms (some of which I've ID'd in this review) and while they define them when introduced (or shortly thereafter), having a central place to get a refresher on what a "gohou" (or the like) is would have been nice. I'm all in favor of using Japanese terms to bring a Japanese perspective to things and I've no problem with learning new terms. I just wish they'd have those translator notes.

As I mentioned, I'm going to have to read this manga a second time before I attempt to read volume 2, which I'd already purchased. Feeling the need to read a manga a 2nd time doesn't bode well in this case because had I not already purchased volume 2 ahead of time, I don't think I would have bothered and would have just sold the manga on eBay or something. However, since I do have a second volume to read, I will reread this first volume in order to be fair to the second. Who knows, maybe I'll find it better the second time around.

As it is, I consider this a somewhat below-average manga. There's not enough fun or intrigue to really grip me and the characters aren't anything special, nor do they stand out in my mind. Your mileage may vary though. ^_^

夏のあらし！ Episode 09
(Summer Storm)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Master has an expired package of mackerel and again proposes taking it back to the past before its expiration date. This leads to a serious discussion of time travel and the paradox that can result because of it. Hajime is wondering what happens to the history they had previously known if they change history. Further, since some people saved would mean some people would never be born, this causes further complications in the idea of going back and saving people, something Arashi has been keen on doing.

The discussion hits Arashi hard, so Master has a talk with Hajime to get him to see the light. Hajime takes it to ask Arashi out, but on a time-traveling trip back to 1985. Arashi agrees since always going to 1945 is unhealthy. Hajime is excited to see all of the old games, computers, and cars. While playing an old console game at a store display, a boy knocks down Arashi to get his turn to play. Hajime gets angry but when the boy hears Arashi's name, his attitude changes. They walk home with the boy, Hideo, who tells of how his father was saved in the war by a girl named Arashi and that his dad has often wanted to thank her. Arriving outside Hideo's home, they see the family name "MURATA" and discover Hideo's father is Sankichi, the boy she saved during a bombing raid. Arashi is very happy now that they came to 1985

Back in the present, the Detective has doubts about the authenticity of his client's claims of kinship with Arashi. After he leaves Kanako and Yayoi, Kanako decides to take matters into her own hands and pays a visit to the Ark. When Kanako touches Arashi, she has a reaction and has to go home. She's escorted by Hajime and they encounter Kanako on the wooded road. Kanako needs Arashi's power and attacks Arashi, holding Hajime at bay with a crossbow.

Thoughts/Review: Before I get started, I wanted to address the issue of cameos in this anime. I know there are a ton of them here and I notice Motsu (Negima!?) appeared on the label of the mackerel package. Author from アニ・ノート has pointed this out to me and indeed has mentioned it in his own blog. Author pointed to Beta-Waffle, who has a good sized list of parody cameos listed for this episode. Outside of Motsu, I wouldn't have caught any of these cameos since I don't think I've watched any of those anime titles. However, should those of you who read this blog wish to mention cameos you see in an episode, please feel free to say so in the comments. ^_^

As expected, the body-swap ending of last week was ignored here. No surprise really but the only reason I mention it is that this anime actually has a plot of sorts dealing with Arashi's and Kaja's being in the present.

That leads me to my next point, whereby we learn that it is Kanako and Yayoi who've hired the Detective to retrieve Arashi for them. I didn't expect that at all because outside of the first episode, the two of them have been in those annoying jokes which I believe are parody tribute references to different anime, manga, or the like. That said, despite the episode ending on a cliff hanger with Kanako attacking Arashi, I know all will end OK because episode 1 has Kanako and Yayoi working at the Ark. Yeah, as a heroine, Arashi was always going to be OK, but episode 1 removes all the dramatic tension for me of Arashi being attacked. The only unanswered questions are the obvious, "What are Yayoi and Kanako?" and "Why do they want Arashi's power?"

SHAFT apparently decided that since the absurd logic joke from last episode worked so well, why not trot it out again? Fortunately it works this week because it became part of the larger time paradox issue that bothered Hajime so. Actually, as Hajime laid out the diagram, I couldn't help but think of the Back to the Future movies and Doc Brown's explanation of changing time.

The trip back to 1985 tickled me, since I would have been 15 then. I could relate to Hajime's excitement over the game console and the like because I lived those moments. As I watched those moments, I couldn't help but reflect on how many people watching this episode were born after 1985 and thus have no connection to the year, much as I have no connection to 1965. Just one of those things that mark the passage of time and how 1985 is "ancient history" in some ways. *lol*

Arashi and Hajime meeting Hideo, the son of the kid (Sankichi) they saved in World War II was a nice touch. I thought they might meet Sankichi, but that would have been a bit much I guess.

So there was a wide-range of stuff here from nostalgia to humor to a serious discussion of time travel and whether Arashi is doing the right thing. As such, its a really enjoyable and good episode for me.

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 39 Chapter 247

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Mara arrives where chibi-Hild and the others are. Chibi-Hild asks how Mara survived the encounter with "Momo-chan," the demon-bull creature that had been sent to retrieve chibi-Hild. Mara recounts her battle with the beast after chibi-Hild escaped and that her current messy condition is a byproduct of getting caught up in her own attack on the demon-beast.

Chibi-Hild needs Mara's help so she acknowledges Mara's victory. When chibi-Hild reveals that she needs Mara's and Welsper's approval to gain access through the gate to Niflheim, Welsper refuses until Belldandy asks. Belldandy explains that her desire not only comes from the Daimakaicho's request, but her love for Earth and various people she's met there. With three approvers set, chibi-Hild, Mara, and Welsper perform the ritual to open the gate.

Thoughts/Review: There's not a lot here beyond some Mara-love. Granted, Mara takes a beating in defeating Momo-chan, but she does get to kick some bottom and show a bit of nobility I guess. While its nice seeing Mara in action, she's still being used as comedic cannon fodder and so that negates her kicking bottom. I remember back when Mara was first introduced and while elements of that character survive here, I think much has been lost over the years. We'll see how she's treated as the current story progresses.

Hopefully, Lind and Peorth make it before the gate closes so that there is maximum firepower when entering Niflheim. Plus, it will be an opportunity to see Mara work along side the others in a fight, which I'd find interesting to see, even though I figure Mara will still be cannon fodder.

So after some really interesting chapters of late, this one is just an average chapter with the plus of seeing Mara kick a little bottom before being put back in her place as a laughing stock demon.

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 09
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: In the hospital, Ed gets chastised by Lt. Ross and Sgt. Brosh for going off on his own in the Lab 5 incident. After squaring things with them, Ed makes a dreaded call to Winry about his busted arm. She's afraid that he's discovered the missing screw and he's afraid that she'll go off on him for messing up her automail. Ed is a bit surprised when she doesn't go off on him but when he reveals he was in a fight, she does go off. However, she agrees to come to Central City to make repairs.

She's met at the train station by Major Armstrong where she learns that Ed is in the hospital. She's now concerned that her forgetting to put in a screw caused him to be there but she soon realizes that Ed doesn't even know about the missing screw and so feels better about the whole thing. After finishing the repairs on the spot, Lt. Col. Hughes pops in for a visit and upon learning Winry needs a place to say, has her stay at his house, where it is conveniently Elicia's 3rd birthday party. Winry and Elicia hit it off and during the evening, Winry and Hughes talk about Ed and Al and Ed's concern for Al's apparent depression.

The next day, Winry returns to the hospital to visit Ed and Al only to find them in an argument as Al has let Barry the Chopper's words get to him abut being fake. Al thinks that Ed is afraid to tell him this and so Ed leaves. Winry goes off on Al, pointing out that Ed wouldn't go through all this trouble for a fake brother. Further, she informs Al that what Ed was afraid to ask Al was whether Al hated him for losing his body. After whacking Al's armor a few times, Al goes to find Ed. The two make up by having a fight practice where Ed wins for the first time. They then vow to get stronger and to get their bodies back to normal.

Scar dreams of being in Ishval and encountering a State Alchemist when he wakes up in a slum of East City, tended to by an elderly Ishval man and a boy from Ishval, all part of a refugee settlement after the war. Scar remembers his fight with Lust and Gluttony and his two rescuers recount how they found him half-dead in the sewers.

Thoughts/Review: First, its CAMEO TIME!

Thanks to everyone who alerted me in advance that this would be coming. ^_^ As tired as I was when I watched the episode, I'm sure I would have missed it.

While this episode had Al working through his feelings, it also had a fair amount of humor. The whole milk scene ended up basically being a commercial that I'm sure the Dairy folks would get behind financially. Plus, there's the slapstick of Lt. Ross and Sgt. Brosh beating on Ed as well as the slapstick (in the middle of a serious moment) where Winry wails on Al. Of course, no Fullmetal Alchemist humor would be complete without Major Armstrong losing his shirt and flexing now would it? ^_^

I think we are still moving pretty face-paced because I want to say that the first anime series had Al gloomy longer over Barry the Choppers words BUT I could be mistaken there. Still, I'm glad that bit of angst on the part of Al is over and we can move along.

One thing I learned from this episode that I wasn't aware of was that Ed being a State Alchemist is the equivalent of him being a Major in the military. That's another of those elements that I'm not sure if it came up or not in the first series. I do know that Ed had authority as a State Alchemist to obtain funds, go where ever he wanted, and to even use military resources. Knowing that he's like a Major gives more clarity to the whole structure of how he fits in. It also explained why Lt. Ross and Sgt. Brosh were so polite to him and why they were afraid after Ross slapped Ed a few times. *lol*

So a nice fun episode that also manages to resolve Al's angst and push Scar's story forward a bit.

Hayate the Combat Butler, Volume 11 --> BUY FROM AMAZON!
ハヤテのごとく！Manga Volume 11
Hayate no Gotoku Manga Volume 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Hayate, Nagi, Tama, Klaus, Maria, and Ayumu where they have to find Santa Conan (from Detective Conan) in a strange dream world. Ayumu decides to take a chance in the dream to have a heart-to-heart with Hayate.

Isumi takes care of some youkai with Sakuya but finds her powers have now died. When Hayate is sent over to Isumi's house on an errand, he finds that Isumi is the most level-headed member of her family when compared to her mother and grandmother. Hayate discovers that the cure for Isumi is very specific, so specific that only Hayate could qualify. As Hayate walks back home, he finds a box of kittens, a puppy, and a baby monkey. It is bait for an attack by a girl in a large mask, but she misses and moves on. A little later, Hayate meets Maria and again the girl attacks but misses, so she decides to cop feels on Maria.

Back at Isumi's house, she and her mother note that Great Grandmother Ginka is missing, which may mean she's out to get Hayate.

Back with Hayate, the girl continues to attack Hayate, so he kicks her in the face, removing her mask. He's surprised it is a girl and justifies his actions as defense against someone trying to kill him. She's angry and starts to go all out but then stops and Hayate witnesses the girl turn into a little old lady who wants Hayate's blood. Isumi arrives to retrieve her great grandmother and understanding the situation, Hayate gives up some of his blood to help Ginka.

At Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula, a meteor has fallen and now the onsen there is reported have a whole host of therapeutic effects to entice young girls. As such, Nagi is going on a trip on the Super View Odoriko-Go luxury train, having been advised to do so by Izumi's butler Kotetsu. She's not the only one going on a trip to Shimoda as Ayumu decides to bike the 100KM distance in one day. She soon discovers that the distance may have been more than she was prepared for.

On the train, Nagi somehow gets off to sample one of the ekiben's at the station and gets left and lost. Hayate doesn't know what to do since he doesn't want to leave Maria until he finds her on the train and gets her to sit with Maria while he bails out to look for Nagi. Meanwhile Nagi finds a ramen store that only sells shio ramen. The large cook is scary and Nagi has no money but she eats anyway and has a cry, which scores her a free meal. Ayumu happens upon the place, so Nagi attempts to bail. However, Ayumu soon learns what happened and gives Nagi a lift on her bicycle. She also lends Nagi her cell phone so that Nagi can call Maria.

A car full of assassins drives up looking for Nagi, so Ayumu panics and Nagi drops the cell phone. As they attempt to elude the assassins, Hayate finds the cell phone but Great Grandmother Ginka is back to get his blood for Isumi. He promises to help Isumi after he saves Nagi. Hearing this, Ginka assists him and even takes out the assassins herself. Because of Ayumu's efforts, Nagi requests Ayumu address her as "Nagi" though Nagi still calls Ayumu "Hamster." They reach the Atami Station safely but since Ayumu doesn't want to part with her special bike, she turns down an offer to get on the train. Nagi orders Hayate to "drive" Ayumu to Shimoda and Hina backs Nagi up on this, so Hayate does as they wish and Ayumu gets a dream come true.

Since Hayate can pedal as fast as a train or car, they are making rapid progress. However, a snooty couple in a convertible insult the two of them, so Ayumu and Hayate quietly are in agreement and smoke the convertible on speed. Hayate remembers the Detective Conan dream and asks what Ayumu wants for a White Day gift. Considering everything, Ayumu says she already has everything she wants as she feels the breeze in her face on the bike with the boy she loves.

At Shimoda, Hina and her family are off and Ayumu goes to her aunt's house while at one of the resorts, Isumi and her mother soak. Maria and Hayate take off for an onsen dip on their own and return for a massage chair session when a frustrated Kotetsu arrives complaining about a lack of an onsen scene in the manga. He wants to hook up with Hayate in the worst way and so Maria decides to challenge them both to a ping pong match. Hayate and Kotetsu are first but Hayate loses when Maria distracts him. Maria takes on Kotetsu and she hasn't forgotten that he kidnapped Nagi. Having defeated him, Maria wants them both to wear a maid uniform.

The following day, Nagi wakes up after dreaming about her mother. She meets up with Sakuya and they head to the actual site where the meteor reportedly struck, paying the ¥4000 a person entry fee. The onsen makes Nagi start to hallucinate but when Hayate rescues her, she's not too happy about being seen naked again.

Thoughts/Review: I wanted to try to limit my summary, but frankly this manga was so compelling, funny, and good that I couldn't stop myself. ^_^; Add to this the richness of the adaptation from Viz and it is pure win. The one thing that would make this better would have been translator notes, but Viz doesn't seem interested in that.

I laughed at the Detective Conan "dream" chapter, not because I'm a fan of either the manga or anime, but because I know how extremely popular the franchise is in Japan. Indeed, parody tributes to Detective Conan were scattered throughout the first Hayate the Combat Butler anime series (though I don't think there've been any in the 2nd series). Plus, Ayumu got a chance to get close to Hayate in that chapter which was nice.

The Ayumu love continued with her "rescue" of Nagi and their subsequent attempt to flee from assassins. Not only was that funny, but again Nagi and Ayumu gain a greater understanding of each other and I like that. Then when Nagi and Hina both insisted that Hayate pedal Ayumu to Shimoda, for Nagi it was a means of thanking Ayumu for her efforts in saving Nagi's life. So again, we gain a humorous ordeal with Hayate and Ayumu, but also a bit more movement on Ayumu's romantic feelings for Hayate and that is nice.

Hina's talk with Maria wasn't long, but there too we have some movement on Hina's feelings for Hayate. Her joining Nagi in insisting Hayate go with Ayumu might seem like her ultimate choice on what to do and maybe it is. However, I figure that Hata-sensei can still keep Hina with feelings for Hayate.

The really unexpected moment was Nagi's dream about her mother. To date, nothing really has been said about Nagi's parents and I get the feeling that we may get more about Nagi's mother in the next volume. I hope so.

Next is Isumi's family. *lol* I never expected Isumi to look so normal and in control as she does around her sweet mother and grandmother. Of course, the real gem in that family is Great Grandmother Ginka, who's determined to get Hayate's blood to restore Isumi's powers. Having some spry old lady who can kick bottom isn't a new concept -- Cologne from Ranma 1/2 springs to mind. However, while Cologne mostly annoyed me (except when she fought Happosai), Ginka grabbed me from the start. Why? Well, she wears that big mask and often looks like a young girl before "running out of gas" and looking like an old woman. Since I don't know too much about her, its hard to say more, but there's just something about the way she came in that not only didn't annoy me, but made her a compelling character. I hope we see more of her in future.

Basically, Hata-sensei continues to make this manga funny, interesting, and compelling and for me, manages to hit all the right buttons to really enjoy rereading this manga over and over again. I think that this manga has moved into 2nd place behind Negima! in my favorite manga list.

A quick word on Viz -- still good work on their part with the Japanese perspective to the translation/adaptation. I still say this series should get translator notes, but I don't think Viz is ever going to do that. At least they aren't going cheap on the printing like TokyoPop either. ^_^;

So if you are already a fan of the manga, this won't put you off the series. If you haven't given the manga a whirl yet, I really do encourage you to take a chance. There are good characters, fun stories, and wacky comedy moments. Its just really a good bit of light entertainment that I tend to enjoy just before going to sleep.

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 19
Fate/stay night episode 19

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Saber and Assassin battle as Shirou and Kuzuki-sensei battle while Caster prepares to sacrifice either Rin, Sakura, or both. Despite letting Assassin get to flat ground where he can use his Nobel Phantasm Hiken, Tsubame-gaeshi. Despite this, Saber is able to avoid the attack with only a graze to her hair while slaying Assassin. Shirou does what he can to defend against Kuzuki-sensei but ends up beaten back and falling down into the ceremony area of Caster. When Saber arrives, Caster isn't worried since she's sealed Saber's sword so that it can't harm her. However, an Archer-type Servant appears and slays both Caster and Kuzuki-sensei from a distance with lots of swords. This Servant knows Saber and mentions facing her out of this cave before leaving.

Shirou grabs Sakura and Saber assists Rin and the four flee as the Greek town vanishes now that Caster has been slain. They make it safely back to Shirou's place where Sakura is put to bed. A discussion takes place regarding this new Archer-class Servant ("Archer-1" as I will call him), whom Saber identifies as being a Servant from the previous Holy Grail War. Apparently, Archer-1 proposed to Saber toward the end of the war and she responded by attacking him. Further, Saber reveals that her Master in that war was Shirou's step-father, Kiritsugu. Saber feels Kiritsugu betrayed her by using a command spell to force her to destroy the Holy Grail, which caused the destruction of the town that Kiritsugu found Shirou in as the lone survivor.

This is shocking news to Shirou, but Saber doesn't want to discuss it further. Shirou speculates that if the Holy Grail can make a Servant stay alive after the war is over, then he can do this for Saber. She rejects the notion, citing her desire to go back and change things in the past. Shirou argues she could do that in the present. Shirou then takes off to see Father Kotomine to inquire about what could happen if he wins the Holy Grail War. Shirou receives confirmation that Saber could be made to live and still be a Servant. Father Kotomine then sternly advised Shirou to get home since it is dangerous for him to be out without Saber. Shirou asks about an eighth Servant being in the War, which seems to surprise Kotomine.

Thoughts/Review: Well now, well now. This episode certainly threw some wicked curve balls. For starters, what the smeg happened to Rin? I mean last episode, she's bleeding pretty badly; this episode, she's not only not bleeding, she's strong enough to flee the underground temple with Saber's assistance. Further, there's no mention of her injury once they reach the relative safety of Shirou's house. So either she's still injured badly and hiding it or the writers simply decided to move along. If Rin shows any sign of injury next episode, I'll let it pass. If this is forgotten, it will be tagged as poor writing and a terrible red herring.

Next is Archer-1 (since he was before the Archer of this series). I knew it had to be at least an Archer-class guy the way he acted, but while I initially thought, "Oh! Somehow Archer came back to us for the dues ex machina," that quickly vanished. Yeah, Archer-1 has a massive number of swords like Archer had, but it was different. That begs the question -- why is a 2nd Archer-class keyed in on sword usage? It makes sense for Archer to be into swords because as Shirou, he was good at both archery but became very skilled with the blade. For a second Archer-class Servant to also primarily use bladed weapons, even as a ranged weapon like an arrow, seems a stretch to me.

Continuing with Archer-1, why save Saber and company at all? The logic of this fails me, though clearly there's a serious lack of information from which to form any kind of hypothesis. After all, Archer-1 should not be around if he were a Servant from the previous Holy Grail War and Saber destroyed the Holy Grail then. I suppose answers will be coming in the near future along with why Kiritsugu ordered Saber to destroy the Grail rather than use it. Regardless, his appearance and then lack of follow through made for a rather anti-climactic end for Caster and Kuzuki-sensei. At this point, I look forward to the explanations about Caster's summoning and everything else from those with the information. ^_^

OK, what's next on the curve ball menu? Oh yes, Kiritsugu being Saber's Master in the previous war and Saber being the one who apparently destroyed the city that Shirou was the lone survivor of. I suppose it is poetic that Saber would be summoned, even accidentally, by Shirou and that she would see through Shirou the man Kiritsugu would become after the war. I wonder if the VN foreshadowed the Saber-Kiritsugu connection because I didn't see it coming at all. Then again, I have to admit that I really didn't think about what Kiritsugu's role in the earlier war may have been.

Now that Kiritsugu's role in the war is known, I've begun thinking again about Father Kotomine's role in the previous war. I think I'd previously mentioned that we didn't know Lancer's master yet. Father Kotomine is the only person we'd been introduced to with magical abilities that might be his master and I hinted at this without saying anything. My other thought was that we might get something completely unexpected, as we did this episode with an 8th Servant and a second Archer-type Servant at that. For some reason, Shirou's visit to Father Kotomine made me strongly feel that he may well be Lancer's Master. It just feels like this is the way things will go. I may be way off key here, but I'm hoping for a 2-fer since my gut also told me Shirou had to be Archer even though the anime did not provide enough evidence to support such a fact (in my opinion). Of course, Kotomine may be Archer-1's Master now that I think of it since both come from the earlier war. ^_^;;;

So, a lot of stuff going on as we rapidly move toward the end of the series.

Don't mess with Winry's automail, y'all! ^_^;;;

My review of episode 9 will come in a day or two.

Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 22 --> BUY FROM AMAZON!

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

The one great thing about reading all nine chapters that comprise a tankoubon/volume of Negima! is remembering how things felt when reading one chapter a week with a break every 3

or 4 chapters (depending on circumstances). One thing people feared greatly was another long tournament arc with Negi and Kotaro battling fools and rising in power. I didn't feel Akamatsu-sensei would do this because there wasn't anything to be gained from a story perspective and although Negima! is a shounen manga, Akamatsu-sensei sticks to good writing rather than sheer fan service (whether naked girls or massive action). Sure enough, while the tournament is acknowledged and will proceed in the background, Akamatsu-sensei moves the story elsewhere.

That brings us to Negi's training with Jack. Again, people decried another boring training arc where Negi gets more powerful. Certainly I can understand the fear especially in light of this volume not really having Negi learn much to improve himself. That's because Akamatsu-sensei is not only establishing the character of Jack Rakan, he also provides some additional tease information about Nagi and Ala Rubra; he provides a tease for Fate's potential involvement with Ala Rubra; and he provides a map showing how far Negi has to go to obtain the power he wants in a short period of time, thus paving the road for Negi's choice. For me, these aren't boring at all when read in the manga volume, but I could see why people reading this week-to-week might get a bit impatient and want to move on.

One nice thing about this volume was the look-in on some of the other characters such as Asuna and Setsuna. I've no doubt that there were many males who's eye nearly popped out of their head seeing Setsuna naked and bathing with her feathers fully extended. Then add to that Asuna preening Setsuna's feathers and Setsuna's reaction to it. Yeah, Akamatsu-sensei loves his ecchi, doesn't he?

Yue finally shows up and of course that's all good. One begins to see the further table setting that Akamatsu-sensei is doing by having Yue learning to become a mage. ^_^ I'm glad she's becoming a useful character while off on her own. That's not to say she wasn't useful before, but now she'll add additional firepower for whenever Negi and company finds her. I'm glad to see that Akamatsu-sensei gave an answer as to why Yue hadn't been arrested since she too is a wanted girl. ^_^

Now to Del Rey's treatment of this volume of Negima! As many of you know, recently I have NOT been happy with Ikoi Hiroe's translation/adaptation of the manga and my dislike of this person's work (whom I still don't know if they are a man or a woman) goes back to Pumpkin Scissors. To be honest, I felt that we'd be stuck with Ikoi for a long while and that did not please me, especially with all the stupid changes and poor adaptation choices used of late. Even though there have been a whole slew of people working the translations and adaptations over the years, I didn't think we'd get a change for a while.

That in mind, when I opened up this volume of the manga and saw the wonder twins of Alethea and Athena Nibley as being the translators and adapters of this volume, I almost cried. After all, they've done such excellent work such as on Fruits Basket and Ai Yori Aoshi. I know they will not have a problem with keeping Negima! on the right track when it comes to the translations and adaptations.

Back are the Japanese attack names as well as the Latin and Greek ones. YES! Sometimes, the small English translations are with the attacks/moves/whatever and sometimes their explanations are reserved for the section in the back of the manga which goes into things in greater detail.

Still, to be fair, I'll cite two small issues. For starters, the little fairy doesn't say "I surrender! I surrender" at the end of the fight. Instead, she says "Niisan! Niisan" and is addressing her knocked out comrade. I can see why "I surrender" is used because that looks right but that's not what was said in the Japanese.

Second, it appears that Alethea and Athena aren't aware of "Aegis warships" because they have erroneously identified "Aegis" as a ship name and not an advanced, powerful combat system that is installed on some different cruiser classes of modern day warships. On Jack's blackboard, an "Aegis cruiser" is drawn. In the original Japanese, it is labeled as "Aegis-kan" -- "Aegis warship." So Alethea and Athena appear to have assumed that this was a ship name and they ran with this through the volume.

That's it as far as translation issues that I noticed. I confess that the "Niisan" one was pointed out to me by a regular blog reader because I would have missed it otherwise. This is a welcome relief from the various changes that had been a part of recent volumes. So here's hoping that Alethea and Athena are on the manga from here on out.

As an aside, I noticed that the fruit boxes had their Japanese text removed in favor of English text. I'm not sure if I've seen Del Rey do this before (if they have, I wasn't paying attention) but it caught my eye for some reason. Maybe because they were already being forced to work the blackboard with all Jack's text there, they decided to just do the fruit boxes too.

So Negima! is back on track when it comes to Del Rey and the table is being set for future fun in the Magic World. ^_^

By the way, those who haven't been reading ahead, have you identified the Magic World yet? ^_~

Yep -- for those who've forgotten, Negima! is on a break this week and thus there are no spoiler images for Negima! chapter 254 this week. Instead, here's a "Cosplay Pinup" for y'all. ^_^

I'll have a review of Del Rey's release of volume 22 later today, so look forward to it. ^_^

Spoilers next Saturday. ^_^

Hayate the Combat Butler "2nd Season" Ep. 09
ハヤテのごとく！！Episode 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Sister Sonia finds herself outside of Wataru's video store, troubled by the idea of falling in love with an underaged boy. She comes in to take him up on his offer to lend her some DVD's, expecting him to not remember. He remembers though and has set a stack aside, recommending an anime for her. Sister Sonia decides that this must really be love but before she can do anything about it, Saki has an accident causing Wataru to rush to her aide. Sister Sonia leaves and grabs Hayate, demanding to know who that woman is. Hayate explains Saki is an important person to Wataru.

Meanwhile, Saki finds herself kidnapped by the two men who had failed to kidnap Nagi. Hayate races after them to rescue Saki while Sister Sonia says that if Wataru kisses her, she'll save Saki. Wataru kisses her on the cheek and Sister Sonia is off. She gets ahead of the thugs and takes them out while freeing Saki. Hayate arrives to find the thugs already dealt with. Sometime later, Sister Sonia has decided to rent one DVD at a time so that she can see Wataru more often while Saki finds herself irritated by Sister Sonia and Wataru being together.

Katsura-sensei finds herself being asked about relationships and reflects on her own lack of a man. So she decides that to score a man, she needs the help of Nagi and a high society party. Klaus agrees to throw one for her but Katsura-sensei wants more information. So she hits three other ojousamas -- Miki, Izumi, and Risa -- and asks them about things. Hayate arrives with Nagi in a rickshaw and while he doesn't want to get involved, he's roped in anyway. Nagi gives Hayate permission to speak to Izumi as if he liked her to show Katsura-sensei, but she doesn't take it very seriously. In the end, Nagi makes Katsura-sensei reveal that she loves Dom Pérignon more than a man. However, the high society party goes off as planned with Katsura-sensei drinking everyone under the table.

Thoughts/Review: Ah, the fun continues. ^_^

As has been the cast, the anime writers are sticking with the non-adapted manga stories and that's a good thing. I remember someone mentioning that they were uncomfortable with Sister Sonia showing affection for Wataru back in episode 3. I knew that would be picked up again soon because it was in the manga so I'm curious what people who were uncomfortable with that shoutacon element then will feel now. Me -- I'm not bothered by it really. Maybe I've watched too many anime titles.

Its fun seeing Sister Sonia in action though, especially since she's like Hayate in that she's basically "super human" in the things she can do. *lol*

As to Katsura-sensei's story, I like how her quest provided a means to show how Hayate cares for Nagi and actually spoils her. Both in the manga and in the anime, I loved seeing Nagi in her rickshaw and that she was going for a drive with Hayate. There's just something so sweet about them doing this even though I don't think of Hayate and Nagi as a possible romantic couple.

Its always nice to see Miki, Izumi, and Risa together. ^_^

So good stuff all around.

Sgt. Frog Volume v. 17 --> BUY FROM AMAZON! ^_^

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Giroro decides to get Natsumi some new mittens and seeks the advice of her friends and family to get the perfect pair. Next, the X5.5 weapon is sent to Earth with a message for the platoon but ends up attacking just the same, forcing the platoon to do battle. Then, Keroro gets over-enthused about making a giant snowman after being praised once. Next, some mice who have obtained intelligence accidentally school the platoon before leaving Earth.

As Dororo and Koyuki perform a kangori ritual, the assassin Zoruru traps the rest of the platoon so that he can battle Dororo in a one-on-one contest. Next, Keroro gets Natsumi to agree to let the Hinata home be used for a reality show. Following that, Keroro gets to reenact the initial invasion of Earth and finds that revisionist history doesn't sit well on Earth or back at home. Next, Keroro gets the Secretary-Type Robot, K-Ro, to take over for him while he works out a plan, while the platoon discovers K-Ro is a better leader.

Fuyuki has a bout of insomnia and ends up helping Keroro make a sleeping solution.

The platoon is not respecting Keroro, so he decides to go giant and faces off with Officer Poyo, who's going to arrest him until she discovers that they are actually on a miniture set and no one has been turned into a giant.

Thoughts/Review: TokyoPop is going cheap in its printings it appears, at least for certain titles. Holding the current volume of Sgt. Frog, the flimsy way if feels in ones hand is the first clue of its cheap printing. Then, there's the cheaper paper that's being used (lower quality grade paper) which results in some minor bleed through of ink from the previous page, especially when a lot of black is used. It really is a shame to see things produced so cheaply as TP tries to cut costs to improve the bottom line rather than try to do things that would get more people to buy. I'm afraid that Stu Levy's chickens have come home to roost (all of his non-manga projects that he got TP involved in).

Regarding this manga, I have to say there's really nothing that compelling here. Sometimes, Yoshizaki-sensei will introduce a new and interesting character or create an interesting story involving a previous character. While there is nothing bad about any of the stories here, I found none of them made me laugh and none of them were all that interesting. The closest thing for me may have been the initial X5.5 Christmas story, but that's it. That's not to say that I didn't like reading this volume or that I think it is bad -- I just think that Yoshizaki-sensei just didn't score any runs with me (to use a baseball analogy).

Actually, now that I think about it, Giroro getting Natsumi those mittens was kind of nice too, though sadly nothing else came of that (though she is seen wearing them in another chapter).

So an average manga volume that TokyoPop treats sub-average with their new cost-cutting measures. Its a shame, really.

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 18
Fate/stay night episode 18

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As the rain falls, Caster thinks back to her own tragic past as well as the rainy day she arrived and collapsed at the foot of Ryudouji. She was found by Kuzuki-sensei, who brought her up the mountain steps into the temple grounds and gave her the choice to stay or go as she liked. She chose to stay and made him her master. Back in the present, Caster mentions to Kuzuki-sensei about the rain and their first encounter. He tells her that he will go along with the plan she has laid out and the set off.

Meanwhile, Saber, Rin, and Shirou arrive at the base of Ryudouji. As they run up the stairs, Rin has a premonition and has them veer off into the woods. At a large stone, Rin uses magic to open a door, which Saber realizes is the entrance to a hidden temple. Inside, they discover that Caster has used her magic to recreate a Greek city and filled it with skeletal warriors. As she prepares Sakura for sacrifice, Rin, Saber and Shirou battle through the underground city until they come to a flight of stairs. Shirou stars up but is stopped by Saber and Assassin reveals himself. He states that he only fights servants and thus all he "sees" is Saber, allowing Rin and Shirou to pass.

Rin and Shirou get to the top of the stairs when Shirou senses something wrong and manages to produce the blades Kanshou and Bakuya just in time as Kuzuki-sensei attacks. Shirou has Rin go ahead to rescue Sakura while he takes care of Kuzuki-sensei. Rin is horrified to see Sakura prepared for sacrifice by Caster and calls Caster out. Caster has no intention of fighting Rin and simply tells Sakura that the one she's been waiting for is there. While Saber and Assassin battle as well as Shirou and Kuzuki, Rin has no choice but to take Sakura out despite their friendship going back to childhood. Sakura does not appear to want to fight but cannot help herself and even summons a dagger. While Rin frees Sakura from Caster's power, Sakura stabbed Rin, leading Caster to chuckle as she merely needed to sacrifice a single mage and it didn't matter which one it was.

Thoughts/Review: So, the writers make a small effort to show the tiniest bit of information about Caster's past (which I read some of online since she comes from Medea). Since I can't imagine Caster's flashback sequence being a lie, that suggests that either Ilya was lying or that Ilya didn't have all the facts when it came to Caster and her original mage master. It seems that Caster was near death when Kuzuki-sensei found her and nursed her back to health somehow. That being the case, I can understand why she then chose him to be her pseudo-master for the war and then set out her own plan to obtain the Holy Grail without any fighting on her part.

Another mere tidbit of information comes from the Rin-Sakura backstory. All I know from this episode is that (1) they knew each other and (2) something bad apparently happened to a young Sakura and Rin feels guilty for abandoning her. I get the ugly feeling that Sakura may have been beaten or raped as a child considering that brief scene showing a shadowed male with an ugly, evil smile inside of a limo. Hopefully we'll learn more (though I doubt it since the anime can't waste much time on details) but I'm kind of disappointed that there'd been no indication that Sakura and Rin had been friends before.

I'm not entirely convinced that Rin is going to die here. Why? Well, she is a mage and in theory could heal herself as she did for Shirou when she brought him back from death (or near death). Of course, they could kill her and that would go back to my earlier thought of Shirou getting his wish granted and bringing everyone back in addition to ending the Holy Grail War once and for all.

Shirou gets better at fighting and even produced those blades in a hurry. I suppose once he'd created them and basically perfected them, they are at his beck and call.

I wonder who Lancer's master is. Who's the shocking final master? I only mention this because we are rapidly drawing to the end and that means that Caster and Assassin will fall soon, leaving only Lancer. I can think of only one person who might be Lancer's master of the people introduced, but then again, the anime could produce some new and unexpected element (like Ilya had two servants, though I doubt that's the case).

So another good episode in a good anime series. I really will have to do the visual novel to pick up all of the story elements, but for those who've been gracious enough to provide me information, please feel free to continue to do so. ^_^

うる星やつら episode 116 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura ep. 116

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Cherry pays Sakura a visit, having found a pair of cursed boxing gloves. Cherry gets blasted when Ten-chan blows a hole in the wall while battling the one-eyed cat Torajima. When they leave, Cherry is horrified to see one of the cursed gloves is missing.

Meanwhile, Ataru is walking along when Ten-chan's and Torajima's battle hits him. Since Torajima has a boxing glove attached to its body, Ataru takes it, intending to punch Ten-chan's light out. Instead, he ends up patting Ten-chan on the head affectionately. A second attempt by Ataru to attack Ten-chan again results in a patting on the head, which is seen by a surprised Lum. However, when Lum gets too close, Ataru is very affectionate to her, which delights her. Lum is not so delighted when Shinobu passes by and Ataru's gloved hand cops a feel.

At school, Ataru takes advantage of the cursed glove to cop feels of all the girls. The guys are furious and when Shuutaro tries to stop it, Ataru ends up copping a feel of him. Sakura-sensei arrives in time to witness this and realizes that Cherry's story about the cursed gloves must be true. Cherry has ID'd this glove as "Love's Clinch Glove" and he has a second one, which he puts on Ataru -- "Anger Fighting Spirit Glove." So when Onsen-sensei arrives, first Ataru is very friendly to him, then punches him out the door. When Onsen-sensei returns, Ataru ends up sending him through the roof.

Ataru decides to have some fun with the glove by going after Shuutaro. When Lum gets too close, Ataru pulls her close and then punches himself in the face to avoid punching her. Lum is very touched. When Shuutaro tries to compliment him, Ataru takes advantage and punches him. Again, Lum gets close because she's happy, so when Megane gets involved, he gets punched out. Again, Lum gets close, forcing Ataru to punch himself repeatedly until he's knocked out. At this point, Sakura-sensei decides that Ataru needs to be confined until an exorcism can be performed, so the happy Lum gets to feed Ataru, who has his hands tied.

That night, Cherry finds he's missing other cursed objects, which pay a visit to Megane and Shuutaro. The next day, a boxing ring has been set up for the exorcism. However, Megane arrives and reveals he's wearing cursed wrestling shorts. Without meaning to, he attacks Lum and gets her in a wrestling move until she's had enough and jolts him good. Megane and Ataru then battle with Megane using a wrestling move to get Ataru while Ataru gets punches on Megane with one glove and a butt rubbing with the other. Shuutaro arrives in a cursed ballerina costume, which irritates Sakura since Cherry held out on her. Shuutaro performs while Megane and Ataru battle until the cursed items can be removed. However, when Ataru gets frisky with Sakura, she puts on a cursed glove and punches Ataru.

Thoughts/Review: What an absolutely absurd and funny episode. *lol* Conceptually-wise, having cursed boxing gloves, cursed wrestling shorts, and cursed ballerina shoes doesn't seem like it would make a funny and entertaining episode, but it did. Let's face it, even if you don't know the history between Ataru and Shuutaro or Ataru and Megane, its still funny for some guy to be forced to rub another man's butt and punch him at the same time. It was funny having an excited Lum happy about Ataru protecting her so that Ataru was forced to punch himself in the face repeated. It was funny how Ataru took advantage of the situation to punch people or get close to girls (until he knocked himself out of course).

The "match" in the ring was funny too with Megane wrestling Lum against his well and getting electrocuted for it. Megane and Ataru's battle was funny because Ataru couldn't stop rubbing Megane's butt. Shuutaro arriving in the ballerina costume and performing was so funny. Just the whole absurdity of it all is what ultimately made this so funny and thankfully the absurdity was carried off well.

YES! Cherry took a blast in this episode. ^_^ Next to Ten-chan, Cherry is a character that annoys me, so when he gets blasted, I cheered. Too bad Ten-chan didn't get blasted, but it was funny having Ataru constantly be forced to pet Ten-chan when he wanted to punch the brat.

So while there wasn't a lot to comment on, be sure that I really enjoyed this episode. In fact while writing this review, I had to watch some scenes over because they made me laugh all over again. *LOL*

I really glad how the series has turned out after so many "blah" episodes some time back. ^_^

魔法先生ネギま！Volume 28 Chapter 253 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 253

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Natsumi is reflecting on Paru's insistence that everyone has to deep kiss Negi and feels that as a side-character, she can't do that. She considers Kotaro and then runs into him on Paru's ship. This flusters her but she remembers Kazizaki's "Reverse Hikaru Genji Strategy" about training the perfect boyfriend even if that boyfriend is several years younger.

Elsewhere, Ku Fei is on a floating rock and thinking about marrying a man stronger than herself and Negi is certainly stronger even if younger. She too thinks of Kazizaki's words and wonders if she could kiss Negi. Natsumi comes up on a flying Segway and overhears Ku talking aloud, revealing her feelings about Negi.

Sayo (in doll form) and Chachamaru (in chibi form) are sitting together when Sayo remarks on wanting to try kissing but as a ghost, she feels she can't make a pactio. Chachamaru corrects her, citing Eva's remark that as long as one possesses a soul, a pactio can be made. Sayo realizes what this means as Haruna comes up, telling Sayo that as a ghost, she's prime pactio material. Paru has created a "Life-Size Host Robot Body Sayo-chan" golem with a cockpit for the Sayo-doll to sit in and control the mecha unit. This body is well-armed and makes Sayo feel like Chachamaru.

Akira and Makie discuss the Nagi/Negi situation and Ako. Makie considers things on her own and so when she encounters Ako, she tells a confused and protesting Ako that she'll give up Negi to Ako.

Yuuna talks about how kissing is no big deal and produces a picture of her kissing her father on the cheek. When she's reminded that this is a deep kiss she has to perform, Yuuna says that if it were with her dad, she wouldn't mind which is met with objections.

Chachamaru considers if she has a soul or not. Hakese's words tell her that if Chachamaru thinks she has a soul, then she does. Eva's words are to explore her feelings on this trip. She imagines kissing Negi.

Paru has created a special high-performance golem to practice kissing Negi with -- "Nugi-kun DK-1." It goes out of control and gets Akira, deep kissing her until it vanishes. As she tries to catch her breath and denies this happened, Asakura arrives and sets the record straight about the type of kiss required for a pactio.

Natsumi considers kissing a sleeping Kotaro when she's busted by Paru, who tells Natsumi that they need Chamo before anything would happen.

Thoughts/Review: This may be classified as a "filler" chapter, but for a filler chapter, there's a lot of good stuff here. ^_^

"According to Master, as long as one possesses a soul, a contract can be formed."

Another of my ideas has been proven correct -- Chachazero is an ensouled creation, otherwise she could not make a pactio with Eva. Granted, I've not stated that much if at all in the blog, but I have done so in the past on message boards. That's why when people came out and strongly stated that it may as well be considered canon that Chachamaru and Sayo-chan would never get pactios based on both of them stating why they didn't presently have one, I rejected that argument and cited Chachazero. I was forced to concede the point that it has not been outright stated that Chachazero has a soul, but it seemed pretty clear to me. For starters, why pactio with a mere, inanimate doll?

fg7dragon mentioned the idea to me that Eva may have discarded part of her soul that was being consumed by the Magia Erebea. I liked the idea and it caused me to look at Chachazero again -- what soul would be better to place into Chachazero than a piece of Eva's own soul? After all, there's no one better to trust than herself. ^_^ Man, I hope we can learn more about that down the road.

Back to the chapter, Akamatsu-sensei appears to have set the table for both Chachamaru and Sayo to obtain pactios as well as other girls. I've stated that Kotaro cannot be a Magister and form partnerships with anyone in that role so poor Natsumi is out of luck. Akamatsu-sensei may totally turn this on end, but as it stands now, no Kotaro-Natsumi pactio short of Kotaro or Natsumi becoming a mage. I do hope that somehow Natsumi and Kotaro can get together though. ^_^

Returning to Sayo-chan -- heh!heh!heh! She's just been given a "version up" with some abilities akin to Chachamaru. So while she won't be a major fighter, she can now defend herself and I suspect we will see her engaged in the final fight of the MW arc.

I know I wanted to write more, but as I write, I'm so tired that this may be full of mistakes. ^_^; Well, if I think of other stuff I wanted to say, I'll write them in the comments. ^_^

No chapter 254 next week. So I'll do my usual image reminder post and I may have something else as well. ^_^

School Rumble Z Volume 1 Chapter 08 (manga)
スクールランブルZ Chapter ♮8 "Secret Society"

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Karen is waiting for the late Imadori arrive for thier movie date and when he does, he's hitting on another girl and takes a beating from said girl. After the movie, Imadori again hits on another girl and again takes another beating, forcing Karen to carry him off. Karen is unable to say what she wants to say and so she and Imadori end up going their separate ways. At home, Karen gets a call from Megumi, who knows all about the date. She knows the situation with Karen and Imadori and promises to get Imadori to understand. That night, Karen thinks of the situation and doesn't know what to do any more.

The next day at school, Megumi verbally attacks Imadori who claims that everything he's doing is part of his plan and that he's going to give her a ring. Megumi tells Karen the good news and that she's to go to the Yagami Shrine after school. She happily races there but discovers that by "ring," Imadori meant a wrestling ring and there are many others in the class waiting to watch the match between Karen and Imadori. Lala is ticked off by this and attacks Imadori until Karen stops her. When Imadori expresses happiness at being saved by Karen, Karen hits him with one of her patent wrestling moves, nailing Imadori to the mat.

Karen is devistated, crying, and about to flee when Hanai stops her, saying she deserves a victory belt for her win. A bowing Imadori produces a real ring and says it is the champion's belt and that she's a beautiful winner. Karen's tears of pain turn to tears of joy as she accepts Imadori's ring.

Review/Thoughts: You know, I've never understood Karen's attraction to Imadori. I've always felt so bad for her because Imadori is not only an air head, but also ready to hit on any skirt that passes by while ignoring the babe at his side. I suppose Imadori is a lot like Ataru from Urusei Yatsura, who has the hot Lum-chan, but who's always looking at other girls, ready to jump at a chance to be with them.

Still, I had to laugh out loud when Megumi reported that Imadori had a ring for Karen and she discovers that ring is a wrestling ring. *LOL* I'm not sure what Imadori's original plan was. If I had to guess, it didn't involve Lala coming in and kicking his butt. I figure he would play-act fighting and then give her the real ring. Instead, he took another beating from Karen but in the end, she got her ring from Imadori. Despite her "win," I just can't help but feel badly for her as Imadori is too imature and in my mind would likely continue to hit on other women.

Its unfortunate that School Rumble Z came to an end because I would have enjoyed a story about Imadori and Karen in the future as a married couple where Imadori is actually a responsible and good husband. ^_^

So a fun chapter after the stinker last chapter.

フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 17
Fate/stay night episode 17

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After having a dream about Saber in the past, where her people questioned her judgment, Shirou gets up for breakfast. Rin has introduced Ilya to Sakura and Fujimura as her distant relative who will be staying at Shirou's home. Both ladies have no problem with this and Fujimura tells Ilya to address her as "Fujimura-oneesama." After breakfast, Rin, Saber, and Shirou discuss the master living inside the Ryudouji Temple. When Ilya joins the discussion in the dojo, she reveals that there are two servants at Ryudouji -- Assassin and Caster, who is a mage-type. Caster was previously known as the witch Medea and she is the one who summoned Assassin. Caster had been summoned by a mage but has killed that mage and put a non-mage in his place.

Issei stops by and during his talk with Shirou, he reveals that Kuzuki-sensei from school has been living at Ryudouji. Immediately, suspicion is placed on him as being the pseudo-master for Caster, so a trap is laid for him. Late one evening when Kuzuki-sensei walks home, Rin ambushes him with a Gando attack. Since he nullifies the attack, it proves he is a master and Caster soon appears. Saber and Shirou also appear and after discovering that Kuzuki is behind the continued attacks on humans for mana, the trio decides to stop him.

Kuzuki asks Caster to enchant his fists and with that, he's able to easily handle Saber's weakened state. Rin tries to get into the fray but Kuzuki points out that the weakness of a mage is needing time to cast spells. Thus to stop a mage, you prevent them from casting spells, which he does by punching her in the gut. Shirou tries to attack but also fails, so he thinks again of Archer's words and creates Archer's twin scimitar (or falchion) blades -- Kanshou and Bakuya. Rin is amazed by this and with the swords, Shirou is able to somewhat hold his own.

Caster calls the fight to a halt and suggests and alliance, citing they need not kill each other to obtain the Holy Grail as there is another way. Shirou is listening but since this will require humans to be sacrificed as wood on a fire, that's a no-go. Further, the core will need to be a mage and Caster asks which one of them would like to sacrifice themselves for the others. They have no intention of doing so, so Caster and Kuzuki-sensei retreat, Caster informing them she has someone in mind.

Suspecting she means Ilya, Shirou sends Saber ahead to protect the girl. At Shirou's place, Saber doesn't find Ilya but does find Sakura on the ground. However, Sakura is actually possessed by Caster, who uses her Nobel Phantasm "Rule Breaker" to stab Saber through her armor. While the attack was not enough to break her contract with Shirou, it was enough to seal Saber's sword, thus making her weaponless and even weaker. Sakura-Caster then floats off, challenging Saber and the others to come to Ryudouji to save Sakura, whom Caster has chosen as the mage sacrifice.

Thoughts/Review: Woo! Hoo! I knew there was something special about Sakura even before seeing some of the information and videos showing her as Rider's true master. So, unlike her brother Shinji, Sakura actually had a mage circuit.

It seems strange to me that Caster would kill the mage who summoned her, then establish a puppet as master in his place. In slaying her master, I would guess she'd obtain freedom to do as she chose. I don't know the purpose of placing a pseudo-master in the place of the original would do except perhaps to keep someone like Rin or Ilya from forcing her into submission (I'm not sure how the masterless servant/servantless master thing works completely).

As to Caster stopping the fight, I'm guessing that Shirou became the wild card and so to take out Saber with the lowest amount of risk, she laid the trap for them at Shirou's house when she possessed Sakura, thus killing two birds with one stone. Wicked.

With Saber's blade gone and the talk of a scarab, I would guess that it is time for Shirou to make Saber some new toys that surplant what she's lost.

And speaking of Shirou the creator, I laughed

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