xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 203 Review

xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 203

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The young kitsune drops by to pay Watanuki a visit and brings a box of tea castella that he made. Watanuki samples one and compliments the young kitsune, who wants to put these on his father's stand to sell. The young kitsune lets Watanuki know that he's going to get his father a new apron, which he will buy with the funds from the cakes he's made, and tells Watanuki this is a secret. Watanuki promises to keep the secret and tells the young kitsune that he thinks his father will love the new gift.

That evening, Doumeki pays a visit to Watanuki. As it is March 3rd, the Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) and also Doumeki's birthday, Watanuki gives a little snide remark about the date. Doumeki gives a dissertation on how this is also the Peach Blossom Festival and how peach blossoms exorcised oni (a type of demon in Japanese culture) and ill will. He continues to say that this is why Momotarou ("Peach Boy") is an oni hunter.

With that, Watanuki produces a ring to Doumeki as a birthday present, stating that with getting rid of evil in mind, the present will suit him quite well.

Thoughts/Review: This is kind of an odd chapter to me. I have the strangest feeling that time has moved forward again, but I can't be sure of that. I say this because I felt sure that CLAMP had things set up for Watanuki's birthday to be celebrated and not Doumeki's. So I thought it was already late March when in fact it is now early March. So I could have just misjudged the time.

Second, it almost seems like Doumeki is out of college but again, I may be misreading things. Sometimes, CLAMPS way of wording things doesn't make much sense on a chapter by chapter basis, but when put together with the rest of the story arc, they do make sense. Either way, Doumeki comes across as older somehow in this chapter. I think it is the clothing. *lol*

It was nice seeing the young kitsune again. I would have thought him to be a bit bigger by this time since it has been a few years since the start of the manga. But, as a magical creature, I suppose that doesn't matter since the kitsune could very well age differently.

Not much else to say as I've no idea where CLAMP is taking things. I can't wait to see Himawari-chan though, whenever CLAMP brings her back.

Dirty Pair - 15

ダーティペア (TV Anime) Episode 15 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: While Kei and Yuri are on vacation and enjoying the flirtations of a man named Stephan (Stephen?) and his talk of roses, an elderly man in a cowboy interrupts as he is pursued by men in suits and dark shades. Kei decides to involve herself in the fight and helps out the old man. In the process, Stephan is knocked out along side the suited men. The old man is looking for the 3WA girls who are supposed to be residing at this hotel and since Kei and Yuri are said girls, they give him an audience. He tells tale of a treasure belonging to the ancient and extinct La-kahanga people on the planet Yukka and offers 10% of the 150-million credit find. Yuri attempts to get the old man to go up to 20%, but he's unwilling until a helicopter gunship, sent by his former assistant Clementine, opens fire.

After escaping, the Lovely Angel makes its way to Yuuka were the old man stinks out the ship with his heavy garlic usage in the food he cooks. The smell is so bad that it causes Namo to short circuit. Kei takes control of the ship and safely crash lands. Kei, Yuri, and the old man take off for the temple with the treasure which Mughi left to repair Namo. Upon entering a craw space in the temple, Clementine's men stop them and get them out. Clementine takes the key from the old man and after forcing the trio to stand to one side, she shoots the roof over their head, causing a cave in. The trio end up unhurt and emerge in another part of the temple.

In the meantime, Mughi finishes his repairs on Namo and the two take a flier to meet up with the trio. At the same time, the trio hear a scream from Clementine and rush to find her and one of her men in a fight with some giant snakes. Kei sees a holographic projector and shoots it, ending the threat. The old man demands his key back, so Clementine throws it. When the trip go to retrieve it, they end up in a deep pit and Clementine has the key back. The floor closes over the pit, but Kei's gun is out of energy thanks to the last fight. The old man tries to find an exit but only discovers another chamber where a not-so-lucky adventurer has snuffed it. To make matters worse, a stone block starts moving down to squash them while the pit begins to fill with water. Fortunately for those inside, Mughi and Namo arrive just in time to deactivate the trap.

Continuing on, the old man leads them to the giant doors that lead to the treasure, but which have not been opened. They find Clementine snared in a stock-trap and the key on the ground. The old man takes the card-key and inserts it into the lock. Having Kei and Yuri each stand on a separate platform with himself in the middle, they work to push down the blocks that keep rising up. This causes the key-card to be fed in and eventually the doors open. However, there is no treasure inside, only a message about cooperation, as the old man reads it.

Returning home, Kei and Yuri are a bit bummed but not surprised at how things turned out. On TV, they are stunned when they see the old man has sold the secrets to a new energy source found in a document from Yukka for 170-million credits. Kei and Yuri realize they've been had as a delivery flying truck arrives with a package for them. Inside are a ton of red roses and a picture of the old man. Even though they aren't rich, Kei and Yuri find themselves laughing at the old man and his win.


Thoughts/Review: This episode ended up being surprisingly enjoyable and a bit funny.

I get the distinct feeling that this episode was very much a parody of action-adventure shows and movies of the 80's. The cheesy way Clementine had Kei, Yuri, and the old man "killed" started my thinking in this regard. It was pretty obvious from the time that she shot the ceiling rather than actually shoot her captives that they'd encounter each other later and she'd be all surprised that they were alive. *lol*

Also, I chuckled at the absurdity of the helicopter gunship destroying everything in the room save for the one table they are using as a shield. Naturally, a chain gun that can shred walls couldn't hit an upturned table, but also naturally, Kei can shoot down said gunship with a couple of well placed shots of her hand gun. *lol*

There were other elements that marked this as a parody, but the biggest one had to come from the Indiana Jones references. I laughed out loud when the old man opened the one wall in the pit, only to find a dead body dressed as Indiana Jones there. Then you had the traditional Indiana Jones trap upon trap so that the pit filled with water and the top of the pit starts pushing down to crush them. I laughed at that, mainly because there was no way the "roof" of the pit (which is the floor of the chamber above them) could come down in that fashion.

I don't know if this was intentional or not, but the scene with Mughi being stuck in the entrance to the crawlspace made me think of Star Wars and Chewbaka when Han Solo was trying to get him to go through into the garbage chute. Namo's use of an electrical charge to shock Mughi and get him through made me laugh out loud and reminded me of R2D2 doing similar things. ^_^

I also got a chuckle at the ending. I figured that there would be no treasure, at least in the traditional sense, and that was true. However, having the old man win by knowing the treasure was the note that was left is what gave me the chuckle. After talking up the old man to 20% of the find, having him one up them in the end was OK with me. Plus, he did send them roses. ^_^

So as I said early, a fun episode was found here. ^_^

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 256 Manga Review

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 41 Chapter 256

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As the light is restored, Keiichi realizes they are in a dangerous situation since Ebony, as a mazoku, likely doesn't need time to adjust to the lights. As his sight clears, he sees that Glühendes Herz has apparently attacked Belldandy, who has stopped the front of the "broom" with her hands, in a style used to stop an incoming, overhead katana attack. Glühendes Herz denies attacking Belldandy and sure enough, behind her is Ebony, whom Belldandy had protected from attack.

Glühendes Herz considers Belldandy's actions to be naive since mazoku would not easily surrender and that trickery and sneak attacks are their normal means of doing things. Ebony confirms that she has planned to do just that but now that her life is indebted Belldandy, she surrenders. Glühendes Herz warns about trusting Ebony, but Belldandy says that saving life is her normal means of doing things. With that, Ebony hands over the key to the next chamber.

Keiichi ponders what to do about the unconscious Urd and Skuld since they can't move on without them. Ebony says they should be awake with the return of the light and surmises that they are feigning unconsciousness to cover their shame of having been so easily defeated. When she mentions sticking a tongue in their ears, Urd and Skuld quickly get up and the group moves to the next area.

Ebony apologizes to Hagal for her loss but is assured by Hagal that she did well.

Thoughts/Review: So, one last "hurrah" from Ebony before we move to whomever the next mazoku "champion" is. I like that the issue of her high probability of betrayal was addressed here. After all, her kind are all about winning at all costs and damn the consequences. Belldandy, for her part, acted as normal in saving another's life. Thus, Fujishima-sensei is able to allow everyone to move to the next chamber in a way that feels real.

I still think that Hagal is simply entertaining herself for the most part by allowing Keiichi and company to travel through. Because of that, I believe that's why Ebony is not in trouble with Hagal, who is amused by it all.

It was amusing seeing how quickly Urd and Skuld "recovered" once Ebony threatened to stick her tongue down their ears. *lol* They may have been pretty worthless here, but I suspect Fujishima-sensei will give them both shining moments.

So after thinking chapter 255 was it, now for sure 256 ends the Ebony phase and we move on to whomever is next (which I have seen a sneak peak of thanks to a question asked by a reader).

Back to the Vaults -- Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 2

天地無用! 魎皇鬼 OVA 2

REVIEW (may contain spoilers)

The amazing success of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 1 saw AIC/Pioneer launch a cash cow franchise of pretty nice proportions. The release of the OVA special O-Matsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru! (お祭り前日の夜!), which Pioneer U.S.A. translated as "Night Before Carnival," proved the canon OVA's were still very hot. Indeed, Kajishima-sensei entered to book market with the release of his 101 Mysteries of Tenchi Muyo! in which he answered 101 questions from fans and provided a ton of other information as well. However, Hasegawa-sensei launched her very popular, non-canon Tenchi novels and AIC/Pioneer tested the waters with the non-canon Mihoshi Special OVA which ultimately launched both the non-canon Pretty Sammy spinoff and the non-canon Tenchi Universe spinoff. Naturally, another canon OVA series had to be released as well.

Among almost all the Tenchi fans I've spoken with over the years, OVA 2 is considered good, but not as good as OVA 1. I think one of the reasons for this is that Kajishima-sensei had complete control of the series by this point. As such, he was free to do the kind of stories he wanted to do -- slice of life stories with a side of humor. Looking through OVA 2, one finds that it is mostly composed of "day in the life of Tenchi and his harem" stories with those comedic moments on the side. Compare that to OVA 1, where Tenchi is in conflict with Ryoko, then in conflict with Aeka, thus giving the first two episodes plenty of action. Episode three was more to Kajishima-sensei's likings, but episode four had action with Ryoko's summoned water elemental and of course episodes 5 and 6 had Kagato, a much more interesting villain with plenty of action. We get all of this plus some "day in the life of" stories and all without neglecting the comedy.

For OVA 2, we have very little action. Instead, we have the day in the life stuff, but each episode ends up fleshing out characters and plot elements to the bigger story being told. For the first episode (number 8 overall) "Hello Baby," we get to see Tenchi's harem deal with having a baby thrust into their midst and the humor that comes with that. At the same time, We learn a bit about Washu's past and that she'd been married and had a child. In "Sasami and Tsunami," we get a return to the onsen owned by Tenchi's aunt, but amidst the hijinks of the characters, we learn the ties between Sasami and Tsunami. In "I Love Tenchi," more hijinks but we also learn how Ryo-ohki and Ryoko were created and that Ryo-ohki (a computer unit) has emotions and feelings for Tenchi.

In "Advent of the Goddess," we are introduced to series villain Dr. Clay. We have the droid Zero, who can become a perfect copy of any person, inserted into the Tenchi home for more comedic hijinks on one hand, but also a look at Ryoko's buried feelings on the other, all while having Dr. Clay in the shadows. This also ended with a cliff hanger which Japanese fans had to wait a couple of months to see the resolution to. For "Zero Ryoko," there is a tiny bit of comedy action with Mihoshi shown and on one of Dr. Clay's monitors, one sees Tenchi and Aeka fight. That is it for the action in OVA 2. Much of this episode is devoted to revealing that Dr. Clay and Washu had a past, that there's more to Washu's gems than meets the eye, and culminating in Ryoko accepting her "embarrassing" self that truly loves Tenchi. We also end with the first look at the OVA 3 villain "Z," who at this point was unnamed but displayed five Light Hawk Wings.

Finally, for "Here Comes Jurai," (a completely made up title on the part of Pioneer since the actual title appears to be a parody/pun of a Japanese saying), confusion is woven into the episode from the start with the beginning actually taking place during Night Before Carnival. Most folks got it eventually, but there were many fans who were lost by this since the anime didn't bother to say, "this took place x-amount of time ago."

As to the rest of the episode, we get a bit of additional information about Washu's gems and their relation to Tsunami. We get a bit of an insight into the political structure of Jurai. We get a bit of an insight into why having warships Tsunami, Ryu-oh, Ryo-ohki, and Mihoshi's Galaxy Police cruiser as well as Tenchi with his Light Hawk Wings and Washu with her abilities scared the pants off the Juraian leadership. We learn another of Katsuhito's secrets and all of this is done amidst the hijinks and day in the life stuff that Kajishima-sensei loves so much.

The omake slide-show audio drama is probably the least liked aspect of OVA 2, not because it is a slide show, but because Washu has Ryoko in her contraption and leaves her there until Ryoko breaks and begins calling for Washu as her mama. OVA 2 ends with the apparent looming threat of the choushin Tokimi and her mysterious champion with five Light Hawk Wings, whom we would learn through other means from Kajishima-sense was named "Z" ("Zetto" in the Japanese as that's how they pronounce the letter "Z").

For me, I like OVA 2 because I liked the bits of information we received. Because Kajishima-sensei is a firm believer in the Law of Conservation of Details when it comes to plot stuff, all we get are bits and pieces. In some cases, it is enough to put some pieces together, like how Tsunami and Sasami became a single entity, but not answer why Tsunami has always had the appearance of the adult form of Sasami. The conversation between Yosho and Funaho in the final episode is a great example of minimalism in details, with Kajishima-sensei dropping hints in things left unsaid as well as things said.

In fact, Kajishima-sensei is so notorious for leaving out so many details that over the years (one of the most frequent questions I get from OVA 2 is about what Dr. Clay is doing in the 4th episode, 11th overall; he's moving an entire galaxy but this doesn't come across very well in the anime), he's had to write lots of Q&A material, starting with his "101 Mysteries" book, then moving to doujinshi, interviews, and even a website (some of which I've had translated on the Tenchi Muyo! FAQ site --> Section 3: More Tenchi Goods --> Articles --> Kajishima-sensei Web Q&A). Because of the language barrier that exists which prevents American fans from learning everything the Japanese fans know, I believe that some fans find this approach to storytelling very frustrating, although it did lead to years of speculation on various Tenchi message boards. Indeed, my attempts to gather this information into one central source led to the Tenchi FAQ as it exists today.

That said, because Kajishima-sensei is this kind of minimalist plot writer when it comes to the canon OVA's (in the doujinshi, novels, etc., Kajishima-sensei goes into much greater depth and actually gives answers and explains things), the need for an accurate translation of the subtitle script is most imperative. Unfortunately, the initial Pioneer release was full of errors and while the worst errors were corrected in their 4-disc release, there are still many issues with their final version of the subtitles. What needs to happen is that the all thirteen episodes covering the stuff controlled by Geneon Japan need to be retranslated from scratch complete with honorific usage, as honorifics are used quite a lot to convey relationship attitudes between characters.

OVA 2 also stands out in terms of beauty. Clearly, AIC/Pioneer poured some extra money into the pot because it looks much better visually than OVA 1. While I don't have some anime character clothing fetish, I do notice and appreciate when characters aren't just wearing the same outfit day after day. For OVA 2, characters wear a variety of outfits and for whatever reasons, Ryoko is given quite the wardrobe of outfits to wear, most looking quite good on her.

Musically speaking, OVA 2's OP theme "I'm a Pioneer" as sung by YOKOHAMA Chisa (Sasami; Tsunami) is my favorite OP of any of the franchise. NAGAOKA Seikou's music is still used throughout, but not quite as well as in OVA 1. It is all the same incidental music for the most part, but at times just not used in a manner that feels totally right. However, this is just a minor complain on my part.

Folks often ask me if I think FUNimation or some other company will license-rescue the Tenchi franchise which Geneon Japan has control over. Sadly, I do not believe this will happen, especially with FUNimation (I wrote a speculation article based on the release of the first 13 episodes in Japan on Blu-ray) since FUNimation would want all distribution rights. I could always be wrong, but the Japanese can be quite finicky when it comes to licenses.

In the end, Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA 2 is a good series that expands Kajishima-sensei's universe of Tenchi and shows multiple layers that place it miles above most other harem romantic-comedy titles. It lacks the action that played a heavy role in OVA 1, which is why I think so many fans aren't as keen with OVA 2.

Next up: the controversial OVA 3. BWAH!HA!HA!HA!HA!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - 49

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi - Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 49
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 49 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ed and Greed engage Pride-Gluttony in combat while the others retreat. Hohenheim manages to bring Al back to consciousness and Al comes up with a plan to deal with Pride as he's become too powerful to handle and indeed, Pride has notions of consuming Greed. Hohenheim arrives at the scene of the battle and Al attempts to attack Pride, only to be stopped. Pride is glad to have Al as his prisoner again but is unsure as to what Hohenheim has planned. Before Pride can react, Hohenheim uses alchemy to begin to enclose the homunculus and Al in a dome made of Earth. Pride gets a bit of his shadow self out before being enclosed whereupon his shadow parts die.

Ed is frustrated that Al is trapped but Hohenheim assures him that this was all Al's plan. Meanwhile inside the dome, Al is happy about the success of the plan. He tells Pride that he finds their plan weak since it depends on the "sacrifices" staying in the country for the Promised Day. Pride concedes that not all humans are scum, citing his own foster mother and her treatment of him. Thus, the same nobility trait is found in the "sacrifices," thus making Father's plan a good one since the "sacrifices" would not flee the country. As Pride talks with Al, he loudly taps on Al's head, which is on the ground.

Scar's group arrive in Central and learn that Mei Chan has returned to the city rather than leave for Xing. Scar's group takes off for Kanama (Canama) where they encounter Ed's group, sans Greed, who's taken off for Central by himself. The four chimera who'd worked for Kimblee are also reunited and initially do not trust each other. However, they come to terms as Ed, Dr. Marcoh, Scar, Hohenheim, and the others discuss strategy. Fu takes off for Central to gather some intel.

In Central, Roy visits Hughes' grave, then takes off with Riza. Soldiers are hunting them but because they have Bradley's wife as a hostage, the soldiers have been at a disadvantage. One of the generals orders that everyone in Roy's team should be killed, save for Roy and that this order covers Bradley's wife. The troops soon locate Roy's party and have them trapped in a room. Bradley's wife is dismayed when she hears that she's to be killed along with everyone else except Roy.




Thoughts/Review:

As I thought, the only way to stop Pride would be to enclose him and that's exactly what Hohenheim did. I didn't expect Al to be trapped with Pride though. Still, the conversation had between Pride and Al revealed to me that Pride does at least respect his "mother" as a decent human being. As such, I understand how he's able to be "Selim" and pretend to be what he's not.

I did notice that the episode emphasized Pride whacking Al's helmet. It is so deliberate that I can't help but think that he's actually doing something. I didn't detect a pattern to the hard tapping, but that might be too obvious. So, in my mind, Pride has to have some ace up his sleeve and whacking Al's helmet is key to getting that ace.

Then again, maybe Pride isn't thinking. After all, if he has Gluttony's powers (he has the sense of smell now), he should be able to just "eat" his way out of the trap.

One thing about this anime (and I suppose the manga as well, though I've not read that) is that during the course of telling the story, characters are "forgotten." Such is the case with Mei Chan, who's carrying Envy into the heart of Central. Clearly, this would seem to be a huge mistake 'cause I can see Envy escaping and returning to normal, assuming Pride doesn't eat him first. *lol*

The other forgotten character was Kimblee. His showing up and murdering people from Ishval in the city was a splash in the face to be sure.

Greed's return to Central makes sense to me since he does want to rule everything. Of course with Envy back in town, if Envy escapes as I figure he will, then Greed's plans aren't going to go down so easily. Plus, I figure Wrath-Bradley will show up here real soon as well since I don't believe he died in the bombing.

I liked the reunion of the four chimera. It played off very believable. I laughed because I remember not trusting their defections initially and the two with Ed didn't trust the two with Scar and vice versa. *lol*

I suppose Bradley's wife could be killed but somehow I don't see that happening. Assuming all the shooting isn't a red herring (Mustang has other people who shoot those who are going to shoot his people), then it would seem that Roy's plans for revolution are at an end. Still, one would think he had to account for this, which is why I tend to think that the shots we heard are in fact from other supporters of his. We'll see though. Either way, hearing that she's expendable might make her accept the truth of the situation (her son and husband being homunculi), though it will still be a heavy burden for her.

So, another in a string of very good episodes. The "Promised Day" approaches.

Negima! Chapter 284 SPOILER Images

Negima! 284 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 284 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek SPOILER images for Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 284 as brought to you by anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all).


So Shiori's name is "Luna" (or "Runa" depending on which letter they go with).

I'll have more as soon as they post more so check back. ^_^

Update: OK, they now have the 2nd batch up.


THIS has me very excited! Déjà vu for Asuna, eh? I predict that Negi will rescue her in much the same way Nagi did 20 years earlier.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for more images so stay tuned.

Update: More images and the 2ch people will be happy since Anya appears (they were yacking about her like crazy earlier tonight).


So, does Fate have a maid fetish? *lol*

Update: Another batch.


Fate with the villain exposition to move the plot forward. ^_^