Wolverine - 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Despite the death of Min and many of his followers, Koh's only concern is taking care of Hideki and he hobbles up the steps to do so.  Logan, Yukio, and Kikyo race up the long flight of steps so that Logan can retrieve Mariko. Hideki reports the arrival of Koh to Shigen and then races to tell Mariko that despite Logan's arrival, she'll still be his bride. A pitched battle erupts outside Dragon Palace with Koh's men providing him cover to get in.  Koh makes his way up and encounters Shigen on one of the elevated, covered walkways. Koh quickly discovers he's no match for Shigen after his multiple kunai attack fails. Yukio joins him but her chakram attacks are easily thwarted, leaving Shigen to mock them and pronounce their deaths.

Hideki gets the Shinto wedding going and Logan attempts to make it there in time. Meanwhile, Shigen has Koh and Yukio on the run and takes out Koh, who'd protected Yukio in the process. Logan confronts Shigen and is joined by Kikyo. Shigen voids his contract with Kikyo as a rocket takes out a section of the elevated hallway, making a gulf between Logan and Shigen.  As such, Logan leaves and heads to where the wedding ceremony is being held.  Hideki is annoyed that Mariko won't drink the sake as part of the ceremony as Logan shows up just outside the interior temple at an upper level. Logan pounds on the glass and Mariko is finally able to see him.

Koh dies in Yukio's arms, pleased that he was able to protect her.  Meanwhile, Logan clears out the wedding hall as Hideki uses Mariko as a shield and hostage to keep Logan at bay.  Mariko tells Logan that it is enough that he came for her but Logan tells her that he's going all the way.  Logan makes a quick move and easily disarms Hideki. Before he can do more, Shigen arrives and uses his ranged wind attack from his sword which catches Logan full in the face and blasts him away.  Shigen orders Hideki to take Mariko away, which he does. The bloodied Logan then rises to face Shigen.

Thoughts/Review: 

I haven't mentioned this before, but as someone who rather enjoyed the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood series, it is rather fun to hear the voice of Führer King Bradley/Wrath (Hidekatsu Shibata) play Shigen in Wolverine and go up against the voice of Father (Iemasa Kayumi), who plays Koh in Wolverine.  I swear, I could close my eyes and see Father and Wrath engaged in combat instead of Shigen and Koh. I kept waiting for talk of "the promised day," alchemy, homunculus, and more. *lol*

I guess I was wrong about Koh surviving. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that he would die.  Plus, after lots of harping on how Koh was solely focused on taking down Hideki, to the point of not even mourning Min's death, the writers then turn around and have him sacrifice himself to save Yukio.  Now Yukio gets a new motivation to take down Shigen since Shigen is responsible for the deaths of her parents and grandfather.  However, I rather doubt that she will be the one to kill Shigen.  I'd guess that Logan will do that.

Speaking of which, I had predicted that Logan would kill Hideki first and then Shigen.  I guess that's going to be wrong since Logan and Shigen are now facing each other in battle.  The writers could have Kikyo interfere though since Shigen has dismissed him and that would allow Logan to go after Hideki again.  I'm not sure if that will happen or not but there are three fighters in place against Shigen and Hideki.

So, if Hideki is taking Mariko off to a back room and the wedding ceremony was stopped, I guess his only course of action is to rape her to consummate things and thus make her his wife.  However, that may be a bit too extreme for an anime but that's the thing that entered my mind when Hideki scurried off with Mariko.

Finally, there's Mariko.  She's been way to docile in all this.  I realize she's playing the perfect Japanese woman in that she cannot disobey her father and she must marry a man she doesn't love and even bear his children.  However, I keep wanting her to speak up a little bit.  Instead, her only remarks are to give up to spare Logan.  Oh well.

After having become weary of late with the series, this episode somewhat improved the series with me.  I'm guessing that's because things are drawing to a close and the fights now have meaning.

Mobile Suit Gundam - 29

機動戦士ガンダム /Kido Senshi Gundam episode 29

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
 
White Base makes it safely to the Federation base at Jaburo, hidden beneath the rainforest. However, they've been quietly tracked by Zeon forces led by Char, who sends out a recon team of two Gogg mobile suits and the new Zock mobile suit, who soon discover the largest entrance to the base.  Meanwhile, the crew of White Base are given physicals and given some down time as Lt. Woody heads the repair team assigned to White Base. Amuro and Woody talk where Amuro learns that Woody and Matilda had been engaged and were planning to have the White Base crew attend the wedding. Bright and Mirai receive word that White Base is being assigned to the Tianem Fleet when sensors detect the Zeons snooping around. When it is clear they are massing for an attack, the base goes on high alert and the crew of White Base returns to the ship.

White Base is still out of commission, but the mobile suits are working. As such, Sayla and Amuro launch G-Bull to guard the base entrance along with Kai and Hayato in Guncannon and Guntank. The Federation activates their defenses, including fighters and GM mobile suits as the Zeons drop Zaku, Gouf, and Dom units. Char leads a Z'gok team into combat but his support suits are destroyed leaving him alone to hook up with the Zock-led team. With a smaller, secondary entrance found, Char has both entrances attacked. G-Bull is ordered to convert to Gundam as Char makes his way in and destroys Federation tanks and a GM unit. Amuro knows it is Char and Char is happy to see Gundam as the units class. Woody uses a hovercraft to attack Char and is destroyed by Char as the Zock attacks Gundam to allow Char to escape but is destroyed by Amuro. The Zeon attack is repulsed but when Amuro reports on the return of Char, Sayla is greatly affected.

Thoughts/Review:

It may not have been on the scale of Operation Odessa, but the Zeons certainly did launch a pretty impressive attack on Jaburo.  I guess it was a way for the production team to showcase all of the Zeon mobile suits seen to date while at the same time, show us the weaker GM Federation mobile suit.  Anyway, the Federation commanders made it seem like the base would be lost with their almost dismissive attitude on the Zeon attack.  Instead, the commanders seemed more annoyed that White Base was such a strong focus for the Zeons that they'd make a limited attack just to get at the ship.  As such, I get the impression that these leaders would throw the ship and crew of White Base under the bus just to not have a headache to deal with.

I liked seeing Kai's determination when the fighting started because of Miharu's death. I actually expected him to act rashly but he kept it together and did the needful.  I'm hoping this continues and that Kai becomes a more professional soldier and less the "who cares" type that he has been.

I'm not thrilled with how Woody's character was done.  I appreciate that the writers wanted us to see that he loved Matilda by loving what she loved right down to sacrificing his life but did he actually accomplish anything by throwing his life away?

Now that Char and Amuro have clashed again, I guess we'll be back to the conflicts between them that always end in stalemate, or rather end without either mobile suit being destroyed and Char retreating for the most part. *_*  If so, that will get old rather quickly.  Then again, with Sayla knowing that Char is back, she'll probably try to contact him.  If so, how does that impact Char's fighting?  What would the Federation do if they catch her, assuming she tries to contact him at all?

So, an entertaining episode to be had here.  Hopefully, I'll be able to blog this series a bit more regularly than before. ^_^;

Urusei Yatsura - 155

うる星やつら episode 155 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 155 review


SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Lum is getting ready to go to Shuutaro's party for the octopus Josephine but can't find the matching earring for the set she wants to wear. She takes off without it and Ten-chan thinks he has found it and brings it to the party. Instead, he's found a locket and Lum wants him to return it to its box immediately.  Instead, Ten-chan decides to have some fun and Lum remembers when she was younger and in love with Rei that she gave him the other half of the locket, which if opened would attract her to him, but he ate it instead.  Ten-chan spots Ataru trying to pick up girls and makes caustic remarks which causes Ataru to find out about the locket. Seeing Rei inside, Ataru returns to flirting and when Lum confronts him, he brandishes the locket. However, when he makes Lum look at Rei's picture, this causes Rei to come crashing in through the roof in cow form.

Lum distracts Rei with the buffet and explains to Ataru, Shuutaro, and the others about the locket, including the fact that should the two halves of the locket be joined, Lum would fall for Rei again. Rei immediately produces the other half of the locket and is thwarted by Ataru which makes Lum happy. Shuutaro gives Ataru half of the rocket but has his team strap a rocket pack on his back and sends Ataru off.  Lum tries to give chase but is caught by Rei. As such, Lum electrocutes the entire banquet all. Meanwhile, Ataru is taken to Ran's abode where she serves him tea. She finds the locket and sees Lum's picture inside and shows it to Ataru. That causes Lum to appear and she whacks Ataru for flirting with Ran. Shuutaro's arrival causes Ran to learn the truth about the locket . Ran is going to destroy it but is thwarted by Rei.

Ran sends the locket to Lum who manages to flee to destroy the locket herself.  Rei sees the piece Shuutaro is holding, forcing Shuutaro to pass it to Ataru.  Ran distracts Rei with onigiri to allow Ataru to escape but Rei is soon back on the hunt for the lockets. Lum finds she can't destroy her half of the locket when Rei shows up. Lum loses the locket, which falls in Cherry's campsite cooking pot with Rei destroying Cherry's tent. Meanwhile, Ran shows up with Ataru and Ran is determined to destroy the locket.  However, because Lum tossed the locket to Kotatsu-neko, who immediately opened it, the other half of the locket was summoned and joined. However, nothing happened because apparently, Ataru had torn out Rei's photo from the one locket.

Thoughts/Review:

This was not only a fun episode, but a nice one in that apparently Ataru was forced to reveal how much he really cares about Lum.  For starters, there was his initial reaction to seeing Rei in the locket.  Yeah, he went to flirt but the pause as he absorbed this made one see that he didn't expect to see something like that.  Then, after Rei showed up, Ataru interfered to help Lum.  Though he tried to deny it as Lum happily clung to him, one could tell that he was jealous just like Lum suspected.  Then, Ataru goes through the trouble of playing keep-away with Shuutaro to help Lum.  Finally, despite his flirting with Ran, it appeared to me that Ataru had removed Rei's photo after he had the locket for a short time before Ran showed up with a gun to destroy it.  Indeed, Ataru's thoughts after everything was said and done indicate how worried he was that Lum would have gone for Rei thanks to the locket's power.

The traditional Urusei Yatsura antics were pretty fun this time out.  Ten-chan wasn't nearly as annoying, mainly because his presence is kept to a minimum.  Ran doesn't show up in the story until the second half, so that helps as does the fact that she's not nearly as annoying as she usually is.  Cherry only had a cameo along with Kotatsu-neko and that was a plus.  Rei's unexpected arrival was funny and the subsequent chases and distractions of Rei with food were amusing.  While this wasn't the funniest episode around, it was amusing and the annoying characters were kept to a minimum.

So, a fun, humorous, and somewhat romantic episode with Lum never looking lovelier than she did in her party dress.  ^_^

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 11 Review

フェアリーテイル

Fairy Tail Volume 11 --> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF! ^_^

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sho overhears Erza's tale and is shaken, confronting Erza with his account of how Jellal told them that Erza had betrayed them and destroyed the ship that was to carry them to freedom. Simon arrives and says that he has always believed Erza, which is why he didn't kill Gray even though he could have easily in the casino. Meanwhile, Natsu finds Millianna's cat-themed room while looking for Happy and dons the head of a cat costume character. Wally and Millianna arrive with Wally wanting to kill this fake cat and Millianna not wanting this. However, once she's convinced Natsu isn't a cat, she goes on the attack and Natsu has to play "Bambi eyes" to get her to stop, allowing Happy to come in and Natsu to defeat both.

Jellal summons the Trinity Raven from the Assassin's Guild and with the aid of magic mouths all over the tower, he informs everyone that his intention is to revive Zeref and Erza is to be his human sacrifice. Further, he lets them know that the Magic Council is very likely to send down the wide-area destruction magic Etherion to destroy the tower. Sho places Erza within one of his playing cards and flees to protect her.

Elsewhere, Natsu leaves Wally and has Happy fly them up when the owl-man Fukuro from Trinity Heaven intercepts them and sends them back into the tower through a wall right in front of Simon. Simon summons darkness but that does not affect Fukuro with his owl abilities. Fukuro uses his large rocket pack to snare Natsu and make him suffer from motion sickness before devouring him and immediately begins to absorb Natsu's abilities.

Still elsewhere, Juvia finds herself teamed up with Lucy to look for Natsu.  The glam rocker-looking Vidaldus arrives and attacks with his long strands of hair. Lucy has to duck and dodge but Juvia is unaffected. She places this member of the Trinity Raven inside a her Water Lock spell but his hair absorbs all the liquid.  He then uses his abilities to enslave Juvia, changing her appearance to a glam rocker groupie called Succubus. Vidaldus makes Juvia fight Lucy who discovers while trapped inside of Juvia's water attacks that Juvia's actual mind does not want to do the things her body is being forced to do. As such, Lucy summons Aquarius using Juvia's body.  The annoyed Aquarius does her usual "blast everyone" water attack, which Vidaldus begins sucking up.  However, when Lucy grabs Juvia's hand to save her, the combination causes them to unwittingly cast Unison Raid, a rare and powerful spell fusing both of their magical abilities with which Vidaldus is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of water and defeated, returning Juvia to normal and leaving her and Lucy exhausted.

As Siegrain convinces the Magic Council to go with his plan, Gray arrives to learn that Fukuro has consumed Natsu.  Fukuro attempts to consume Gray but after a short battle in which Gray is motivated by his memories of Erza's arrival at Fairy Tail, Gray defeats him and frees Natsu.

In another part of the tower, Ikaruga shows up and quickly defeats Sho, revealing that her swordsmanship is able to reach inside the spacial containers of his playing cards.  Erza is thus freed from the card but her armor is destroyed. Every armor and weapon package Erza summons is easily destroyed by Ikaruga.  After her strongest armor is destroyed, Erza tells the stunned Sho that she's never been as strong as he thought and that she has always hidden behind her armor.  As such, she summons a simple outfit of hakama pants and a wrap for her breasts along with two katana and prepares to do battle with the unimpressed Ikaruga.

Thoughts/Review:

Zeref continues to come up in the manga and assuming he somehow gets revived in this arc (beyond having control of Jellal), would seem to be something of a major force for Fairy Tail, specifically Erza's team, would have to deal with.  That could be quite interesting.

Seeing Fukuro made me wonder if Mashima-sensei has a thing for owls. I couldn't help but remember the retired couple in California who had an owl box installed with cameras and a mic where people all over the world watched barn owl mates raise a family, right down to the eating of rodents. Since Mashima-sensei's story contained the consumption of a person, I also wonder if the man is a bit of a vore at heart.  ^_^;;;
With Juvia and Lucy teaming up and casting Unison Raid, I suppose any rivalry between the two will now be resolved.  I don't have a problem with that though I admit that Juvia's remarks to Lucy over Gray have been humorous.  Mashima-sensei again does something to try to boost Lucy's battle stock.  I realize that neither she nor Juvia have any idea of what they did but I would bet that Lucy was the key to it and thus should Lucy discover she can use Unison Raid with anyone else, she would become an even more valuable support member of the team.

Now that we've seen a bit more of Erza's past, I'm now unsure as to why Gray and Natsu fear her so much.  Gray is shown being a child punk to Erza who was startled by her tears from her remaining eye. The events as Gray remember them explain only why Gray would respect Erza and not why he would be afraid of her.  I guess that aspect of the story comes later.

Again, the Fairy Tail of several years ago is shown to be filled with children.  By my reckoning, Cana, Gray, Natsu, Erza, and Laxus were all child members of Fairy Tail but there are none today.  Maybe it was just easier for Mashima-sensei to have several of his characters have a past tied to Fairy Tail but it would be neat if the tradition of taking in kids continued.

Going back to Erza, I hope her destroyed armor and remarks about hiding behind her armor doesn't mean she's abandoning it for good.  While it may have been mostly useless against Ikaruga, it has been shown in the past to be quite effective in different circumstances.

Regarding Ikaruga, it will be interesting to see how Erza defeats her.  Maybe Ikaruga will lose balance on those platform geta shoes.  Egad!  Those things just don't seem practical at all. ^_^;

Finally, there's the chapter image for chapter 83.  I couldn't scan it without ruining my book and the scanlations from the original magazine publication are filled with advertising text.  However, the image is of Natsu, Happy, and Lucy on a disco dance floor in an obvious parody of John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever movie from 1978.   For me, having spent my early childhood in the 70's, it is a pretty iconic image of the time.  I am curious if any of you "youngsters" recognized it or not.  Do let me know.  ^_^

Sadly, I only have one more Del Rey volume of Fairy Tail before having to wait for Kodansha Comics version to come out.  See you at the next review. ^_^

xxxHOLiC: Rou Adayume OAD Review

×××HOLiC・籠 あだゆめ

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Haruka visits with Watanuki in the dream realm and wants a wish granted, which Watanuki accepts.  Over breakfast, he discusses this with Mokona, citing a famous dream story and Haruka's wish to have a dream deciphered.  After getting Maru and Moro to set up four tsuitate to form a four-sided barrier, Watanuki enters the dream of Doumeki. As such, Watanuki gets a glimpse of Doumeki's life as a kid to the death of his grandfather to when Doumeki met Watanuki for the first time and beyond.  Watanuki is bemused by the antics of his younger self but continues to see things from Doumeki's point of view, going through the many adventures the two had together including where Watanuki fell out of the window and nearly died.

One part of the dream has Yuuko-san, in shadow, give something to Doumeki but Watanuki cannot see what it is.  The dream turns into a nightmare with Watanuki having to use ofuda to exorcise various spirit monsters that emerge, finally using one of the Dream Merchant's dream balloons to escape and see Haruka again.  Haruka is impressed with Watanuki's abilities to turn a nightmare into a regular dream.  They talk for a bit before Watanuki wakes up within the walls of the tsuitate. That evening, Doumeki stops by and while Watanuki won't give Doumeki the details, Doumeki realizes that Haruka was Watanuki's client.  With that, Doumeki gives Watanuki an invitation to his wedding with Kohane even though Watanuki cannot leave the shop.

Thoughts/Review:

Since OHKAWA Nanase from CLAMP wrote this screenplay (and the episode prior as well), I suppose we can assume that although CLAMP shut down the xxxHOLiC manga without providing some details, this anime is meant to address certain elements that the manga did not.  The egg thing being blocked from Watanuki's vision was odd as was Yuuko-san only appearing as a shadow.  Didn't get that at all.  Having Watanuki experience their high school years from Doumeki's perspective was cool.  Himawari-chan only got a brief cameo in the flashback but Kohane-chan didn't even get that.  However, this episode confirmed a fan theory that CLAMP would have Doumeki and Kohane-chan get married even though Kohane-chan's first love is Watanuki.  That was interesting.

Other than that, I find I have nothing really to say about this likely final OAD episode.  The flashback was fun and the wedding invitation was "Oh" but other than being entertained, there's nothing more to say.

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 10 Review

フェアリーテイル

Fairy Tail Volume 10 --> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF! ^_^

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

After Loke confesses to Natsu and others of Fairy Tail that he's in fact the celestial spirit Leo, he gives Lucy some passes to a luxury resort for her team (Lucy, Erza, Natsu, Happy, and Gray) to attend.  After spending a relaxing day at the beach, Erza takes a nap and dreams of her past.  That evening, the group goes to the casino, where Juvia joins a startled Gray, her shiny Fairy Tail necklace indicating her desire to join them now that Phantom Lord is no longer a guild.  Four wizards arrive in the casino looking for Erza.  Natsu ends up getting shot point blank in the mouth, Juvia gets smacked away before quickly returning to defend Gray, and all of the people in the casino are placed into cards thanks to a wizard named Shou.  Lucy finds herself bound up thanks to the cat-like wizard Millianna. The four wizards, Shou, Millianna, Simon, and Wally, were all companions of Erza when they were child slaves and they intend on bringing her back to the Tower of Heaven and their leader Jellal, whom was also a child-slave companion of Erza's.

After they take the captured Erza and Happy away, Lucy manages to free herself with the help of a person in a card and discovers the body of Gray.  However, it is a decoy as Juvia had sealed him within herself to protect him. They quickly find an irritated Natsu and take off to pursue Erza and her captors.  Meanwhile, Siegrain tells the Magic Council that the forbidden "R-System" magic is still in place and that the Tower of Heaven was completed to revive the dark wizard Zeref. As such, he wants the Council to vote to use the Satellite Square, Etherion to destroy the tower and stop the threat.

Meanwhile, Erza is taken to the Tower of Heaven and placed in a cell.  She wonders what could have turned her former non-magical friends into wizards and manages to overcome Shou and free herself from the bonds that prevented her from using magic. With that, she decides to pay Jellal a visit while her companions arrive and infiltrate the tower, fighting their way up to where they encounter Erza who's been fighting her way through.  Erza wants them to leave but Natsu isn't going without Happy.  He takes off and while Erza is sure that Millianna won't harm Happy since she loves cats, she still wants the others to leave.  They refuse on the grounds of friendship and so Erza relents, telling them of her past as a child-slave tasked with helping construct the Tower of Heaven.

Erza was taught about magic by an elderly slave who was a member of Fairy Tail.  Erza had killed some guards and had been brutalized for it until Jellal took her place. The abuse he received made him full of hate which made it possible for the spirit of Zeref to commune with him and then fuse with him.  Despite losing an eye, Erza leads a slave revolt which results in her elderly mentor being killed. Her anger over this caused Erza to unlock her ability to summon weapons and she fights her way to where Jellal is being held and frees him.  Unfortunately, he has turned evil and so to protect her friends, she's forced to flee the island, never to return.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, our crew gets a day of fun before getting into the next story-arc and taking a defeat.  Interesting how Mashima-sensei is progressing in developing the central characters.  He started by giving Natsu a small amount of character development before moving to Gray and exploring his past.  Then he went and explored Lucy's past.  Now, he has started exploring Erza's past.  So, that leaves Natsu and possibly Happy to explore down the road.  ^_^

Anyway, now it is easy to see why Erza became such a "bad ass" if you'll pardon the expression. Her life as a slave was completely unexpected and yet that hard life made her the tough woman she is today, made more so by the slave rebellion and the death of the Fairy Tail slave who mentored her. Its easy to see how she ended up at the Fairy Tail guild since she would have learned about it from the old man.  Then using Fairy Tail, I can see how Erza strove to become an S-Class wizard because of her experiences as a slave and no doubt a strong desire to never end up as one again.

Jellal and Siegrain would seem to be the same person somehow, unless the person claiming to be Jellal now is an impostor since Mashima-sensei is keeping Jellal's face obscured.  However, since Jellal turned evil, I tend to discount that as a possibility of an impostor.  So, Jellal may have split himself into two people.  That seems possible considering that Zeref was known to be a very powerful dark wizard and Jellal would seem to have at least some of the power of Zeref.  The other possibility is that Jellal and Siegrain are not the same but twins, though the marking on the face seems to make that seem less likely.  Sure, twins could have been given the same facial tattoos but why?  Well, it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

It is awesome that Juvia is an unofficial part of the team for this story-arc.  It was humorous seeing her watching Gray from a distance but I liked how she basically decided to make her move in the casino to not only be with Gray but to also announce her intention to join Fairy Tail. That was just hilarious seeing her Fairy Tail necklace rather than her normal teru teru bouzu doll.  ^_^ I actually had expected Gray to want to put some distance between himself and Juvia with Mashima-sensei having the character follow a "don't cling to me" attitude.  Instead, I am glad that Gray was immediately OK with the idea of Juvia joining Fairy Tail and hasn't been annoyed with her addressing him as "Gray-sama."

I also found Juvia's perceived rivalry with Lucy to be amusing.  There was her double entendre remark about Gray being inside Juvia and not inside Lucy.  There was Juvia pointing out to Lucy that Gray had praised her work and not Lucy.  And then there was Juvia making a head bubble for Lucy that was smaller than the the ones she made for Gray and Natsu.

With Erza pretty much giving tacit approval of Juvia combined with Juvia's contributions to the fight, I would guess that once this arc is over, she won't have much trouble getting into Fairy Tail.  Hopefully, she'll be made an official part of Erza's team along with Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Happy. 

Finally, there's the omake chapter.  Normally, I've passed on commenting on them when they've appeared because there hasn't been much to say.  However, this time, the story was too humorous not to mention.  The story works because I think we've all experienced a situation where a person we trust tells us, "You know, I think So-and-So likes you."  Inevitably, this "So-and-So" is someone we'd never considered in a romantic sense and so immediately, we start giving the person a second look and we start considering the possibility of "what if..?" as well as looking for signs that the person in question is giving signs of interest.  *lol*  So Mashima-sensei's story of Mira planting the notion in Lucy's head that Natsu might fancy her was quite enjoyable. ^_^

So, a fun, interesting volume here.  ^_^

Wolverine - 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Kikyo arrives as does Hideki from a floating platform above. Kikyo refuses to battle Logan due to Logan not being at 100% combined with Hideki's having Vadhaka to summon. Logan throws the toxic dart he'd earlier retrieved at Hideki but Hideki is behind a barrier of some sort and protected.  Vadhaka stomps in and begins to attack Logan with neither gaining the advantage. Koh sees Hideki and heads up the road to where the fighting is going on along with Min.  Logan gets stomped but manages to eventually toss Vadhaka off him.  Vadhaka slaps Logan away and turns his attention to Koh, who has fallen and is being defended by Min.  Min begs Vadhaka to not do this but Vadhaka obeys Hideki's command and slaps her away.

Kikyo takes offense at this as a samurai and joins the fight with Logan, much to Hideki's frustration.  Kikyo manages to slice off the pole holding Vadhaka's scythe but discovers that even his ranged wind blade attack has no effect on Vadhaka.  As such, Kikyo brings forth a second blade as Logan comes up with a new plan. He takes the pole that Vadhaka had been using and as Kikyo keeps the giant off-balance, Logan rams the pole into the mouth of Vadhaka and though the back of its neck and deep into the ground.  Vadhaka is defeated so Hideki's forces are thwarted by Kikyo and Logan to Hideki's horror. Yukio holds the dying Min and is joined by Koh. Min wants Koh to take care of Hideki and he agrees, thus making Min smile as she dies.

Thoughts/Review:

Sorry, but I'm getting rather bored with the Wolverine fights at this point.  Initially, it was cool seeing Logan being Wolverine.  However, with the return of Vadhaka, I just rolled my eyes. I just wanted the fight to be over but of course we had to have the cliched monstrous efforts of Logan to escape from being crushed.  About the only thing that wasn't cliched was Logan ramming the poll down Vadhaka's throat.  I can't say that I saw that coming though I did wonder how armor that can't be penetrated from the exterior can be so easily pierced from the other side.  Seriously, armor is armor so if Vadhaka's neck was protected by some massive armor that couldn't be penetrated, then how was it penetrated? Maybe there's a reader of the blog who served in a tank or other armored vehicle who can explain this. 

I didn't expect for Min to be killed.  It makes sense and is logical but to often, a character getting smacked around doesn't kill them even if they do get injured.  While I had nothing against Min, she wasn't developed enough for there to be much of an emotional impact at her death.  The writers use it to have Yukio reflect on how she probably would have died if she had stayed with her grandfather Koh but otherwise there's nothing.  I actually found the lack of impact by Min's death to be rather disappointing somehow.  While it is too late to change that, I wonder if Min's relationship with Koh will be explored a bit more before the anime is done.  At this point, that seems a stretch though.

As expected, Kikyo is the Silver Samurai of this anime series.  As such, I expect that the relationship between Logan and Kikyo will be similar to Logan's relationship with Silver Samurai in the Marvel Comics storyline.  Wolverine and Silver Samurai fought several times in the comic books but because Silver Samurai followed the bushido code, Wolverine trusted him to take care of very personal things.  I can see Logan doing much the same in this anime before all is said and done with Logan arranging for Kikyo to be Mariko's personal bodyguard when she takes over her father's organization...well, that's my prediction anyway.  I also think Logan and Kikyo will have another battle just for the heck of it if nothing else.

Because this anime is has sadly fallen into the realm of the cliche, it is also falling with my opinion of it but I'm in for the long haul.  ^_^

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 09 Review

フェアリーテイル

Fairy Tail Volume 09 --> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF! ^_^

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Upon the casting of Fairy Law, Jose is defeated and Makarov easily dispatched Aria, telling him to take Jose away and never return.  Natsu has a chat with Gajeel, where they both learn they have similar experiences with their dragon guardians having disappeared. Makarov has the guild begin work on reconstructing their guild building as Lucy takes off to visit her father.  Natsu, Gray, Happy, and Erza discover Lucy is missing and decide to follow her. 

When Lucy arrives at her family's enormous estate, the staff are all excited that she has returned.  After getting Lucy to change into more appropriate clothing, Lucy visits her father, who states that he would have crushed Fairy Tale if he had to in order to get Lucy back.  As it is, she is to marry Duke Sawarr.  After Lucy's father has his say, Lucy tells him off, warning him not to mess with Fairy Tail again.  She also tells him that in refusing to do as he wishes, she would have been supported by her deceased mother to do what Lucy felt was right.  With that, Lucy leaves and goes to visit her mother's grave where she is joined by Natsu, Happy, Gray, and Erza. 

Returning to Fairy Tail, the group finds that Laxus has returned and is causing trouble. Lucy is surprised to learn that he is the grandson of Makarov.  Meanwhile, Erza decides that since she, Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Happy work so well together, they should officially form a team, an event which cements the notion to Makarov that he cannot retire. 

Lucy and company take a job working for a theater manager and end up working as actors, causing destruction but also success.  After another mission, Lucy and company run into Loke, who irritates Lucy by avoiding her. Erza, Gray, and Natsu decide to get into a pillow fight at the ryokan they are spending the night at, which becomes a little too much for Lucy. She goes for a walk and is found by two male wizards and trapped until Loke saves her. Lucy manages to get Loke to go bar to thank him for finding her celestial keys but ends up slapping him when he makes what appears to be a bad joke.

Upon returning home, Lucy is with Happy as she summons Old Master Cru to attempt to figure out what could have happened in the past to cause Loke to react so negatively to celestial wizards.  Old Master Cru can only reveal that Loke once had a relationship with a celestial mage named Karen.  When Gray tells Lucy that Loke has disappeared, Lucy finds him at Karen's grave and reveals she knows his true identity -- the celestial spirit Leo.  Loke confirms this and says that he has been banished from the celestial world for allowing his owner Karen to die.  He tells the story of how Karen abused her female celestial spirit Aries by not only using her as a shield during fights but also making her service the men Karen would pick up.  Leo could not stand this and so took Aries place and prevented Karen from sending him back.  As such, she could not summon Aries and Leo began using his own power to stay in the human realm.  Karen refused to budge but without her ability to summon celestial spirits, she was killed on a mission and Leo was punished as a result.

Lucy does not find this fair and manages to gain the attention of the celestial spirit king in order to keep Loke from dying. After pleading Loke-Leo's case and even managing to summon all five of her gold key spirits plus Plue, the king decides to allow Leo back but in return, Leo is now Lucy's charge and protector.

Thoughts/Review:

This volume makes an interesting departure from the normal stuff that Mashima-sensei does.  The volume is not only lighthearted in nature but also rather poignant.  I guess this shouldn't be too surprising since action-filled manga stories take a lot out of the manga-ka and his/her staff.

So, Laxus is Makarov's grandson.  Well, that would certainly explain why he feels he can be as much a punk as he is. Obviously, Makarov has never laid the law down on his grandson.

It was interesting seeing where Lucy comes from. I find it odd that she was taught magic at all, considering how her father is. Yet her elderly mage instructor was there and I would guess it is from him that Lucy learned specifically to be a celestial wizard.  Maybe Lucy's father saw some advantage in having Lucy learn mage skills or maybe her mother had some say in that.  The more I think about it, I'd bet her mother was the reason as it seems her mother likely would have supported Lucy's independence.  I wonder how Lucy's mother died.

The play story reminded me very much of a similar incident in Slayers, where Lina Inverse's team had to put on a play to help out someone and in the process, ended up destroying the place when a mercenary lead a bunch of monsters to fight them.  Of interest here is that Lucy summons Lyra to help with the play.  Mashima-sensei has laid down the rules on celestial spirits and Lyra's hours were limited to three times a month, IIRC.  However, if they were doing multiple performances, did Lyra decide to allow herself to be summoned more often or just hang out the entire time in the human realm with Lucy's magic providing the means? 

Finally, there's Leo-Loke.  Mashima-sensei had established early on that Loke was afraid of Lucy and that was done more for comical effect until now.  However, I'd noticed that Mashima-sensei had Loke appearing to watch Lucy from a distance and now we know why. As Leo, Loke must be very powerful indeed to open his own gate at will and prevent Karen from banishing him.  I know that Aquarius can send herself back without Lucy's assistance but I wonder if even she can summon herself. 

Regardless, I've been saying that Lucy is quite weak when it comes to being of use in a fight, especially without her keys.  I guess Mashima-sensei must have decided to show a glimpse of Lucy's potential when she not only caused the celestial spirit king to appear, but summoned Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, Sagittarius, and Virgo as well as Plue briefly to her side and without their keys. Loke had said during his flashback that no celestial mage could summon more than one spirit at a time and Lucy summoned six at once.  Should Lucy be able to summon more than one spirit at a time, she would suddenly become MUCH more valuable in a fight.

Now that Lucy has Leo's key, she owns half of the gold keys.  I don't suppose it is too much of a bet to say that she'll likely end up with them all.  I wonder who has Aries now? 

So, a fun and poignant volume.

"Love Hina" Being Re-released by Kodansha Comics?

With Akamatsu-sensei releasing his Love Hina comic in Japan for free on his J-Comi website combined with the TokyoPop U.S. edition of the manga out of print, I wasn't sure that it would be coming back to U.S. shores.  However, it seems that RightStuf has something that Kodansha USA neglected to announce when they let it be known that they were bringing the Sailor Moon manga back to the U.S. -- the first omnibus volume for Love Hina, currently scheduled for release on September 6, 2011.  No word on whether this is getting a fresh translation, though I REALLY hope it does.  I know Adam Arnold did what he could back when this was first released and believe you me, I appreciate him for that.  However, this is a chance to get it done right without the TokyoPop management interference.  ^_^

Thanks to William Flanagan for the notification!

A Hayate the Combat Butler Image Share

As I write this, I'm feeling quite ill.  :-(  Not sure what the problem is but I certainly am not feeling up to doing anything.  As such, I thought I'd share a couple of spring-like images from Hayate the Combat Butler as I wonder why Viz is only planning to release two volumes of manga this year (at least, as of this posting). 

Negima! Manga Vol 35 Ch 321 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 35 Chapter 321 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 321

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The Mahora headmaster Konoemon, Eishun, and Al observe the appearance of the Gravekeeper's Palace and know it is bad.  Al observes that Negi is fighting with the tool of the Magic World's creator (Fate).

At the Gravekeeper's Palace, Fate finds himself truly enjoying his fight with Negi and the two compliment each other's fighting ability.  However, Fate also acknowledges that Negi is now stronger than he is although at a price which Negi says he's willing to pay.  Fate sees the image of the Mahora campus behind Negi which causes Negi to turn around and look in amazement.

Back at Mahora, Zazie, Eva, and Chachazero continue to observe the fight in the Gravekeeper's Palace in the sky.  Eva recognizes Magia Erebea's usage, which Chachazero recalls was an ability Eva learned while she was still weak.  Further, Chachazero remembers that Jack won the Magia Erebea scroll off of Eva in a bet, which annoys Eva to remember even though at the time, she'd not felt that anyone would benefit from the scroll as it was for a shinso vampire.  Zazie asks if Eva is not pleased that her disciple and son of the man she loved has mastered her technique.  She denies this and begins to make a point about a normal human using a shinso vampire technique.

Fumika startles Eva by asking what a shinso vampire is  and Fuka compliments Zazie's dress and Chizuru sets up a telescope. The cheerleaders Sakurako, Misa, and Madoka also arrive to Eva's amazement. There's all sorts of speculation on what this could be, including a UFO, though Sakurako actually guesses correctly.  Ayaka arrives and asks Eva to tell her the truth of what is going on before addressing Eva as "Dark Evangal," revealing she knows more than Eva suspected. Eva wonders where she learned this and Ayaka decides to not force her question to Eva.  Negi, in lightning form, can be seen on the telescope as Ayaka announces that they will be supporting Negi.

As the girls show their excitement with Hakase having multiple telescopes and Sa-chan bringing in meat buns, Zazie, Chachazero, and Eva talk about their foolish classmates, who's behavior is something Zazie likes.  Chachazero wonders if they won't all get slaughtered by not knowing the truth and Zazie wonders if Eva shouldn't stop them.  Eva decides to let them continue and says she'll somehow handle any problems that might happen, something that causes Zazie to tease Eva.

Thoughts/Review:

Short review: I love this chapter.  ^_^

For the longer review, I'm really beginning to get the feeling that Akamatsu-sensei may cause there to be some sort of fallout from the events on the Magic World to impact Mahora.  For starters, he has two former members of Ala Rubra (Al and Eishun) on site.  While Al's magic is supposed to be limited except during times when the World Tree glows, the World Tree is glowing and so I expect him to be at full power, though it is possible that if he is an illusionary being, he won't be of too much help.  Eishun will be though as will the headmaster and all of the other school mages.

Then there's Eva and Zazie.  While Eva is still cursed, Akamatsu-sensei has already established that a powered up World Tree not only allows Chachazero to move and fly, it also powers Eva up.  There's enough energy coming off the World Tree that Eva might be at full strength even if she's still bound to the Mahora grounds.  I'm not sure what Akamatsu-sensei might throw at Eva, but I would suspect it might have less to do with fighting and more to do with protecting her foolish classmates from massive chunks of falling debris from a disintegrating Gravekeeper's Palace.

I loved the talk between Eva, Zazia, and Chachazero, the later being so awesome as usual.  Akamatsu-sensei provides us with the briefest of explanations on how Jack Rakan acquired her Magia Erebea scroll but is careful to not state on whether Eva lost the scroll on the Magic World (my presumption) or on Earth.  I really do wish we'd learn more about Eva's past and her time with Ala Rubra. 

Anyway, Eva does appear concerned over Negi's mastering her technique.  When Eva created Magia Erebea, she was already a vampire and was desperate for an edge to overcome her weaknesses.  As Eva learned more and became powerful enough, she no longer needed to use ME though undoubtedly, she can still do so to make herself even more powerful (and as an aside, that's how I'm guessing Eva will still be more powerful than Negi at this point).  Eva has already paid a price but because Eva was a vampire and a shinso vampire at that, the cost to Eva was probably be less than the cost will end up being to Negi.  So we'll see what further price Negi might have to pay down the road.

I loved how Ayaka's research led her to know Eva is also the "Dark Evangal" and she lets Eva know this. One wonders if Eva might end up telling Ayaka something. 

Still, Eva is apparently ready to defend her classmates should the need arise, which is something surprising, even to Zazie.  I loved it though because as Chachamaru noted what seems like ages ago, Eva has changed since Negi's arrival on campus.  ^_^  This would be a further evidence of her change and revealing that even though she tries to always look aloof and uncaring, she really does care to a degree.

Can't wait to read chapter 322.  ^_^

Tales from Earthsea -- Anime Story Review

Note:  My advance look at the DVD review can be found here.  That review focused on the DVD aspects whereas this review will be about the story.  As such, there will be SPOILERS! ^_^

Tales from Earthsea (ゲド戦記/Gedo Senki) is a movie who's beautiful visuals and starting premise make it seem like it is going to be a very good tale.  Unfortunately, things fail to go where they are promised.

Things get started when the (good) king's son stabs him and steals his magic sword before fleeing.  OK, sounds interesting enough, eh?  However, Arren's whole purpose in stabbing his father is never revealed beyond some "fear of dying" nonsense.  Yeah, fear of dying makes people kill each other all the time.  ^_^;;;  Arren is made to be some sort of dual personality person with his good personality being what we mostly see, but then his more sinister side emerging when he gets into a fight.  Even then, the sinister personality is not what I'd call evil, or at least wasn't portrayed that way.  In one instance, the personality emerged to save the girl Therru, though she was clearly troubled by that side of Arren.  So assuming this was the side of Arren that stabbed his father, why do it and why steal the sword?  Why was there NOTHING said anywhere about the king being stabbed or Arren being missing (and one would think, wanted).

Further, just how in the world did Arren split into two people?  His other self was some sort of spirit form (or that was my conclusion) which contacted Therru toward the end and what Arren kept seeing as a threat, but that was just a muddled mess as far as I was concerned which was further mucked with by Arren's weird visions. Except for his dragon vision, the others didn't seem to be of any import to the actual story but simply placed there to show Arren's troubled mind (I guessing). The dragon vision came with Therru and so that basically telegraphed what was to come regarding Therru (or at least it did to me). 

The sword brings me to the next item of contention.  Arren can't draw it and the arch mage Sparrowhawk notes that it was forged with magic.  A big deal is made of this and Arren's worthiness to draw the blade.  Luckily, everyone else is dumb as rocks about the sword because when Arren is separated from it at one point, the sword is presumed to be worthless and rusted because it can't be drawn from the sheath.  Somehow, despite being discarded, a merchant ends up having it to sell to Sparrowhawk at a later time and the merchant doesn't have a clue about it.  Then toward the end of the movie, the evil mage Cob acts fearful of the sword because it is a sword made with magic.  Ah, but even when Arren draws it, the sword is nothing but a sword, which in the hands of an inept swordsman is worthless.  That being the case, why make a big deal of the sword being forged with magic?

I kinda liked Therru as a character.  The story tried to make her more sympathetic by giving her an abused background so that Tenar would become her foster mother. I had no problem with that, nor did I have a problem with her not trusting Arren.  Even after Arren saved her from the slavers, I didn't have a problem with her not wanting anything to do with him since she was saved by his darker side.  Then after he's worked the farm a bit and Cob is making his move, she starts trusting him. When he casually tells her that he killed his father, its like it is no big deal to her.  That didn't make any sense to me at all.  I figured she would have been horrified or something.  After all, she had been leery of him from the start and to hear he's murdered his father should add to that negative feeling in my opinion..

That Therru was a dragon didn't bother me.  I've liked the notion of dragons having humanoid form going back to when I read the first Dragonlance trilogy. However, I failed to see why she needed to be a dragon in the story.  The object was to put an end to Cob and save Sparrowhawk and Tenar and had the whole magic sword element panned out as played up, we certainly wouldn't have needed a dragon.  However, Therru turns into a dragon after supposedly dying and that's how we defeat Cob.  After that, Arren and the dragon-human Therru can go on with their lives and possibly marry in the future...or something, assuming Arren isn't executed or the like.

As to Cob, I've no idea why the anime has him as sexually ambiguous character.  He has female appearances and on the Japanese side, he was voiced by a female, which puts a completely different twist on the character from the English dub.  All this aside, Cob's whole notion of wanting to live forever is so poorly played out as to not even be funny.  Even though there's no evidence of Cob doing ANYTHING other than (1) running slaver trade for money and (2) studying tomes, I get the impression that the audience is supposed to put together that the dying crops, dragon fights, mages losing their powers, and other problems are the result of whatever Cob is doing.  Because we never see Cob experimenting and causing negative effects across the world, there's never a correlation between him and the bad things that are just happening.  As far as I'm concerned, Cob wasn't the cause (although I've researched and the novel he's featured in is pretty explicit on the cause and effect).

If Sparrowhawk is doing an investigation on the dying crops and such, why stop to farm?  One of the other bad things that caused him concern were mages losing their magical abilities.  For an arch mage, this is very important stuff and to protect your fellow mages, you need to find the root cause of these problems as they are likely related.  Seriously, the arch mage does not have time to waste in farming, even if its for an old friend.  Yet despite this, we get a major slowdown of the movie so Sparrowhawk can farm and teach Arren to do the same and screw everything else.  *_*

So, in the end, we have a rather pointless movie.  An arch mage with the nickname "Sparrowhawk" is on an investigation to find out the cause of bad things happening around the kingdom.  He saves the king's son Arren, who's fleeing after murdering his father and steeling his magic sword, and gets him to just travel with him. Arren has lots of weird visions and thinks he's being pursued by himself.  He saves a girl named Therru from slavers but decides to immediately take a nap and is made a slave so that Sparrowhawk has to save him.  Then he and Sparrowhawk stop by Tenar's farm as Tenar happens to be an old acquaintance.  Luckily, Therru is her foster daughter and Sparrowhawk decides that he and Arren will farm the land for Tennar.

Sparrowhawk decides to do some local investigation and even gets Arren's magic sword back before learning of the evil mage Cob being nearby.  Cob learns of Sparrowhawk and sends men to kidnap Tenar as Arren runs away.  Therru is left to give Sparrowhawk a message but she frees herself.  Cob finds Arren and gets him on his side while Sparrowhawk rides to save Tenar, only to be stripped of magic and held captive.  Therru finds Arren's other self and uses the information to get Arren back on her side. She gives Arren his magic sword which he draws but doesn't do anything.  Before Cob can slay Sparrowhawk and Tenar, Therru somehow turns into a dragon after apparently being murdered and in the end, Cob is slain, Therru and Arren have a moment before Arren goes to face the music for murdering his father.

Meh!  Taking random characters and situations from the original novels and throwing them together in a pot does not a movie make. Its really a shame too 'cause had this been as well written as it was visually to look upon, we would have had a real winner.

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 08 Review

フェアリーテイル

Fairy Tail Volume 08 --> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF! ^_^

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Gray's fight with Juvia continues until he's able to defeat her, allowing her to see blue sky for the first time in ages.  Natsu takes a beating from Aria until the wounded Erza arrives to quickly put an end to him.  Jose is angry that his Element 4 S-class wizards are defeated and enters the fray himself.  As Gajeel physically abuses Lucy before nailing her to the wall to toss kunai at her, the wounded Erza sends Natsu to go find and rescue Lucy while she faces Jose.  Natsu finds Gajeel and the two dragon slayers do fierce battle.  The fight is pretty even with Gajeel having a slight advantage, which he improves by consuming metal as Gajeel is an iron dragon slayer.

Meanwhile, Happy frees Lucy from the wall and the only thing she has to help is the new key they got from their last mission. The key summons Sagittarius but Lucy is disappointed to learn that his skills are with accurate arrow firing but no fire attacks.  Now that Gajeel has restored strength thanks to the metal he consumed, he begins beating Natsu fiercely.  During the fight, what's left of the Fairy Tail building collapses, causing Gajeel to taunt. Natsu manages to stand up and Happy bemoans the fact that Natsu can't eat any fire to recharge.  Sagittarius hears this and tells Lucy that while he has no fire attacks, he can cause fire, which he does by destroying some equipment.  Natsu consumes the fire which allows him to recharge.  This, combined with his anger at what has happened to his guild and guild mates, allows Natsu to defeat Gajeel.

Despite the massive damage Gajeel and Natsu have caused to the Phantom Lord structure, Jose is simply amused by this as he begins beating Erza, telling her that he's not happy that Fairy Tail's reputation is rising. After getting the request from Lucy's father to bring her home, Jose used the opportunity to destroy Fairy Tail as he could not allow them to have access to the Hearfillia money.  Jose is not impressed with Erza's statement on Lucy not having access to her family fortunes as Lucy has to earn her money like everyone else.  Jose's plan is to drain the Hearfillia dry.

Jose's magical crushing of Erza is halted by an external force which turns out to be Makarov.  Makarov's powers were restored to him thanks to Mystogan, who arrives at an annoyed Porlyusica's residence. Makarov orders the members of Fairy Tail to evacuate.  Once they are gone, the two Wizard Saints square off and engage in high-level magic combat. Makarov gives Jose three seconds according to Fairy Tail rules before evoking a powerful spell called Fairy Law.

Thoughts/Review:

Heh!  I love Juvia.  I can't really explain it but she is just so awesome to me.  I like how Mashima-sensei gave her a bit of character development to explain her current attitude by showing how her powers negatively affected those around her and thus made her ostracized to a degree.  The poor girl even made a teru teru bouzu, which she's apparently worn ever since, to try to stop the constant rain around her.  From the way I read this, Gray defeating her and his other effects on her causes her to see blue sky for the first time in possibly her whole life.  I'm not sure what Mashima-sensei plans for her as we may not see her again after this arc is resolved but it would be nice to check in on her again down the road.

I liked how Mashima-sensei had Erza quickly defeat Aria. It not only shows how incredibly powerful she is, but it also shows why she's a good leader as she leads by example.  I figure the only way Aria defeated Makarov was because he ambushed Makarov.  Erza, despite being wounded, was fully aware of Aria and just got the job done.

In addition, this also sets up just how powerful Jose is.  We already know that Erza is very powerful and even wounded, she takes out the S-class wizard who defeated the Fairy Tail master and Wizard Saint.  So for Jose to come along and defeat Erza helps establish his power, but then that sets up just how powerful Makarov truly is when he returns.  We'll see what this Fairy Law spell does to Jose though.

Nice to see Mystogan actually helping the guild, even if behind the scenes where they don't know it.

So, Lucy gets another celestial spirit and the reason she was separated from her keys is revealed.  This way, she was forced to use the new key exclusively.  Now that she has Sagittarius, if she were somehow able to summon more than one celestial spirit at a time, Lucy's usefulness could go up a lot. She'd have a ranged spirit to help cover her melee spirits and that would make her quite useful.  Heck, just having Sagittarius to cover her teammates makes her more useful but then since contracts restrict when and how a spirit can be summoned, it makes this a mute point (though Sagittarius is the second spirit she's engaged without an established contract).

Speaking of Lucy, I keep noticing that despite his fear of her, Loke seems quite concerned about her.  I wonder what his deal is with celestial wizards

Other observations.

Where are the kids in Fairy Tail?  I ask because in the one flashback when Natsu is joining the guild, Gray is there as a kid as is Erza, Cana, and even Laxus.  So they had kids whom were likely trained and educated by the guild and now those kids are young adults and very powerful.  Today, there are no such kids that I noticed in the guild so there are no "trainees" coming up.  I suppose the guild doesn't require kids in it but I like the notion of a guild having kids to train who then become guild leaders.

A final observation is the name "Gidarts."  This person is listed as an official Fairy Tail S-class wizard but we haven't seen this character as far as I remember.  Indeed, the artwork showing the Fairy Tail S-class wizards doesn't depict Gidarts.  I guess Jose doesn't mention Mira because Mira no longer is active.

On the Del Rey side, I was going to go off on the "Mysteries of Fairy Tail" because the text immediately shifts from right-to-left to left-to right, even skipping a page to do so.  However, I'm informed that this is how the Japanese did it for the tankoubon release of volume 8.  That's lunacy to me but if the Japanese did it, then I can't spank Del Rey for doing the same.

Otherwise, no problems that I see.

So, an action-filled manga with some interesting little bits of character stuff.  I'm looking forward to seeing how this arc concludes.

Wolverine - 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Logan and Yukio start up Hell Road, Koh and his troops, including Min, make their way through underground tunnels.  Koh is informed that Yukio is with Logan and after a pause, says sacrifices must be made to purge the island.  Meanwhile, Logan and Yukio have an uneventful first leg of their journey were Yukio explains why different criminal factions placed traps on Hell Road to protect themselves but when Hideki's father took over, he used the trap system to his advantage rather than try to overcome it.  A spear stops them and they see the skeletons of people slain ahead.  Racing forward on the motorcycle, the rain of spears becomes too much and the bike is destroyed. They next fall into a pitfall trap but manage to get out where they now have to battle lots of locals as they race forward.

Meanwhile, Hideki is not pleased with Vadhaka's failure though A.I.M. plans to upgrade the guardian. He then learns that Logan has progressed further than expected up Hell Road. Hideki tells them to get the wedding on as he sees the smoke from the walled road as does Mariko from her room well above. As Logan and Yukio overcome trap after trap, Koh's forces begin wondering if Logan will make it. They make to to the spot where they can enter Hell Road from below, just before the traps start. They see the destruction Logan and Yukio have caused in addition to the faction wars that have now broken out. Koh orders his army forward and they arrive just in time to see Logan and Yukio escape a rather troublesome trap. Koh's forces engage the trap runners while Yukio and Logan race to the Dragon Palace, only to be met by Kikyo.

Thoughts/Review: 

Well, its actually starting to feel like a bit of progress is being made in the plot even though things have become rather cliched there.  The old, "marry to woman to the villain quickly before the hero can get here so that his failure is complete" is at play.  Granted, it was always hanging overhead, but Hideki's "gotta get married NOW" puts it into sharp focus.  As such, I couldn't help but recall the various movies I've watched over the years with this plot device, including some good ones like The Princess Bride, Space Balls, Big Trouble in Little China, and on the anime front, Castle of Cagliostro springs to the front.  Now we can add Wolverine to that list.  Since killing the villain solves any tricky marriage issues, the appeal is the old, "I've married her/had her and now you're just getting sloppy seconds."  (Pardon the vulgar phraseology there.)

The whole "traps on Hell Road" doesn't impress me.  This "road" has these Asian gates so why not have closed gates.  Thus, no one is traveling up Hell Road.  Further, the whole notion that just because factions control certain parts of the road means nothing. OK, so their traps are down.  Its not like a faction couldn't be attacked from other places.  The "road" only leads to the top of the hill and Dragon Palace so what do the factions care?  Its just a big, big stretch, much as Logan simply swiping arm's length with extended claws protects them from a rain of spears.  Or better still, have the rain of spears stop JUST as soon as their motorcycle is destroyed so they have to face different traps on foot.

So, Logan gets to face Kikyo and then has to fight Vadhaka while Koh's army battles their way up and Yukio does whatever she does.  Since the next episode is entitled "Shigen," I guess it is time for Papa to enter the fray as well.  More action ahead!

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 07 Review

フェアリーテイル

Fairy Tail Volume 07 --> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF! ^_^

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The members of Fairy Tail begin fighting hard against the members of Phantom Lord at the Phantom Lord guild while the very angry Master Makarov goes to visit Phantom Lord leader, Master Jose.  Jose reveals he is holding Lucy captive as S-class wizard of Element 4, Aria, manages to strip Makarov of his power and sends him crashing down to the floor below. Erza realizes that things are going very bad an orders a retreat while Natsu takes a Phantom Lord member and discovers the location of their HQ building.

At the HQ building, Jose has a talk with the imprisoned Lucy, revealing that his guild was commissioned by her father to return her home.  That's because Lucy father is the head of the Heartfilia Konzern, meaning Lucy comes from a very wealthy family.  Lucy is frustrated but manages to outwit Jose long enough to kick him in the groin. Her victory is short-lived as the only way out leads to a long drop to the ground.  Jose thinks he has her but Lucy is sure Natsu is near and jumps, calling Natsu's name.  Sure enough, he catches her and is ready to go inflict damage on the Phantom Lord, but Lucy's tears causes him and Happy to take her home.

Alzack and Bisca take Makarov to see a healer named Porlyusica, who's known Makarov for years and doesn't like other humans so she quickly shoos them off so she can treat Makarov. Lucy is depressed by her guild mates stand behind her. Cana attempts to locate S-class wizard Mystogan but fails. Mira contacts S-class wizard Laxus, who sneers at the thought of returning to help unless Lucy becomes his woman and Makarov turns the leadership of Fairy Tail over to him, statements which anger Mira. Mira decides she is going to get into the fight but is restrained by Cana as Mira may be officially an S-class wizard, but she's not what she used to be.

Jose brings his guilds HQ building to Fairy Tail and fires the massive cannon Jupiter at it.  Only Erza's powerful defensive armor deflected the shot though it leaves her injured. Mira takes charge and after Lucy is knocked out, Mira has Reedus take her to a safe house. Mira transforms her appearance into that of Lucy to try to fool the enemy. Natsu and Happy make it into the cannon firing room while the clock ticks for the gun to recharge but they meet S-class fire wizard Totomaru.  Natsu is at a serious disadvantage as Totomaru can control Natsu's fire but Natsu eventually manages to outwit his opponent and destroy the cannon.

Jose is angry and transforms the guild into Super Magic Giant Phantom MkII and the "mecha" begins a magic mandala in the air. Mira, disguised as Lucy, tries to confuse things but Jose is not fooled.  Mira is troubled that her brother Elfman is in battle against S-class wizard Sol while Jose has SMGP grab Mira as hostage. Elfman learns of Mira's capture and remembers how their little sister was killed. Enraged, Elfman performs a full-beast transformation and defeats Sol and rushes to save Mira, who's initially scared of him, not knowing if he's in control or not. With the defeat of Sol and Totomaru, SMGP's mandala creation has slowed down tremendously, meaning if they can defeat Juvia and Aria, it will stop.

Elsewhere, Gray encounters Juvia and promises to not hold back just because she's a woman. Juvia finds herself attracted to Gray, more so because she uses water magic and he uses ice magic, which makes her unsure of what exactly to do against him in the battle. Because their powers are related, neither can defeat the other so Juvia asks for Gray to hand over Lucy and it will be over.  When Gray refuses, citing Lucy as someone special, Juvia gets jealous and literally begins boiling.

Thoughts/Review:

Man, I've REALLY got to work on my summaries.  ^_^;;;

So, is Jose supposed to be the Joker in the world of Fairy Tail?  *lol*  He just looks like some version of Joker from the Batman comic book series.

Natsu did briefly battle Gajeel but that was cut short. So, I'm guessing the real fight will happen down the road.

Despite Lucy being weak as all get out as well as being the babe in distress, she did show some gumption when she pulled a fast one on Jose.  Add to that her "leap of faith" because she was sure that Natsu was nearby and would save her.  Interesting that Lucy is an "ojousama" and apparently ran away from home.  It must not have been too pleasant a home life based on her reaction to the thought of returning.

Also getting some character development with background information were Mira and Elfman.  That one picture of Mira from when their sister was alive and a member of Fairy Tail is quite different from her look now.  She looked pretty serious and cocky, even with a bit of a smile whereas now, she doesn't have a harsh look to her.  The fact that she is still considered an S-class wizard (explaining why she has access to the restricted 2nd floor of the guild) must mean she has the potential to do whatever she did back then.  Beyond shape-shifting and putting people to sleep, I wonder what she did.  I also wonder what killed their little sister and if Elfman played a role in that.

Master Makarov being taken out so quickly isn't so surprising because in these big battles, the author has to remove the big pieces to make the fight more interesting.  Thus, we have Mystogan out and the jerkwad Laxus out.   Mashima-sensei also removes Erza from the field of combat by having her take that shot from the Jupiter cannon.  Erza will get better as will Makarov in time for the final fight.  I can't say whether Mystogan might come back or not but the way Laxus has acted, I'd say he won't show up.  We'll see though.

Oh, and while I'm thinking of Makarov, I wonder if he was romantically involved with Porlyusica.  I say this because she may well be Makarv's estranged wife.  Certainly, her attitude toward him is one of a wife who loves her husband but is angry with his constantly refusing to listen to her. 

Finally, there's Juvia.  Oh man, her introduction in the previous volume was the perfect setup for Mashima-sensei to provide one of his delicious, unexpected twists.  Juvia's sudden, initial reaction to give up immediately rather than fight Gray simply because she found herself attracted to him made me laugh.  Even while Mashima-sensei carries on some continuity with Gray's injury from Lyon stabbing him with a sword, Juvia's misinterpreting him removing his shirt (because of his wound) as an indication that he wanted sex was just awesome.  The fact that neither can get the advantage of the other has me interested in seeing what Juvia will do next, now that she sees Lucy as a rival. ^_^ Can't wait to read that in the next volume 'cause I find I like Juvia a lot.

So, a lot going on in this volume with lots of action but character moments for Lucy, Mira, and Elfman as well.  Plus, there's the unexpected bonus of Juvia!  ^_^

Negima! Manga Vol 35 Ch 320 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 35 Chapter 320 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 320

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Shirabe, finding her path to the altar blocked by Nodoka and Natsumi, summons her artifact in order to attack and remove them.  Nodoka sees the danger and knocks Natsumi down to avoid getting hit.  Shirabe continues to attack, breaching Anya's defense barrier and taking her down.  Shirabe then goes for a wide scale attack, though Ku Fei is able to defend the other girls against it, though not without considerable cost to herself. Shirabe admires Ku Fei being able to do that without being a mage and goes to attack again only to have her artifact stolen by Misora.

Misora is smug about it for a few seconds until Shirabe simply banishes her artifact.  Before she can resummon it, Shirabe is attacked by Takane. Even while she is pinned down, Shirabe summons massive roots which take Asuna to the altar.  Mei and Collet fly in to try to stop this but Shirabe simply ups the ante and more roots prevent them from reaching Asuna. The injured Ku Fei gets back into the fight with Takane increasing her attacks, begging Shirabe to surrender. Shirabe recalls being a frightened child attempting to hide from slavers when she's rescued by Fate.  As such, Shirabe finds anger and unleashes her full Dryad abilities to seal Asuna within roots within the altar. 

Meanwhile, Fate notes Shirabe's accomplishment and tells Negi that had the ritual completed without Asuna there, all of the humans would have found themselves on the surface of Mars and it would be Negi's fault. Negi states he is simply going to stop the ritual altogether, something that Fate says can only be done by killing him.  Negi says he has no intention of killing Fate to get this done, something Fate finds naive. As they resume battle, Fate asks Negi if he plans to go on being naive, something that Negi confirms.

Back on Earth at Mahora, crowds are gathering as above the massively glowing World Tree, a projection of the Gravekeeper's Palace (from underneath) appears.  Eva and Zazie observe this with Eva being amused and Zazie being impressed that that although still a mirage, the connection to the Magic World in this form exists. Despite being very far away from the action, Eva is able to use her superior eyesight to see Negi engaged in a massive attack on Fate.

Thoughts/Review:

The fact that Shirabe is a Dryad really hasn't been played up that much until this chapter. I'm not even sure the term has been used to describe her or not.  Regardless, Akamatsu-sensei found a way to have her put down her crutch of an artifact and simply draw on her Dryad powers to get Asuna back into the "altar" sphere and then seal her within.  I know Asuna is knocked out and the like but I keep thinking, "If she was nullifying magic earlier, why isn't she nullifying Shirabe's magic?"   I've read a theory that this might not be Asuna up there but Shiori in disguise.  I like the theory and it would explain why Shirabe's magic isn't nullified.

That aside, Akamatsu-sensei went out of his way to make Shirabe sympathetic by having that little flashback.  Her rage at remembering that certainly got her eyes to open up, eh?  ^_^;

While still on the subject of Shirabe, last chapter, I'd not considered the possibility of more folks entering the fray.  I liked it that Takane, Mei, Collet, and even Misora got involved. Misora made me chuckle when she snatched Shirabe's artifact but then that chuckle continues with the "D'OH!" moment when Shirabe simply recalled it.  One would think that Misora would remember that aspect of artifact cards.  ^_^

Anya didn't fare too well as she took the brunt of Shirabe's attack. Ku Fei impressed by blocking said attack. 

Speaking of battles, Negi and Fate appear pretty evenly matched.  Both destroyed each other's spell blades and both take poundings but instantly recover.

I loved how Eva spotted Negi when the Gravekeeper's Palace showed up over Mahora.  I'd love it even more if Akamatsu-sensei took a moment to have Eva experience a flashback to her time with Nagi and some fight Nagi was in.  I doubt that happens because it might be to disruptive to the flow of the climax here but it would still be nice. 

I do wonder if the Gravekeeper's Palace showing up means that Negi and company will get to Mahora by simply falling down.  *lol*

So, a good chapter with the surviving girls getting involved in the fight and a nice bonus with Eva showing up at the end.  ^_^