Japanese Music: SDP - Get Up and Dance

Much like American rap groups, Japanese rap groups also sample.  So for this post, I decided to revisit the Japanese rap group Scha Dara Parr (スチャダラパー), better known as "SDP," as they kick it old school.  They take Freedom's 1979 disco funk song "Get Up and Dance" and basically do their own version of it.  The version from SDP's album runs long but the only copy of it to listen to isn't that great a quality. Instead, here's a live version of the song.

The song was liked enough in Japan that Nissan even did a commercial with it.




Of course, there have been quite a few American groups that have sampled the original song from Freedom (and I know most of those tunes), but oddly enough, I never heard the original until after I'd heard SDP's version and found it that way. Go figure, eh? Well, here's the original.




For my birthday, I'm going to try to score the SDP CD with "Get Up and Dance" on it and one other SDP album with "Disco System."

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Manga Volume 5 Review

風の谷のナウシカ
Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Volume 5

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The Dorok Emperor's brother, Miralupa, is undergoing emergency treatment while the Emperor, Namulith, makes a visit to see the God Warrior before selecting several humanoid Heedra as bodyguards before visiting Miralupa.  Namulith has a chemical injected into Miralupa's immersion treatment to kill him but before he dies, he has a dream of being restored to youth and dying before his final communication with his brother. With Miralupa dead, Namulith decides to go to the war front with his Heedra in tow.

At a Torumekian city, Yupa and Ketcha are there but Ketcha blows their cover when she is unable to restrain herself upon seeing some Dorok slaves mistreated. They are pursued out of town to where Asbel, Mito, and the other old warrior are waiting to spirit them away in the gunship, which is towing the glider-barge. On their flight, they spot the Dorok rebellion and a lone, flying insectoid before landing so that Ketcha can get some information for them from refugees. Yupa and Mito determine where the insectoids are heading and Ketcha realizes that the Dorok refugees hope to find land for planting is hopeless. Arriving at the Kabo Castle Town, the group finds the Sea of Corruption growing from the carcasses of dead insectoids and Yupa realizes that both Dorok and Torumekian troops won't recover.

On the ground, Kushana tends to the heavily wounded Kurotowa while the remnants of her troops stand guard in this area that is rapidly turning into the Sea of Corruption. They hear the sounds of planes and see the Valley gunship and glider-barge engaged in combat with a Torumekian heavy corvette, which Kushana recognizes as belonging to her brother. Cutting the barge loose, the gunship is able to force the corvette to retreat. The gunship lands to get the barge and Yupa is met by Kushana. Asbel wants to kill Kushana since she wiped out his people, but Yupa stops him since she has offered to surrender and give information about Nausicaä for the rescue of her men. Ketcha isn't happy about it either but goes along with it as well.

After they take off and Kushana tends to Kurotowa as she and Yupa discuss the situation. Kushana figures that with the devastation below, the surviving Dorok will have to attack Torumekia, possibly using the God Warrior. Hearing all this, Ketcha snaps that had Kushana's people not gone to war in the first place, none of this would have happened. Kushana agrees.

At an abandoned village being swallowed by the mutant mold, Chikuku worries about Nausicaä's safety since a Dorok fleet has arrive to begin bombing the area. Nausicaä makes it out on the mehve with Chikuku as the bombs explode all around. She tells Chikuku that the bombing won't help as the mold reaches up to pull down the Dorok airships. Charuka, leading the assault, orders a retreat as Nausicaä joins him on his ship. She plots the different molds on the map and announces that they are trying to join. She also reveals that this mold will spread massively based on similar molds in the Sea of Decay. As the exhausted Nausicaä sits and wonders why Dorok had to unseal the Crypts of Shuwa and use the ancient technologies.

Nausicaä falls asleep and has a vision of a sea of corpses.  A giant corpse tells her that everything which has transpired was planned, even the mold and the daikaisho. The giant corpse tells her all will be consumed by fire and asks her to come with him to a peaceful world. However, the lifeglow from Teto causes the corpse to react negatively, leading Nausicaä to realize that this isn't the Holy One. It tries to absorb her with gunk flowing from its eye sockets but Nausicaä repells it and sees an Ohmu. Her excitement is tempered when she realizes where it and the swarm of Ohmu are traveling.

Nausicaä wakes with a start and goes to an observation deck with Charuka, where lots of surviving Dorok refugees have gone to higher ground and escaped the poisoned air. She immediately departs on the mehve, causing the Dorok on the ground to bow to her and chant forbidden scriptures. Charuka has his ship land and chastises the people for this action. After talking with some of the people, Charuka realizes they'd been warned telepathically (by a "great white bird") and that Chikuku was responsible. He wakes the sleeping boy, who confirms it and tells Charuka that Nausicaä is the white-winged apostle and that he loves her.

Nausicaä heads into the toxic air and finds the scout Ohmu, who is sprouting the Sea of Corruption fungi despite still being alive. She pleads with the Ohmu to leave and have its fellow Ohmu leave since the mutant mold will consume them. Other giant insectoids are falling out of the sky and helping the spread of the Sea of Corruption, which is growing at a faster rate than would normally be expected. She recalls her research on the life of the Sea of Corruption and realizes that where this Ohmu stopped and is sprouting a new Sea of Corruption is where the molds are going to meet. With that, she flies off to a spot to await the arrival of the Ohmu.

Yupa's group stops at another wiped out village where Kushana finds the heavily injured body of a Heedra. All around the Heedra are dead Torumekian troops, part of Kushana's army.  Yupa takes the hood of the Heedra and takes the breather mask of the creature before putting a bullet in its head, causing the body to dissolve. Yupa explains that Heedra are nigh immortal and this is the only way to kill them. Kushana finds a still living soldier and gets news of what transpired. More Heedra show up and attacks them.  They race out but the Heedra have the advantage. Kushana decides to hold them off to allow the others to escape but another group of Heedra capture her and begin slaughtering her men as they try to save her. Some Heedra race to the parked gunship, as Mito races in to signal Asbel to take off. The Heedra try to block the escape and Asbel fired a missile, which cuts a Heedra in half but doesn't kill it.

Other Heedra keep the gunship from keep leaving but then abandon their attack and retreat. They get the gunship righted and it takes off with the barge as a swarm of Ohmu arrive, eyes of blue. Yupa chases the Heedra to a Dorok ship as it takes off. He finds Emperor Namulith standing on top of the craft as it takes off and Namulith greets Yupa, delighted to meet someone who knows how to kill Heedra. Yupa demands to know what Namulith is doing with Kushana, so Namulith reveals that he intends to marry her.

Some forest people arrive at where Nausicaä is sleeping. One of them is Ceraine, who'd befriended Ketcha under the Sea of Decay, sets up a bubble tent around Nausicaä.  She's repairing Nausicaä's mask when Nausicaä wakes up.

Back on Namulith's ship, Namulith shows Yupa the swarming Ohmu below. Namulith talks about the situation and Miralupa's work. A priest brings the Emperor a drink, but Namulith realizes it is poison and makes the priest drink it, who then dies. Down below, some priest are about to examine the sleeping Kushana when she attacks them and kills them. Killing a guard with her hair piece and taking his sword, she goes on a destruction spree, setting the ship on fire. She slaughters several priests before emerging to where Namulith is waiting. This amuses her but he has something to show her and reveals that in the poisoned air below, she has surviving men from her army but there's a swarm of Ohmu coming. He proposes to her, telling her she could revolt, have her own lovers, or the like if she accepts but this would make a union between the Dorok and Torumekia. He refuses to show her his face until their wedding night, which amuses Kushana since she wonders if he could step naked into the viper's nest.

Back with Charuka, he tells the people that the different tribes of Dorok must work together in the forthcoming crisis. Chikuku uses a telescope to find the approaching Ohmu. Nausicaä also senses the Ohmu's approach and takes her leave of Ceraine. She finds the Ohmu who communed with her back at the acid lake, but she can't make contact this time. As she flies, she has another vision with the giant corpse again, who informs her that the Ohmu were created to clean the planet polluted by humans. Nausicaä rejects the notion that the corpse and the Holy One are the same, angering the giant corpse, who tells her she's just another polluted human with blood on her hands.

Nausicaä lands on the one Ohmu and decides that since they are going to sacrifice themselves to heal the planet, she'll join them in death. The Ohmu she's on stops at the original scout, which has sprouted an island of the Sea of Corruption with full grown fungus trees even though it has only been a day. Nausicaä climbs up a fungus tree and spots the mutant mold coming. The different molds begin to join and merge and Nausicaä is surprised to see how quickly the fungi of the Sea of Corruption is growing on the bodies of all the Ohmu but her wish to die with them is thwarted as the Ohmu spends its dying moments taking Nausicaä within itself with a bubble over her head. However, this causes Chikuku to lose telepathic contact with Nausicaä and he becomes shaken. Charuka sees this and gets the bad news from Chikuku.

Thoughts/Review:

While this manga is certainly good, I still am amazed at how densely packed the manga is.  With no chapter breakdowns, I'm actually stunned that this was first published in a magazine.  I guess they did it a volume at a time, though I can't confirm or deny that.

Anyway, the story took some interesting twists. I'm surprised that Miralupa was killed off, but I guess that's how you get the Dorok Emperor Namulith into the limelight.  I wonder what the significance of Miralupa's dream was and what killed his father.

I think that the giant corpse that Nausicaä keeps seeing in visions is Miralupa still attempting to get to her.  Her use of the term "darkness" is the same as she used when Miralupa was alive.  I suppose he wants to possess her, assuming it is him at all. No matter whom it is, Miyazaki-sensei is using it to reveal interesting things about the Ohmu and the events that are happening, though many questions remain.

While I think it is very safe to say that Nausicaä isn't going to die with the Ohmu, I do wonder what purpose would be served by having her in the formation of a new Sea of Corruption. It is interesting that Chikuku lost contact with her.  I look forward to seeing how this goes.

I find it very interesting that Namulith wants to marry Kushana, not because he loves her, but because it makes political sense.  Granted, Kushana isn't exactly a favorite with the royal court, but politically, this could help bring an end to the war and allow the surviving humans to be able to continue.  I loved her reaction to his proposal. She knows what he's up to and is amused that he's brave enough to even enter her bedchamber on their wedding night to consummate the marriage.

Speaking of Kushana, I loved how she cared for Kurotowa and treated him and fed him despite his terrible injuries. I'd really love to see them get together at the end of the manga.

I'm also glad that Miyazaki-sensei reminded us of the horrible things that Kushana did by wiping out Asbel's people and causing so many deaths and problems for Ketcha's people. It helps keep things in perspective.

Miyazaki-sensei gets more preachy with this volume of the manga.  Well, I pretty much just roll my eyes and even become amused by this, remembering how environmental fearmongering has changed over the course of my life. The overall story I find good enough to override the negativity of the preaching.

So, a good volume here with only two more to go.

Usagi Drop - 02

うさぎドロップ Episode 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

Its Sunday, so Daikichi takes Rin shopping to get her some clothing, a futon, toothbrush, and the like. He suddenly notices the number of parents with children in the store, something he'd not noticed before. He also takes note of what other parents do when buying their kids clothing and emulates it for Rin. After purchasing a large quantity of items, he returns home with the tired and hungry Rin. That evening, Rin makes mention of attending nursery school, and suddenly Daikichi has a problem since he has to work the following day and can't get out of it at this point. He calls Reina's mother, Haruko, to ask her what to do, then stays up late on the Internet finding an emergency nursery school that he can get Rin into.

The following day, after a crowded train ride and a run with Rin on his back, the two make it to the nursery school where Rin doesn't want to be seen being carried. After leaving her in the care of the providers, Daikichi notices Rin's look of distraught and realizes that she must be afraid he'll leave her forever. Making a pinky promise to return, Daikichi races off to his office, where he works at a clothing design company.  Rin makes friends at the nursery school but as the day gets late and the other children go home, Rin begins to worry. Daikichi tries to leave, but work won't allow him. In the end, the nursery school has to call him and he races over to find an angry Rin. However, he soon wins her good graces and the two go home.


Thus life as a single father continues for Daikichi.  He now wears sneakers in the morning and evening to be better able to get Rin to and from school.  However, his work days are long and it is often well after dark before he can get Rin home.  His work quality starts to suffer a bit as a result and he also has to turn down opportunities for drinking with co-workers. At home, Daikichi decides to quit smoking because he's caring for Rin. He wonders how long he can keep this up and recalls a conversation he had with one of his female relatives, who gave him the few belongings Rin had, including a baby book containing Rin's childhood history, including medical history. As he considers how his family see Rin as some kind of villain, he wonders if the real villain isn't Rin's mother, Masako.

Thoughts/Review:

You know, I have no problem with hard work, nor with working long hours. Heck, in my younger days, I worked 21-days straight (12-20 hours each day) when I was stationed in Japan. At my first civilian job, I worked 36-hours straight because there was a major problem to be fixed.  This month, I've hardly had any days off, not because I care about the crappy company I'm contracted to, but because there are co-workers of mine who need to take vacation and I desperately need the O/T money (more so since any time off I take is unpaid). I've even worked holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas to allow co-workers with families to be able to take time off to spend with their loved ones. I felt it was the least I could do.

That being said, I've never been a fan of Japanese unspoken work rules.  For example, in Japan, it is considered rude to leave before the boss as well as being a sign of being a slacker. So, if your boss just wants to avoid his old lady and hang out at the office, everyone else is expected to hand out at the office as well, no matter how late or unproductive. If the boss decides his crew needs to go out and get drunk, then you have to go out and drink, no matter how late.  Some companies even have sleeping tubes(or in some cases, let workers sleep under their cubicles). Its one of the dumber things of Japanese society where the perception one is working hard trumps actually being productive. Efficiency is not a virtue in many Japanese businesses.

Thus we come to this episode, where Daikichi cannot call in and take the day off as most folks can in the U.S. (such as when my basement flooded due to heavy rains and I called in because I had to take care of a ton of water and save my stuff). In the U.S., Daikichi could talk to his boss and mention that he's now caring for a young girl and needs to be able to leave on time in order to take care of things. In Japan, Daikichi can't even speak of Rin in any fashion to any of his co-workers and is expected to work as many hours as possible.  He wants to get off from work at a reasonable time for Rin's sake, but cannot.  As much as I love Japan, this is one aspect of Japanese culture that I do not like.

I felt bad for Rin, who clearly was afraid of being abandoned. I was glad that Rin made friends at the nursery school, even if only for a short while. I'm guessing that Daikichi will enroll her in a permanent school closer to either his home or work to make their lives a bit easier. It will be interesting to see what other things Daikichi does in order to properly care for Rin.

The post-episode short was rather amusing. Rin having an accident and peeing in Daikichi's futon (since she often sleeps close to him) combined with her embarrassed insistence that this was sweat made me chuckle. Poor girl. ^_^;

This certainly is a heart-tugging series but very enjoyable.

Negima! Manga Vol 36 Ch 333 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 36 Chapter 333 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 333

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Chisame leads the girls in an attempt to reach out to Asuna and wake her, each girl either thinking or saying Asuna's name, or thinking some thoughts of Asuna.

Meanwhile, Dunamis dispatches the ancient dragon Vrixas Nagasha, who's met by Jack, who's attack sends the dragon for a loop.  Jack tells the "Loli Grandma" to do her thing, irritating Eva who tells Jack he will now be included as a target in her spell.  Her spell seems to be ice-lightning, which doesn't impress one of the Cosmo members, but Dunamis realizes this spell isn't what it seems as the unimpressed CE member is encased in ice.

Secundum is stunned because the spell was not hindered by their multiple shielding layers.  Eva delights in informing him that the spell is specifically designed to seek out "mass produced units" and use their dependence on those barriers against them.  Secundum watches as the members of his team are encased in ice as thorny vines of ice, which moves like lightning, track them down.  Secundum assumes lightning form and attempts to escape, but the ice keeps up.  Eva laughs at his plight, informing him that escape is impossible. Secundum can't believe such power is coming from Eva, whom he'd assumed was just a rogue mage who didn't live up to her reputation as the Dark Evangel.

Eva's spell slams Vrixas Nagasha and encases the enormous dragon, impressing Jack who finds himself in danger as well. Secundum gets caught and cannot escape. With his last breath, he pleads with her to parley and is encased.  All around is a massive field of ice as a floating Eva has Fate and Negi floating in with Jack floating on her other side.  Negi is impressed, as is Jack.  Evan informs Jack that the CE folks are all still conscious and with the ice in a continuous regeneration, they will never be freed.  She remarks on being surprised that Jack escaped since he was a target, and he believes she may have been trying to kill him. 

Eva explains that she developed the spell after the Kyoto incident just for such an occasion. Jack teases Eva about this, since she'd always claimed not to be interested in events in the Magic World. She responds that she should have seriously tried to kill him as the two land on an ice shelf, Fate and Negi floating behind. Jack realizes that Eva's spell wouldn't impact one person and Eva agrees, saying they need to be on guard and get Negi back to Mahora. However, it is too late as the Life Maker tells Evangeline that her plan won't be allowed, but compliments Eva on her spell.  Both Eva and Jack are paralyzed as the Life Maker addresses Eva as "my daughter."  Takahata, Eishun, Kurt, Al, and Headmaster Konoe attack but are easily beaten back. The Life maker grabs Negi by the throat to Eva's fret as Asuna shows signs of reviving.

Thoughts/Review:

Oh yes!  Eva love to the max!  The way Eva cast her spell, combined with her deciding to add Jack as a halfhearted target rocked.  Her taking wicked delight in the fear of Secundum as he tried to flee is just what I'd expect from Eva. Her spell having that eternal factor was unexpected, but nothing surprising (if that makes sense).  All I know is I loved every moment of Eva's time in the limelight.  Akamatsu-sensei knew we fans wanted to see Eva kick major arse and her taking down the entire CE force was as sweet as can be.

I figure it was pretty obvious that Eva had Fate and Negi float in, either under spell or by her doll  master power.  I also got the feeling that Eva may have brought Jack in as well. After giving him a scare, she then uses her powers to allow him in after her spell did sorta target him.  Of course Jack being Jack, he could easily have come in on his own.

As I expected, the Mage of the Beginning (Life Maker) trumped Eva. Now, this is where I'd like to see Akamatsu-sensei insert a flashback for Eva.  Eva can't move at the moment, so the Life Maker could makes some caustic comment as she holds young Negi by the scruff of the neck.  Eva could then recall her childhood prior to becoming a vampire, the incident herself, and then if we are REALLY lucky, maybe this could tie into her attachment to Nagi (though that part is more of a longshot I admit).

I liked how the girls thought on Asuna, especially Setsuna, Chisame, and Ayeka.  Mana's spoken words for Asuna made me laugh, aided by Misora's reaction to Mana's mercenary attitude. *lol*

Asuna's hair is shown at the end, indicating that maybe she's moving or at the very least, a wind is blowing. Either way, I say that Asuna is close to waking up and it would seem that her revival might doom the Mage of the Beginning's plans.

Nevertheless, this is an awesome chapter to have to wait on. August 17 seems a ways away for chapter 334, but we can make it, right? ^_~

(CLAMP) Gate 7 Manga Chapter 05 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The battle over, everyone returns to the urashichiken where Hana is excited to eat some uumen (noodles). While everyone is enjoying the meal, Tachibana is angry because Hana came back with burned hands but Chikahito came back uninjured. Hana defends Chikahito, citing the coat Tachibana made her wear and agreeing that Masamune was a help as well. Hidetsugu and Mikoto gently tease Tachibana for how he babies Hana, which annoys Tachibana. Hidetsugu states that Chikahito is special for Hana to have called him from Tokyo, which angers Masamune enough to want to kill Chikahito. However, he quickly backs down when Hana says she'll get angry if Chikahito is hurt.

Masamune decides to change topics to speak of the Tokugawa. Mikoto and Kojyuro speak of the limitations of the oni network but that network enabled Hidetsugu to find the way to gain Nobunaga-daimyo's corpse and his oni, Mara. The conversation makes Chikahito aware that there's some connection between Tachibana and the Tokugawa. When the conversation shifts to TOKUGAWA Ieyasu, Sakura sends Chikahito out to get some food. After he leaves, Sakura tells the others that these are things that Chikahito, as a new person to their group, should not be allowed to hear regarding TOKUGAWA Iemitsu. Upon hearing the name, Hana reaches out to Tachibana and hugs him.

Chikahito does the shopping, believing he was sent on the errand because they wanted to speak of things out of his hearing. His thoughts are interrupted when he sees a young teen boy apparently not feeling well and goes to assist. Helping him to a shaded area, the boy apologizes to Chikahito for delaying his errand, but Chikahito says it is not a problem and confirms that he's living nearby. After giving his name to the boy, the boy's cell phone alerts with an apparent text saying that folks are coming to retrieve him. Chikahito asks if he should wait but the boy assures him he is OK now.  Chikahito leaves, noting how beautiful the boy is and how much like Hana he is.

The boy, Iemitsu, is joined by an apparently male adult and female adult in black. He's not amused at being addressed as "Iemitsu-sama." His purposeful encounter with Chikahito confirms that Chikahito is living at the urashichiken and that Hana summoned Chikahito. However, with the power of his oni, Iemitsu is confident that he won't be detected. With that, Iemitsu announces that both of him are hungry but he has to let the other feed first. With that, his companions raise a barrier and freeze-trap several humans, including a child, for apparent consumption by his other, called Mitsuha.

Thoughts/Review:

Boy, this is some difficult manga to slug through. Its difficult to believe that this is a shounen manga title as it has some very dark elements, to say nothing of the massive historical connections. Granted, in Japan, I'm guessing names like Ieyasu, Iemitsu, Nobunaga, etc. are fairly well known to Japanese folks, especially if they've had proper history lessons.  For us Westerners with little to no Japanese history knowledge, its going to be a tough slog and hopefully, we get some excellent translator notes from Dark Horse.  Otherwise, I'm afraid this manga series won't do as well here.

That said, this chapter really has me stretching for things to comment on since there was a lot of saying nothing.  Since I'm not really versed in Japanese history, I don't know all of the possible avenues that CLAMP may go with these apparently reincarnated characters. I know Ieyasu was the first shogun and that his grandson Iemitsu was the third shogun. Beyond that, I know nothing (though Ieyasu's life prior to becoming shogun was fictionalized in the novel and min-series Shogun).

Anyway, I guess we'll find out soon enough what Tachibana's connection to the Tokugawa (and specifically Iemitsu) is.   I guess we'll soon learn exactly what Mitsuha is (likely an evil oni, unlike Mikoto). 

When the official release of this manga is done, I'm going to bet that the text will be a might bit clearer when it comes to understanding and by then, enough of the foundation for the story may have been laid to start making some sense of where CLAMP is going.  That being said, this is CLAMP we are talking about, so anything could go. ^_^;

Usagi Drop - 01

うさぎドロップ Anime Episode 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

Thirty-year old Daikichi returns to his grandfather's home to attend his grandfather's memorial and funeral with family. Upon arriving, he sees a young, blond girl whom he doesn't know and who runs away upon seeing him.  Entering his grandfather's home, he stops by the kitchen to see his mother, where he learns that the girl, Rin, is thought to be the daughter of his grandfather and some woman who has apparently abandoned the girl.  Daikichi kids his mom about having such a young sister, then thinks about how someone that young is also his aunt. However, his mother is not in the mood for jokes and snaps at Daikichi since the whole thing embarrasses and shames her.

Rin finishes paying her respects at the shrine to her elderly father and leaves just before Daikichi arrives to pay his respects. She quietly observes Daikichi from around the corner and scrams when she's spotted. Daikichi and other family members, mostly his great aunts and uncles, gather at the table to discuss things while Daikichi's younger sister serves tea. Another female relative, with a young daughter Rin's age named Reina, has to come in and stop Reina, who's running around and behaving in a spoiled manner. Rin seems interested in Daikichi, though she mostly keeps to herself while Daikichi finds himself watching how Rin behaves compared to the spoiled Reina.

That night, Daikichi sends his elderly relatives to bed and says that he'll keep the incense going and finds Rin desperately trying to stay awake to keep watch as well. He has her go to sleep, which she does using his hand as a pillow. The following day at the funeral service in the home, the family put flowers into the casket but leave Rin out of it but have Reina put in a flower. Reina instead decides to throw lots of flowers and has to be dragged away.  Daikichi brings Rin over, but she refuses to place one of the flowers in and instead, races outside to pick some of blue Bellflowers, his grandfather's favorite. The family is not happy, but Daikichi tells Rin that his grandfather would be happiest with those flowers.

After the family returns from burying the old man, Rin tries to reach the wall clock to wind it, but the stool she's chosen doesn't give her enough height. Daikichi does it for her, then sits where the family discusses what to do about Rin and whether she's actually a blood relative. Reina is still being spoiled, so Daikichi gives her a bunch of candy to leave. The conversation his relatives are having angers him since they all want to be rid of this family embarrassment and no one will take her in. Daikichi has heard enough and angrily goes to out where Rin is in the yard and asks if she wants to go home with him.  She does and the family is horrified by this.  However, Daikichi doesn't care and takes Rin home with him, where they start their new life together, which starts with breakfast and the rule that Rin does not address Daikichi as "ojisan."

Thoughts/Review:

Whew.  This was actually kind of hard to watch, not because it was bad, but because I wanted to jump through my monitor and start punching these people in the face.  Egad.  I know that family honor means a lot in Japan, which is why Daikichi's decision to take Rin in is so courageous.  That said, the ugliness of the adults was shocking.  Despite Rin almost always being within earshot of the conversations, the family let their disgust for this poor, innocent, well behaved little girl be well expressed.  There's no way she could not have known that they all couldn't stand the sight of her.  None of them would even deign to talk to her save Daikichi.  She too has had a great loss and all they can think of was how this made their family look.  Ugh! Simply appalling.

Further to that, it was amazing to me that the family found Rin to be the odd one and worthy of disdain while the spoiled Reina was excused from her terrible behavior and even praised for things Rin actually did.  Good grief, its no wonder that Daikichi had no problem taking Rin in.  After all, Rin was well behaved and despite her very young age, she was very bright.  Rin understood that her elderly father would never wake up again while Reina simply wanted to play and both were the same age.  Rin even understood what the other family members didn't -- the old man's flower preference, something else that Daikichi recognized.  That being said, it was Rin who was the stupid one and Reina who was the good child.  Ugh.

Fortunately, all was not depressingly angering. After the end credits, there's nearly another minute of footage showing a humorous moment at breakfast with Rin appreciating her meal and then making onigiri (though not perfectly shaped) for herself and Daikichi to finish off the last of the rice.  Actually, it was touching and humorous at the same time.  The moment also provided a means of showing that Rin appears to not have suffered any permanent damage from her ugly relatives.


I'm looking forward to seeing more since this first episode was quite good, even if I did want to punch some people in the face and take Rin in myself. Instead, I'll live the moments through Daikichi and the next episodes.

Japanese Music: SDP - Disco System

Scha Dara Parr (スチャダラパー), better known as "SDP," is a Japanaese rap group that I stumbled into a few years ago while doing some research on what happened to electro-funk music in the U.S. (something I was very big into back in the early to mid-80's).  Unlike some of my recent Japanese rap music shares, SDP aren't a gangsta rap group, but have been compared to the Beastie Boys in terms of being rebellious, not gangsta.

The song below, entitled "Disco System," came out in August or September of 2006, shows the groups love of old school music styles.  In this case, it is an electro-rap sound similar to some things I listened to back in the 80's.  The official video is rather bizarre but I enjoy the song just the same.

I noticed a lot of German comments with this video, but I'm thinking that's because there's a German band that also goes by "SDP" and thus snagged more German viewers.

This isn't my favorite SDP track, but it is the first one I ever heard. IF I can swing it, I may try to pick up a couple of their albums from Japan after my birthday.  We'll see if I have the cash to score these or not. ^_^;

Of Usagi Drop (and other things)

One of the ways I am introduced to interesting new anime or manga is through those of you who take the time to drop me recommendations. My one regret is that I just don't have the time to watch or read everything that gets suggested to me, especially when I have a MASSIVE backload of anime to watch (I literally have boxes full of anime DVD's that I've bought or which have been bought for me that are still unopened and which could be sold as new -- kinda depressing when I think about it).   However, I do look into stuff suggested to me to see if the surface REALLY grabs me because I'm sure everything that you all recommend to me is good stuff when I sit and watch it (or read it).  So if it doesn't just really reach out and hit me, I make note of it and add it to the list of things I should watch/read.

Usagi Drop is one such series that had been recommended to me.  Like many Japanese title names, this one doesn't inspire yours truly to go out and rush out to give it a look-see.  A couple of people had recommended the manga since Yen Press is publishing it, but I admit that I only gave it a glance one day when I was in a rush, meaning to come back and give it a closer look but I just forgot.. Then someone I know, who's opinions on anime and manga are ones I really respect since we go back to my early days of anime/manga fandom, decided to give it a whirl and announced that it looked to be THE series of 2011.  For this person to say this, I was reminded that I really should look back into this series, especially since there's an anime AND a manga.  I did and I have to say that the premise of a 30-year old guy taking in a young girl who's illegitimate birth causes her to be shunned by her relatives hit me for some reason.

So, I have ordered the three manga volumes that Yen Press has released and will be watching the anime as well (as best as I can, at least).  However, that will have to start tomorrow at the earliest.  Today, AstroNerdBoy is taking off to get some much needed rest since work is kicking my behind. ^_^;

In other news, I've now read volume 5 of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I'll have to read it again but I'll try to get it blogged within the week.  I also see that I have a new Fairy Tail (volume 14) and RIN-NE volume 6.  I also have two more manga titles still inbound -- Negima! volume 30 and Kobato volume 4.  Looks like after the Usagi Drop manga comes in, I'll be dry until September.

Anyway, for those of you who are fans of Usagi Drop, feel free to post comments, but please try to keep them spoiler free. ^_^

Urusei Yatsura - 165

うる星やつら episode 165 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 165 review


SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ran is sick and running a fever but can't help but recall previous times when she was sick and Lum came by to visit her, making things worse.  There was the time when Lum brought a flower over and a toy robot, where the robot and flower ended up doing major battle on Ran's bed. Then there was another time when Lum had Oyuki come over to cool Ran's fever, only to have Ran literally put in ice. Each time Ran thinks of Lum, Lum starts sneezing, causing Shuutaro to wonder if Lum has a cold. Ataru thinks this is impossible and that someone must be talking about Lum, which she can't fathom. However, Ataru's continued talk gets him punished. Meanwhile, Ran is feeling lonely and after failing to contact Benten and Oyuki, she calls Lum, only to get angry at Lum's apparent lack of concern over Ran's condition.

While running on the track, Ran sends a bunch of mini-Ran dolls, all repeating a message about Lum not needing to visit her. Lum sees the trick and escapes as the boys get caught in the explosion. Onsen-sensei gets caught in the next explosion when Lum sends more dolls. Lum pays Ran a visit but gets nailed with SAMs. However, Ran lets her in, but Lum messes up making food, causing Ran to make it. Lum tries to build a doctor robot, but it explodes. Lum tries to do Ran's laundry but the washer explodes. Each incident makes Ran worse, causing her to collapse. Lum stays the night with Ran and in the morning, Ran feels better. Lum is making breakfast, but that explodes. Ran finds herself no longer angry, realizing that Lum never meant for these bad things to happen.

Thoughts/Review:

There's some humor here with the very obvious "fail" jokes. I was surprised that Lum got hit with Ran's missile barrage but the other items Lum touched exploding (including the Ran dolls) were not a surprise.

One of the two funniest things were Ataru annoying Lum (and getting punished).

And the toy robot losing a fight to a flower was pretty funny. 

That was so absurd, it became funny.

Otherwise, not much to speak of here.

Keroro Gunsou - 096

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime episode 96

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Its Valentine's Day and Natsumi waits for Mutsumi to arrive to give him a chocolate, only to accidentally give it to Kogoro (556) by mistake. He misunderstands her pleas to return it as a request to protect it, forcing a depressed Natsumi to return home. Momoka suggests the Kaito More Peach Summer Snow team activate to retrieve the chocolate, but Mao can't make it, though Koyuki can.  The three make various attempts to break into Kogoro's apartment, but fail due to his diligence. They decide to ask Lavie, but when she comes home, she assumes someone like Kogoro and gave him the chocolate, which makes her very happy. When Kogoro leaves to answer a scream, he finds Keroro trying to push off their Valentine cakes in heart-shaped containers. As the two fight, Kogoro drops the chocolate and Mao, who's on the scene, has Natsumi replace the chocolate with a cake. Natsumi is able to give her chocolate to Mutsumi in time, but that night, Kogoro arrives to return the item Natsumi had requested him to protect.

Keroro is out to by a new Gunpla when a badly injured Merlos has an accident and asks Keroro to deliver a case to a specific, glowing person on the following day. Keroro agrees and goes to buy his Gundam model but finds it is sold out. A series of unlucky things happen to him and when he opens the case, he discovers it contains an unlucky stone. He attempts to pawn it off on Giroro, but gets caught. He attempts to get Dororo to take it off his hands, but the bad luck interferes. Keroro manages to get Kogoro to take it, but shortly thereafter, a tearful Lavie's tale of massive woe forces Keroro to take it back. Keroro puts the stone in a containment field, but the bad luck continues as Mao-chan has the stone and for her, bad things happening to Keroro cause her pain. Keroro's contact arrives, who has massive good luck, and takes the stone so that he can live a normal life. Keroro wants a reward and gets a ticket for a free croquette, but the coupon has expired.

Thoughts/Review:

The Valentine's tale is pretty much what one would expect. Kogoro is an annoying character and no less so here, but he worked for what he was supposed to do.  However, it seemed wrong to have Natsumi so nervous about giving Mutsumi chocolates. 

It also seemed strange to have Koyuki fail as a ninja. ^_^;

The second story with the bad luck is naught but pure slapstick fun.  I admit that there were times I couldn't help but chuckle even though I already knew a lot of bad things were going to Keroro.

Gundam models get a nod with several in a display case, but the actual Gundam model got to shine.  ^_^

In the end, not great but not too bad either.

Mobile Suit Gundam - Final Thoughts

機動戦士ガンダム /Kido Senshi Gundam


Mobile Suit Gundam is a series that I've been aware of since 1989, but didn't have any real interest in watching.  That all changed within the last few years, when I began watching more and more anime or reading more and more manga with Gundam references in it.  However, my own (and surprising) distaste for the mecha genre meant I kept putting it off and putting it off as a series to watch, though I scored the TV series in 2009 and I was curious to understand Gundam's impact on anime and manga.  Eventually, I decided enough was enough and took some time to watch this father of the modern day "real robot" mecha genre.  There are problems with this series to be sure, but the good outweighs the bad as far as I'm concerned.

*SPOILERS!!!*

At its heart, Gundam is a tale of a boy and a crew of amateurs and generally inexperienced people suddenly thrust into the fires of combat as the fight for their lives and then for Earth. Gundam's start, while interesting, contains a fair amount of things that are tough to swallow. For example, Amuro is shown as a gifted student who gets lost in research and studies when the series starts. A Zeon infiltration team, complete with three Zaku mobile suits, end up attacking the residence within the Side 7 colony space station and Amuro ends up getting into the cockpit of the Federations top secret, prototype mobile suit, known as a Gundam. Using the oh so convenient users manual and and decent AI computing technology, Amuro is able to protect people and ends up being Gundam's pilot from that moment on.

Sorry, but that is just a stretch IMO.  I can buy that Amuro is a quick learner. I can buy that Gundam's on-board computers can learn from each battle to become more intuitive (a concept that is eventually dropped when Amuro has sufficient experience combined with supernatural "Newtype" abilities). I can even buy a bit of luck as Amuro goes into combat for the first time. However, even if Amuro's father is the head of the Gundam project, I can't buy Amuro having such easy access to be able to get to a Gundam unit (even though the Federation were attempting to evacuate the units), nor can I buy the fact that the Gundam's operator manual is just lying around to be found. Imagine coming onto a base, finding a tank, and then there being an operator's manual to show you exactly what everything does, including firing the turret.

Further to that, Amuro appears to become proficient at Gundam's usage rather quickly.  Indeed, he's able to hold his own against the infamous "Red Comet," the Zeon ship's captain named Char, who's very skilled at using mobile suits and killing Federation types. Tomino-sensei does address this later by having Amuro say that his early successes were due to luck and Gundam's on-board computer, but then seems to change things up by making Amuro a Newtype, a next step human evolution. I don't have a problem with the Newtype stuff, but maybe some other hint that this was going on with Amuro early on, combined with some sort of knowledge about Newtypes (or their possibility) from the beginning might have been better.  Until Amuro gains experience and then has his Newtype abilities, it was hard to believe he could win so many fights early on.

That takes me out of characters for the moment to address story presentation.  Viewers are thrown into the mix without any background information.  We know there's some sort of war and people are living on giant space station colonies called "Sides."  Unfortunately, the "Zeons" aren't really explained other than they were a colony that broke off from Earth but why is not revealed. Some of the ruling Zabi family, like Garma and Gihren, don't look fully human (mainly due to skin and hair color) and the way the story is initially presented, I actually thought the Zeons were an alien race who'd allied with the humans on Side 3.  It wasn't until several episodes in that I realized this wasn't the case and it wasn't until near the end that the whole political elements of why Zeon broke off are revealed. I really didn't like that delay of information.

Also, the concept of the Sides are not really explained, nor the asteroid stations, until later in the series.  When we finally get the explanation, things make so much more sense.  One can see the location of the various sides at the Lagrange points, the asteroid bases, and then the travels through Earth's local space becomes clear. At the beginning of the series, it wasn't clear at all were the different Sides were, nor just how far ships were traveling from point to point. That was something that frustrated me a fair amount, but I suppose that initially, Tomino-sensei didn't feel this level of explanation was important. I'm betting that it was a point that viewers back when this series was first released wanted and thus we eventually get the explanations. I just feel this should have been done from the start.

Returning to the characters, with Amuro being the star, it is only natural that he get the most character development. Sayla gets the second most character development due to her importance to the story and her ties to Char. Kai gets some nice development as he starts off as a civilian who will fight but really doesn't give a care until he falls in love with a Zeon spy, who's death causes him to shape up.  Mirai gets some development but it isn't all that great.  Characters like Frau Bow and Hayato really don't get much in the way of development and other characters such as Ryu and Sleggar aren't around long enough to get any sort of real character development. Also in the mix are the three orphan kids, used primarily as filler but occasionally given moments to shine.

Romance is something the series handles rather poorly. Granted, this is a shounen series, but even still, the romance stuff could have been handled better. Oddly enough, Frau Bow may have the best defined romantic stuff in the anime.  It is clear from the start that Frau Bow has feelings for Amuro and that he just sees her as his childhood friend. Eventually, she comes to accept that they'll never be together as his Newtype abilities grow but then what? There's this moment where Amuro sees that Hayato pays her a visit before going into combat and she had helped care for Hayato after he'd been injured in combat. So, does this mean that they are an item?  While I shouldn't have, I did a quick look-see and discovered that apparently, the answer is "yes."

I'd seen the rather sweet image of Amuro and Sayla sharing a zero-G kiss in the Gundam docking bay and thought I'd witnessed a spoiler of their romance. However, the TV series never gave me the impression that they have any romantic feelings for each other.  Any expressions of concern Sayla had for Amuro were ones I could see her having for any of her comrades in arms. The same could be said for Amuro toward Sayla. The only person Amuro clearly had romantic feelings for was Matilda. One could say that Amuro developed some sort of romantic feelings for Lalah after their Newtype communion. I think Amuro had a sexual attraction to Hamon but that's it.  So, I guess I was rather disappointed to learn that Amuro and Sayla didn't become a couple, though I understand they are one in the novels.

Mirai may have the most head-scratching romance of the series.  With her basically being second in command of White Base, she and Bright always worked well together and after Bright's mental collapse, it really seemed like they'd be a couple, even if not publicly.  However, just before Sleggar's final mission, suddenly, she's madly in love with him, I guess because he slapped her hard in an earlier episode.  In fact, she's so much in love with him that Bright realizes this and lets her go have words with him before he goes into combat. I remember thinking, "What the heck is this?!" It was completely out of left field and just didn't work for me at all.  I have no idea what Tomino-sensei was thinking other than having someone to mourn for Sleggar when he died.

So while there are things like the credibility stretch of getting Amuro and company become a successful fighting force and the horrible romance elements, as I mentioned, the heart of the story is Amuro and company's dealing with the situation they find themselves thrown into and overcoming the odds despite the hells of war.  Therein lies Gundam's main interest.  While Amuro may have been frustrating for a while and Kai very annoying, I liked seeing them grow beyond this. I liked how the crew pulled together to warrant becoming official members of the military because of their service. I even liked how the three orphan kids would risk their lives fighting small fires during combat operations.  These kinds of stories are what made Gundam so enjoyable for me.

Another element that made things very interesting for me was that Tomino-sensei was not afraid to kill characters.  While characters like Char fell into the cliched realm of "super powerful yet always defeated, but able to get away to fight another day," other villain characters did not fall here.  Many were around for several episodes before being eliminated and one never knew when or even if a character would be killed. Even on the "good guy" side, Tomino-sensei was not afraid to take some characters out, though most were just supporting roles. However, that made a strong enough impression that until the last episode, I wasn't sure if certain characters might not die.  That's a mark of some nice writing, in my opinion.

Despite some of the cliched nature of the Char character, to include his uncanny ability to figure out what his opponents are really up to no matter how crafty their plan is, Tomino-sensei made an effort to try to make Char a more three-dimensional character.  This started by having him be the brother of the likable Sayla.  He's shown to not be ruthless, such as when he didn't have the two Rick Dom pilots executed for putting Lalah's life in danger after they were completely honest about the situation.  Indeed, with Lalah, he's shown he can be quite compassionate to others besides Sayla. His personal vendetta against the Zebi family, though not clear for the longest time, also helps round him out as a character. That's another sign of decent writing.

In the end, I found Gundam to be a very good series despite some flaws in execution and introduction to the series.  Its also very nice to watch some other anime (such as when I recently watched Keroro Gunsou episode 95) and immediately get the Gundam jokes.

The novelization is out of print, but I'm thinking of trying to score it just to see how Tomino-sensei wrote things for a more adult audience.

I'm also looking into scoring Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, as I hear it is actually a better written tale than Mobile Suit Gundam. I won't get to start watching it immediately, but I'll certainly look into starting it sometime in the near future.

Negima! Manga Vol 36 Ch 332 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 36 Chapter 332 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 332

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Secundum is amused by Jack entering the fight since Secundum can simply erase him again with the Master Key staff. However, repeated attempts to hit Jack fail as Jack gets in behind Secundum, telling him that the staff is useless as long as he avoids it. The rest of KE attacks Al, Takahata, Eishun, Kurt, and Headmaster Koene, who counter. Eva finds herself enjoying the fray very much and asks her comrades to hold KE in place while she finishes them all in a single blow. With that, she begins casting a massive spell, which Dunamis and the others of KE immediately recognize as a serious threat to them. Three Averruncus immediately surround her, attacks in hand, but with a grin, Eva easily beats them all back, even punching through one of them before sending them flying away.  Without missing a beat, the grinning Eva continues casting her spell while Headmaster Konoe beats back some would-be attackers. 

Dunamis uses his Master Key to summon and restore the Ancient Dragon, Vrixas Nagasha (Vrkso Nagasya in some Japanese places) to fight for them, something Kurt sees as a potential problem. Al asks Jack to do something about it since Jack and the dragon are supposed to be old friends, but Jack doesn't want to.

While this is going on, Chisame asks Shiori to look over her work on a virtual laptop and agrees with Chamo that it is impossible to free Asuna from the outside. As such, Chisame asks the girls to reach out to Asuna as Shiori explains that Asuna's personality is only a several years old while the personality of the Twilight Princess is a hundred years old. Thus, it will be difficult to reach Asuna, but Chisame doesn't care about that because she believes that despite Asuna's flaws, she's an important person and thus they can call her back.

With her artifact connected to the Great Grand Master Key, Chisame has the others hold hands and call out to Asuna while Takane and Collet stand guard at the base of the stairs to the alter. Asuna is still unconscious and secured in the alter and despite their best efforts, Chisame sees that Asuna's personality is only 30% awake. Misora wonders if this isn't the result of the gathered people not being close friends with Asuna, which Chisame concedes, other than Konoka. However, Chisame believes Asuna's personality is there and that Asuna funneled power to Negi in the earlier fight.

As she frets despite Konoka's confidence, Kaede, Yue, Asakura, and Makie arrive to lend a hand. Also arriving are Setsuna and Mana. Chamo feels that with a best friend like Setsuna now there, they can do it, however, he would have preferred Ayaka be there as well. Chisame says that's too much to ask for, but the arriving Zazie disagrees, teleporting in Ayaka, Fuka, Fumika, and Sakurako, who fall a short distance to the ground. As Ayaka wonders where they are, her companions are shocked to see the "monster" Vrixas.  Chisame demands to know why Zazie brought them to such a dangerous place, but Zazie assures Chisame that she will protect them and that Chisame needs their strength to reach Asuna.

Ayaka demands Chisame tell her where Negi is and starts to go woozy at the thought of Negi possibly being harmed. Hearing Asuna's name, Ayaka comes back and demands to know what happened to her. Chisame says she doesn't have time to explain, but the arriving Paru says that everyone pretty much knows they have to save Asuna. With Paru are Yotsuba, a repaired Chachamaru, and Hakase, wearing one of Chao's battle outfits and wondering if they are in her timeline or not.

Nearby, Misa, Madoka, and Chizuru kneel beside the petrified body of Yuuna with the petrified Sayo-doll on top. Fate's petrification spell lifts and Yuuna and Sayo are revived. Now with the entire 3-A class there, along with Anya, Shiori, Mei, and Cocone, they've achieved 180% power and Chisame starts the process to wake Asuna.


Thoughts/Review:

Man, with the entire class there, I found myself going, "what was her name?" ^_^;  Well, that could be a symptom of being very tired from working so many hours. ^_^;

Still, while the rumors on 2CH turned out to be true (that all of 3-A would arrive to revive Asuna), it wasn't bad like some had feared, at least not to me.  For starters, since Akamatsu-sensei has apparently decided to delay ending Negima! for a while (I gather that the end of the Magic World arc had originally been set up to be the end of the manga, and indeed, I had felt this might be true about half-way through the arc), it gives him plenty of time to have the whole class make pactiones with Negi. After all, did anyone actually believe this wouldn't happen?  I wouldn't want to see a repeat of the anime series with most everyone getting a pactio at once and I think Akamatsu-sensei can now avoid that while at the same time, preparing the way for it to happen more gradually.  I could be wrong though.

The fact that Chisame's artifact linked with the Great Grand Master Key tells me that there has to be some sort of computer system running the Magic World. Otherwise, how would her artifact, which is tied to things computer, be able to link in and provide Chisame with the information on Asuna's status?

Speaking of Chisame, I love how she's the one in charge of this phase of the operation. Its only fitting, considering how she'd taken the role that Asuna had long held as Negi's closest adviser and Chamo even stays close at hand. *lol*  She sure has come a long way from her recluse days at Mahora, eh?  In the aftermath of this arc, I'd love to see how she handles things.

Zazie bringing down (literally) the rest of the class was pretty nifty, and funny based on how Ayaka's group arrived through a teleportation disc in the air, fall, then immediately see an Ancient Dragon. *lol*  I tend to think that Zazie won't have to test her promise since I kinda doubt they get attacked, but one never knows how Akamatsu-sensei plays things.

Despite being blasted, Mei turned out to be OK since she was with the initial group of girls. Its a shame that Akamatsu-sensei didn't get to address her getting back on her feet after taking such a massive hit. Good thing Takane's battle armor seems to have worked, eh? ^_^;

Yuuna and Sayo had their petrification spells removed (by Fate) but what about Bea?  She should have been there too, though with the focus on the 3-A girls, I guess that was a bit too much to ask.  Hopefully, we see her unpetrified in chapter 333.

I do have to ask about Chachamaru though. It doesn't seem like there would have been enough time to repair her and there's no established time for how long it would take to transfer her entire memory core to another body (which has happened when Akamatsu-sensei introduced the various body-types for Chachamaru).  Her appearance, while cool, seemed more like bonk. ^_^;

I did like Hakase asking the question about Chao's timeline.  Clearly, this is something Akamatsu-sensei has thought about and I want to know too.  Maybe we'll get some answers.

Now, save for Eva, all of the 3-A girls and some extras are calling out to Asuna.  Is this where we get some sort of flashback to show Asuna and her former self?  We have seen one before but Akamatsu-sensei might have another one in store for us.

On the other side of things, Jack is just stupid by basically taunting Secundum.  One false move and Jack is a gonner, though Asuna could bring him back.

Of course, the awesome part is Eva, hands down.  I know Akamatsu-sensei knows that we wanted some Eva love and he gave us some.  No wonder Eva doesn't need a partner at her side.  She's casting a massive spell while easily fending off three, very powerful, Averruncus beings and loving every minute of it. Totally awesome!

I still think Chachazero is on the Magic World. With the summoning of the Ancient Dragon, there may be a need for Chachazero to enter the fray.  After all, this dragon is supposed to be as powerful as Eva, if I recall correctly.  Thus, we might get to see Chachazero unleashed in order for Eva to finish her spell.

As I see it, Akamatsu-sensei can end the Magic World arc rather quickly here with Eva ending things as she did in the Kyoto arc, or we can get some flashbacks and further delays. As I mentioned, Asuna seems a prime candidate for a flashback.  That said, Akamatsu-sensei might take the time to give Eva one as well, thus filling in gaps about her life's story, including her time with Ala Rubra.  Its just really hard to say with Akamatsu-sensei on where he might go.  Part of me thinks that with Eva's entry being nearly identical to her entry in Kyoto and her taking care of all opponents back then, including Ryoumen Sukuna no Kami, she could do the same thing here and save her defeat for the actual end of the manga when Negi passes his master in power and abilities.

So, a really enjoyable chapter here. I'm glad we don't have a break after this chapter! ^_^

Urusei Yatsura - 164

うる星やつら episode 164 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 164 review


SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

On a hot summer day, Ten-chan is chasing butterflies and warned by Lum not to get overheated lest he be unable to land.  He ignores her and does his own thing while in another dimension on the "Fairy Road," a fairy not unlike Ataru comes to Earth to purchase his yearly order of 100 unagi.  Sakura-sensei heads to that same shop, wanting 50 unagi for herself, but the shop owner cannot sell since the 100 unagi he has are already reserved.  The "Ataru-fairy" cops a feel on Sakura-sensei before making her purchase, offering to sell her his unagi at a discount if she goes on a date with him.  Thinking this is the real Ataru, she declines. Ataru-fairy attempts to return to Fairy Road in the sky but is hindered by Torajima, who wants the unagi. Ataru-fairy is prepared and attempts to fly in a special-suit but goes nowhere fast.

Torajima decides to leave, have some lunch, watch a cat soap opera, and generally laze around before returning to the spot where Ataru-fairy is attempting to pull himself through the invisible dimension hole in the sky. Torajima makes a grab for the large package of unagi but ultimately fails as Ataru-fairy makes it through the ceiling to his dimension. However, he has an accident and his giant package of unagi drops through another "puddle" and returns to Earth, dropping in front of Sakura-sensei, who immediately gives thanks for the bounty of heaven.  Meanwhile, Ten-chan can't come down due to overheating and attempts to use a tree until Lum finds him. Panicking, Ten-chan lets go and floats up to the sky where he finds an invisible ceiling before finding the opening to the other dimension, where he finds Ataru-fairy and Queen Queen Sakura, who wants her unagi.

After getting the plea from Queen Sakura and her fairy chrysalis offspring, Ten-chan is swatted back to Earth by Ataru-fairy, where he finds himself at Sakura-sensei's shrine residence. There, he discovers that Sakura-sensei, Lum, Ataru, Shinobu, and Shuutaro are about to have their unagi feast and comes up with a delaying tactic to pour them tea before stealing the whole table. Because he's too light from overheating, he easily makes it back to Fairy Road where the fairy chrysalis eat to their fill and are reborn as fairies, all looking like Mako-chan. Ten-chan flees and returns to Earth, but is still overheated. Thus, he is subjected to Ataru's exaggerated cooling techniques, which Sakura-sensei approves of, in order to get his body temperature back down.

Thoughts/Review:

This was one of those episodes where the writers were often looking for filler.  Thus, we had many shots of the girl in hair braids and a straw hat outdoors, I suppose to keep reminding the audience that it is a hot, summer day.  The overall pacing of the episode also reflected a need to kill time but also a general pointlessness to the episode.

The one highlight for me, other than Ataru-fairy whacking Ten-chan, was Torajima's reaction to Ataru-fairy's attempt to escape. I admit that I laughed with Torajima decided to have a leisurely lunch, watch TV, and waste time, knowing he'd still be back in time before Ataru-fairy could make it out.

Speaking of lunch, I suddenly crave unadon for some reason. ^_~