To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 09

The investigation into the Level Upper leads Kuroko into a fight against a dangerous esper.

Kuroko has Mikoto right where she wants her.

It seems that the only one Kuroko wants to see stripping is Mikoto... while the two of them are alone.

Summary:
Kuroko and Mikoto invites researcher Kiyama out for drinks so they can ask her about the Level Upper. Kiyama claims that she doesn't know about the Level Upper but would be glad to help with the matter. The three are then joined by Ruiko and Kazari. Ruiko had originally wanted to show everyone that she had found the Level Upper song, but she decides to keep her mouth shut when Kuroko mentions that the Level Upper has severe side effects. After the meeting, Kuroko and Kazari go off to collect data, but Mikoto notices Ruiko running off. Mikoto catches up to Ruiko and wonders what's wrong, and Ruiko does not provide a real explanation.

This is what Kazari gets for not watching her back.

Little Ruiko is a lot cuter than the current one.

The next day, Ruiko is wondering if she should delete the Level Upper song from her phone when she hears a commotion near some abandoned buildings slated for demolition. Ruiko investigates and discovers that a man is trying to buy the Level Upper from a trio of thugs. The thugs demand that the man pay them more money and proceeds to beat up the man. Ruiko knows that she has no chance against the thugs, but for some reason she decides to intervene anyways. As the leader of the thugs is about to beat up Ruiko, Kuroko arrives on the scene as part of her investigation into the Level Upper. Kuroko quickly beats up the two other thugs, but thug leader is not the least bit intimidated. Kuroko and the thug leader start fighting and Kuroko finds herself unable to hit her opponent. At the same time, Kuroko is also unable to dodge the thug's attack and is kicked into one of the buildings.

Nice kick, but terrible teeth.

Injured from the kick, Kuroko runs into the building to buy some time, but the thug knows the building layout very well and chases Kuroko up the floors. After a short chase, the thug finally corners Kuroko, but Kuroko is ready for him. Kuroko states that she knows that thug has the power to bend light and therefore obstruct his opponent's sight. Kuroko concedes that she won't be able to hit the thug directly, but instead she is going to teleport mirrors into the support columns and collapse whole building. The thug thinks Kuroko is joking, but soon realizes that Kuroko is serious as the building starts to collapse. At the last possible moment, Kuroko teleports herself and the thug out of the building. Kuroko demands that the thug hand over the Level Upper, and the thug hands over his music player and explains that the Level Upper is an audio file.

Went a bit overboard? Really? Just a bit?

As the thugs are taken away by the Anti-Skills, Ruiko wanders away from the scene. Ruiko is happy that Kuroko is okay, but at the same time she's feeling down about her own lack of ability when compared to Kuroko. Ruiko then runs into three of her friends who start talking about the Level Upper. At this moment, Ruiko reveals to her friends that she has the Level Upper.

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More developments on the Level Upper story, but there's still a ways to go. This episode mainly featured some more weirdness from Ruiko and the fight between Kuroko and the light-bending thug. The Kuroko fight was one of the parts for which I actually peeked at the manga, and I have to say that I enjoyed the manga fight more because I didn't read what came before or after that part. I don't quite understand why Kuroko had to run inside the building to defeat the thug. Even if Kuroko can't handle the thug in close combat, her teleportation ability would essentially make it impossible for the thug to catch her. She could have then just sniped at the thug while he's not looking instead of having to destroy a whole building. I guess Kuroko thinks she's doing a favor for the demolition crew. I suppose in the regard of collateral damage, Kuroko is still better than Mikoto. The other possible reason for Kuroko to run into the building is so she can have that speech about how she's going to beat the thug. Looks like the speech-itis that we dreaded from Touma and Komoe-sensei has infected Kuroko as well. Anyways, Kuroko know possesses a copy of the Level Upper song, but unfortunately the preview doesn't show Kuroko and Kazari doing anything with the music player.

Moving, the other main focus of this episode was Ruiko, who is acting rather strangely. It's not that strange she's hiding the Level Upper from her friends; that's understandable, but it was strange that she tried to play hero despite knowing that she had no chance. Just run to a pay phone to call the cops. Ruiko was slightly out of her mind this episode, and it's gotten to the point where it's becoming hard to sympathize with her. I guess she'll continue descending down that path until she starts listening to the Level Upper.

Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne 10

The highly anticipated Reina vs. Tomoe fight.

Is it possible to get drunk on milk?

List of shoddy highlights:
- Nanael is still pissed off the Melona stole her holy milk and she and Melpha goes to a bar to drink milk. While at the bar Nanael learns from waitress Nyx that there is "horned monster" roaming the woods in the city. Nanael thinks that monster is Melona, and she and Melpha goes off into the woods to investigate. Instead of finding Melona, Nanael and Melpha discover that the "horned monster" is actually Tomoe who has cut down a nice patch of bamboo from training.

- Claudette tells Elina to go back to the castle and take care of good ol' dad since neither she nor Reina can stand him anymore. Elina reluctantly agrees and goes to molest say goodbye to Reina before leaving with her entourage.

Without the holy milk, Nanael doesn't even have the power to lift Reina.

- After Elina's goodbye, Reina is approached by Nanael who wants Reina to take out Tomoe. Nanael thinks that her only hope of completing her mission is for Reina to win, but Reina isn't going to stoop so low as to sneak attack Tomoe. The two eventually run into Yummil, and none of them notices Melona lurking nearby.

- Nanael and Reina follow Yummil back to her shop where Nanael reveals that Aldra is afraid of the holy milk. Since the holy milk can counter heavenly powers, it means that some heavenly being is living within Aldra. Unbeknownst to the three woman, the Rana hanging out with them is actually Melona in disguise, and Melona quickly leaves after learning Aldra's secret.

- The Queen's Blade match starts and Reina is summoned to Japan to fight against Tomoe who now sports silver hair in addition of sporting Shizuka's headband. While the match is happening, Yummil sets up a stage in front of her shop to sell cheap replicas of Reina's sword.

Go Tomoe go!!!

This is now a light sword fight.

- Having home court advantage, Tomoe blasts out of the gates and pummels Reina with good variety of attacks. During the fight, Tomoe reveals that she had killed Shizuka much to Reina's disbelief. Tomoe then powers up for a finishing slash. Reina tries to counter with the Dragon Tail but is sent sprawling to the floor. However, Reina is able to get up and strangely her sword starts to glow just like Tomoe's, and this cause Aldra and her shadow some concern. Having received the miraculous power-up, Reina fights evenly with Tomoe. Both warriors attempt their finishers again, and this time Reina's Dragon Tail blows Tomoe away. After being defeated, Tomoe's hair turns back to black, and Reina walks over to give Tomoe a hug. The two combatants are then teleported away, but Tomoe is teleported into Aldra's collections room.

Wouldn't be much a fight without explosions.

While Reina may have won the match, the real winner here is Yummil.

- Thanks to Reina's win, Yummil has sold a lot of her replica swords. While counting her money, Yummil learns that Rana has been sleeping all morning and begins to sense that something was amiss during the morning's conversation. Meanwhile, Melona has arrived at the base of Aldra's castle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As expected, Reina defeats Tomoe by some magical fluke after being dominated for most of the match. The fight was decent enough for the most part, and Tomoe showed a nice variety of kick and sword attacks. As for Reina, well... she's Reina, and the only move she really has is Dragon Tail. That and her sword started glowing, which must count for something since Aldra and her shadow started worrying. Aldra and her shadow have seen the glow before, and I'm guessing that it might have something to do with Reina's mother Maria since Reina is using her mother's armor and sword. Reina's new powers is a predictable development since she'll need something to fight against Aldra, but I'm sure that the holy milk will come into play at the end as well. I think there's still a good chance the Aldra will be defeated when someone spills the holy milk on to her.

So in the end Reina beats Tomoe, and Tomoe gets transported to Aldra's collections room where it looks like Aldra will work her magic on Tomoe. Aldra already has Risty as her servant, but I suppose she can always use another one. Lets see if Tomoe can escape, or perhaps we'll have another Tomoe vs. Reina match with Tomoe being evil? The next episode is also the big Risty vs. Reina showdown. The fight will probably go similarly to the Tomoe vs. Reina fight we just saw, except Risty will probably get a Terminatrix power-up somewhere during the fight.

And I wonder what happened to Echidna. She hasn't lost in the tournament yet, but here has been no mention of her since Irma's defeat. Did she leave with Irma?

Naruto 473

The conclusion to Kisame vs. Killer Bee.

Praying isn't going to help.

Summary:
As Kisame tries to cut off Killer Bee's legs, Killer Bee secretly retrieves the pencil he threw earlier and throws it at Kisame, but pencil only grazes Kisame's face. Kisame swings down with the sword, but the blade is cut off by a ninja star thrown by Darui, who has arrived with Raikage and Shi. It was easy for Raikage's group to locate Killer Bee due to his battle with Kisame, and Killer Bee and Raikage proceed to decapitate Kisame with a front and back double lariat.

Back in the Land of Iron, the samurais are trying to track down Jugo and Suigetsu. A troop leader notices that two of the samurais seem suspicious and orders them to take off their masks, and the two samurais reveal themselves to be Jugo and Suigetsu.

Elsewhere, Mizukage and Chojuro have stopped Ao's body from decapitating himself. It is still Fuu's spirit inside Ao's body, and Fuu tries to trick Mizukage into breaking the barrier on Ao's Byakugan. Unfortunately for Fuu, Mizukage actually cannot break the barrier and she was able to tell that Ao is not in control of the body. Realizing he has no chance, Fuu calls Mizukage a hag and returns to his own body, leaving the real Ao to take the punch from Mizukage.

Meanwhile in the snowy village, a clone of Sai approaches Naruto's group and states that he's going to tell the truth that Sakura failed to reveal.

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A disappointing ending to the Kisame vs. Killer Bee fight. It's another one of those fights that received hype (Wow, tailed beast vs. tailed beast without the tail) but failed to live up to the billing. I guess Kisame is dead now and maybe Killer Bee will keep Samehada as a pet or something. Killer Bee is safe for now, but I think eventually Madara will capture him and extract the hachibi, since the villain's plans always have to be on the verge of completion near the final showdown.

This chapter touched upon a bunch of other stuff as well. Jugo and Suigetsu have been found out trying to masquerade as samurais, and it's not clear why they are sticking around the summit grounds when Sasuke has already ditched them and left. On the other front, Ao is saved by his comrades, so nothing really developed from his chase with Danzo's group. Finally, Sai has returned to tell Naruto "the truth". Part of is probably the news that the other Konoha ninjas have decided to hunt Sasuke down, but I have a feeling that Sai has more to say as well. He is becoming more meddlesome in other people's affairs these days.

One Piece 565 and Strong World 0

A double header for One Piece this week.

Being the first one over the wall is not always the best.

Chapter 565 Summary:
Back at the Shabaody Archipelago, the crowd wonder why the execution broadcast suddenly cut off. Among the crowd are the big bounty pirates that had fought Kizaru and PX bots at the archipelago, and all of them decide to set sail for Marineford.

Akainu rains down lava fists into the bay which turns the ice into pools of lava and destroys Whitebeard's flagship Moby Dick. The Marine then rain down on the pirates with cannon fire from the siege walls. Whitebeard tries to break the Marine's siege walls but the walls are able to withstand his attacks. Seeing that the pirates are being held off, Sengoku orders Ace's execution to proceed. Luffy charges at only gap into wall but ends being blown up, but he refuses to give up and asks Jimbei for a favor.

The battle has awakened Oars Jr. who is still barely alive. Kizaru prepares to finish Oars Jr., but suddenly Luffy vaunts over the siege walls with Jimbei's help and starts fighting the three admirals. Seeing the situation, Whitebeard orders Oars Jr. to stay where he is and the rest of the pirates prepare to charge the execution platform.


Strong World 0 Summary:
Years ago before Gold Rogers became the pirate king, there was another powerful pirate named "Golden Lion" Shiki who fought Gold Rogers in a famous battle. When Gold Rogers was arrested, Shiki charged into Marineford and demanded to have a rematch with Rogers, but he was eventually apprehended by Garp and Sengoku. Shiki was thrown into Impel Down, but two years after Roger's death Shiki escaped from the prison by cutting off his own feet. Shiki eventually finds his way to Whitebeard and states that he has a grand plan for the world.

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We got two chapters of One Piece this week which was a nice surprise. The special "Strong World" is supposed to a tie-in to the upcoming One Piece movie of the same name. About half of the chapter was introducing Shiki who's likely one of the major characters in the movie, and the other half of the chapter was just showing various other characters in their younger days. The special wasn't that interesting, especially since I'll probably never watch the movie.

As for chapter 565, the situation hasn't changed that much, but Whitebeard's forces have a sliver of hope as Oars Jr. wakes up. This will give Whitebeard's forces a path to rush up to the platform and get themselves into a better position. Luffy and Whitebeard still look overmatched though. It was a bit weird seeingthat all the Shichibukai including Hancock lining up again. I thought Hancock was openly defying orders, but why isn't she helping Luffy when he's fighting the admirals? And I thought all the Shichibukai were engaged in fights as well, and there was no mention of the Pacifista bots in this chapter. I suppose there's just too many things going in the battle for one chapter to touch upon.

Bleach 383

Yammy becomes even bigger, while back in fake Karakura Town Aizen talks more smack to Shinji.

Forget John Cena. "You can't see me" is perfect catch phrase for Tousen.

Summary:
In Hueco Mundo, Kenpachi and Byakuya slash Yammy in the face and think they are done, but Yammy rises again and transforms into a even more massive bipedal form. Yammy explains that in his true form, the more angry he is the bigger and more powerful he gets, and he is about had it with the two captains. While Kenpachi and Byakuya are staring at their adversary, Kurotsuchi asks his fellow captains to kill Yammy quickly because dissecting Yammy will become even harder if the arrancar becomes any bigger.

Back at Fake Karakura Town, Shinji asks Hachigen to take care of Hyori until Ichigo arrives. Hearing this, Aizen goes off on a speech about how he only believes himself and that he'll become the god that everyone believes in. Hearing this speech, Tousen decides that it's time to unleash his new power on Komamura and Hisagi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think this is the best chapter of Bleach since the "let's dump the Espada" moment. To be made worthy of his number, Yammy didn't just die off like a piece of trash, so there will be a bit more drama back in Hollowland, although it's going to be side event as it doesn't involve either Ichigo or Aizen. I like Kurotsuchi's request though, and maybe to save on dissection work Kurotsuchi will throw himself into the fray as well. This battle is probably not all that important to the main plot, but it could still provide some entertainment as s sideshow.

Back in Fake Karakura Town, the main development is that Tousen about to show off his new powers. Based on his pose, I'm thinking Vizard-like mask. Given that all the current Vizards were more or less created by Aizen's gang, it's not too much a stretch to say that Aizen and his cohorts know more about how the form works and therefore Tousen's form is probably more refined and powerful than the Vizards'. Of course, Tousen's new powers could be something else entirely, but based on the pose it looks like a Vizard-like power-up.

Gantz 308

Kurono #1 fights the two alien troopers at his school.

When did this battle turn from a real gunfight to a fake gunfight?

Summary:
Two large humanoid aliens emerge from their battle suits after they were hit by Kurono's H-gun. One of the aliens spots a nearby teacher and is about to step on the man, but Kurono crushes the aliens into a pool of blood with the H-gun. However, the other alien quickly climbs up to the school and aims at Kurono with its finger lightning weapon. Kurono and Tae dodge the attack, but one of Kei's classmates is blown to bits. The alien then takes a swipe at Kurono and Tae, forcing Kurono to drop his H-gun and jump down to ground level with Tae in his arms. The alien gives chase, and in the action Kurono and Tae are separated. The alien goes after Kurono, but without Tae to worry about Kurono powers up in his Gantz suit and topples the alien by punching it in the knee.

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Not much in terms developments in the grand scheme of things, but a very nice action chapter nonetheless. This chapter doesn't change my impression that these alien troopers seem kind of weak. They do have a fair bit of attack power, but they are big and not all that fast, and in comparison people in Gantz suits are much more nimble and probably just as strong. I think Kaze would have no problem beating these guys with his bare hands. Anyways, the current Tae and Kurono's classmates finally discovers what Kurono actually does for a living and you can't blame them for being shocked. As for Kurono's reaction, I suppose he was just a bit embarrassed, because it doesn't make sense for him to be feeling reluctant to fight sentient aliens. Most of aliens that the Tokyo team fought were sentient, but maybe they weren't as humanoid or organized like the current invaders.

Hopefully Kurono #1 will punch out the his opponent in the next chapter and move on to take on the giant mechs and flying ships.

Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne 09

Risty vs. Claudette.

A morning of fun.

List of shoddy highlights:
- Back in Gainos, Reina gets an unique wake-up call from Elina to watch the upcoming match between Risty and Claudette. As the Vance army march out of the fortress, Risty and Claudette face off in the courtyard while the count watches from the balcony. After a back and forth fight around the castle, Claudette hits Risty with a thunder attack, knocking Risty out.

That's got to leave a mark.

- Both Claudette and the count think the fight is over and the count wants Claudette to join his army to invade Gainos. Claudette, however, argues that the count is being tied down by his family name and this was the reason why his wife Maria (Reina's mother) participated in Queen's Blade. Claudette advises the count to call back his army, but the count isn't in a listening mood and tells Claudette to get out of his sight.

The Terminatrix is here.

- Back in Gainos, Aldra works her magic and revives Risty. Risty goes after the count but Claudette fends her off. Claudette shocks Risty a few more times, but Risty seems to be unaffected. Claudette and the count then try to escape from the castle, but Risty destroys the draw bridge. The chase eventually ends in a dome where Claudette once again saves the count from Risty's mace. Risty moves in for the finishing blow, but the dome starts to collapse due to damage from the fight and Risty is forced to bail out. After the tower collapses, Risty is declared the winner and she leaves the castle. In the wreckage of the dome, Claudette is pinned by a wall slab, but the count is okay and he finally calls Claudette by her name instead of her title. Claudette is then teleported back to her hotel room in Gainos where she's patched up by Reina and Elina. After the match, Count Vance calls off his army, and Aldra is satisfied with the development.

Claudette is dying!!! NOOO...
Oh wait, she's just being teleported back to the hotel. Never mind.

- After being knocked out from Queen's Blade, Nyx works as a barmaid and she hears rumors about a horned monster appearing in the outskirts of town. That "monster" turns out to be Tomoe who is wearing Shizuka's horned headband.

There's no way that Melpha didn't see Melona swipe the flask.

- Inside Melpha's church, Melona is secretly trying to steal Nanael's flask of holy milk, but Nanael inadvertently thwarts Melona several times. Melona does reveal that Aldra is neither human nor a magical being, and is also afraid of the holy milk. Based on the information, Nanael seems to have inkling of what Aldra might be, but she refuses to tell Melona. While Nanael is thinking about Aldra, Melona is finally able to swipe the holy milk and quickly leaves the church, and soon after Nanael discovers that she's been robbed.

No wonder Nanael is so distressed. She just got robbed by one of the three stooges.

- Back in her collections room, Aldra and her shadow friend are banking on that Melona will return to save Menace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Queen's Blade tournament is winding down, and the matches are becoming longer and more interesting. As expected, Risty defeats Claudette after a hard fought battle. Claudette put up a decent fight, but she wasn't able to stop Risty after Risty went into Terminator mode. The animation during the action was pretty good, although you still wouldn't mistaken it for any top-of-the-line production. There was some semi-interesting drama thrown into the fight as well with the relationship between Claudette, the count, and Maria. It's funny how nobody except Risty, the count, and Claudette were left in the castle during the match. You'd think someone who's as rich and important as the count would have some bodyguards, although they probably wouldn't last very long against the Terminatrix Risty. At the end, the count resorted to calling back his army and doing absolutely, and that's probably the best thing that could have happened since doing nothing is what the count does best.

In other developments, Melona steals Nanael's holy milk and probably will use it to take on Aldra and/or rescue Menace. Meanwhile, Nanael seems to have figured out what Aldra is, but she doesn't the holy milk anymore. If Nanael were smart (big if), then she would wait near Aldra's collections room for Melona to show up so she can reclaim her holy milk. I wonder if that's going to happen.

Next episode will be the highly anticipated Reina vs. Tomoe. Tomoe has hardened up a bit after Shizuka's "death" (I still refuse to believe Shizuka is dead), and I hope she gives Reina a good beating before Reina inevitably wins via some fluke. It's frustrating to think that someone like Tomoe who's fighting for her country and dead friend will lose to someone like Reina who entered the tournament for no particular reason. I guess this is just an example of "life is unfair" lol.