Queen's Blade 05

Reina flows down the river and ends up in the hands of a 1000-yr-old Egyptian Amarian princess named Menace, who makes Reina her servant. Meanwhile, Tomoe and Shizuka also stumble on to Menace's lair.

Look with your eyes, not with your hands.

Summary:
Clodette and Echidna are both conducting independent searches for Reina near the river but neither or them can find Reina. Unbeknownst to them, Reina was retrieved by a magical cat staff named Satoya (name is probably wrong), who handed Reina to his master Menace. Menace is a 1000-yr-old princess from the ruined kingdom of Amara, who was originally revived by the evil Swamp Witch to be part of an evil army, but Menace ran away because she wants to revive her own kingdom. To start on her quest for domination, Menace performs a magical ritual and makes Reina her obedient servant. During the ritual Menace is visited by Mellona, the shape-shifting bunny monster who Reina had defeated before. Mellona is surprised to see Reina but is prohibited from touching the unconscious girl by Menace. After checking out Reina, Mellona tries to Menace to heed the Swamp Witch's commands and teases the ancient princess by shape-shifting into Menace's close advisor who led to the downfall of Amara. Menace gets sick of Mellona's antics and kicks the bunny monster out of her pyramid, and afterwards Menace completes the ritual to make Reina her slave.

What are you complaining about, Nanael? The fact is at least half of the population would be very glad to be in the same situation.

A short while after Tomoe and Shizuka arrive in front of Menace's pyramid by chance. Menace detects the intruders and thinks Tomoe is good slave material, so she calls up a storm and activates a sand trap to make Shizuka disappear. With Shizuka out of the picture, Menace sends Reina out to test Tomoe's strength, and Tomoe runs into the pyramid to escape her attacker. All the commotion and magical storm has drawn the attention of Nanael who is flying nearby. Nanael enters the pyramid and starts a broadcast, but the misguided angel ends up running with Tomoe through the trap-filled hallways. The two eventually run into a chamber that is then sealed off and starts filling with water. Nanael initially decides to abandon Tomoe and flies off on her own, but after finding the way out she begins to feel guilty and decides to go save Tomoe instead after stopping the broadcast. Back in the chamber, Tomoe is about to drown, but at this moment her sacred sword activates, allowing her to break out of the chamber. Tomoe lands on a narrow bridge across a large pit where Reina and Menace are waiting for her. Menace tells Tomoe to willingly become her slave, but Tomoe tells Reina to snap out it. Reina eventually breaks out of Menace's spell after seeing the coin Risty gave her, but at this moment the narrow bridge collapses and Reina falls into a body of water once again. Meanwhile, Menace ties up Tomoe with the cloth on her waist and drags the miko off to the ritual chamber.

Menace demonstrates good form in the "rope a miko" challenge.

Despite what it looks like right now, Shizuka has Satoya completely under her control a minute later.

Elsewhere in the pyramid, Menace's perverted magical staff Satoya checks out the unconscious Shizuka below the sand trap, but Shizuka wakes up and uses her hot body to get Satoya to listen to her every command. Satoya takes Shizuka on a guided tour of through the hallways and recites the downfall of Amara. A millennium ago, Princess Menace was living the high life with her trusted adviser Amalista (a hot girl as expected), but Amalista betrayed the Amara and led an invasion that destroyed the kingdom. Menace was killed during the invasion but she was resurrected not too long ago and Menace's goal is to rebuild Amara.

It's true. There is no place for men in Queen's Blade.

Leave it to Shizuka to run her mouth off.

Satoya eventually leads Shizuka to the ritual chamber where Menace is trying to perform the spell to make Tomoe her slave. Shizuka rescues Tomoe and then starts to point out the problems with the kingdom of Amara. The ninja states that she thought the adviser was actually a poor girl who was fed up with a corrupt government, and at the end Shizuka pinned everything on the princess not knowing that Menace is the princess. Menace becomes understandably angry and causes the whole pyramid to flood with water. Shizuka and Tomoe manage to escape, while Nanael and Reina are flushed out to somewhere else.

Nanael to Reina: If I'm gonna die, I'm going to drag you down with me!

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

A pretty "meh" episode even by Queen's Blade standards. The action was pretty mediocre since there wasn't a real girl on girl fight, and this was made more boring by the fact that there wasn't a single real boob shot in the entire episode. I'm not sure disappointing is the right word to use here, but I thought the oppai was the whole point of Queen's Blade. Queen's Blade without the oppai would be... just an empty husk. Perhaps the show is actually trying to become a legitimate action-adventure story? That would be a big disappointment. Judging by the preview, the next episode might not have much oppai either, but at least there should be some better fights with Reina and some elf girls getting it on with a Gothic maid wielding a scythe.

As for the combatants in this episode, Tomoe's performance was pretty disappointing given how easily she was captured by Menace. I thought Tomoe is supposed to be the bad-ass warrior miko who is an expert swordsman and spell caster, but apparently she forgot all of her skills in this episode. This is made worse by the fact that she can't draw her sword except for in certain moments, and this makes me wonder why she didn't take a normal sword along so that she always has a weapon to use. I also found Menace disappointing because she didn't actually enter a match despite the fact that she has the skills and the evil name. Reina did better than usual but that's only because she was under Menace's control, and Nanael is as silly and as conceited as ever. The only person who impressed was Shizuka, who was funny and, unlike Tomoe, remembered how to fight. She is easily my favorite character at this point of the show.

Some last notes: I remember that in the last episode Reina's armor was blown to pieces by Clodette, but in this episode the armor is entirely intact again. Maybe the armor is prized because it regenerates? Hmmm...

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 04

After returning to Eastern HQ, Ed and Al visit a State Alchemist named Shou Tucker who creates chimeras.

Summary:
Somewhere in Central HQ, State Alchemist Basque Gran is confronted by Scar, and after a brief battle Scar kills the State Alchemist. A while later a group of soldiers led by Mae Hughes and Alex Armstrong are at the scene investigating the murder, which fits the same MO as several other murders of State Alchemists. King Bradley also arrives on the scene and tells Mae to stop the killer at all costs.

Scar just can't resist making the cool poses.

Looks like Ed has some trust issues.

The next day at Eastern HQ, Mustang's subordinates are busy doing paperwork that the colonel himself has neglected, and one of the cases involve Yoki who was ousted from his post at a mining town by the Elric Brothers and is now on the run. At this moment Ed and Al arrive at the HQ to report back to Mustang. During the meeting Ed reports their findings about the fake Philosopher's Stone. Ed and Al have taken an interest in the chimera that was created with stone, with Ed thinking that the knowledge might help him and Al regenerate their bodies. To reward Ed and Al for their work in Lior, Mustang arranges for the brothers to see State Alchemist Shou Tucker, who specializes in creating chimeras. On the way to Tucker's house, Mustang states that Tucker got his State Alchemist certification two years ago by creating a chimera that can understand human speech. The only thing that the chimera said was "I want to die" and it passes away because it refused to eat anything.

This wouldn't have happened if you drank more milk and grown bigger.

Ed, Al and Mustang arrive at Tucker's mansion and are greeted by Tucker, his daughter Nina, and their dog Alexander. While Nina and Alexander play outside, Tucker and his guests have a discussion over tea where Ed reveals his past and explains that he wants to see if research into chimeras can help him and Al return their bodies to normal. Tucker agrees to help and shows the Elrics his lab and large collection of alchemy texts. Ed and Al immediately starts digging into the books, and Mustang returns to work. After studying for a while Ed and Al are interrupted by Nina and Alexander and they start to play together. At dusk, Havoc arrives to pick up the brothers and before leaving Havoc reminds Tucker that his annual evaluation is coming up soon. After the Elrics leave with Havoc, Nina asks her father about the evaluation, and Tucker explains that a State Alchemist must pass annual evaluation to keep his/her title. Tucker didn't do too well in last year's evaluation and will lose his title if he fails again this year. Nina hugs his dad and believes that he should have no problem passing, but Tucker knows that he is running out of time and out of options.

The Fullmetal Alchemist has been defeated by a little girl and her friendly dog.

I don't think Winry would approve of changing the automail arm into that.

The next day Ed and Al arrive to study in Tucker's library and play around with Nina and Alexander. Meanwhile, Tucker is in his study mulling over what to present for his evaluation. Back in Central, Maes and Alex Armstrong are talking about the series of State Alchemist murders, and Alex states that the murderer may be targeting State Alchemists because of the Ishval conflict. The conversation is interrupted when Maria Ross arrives to report that the suspect for the murders has been spotted at a train station.

Back in Tucker's mansion, Tucker talks to the Elrics about his upcoming evaluation. Tucker reveals that his family was quite poor before he became a State Alchemist and he argued with his wife a lot. Tucker's wife has finally had enough and went back to her parents two years ago, and soon after Tucker received his title as State Alchemist. Tucker tells the brothers that he'll do anything to pass the evaluation, and Nina lends her support to her father. Tucker tells Nina and Alexander that he'll play with them tomorrow much to Nina's delight.

Couldn't they make the chimeras cuter?

The next day the Elrics arrive at the mansion and discovers that the front door is unlocked. The brothers venture into the house calling for Tucker and Nina, and they finally discovers Tucker in one of the rooms. Tucker shows the Elrics the newest intelligent chimera that he had created, and the chimera can actually say Ed's name. Ed and Al are impressed by the chimera until the chimera calls Ed "big brother", and Ed realizes that Tucker had created the chimera by fusing Nina and Alexander, and therefore the chimera Tucker created two years ago was actually Tucker's wife. Ed is incensed and confronts Tucker, but Tucker tries to justify his action as a process of science. Ed argues that playing with human lives is wrong, but Tucker laughs at Ed because Ed and Al had played around with human alchemy. The frustrated and livid Ed punches Tucker in the face and had to be restrained by Al, and afterwards Ed can do nothing but let out a scream of frustration and sadness.

The face of a mad scientist.

Ed and Al eventually returns to Eastern HQ to report the incident to Mustang, who orders that Tucker's mansion be put under guard. Mustang tells Ed that as a State Alchemist he'll probably encounter similar incidents in the future and perhaps have to sullen his own hands, and the colonel wonders if Ed will become depressed like this every time something bad happens. Ed responds that he'll do anything to return his and Al's bodies back to normal, but this incident has made him realize that he is just an insignificant human who can't even save a little girl.

Leave it to Scar to make/clean up the mess.

Inside Tucker's mansion, Tucker sits with Nina and wonders why nobody understands him. At this moment, Scar walks into the room after having killed the soldiers guarding the door. Scar quickly kills Tucker, and after offering some words of pity he kills the Nina chimera as well.

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

The Shou Tucker arc compressed into one episode and Scar makes his Brotherhood debut. For a "rehash" episode, this week's show wasn't too bad and was better than last week's Lior episode. The episode mostly followed the manga storyline with Scar killing Tucker and Nina in the mansion, but Bones also added in some elements such as the fight between Scar and Basque Gran which was never explicitly shown in the manga. Given the seriousness of this week's story, the jokes were toned down this week as expected with the only gag being Ed getting squashed by Alexander. I thought there were too many jokes in last week's episode so not having so many gags was a nice change. Jokes are good if they are used at the right moment, but throwing gags into the middle of the action during last week kind of threw the pacing off. The Tucker storyline is also better than the Lior arc in its construction and emotional impact, as what Tucker did was just so wrong and it gives off that sickening feeling. There are quite a few really nutty characters in FMA, and Tucker is just the first in line.

An interesting note from this episode is that is the mention of Yoki and his ousting by the Elrics, which means we won't have the mining town episode. This is interesting since Yoki shows up later in the manga as a supporting character, and if I remember correctly another character (May?) will make her debut at the mining town, so it's kind of weird that they are skipping over that part. By the looks of things the anime is trying to get through the "rehash" parts at the beginning as quickly as possible. I don't really mind it since I follow the manga and know what's going to happen, but it might be a bit confusing for those who only watch the anime.

Another interesting note is that in this incarnation of FMA, Scar's alchemy gives a blue colour just like the alchemy used by the Amestris State Alchemist. In the old anime Scar's alchemy is colored red, which I think makes more sense since the alchemy Scar uses is different than the alchemy used by the State Alchemists, so a differnt color to distinguish between the types would be nice.

Last note: after the end of this episode there was a trailer for the new Eureka Seven movie. I want to watch that for sure but it'll probably be a while before the movie is available on this side of the ocean.

Another Mecha Artwork

Here's another one of my futile attempts to digitally draw/paint stuff.

This in-action version of this Gundam design plus the Gundam's pilot. The pilot is one of them blond haired, blue eyed ace pilots, which may or may not imply something in the Gundam universe.

The work is a pencil sketch lined and then coloured in Photoshop. Probably the best job I've done in terms of colouring stuff even though it's still a little messy (because I'm lazy :D). And in case you are wondering, the Gundam is other leg is bent at such an angle that it's hidden behind the pilot's body. In other words I was too lazy to draw the other leg too... or properly render the asteroids in the background for that matter. Still this probably one of the best things I've ever drawn up to this point.

XBlade 18

It's been over six months since my last XBlade post. Scanlation efforts are slow and irregular with this title, but finally there is a "new" chapter that I haven't read before. Anyways, after the big fight at the hospital, our protagonist Haru is more or less forced into playing baseball with his good friend Kazunari.

Summary:
Sakura, the Seven Sheaths member who lost his guardian blade to Kris, is lying dejectedly on a pile of garbage during a rainy day, but a good-natured high school girl comes along and shields Sakura fro the rain with her umbrella. Meanwhile, Haru and Mana are having dinner together back home, but the atmosphere between the two has been tense ever since the battle at the hospital. Haru tries to compliment Mana's improving cooking skills but Mana storms off and locks herself in the bedroom. Mana can't get over the fact that she became excited during the battle for Haru and not for her real owner Kuushirou, but of course Haru has no idea what's going on.

Come on, even homeless people don't sleep like that.

The next day at school, Haru talks with Kris on the roof and Haru learns that Fujimaru is on his way to a full recovery. Haru then states that he wants to go into the Thirteen Tokyo Districts to find out the truth about Yamato and the guardian blades and asks for Kris and the Hollyhock Syndicate's help. Kris states that the Hollyhock Syndicate can get Haru into the districts but they probably won't since Haru's Mana's wielder and therefore too important to be let into a dangerous area. The crusader also states that Haru isn't ready for such a big task yet. Haru is about to disagree but the conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Haru's friend Sanae and another girl, and Kris disappears down the stairwell before the other girls can spot her. As Kris is walking down the stairs, she is spotted by Souji's guardian blade Shinojika, who has sneaked into the school by dressing up as a student.

Haru is ready for the Major Leagues.

Back on the roof, Sanae tries to convince Haru to join the school baseball tournament but Haru refuses. At this moment, the other girl named Fukahara voices her opinion and warns that Haru won't have any good school memories if he keeps skipping school events. Haru doesn't care but Fukahara literally drags him to the baseball field where Kazunari and the baseball team are practicing. Having no other choice, Haru tries his luck at bat, but Kazunari gets the first strike before Haru can even react. Nearby, a group of female students are watching and rooting for Kazunari, and Shinojika is among the group trying to get information. Haru gets pissed off at the cheering and takes the next pitch seriously. Haru uses his new found kendo skills to track the pitch and thinks it's an easy hit, but the ball suddenly changes direction in the last moment and Haru falls to the ground after missing with the swing. After getting back up, Haru realizes that Kazunari has pitched a knuckle ball, and the movement of the ball reminded him of the movements used by Souji at the hospital. Haru demands that Kazunari pitch the knuckle ball again and this time instead of trying to track the path of the ball, Haru uses his gut instinct to time his swing and knocks the ball out of the park. As Haru and Kazunari are fooling around afterwards, Shinojika rejoins her wielder Souji somewhere within the school.

After school is dismissed, Fukahara walks to a messy construction site where she hands some food Sakura.

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

After seven months of not reading the series, I had to go back and reread some of the prior chapters just to remember what went on lol. Overall, chapter 18 was a light, calm, and filler-ish chapter after the fight at the hospital. There wasn't too much going on with the main characters except that Mana is kind of in denial about Haru being able to wield her. The real interesting part of this chapter is that they brought back Sakura, who had gone missing ever since his guardian blade was destroyed by Kris. A guy without a weapon in this manga is pretty useless, but it looks like Sakura might make a comeback now that Haru's classmate Fukahara has taken an interest in him. Just a wild guess at this point, but maybe Fukahara will somehow be made into Sakura's guardian blade? On the other front, Souji and Shinojika scouted around Haru's school, but they haven't made a move yet. A Haru vs. Souji rematch should be in the works, but the question is how long we'll have to wait for it.

Hopefully we'll see more releases soon for this title since I would prefer not to wait seven months for another chapter. Well, I suppose this is still better than the Evangelion manga (the official adaptation) which has been stuck at chapter 78 since who knows when, but in Evangelion's case it's because no newer chapter exist instead of lack of scanlation efforts.

To-Love-Ru 146

Rito and Haruna are accidentally teleported into a storage room... without their clothes!

Summary:
At school, Lala's cellphone malfunctions and teleports a bunch of her inventions into the hallway. As the always vigilant Yui demands Lala clean up the mess, Oshizu checks out the teleportation bracelet, but Rito quickly takes it away because he knows most of Lala's inventions don't work as intended. Rito is then bumped into by Haruna and suddenly the teleportation bracelet activates, whisking Rito and Haruna away but leaving their clothes behind. After realizing what happened, Yui becomes very concerned (because Rito and Haruna are together and naked) and forms a search party with Lala.

Rito: Hmmmm..., it's a little small, but I like the softness.

Haruna and Rito are transported into a dark room and in the darkness Rito accidentally gropes Haruna's breast and receives a punch in the face for his indiscretion. After calming down, Haruna tells Rito that she's afraid of the dark. Rito's vision is starting to adjust to the darkness which means he can see Haruna's naked body. Being a gentleman, Rito goes to retrieve some nearby sheets for he and Haruna to cover themselves, but Haruna becomes frightened by the noise and runs into Rito's arms, causing embarrassment for both of them. After calming down once again, Haruna and Rito inspect the room and realize that they are still on Earth, but the exit is locked so they'll have to wait until Lala finds them. To break up the awkward atmosphere, Rito asks Haruna about her parents, and Haruna explained that her family had lived together until her father was transferred out of town. At that point Haruna's big sister Akiho already has a job, so Haruna's parents allowed their daughters to stay in town on their own and the whole family has dinner together every so often. Rito mentions the situation with his own parents who are rarely together or at home, but he notes that despite being far apart his parents can still love and rely on each other. At this point, Haruna states it'd be great to live with someone who can be relied upon. Rito realizes this is a prime opportunity to confess, but suddenly an image of Lala fills his mind. Before Rito can confess, the door unlocks and Mikado-sensei walks into the room. It turns out Rito and Haruna were transported to the basement of Mikado-sensei's big mansion, and the alien physician comments upon Rito and Haruna's boldness much to Rito's embarrassment. Yui and Lala arrive soon after after tracking Rito's sent with Lala's robotic dog, and Yui demands that Rito and Haruna put on some clothes.

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

The no-clothes, random teleport bracelet makes its triumphant return! Anyways, this week's chapter is about another one of those close-but-no-cigar confession attempts by Rito, and it was kind of fun. Rito shows his perverted side by taking advantage of Haruna while both of them still haven't adjusted to the darkness, but Haruna made Rito pay for it. It looks like Rito does have some real feeling for Lala now since his confession attempt was partially blocked by an image of Lala. On another front, Yui is understandably concerned about Rito's relationships with other girls these days lol. Yui's position as no. 3 in Rito's harem isn't secure yet, so she'll have to work harder in the future to ensure she keeps her spot.

Gantz 297

The malfunctioning Gantz ball stops the Tokyo team from reviving the Old Man, but that doesn't stop Reika from getting what she wants.

Summary:
The Gantz ball starts fizzling out just after Reika had requested that the Old Man be revived. Kurono pounds the Gantz ball in frustration but to no avail. As the Gantz ball shuts down for good, Nishi leaves the room with his new weapons, and the two vampire also leave after deciding that killing the rest of the team would serve no purpose. Kurono and the remaining members eventually give up and get ready to go home.

Outside of the apartment building, Reika realize that she forgot to change back to her normal clothes and goes back into the Gantz apartment, and inside she finds a hairless and naked man walking about. Reika realizes that the man came from inside the Gantz ball, and the man offers to bring back the person that Reika wanted. Reika is about to ask the naked man to bring back the Old Man, but she changes her mind and brings back another copy of Kurono.

What's wrong with this picture (other than the naked dude in the lower left corner)?

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

Oh damn!! Reika actually pulls it off and gets her own copy of Kurono. Another copy of Kurono is a lot more interesting than bringing back the old guy, and things are definitely going to get more complicated for the crew. This second Kurono should have the same memories as the other Kurono (can't really say "original" since Kurono has been brought back from death... twice) and I don't know how Reika is going to convince him to leave Tae for her. The real fun will be when the two Kuronos run into each other. In that event Reika will be hated by the rest of the team, and the two Kuronos might have to fight each other to the death, or maybe they'll work together to save the world!? Maybe the real way to save the world is manufacture an army of Kuronos lol. It'll be Gantz: Clone Wars!!! Anyways, things are sure going to be interesting from now on.

One Piece 540

Arriving just after Ace has been transferred, Luffy and company recruit Sir Crocodile and Jimbei to break out of Impel Down.

Summary:
Luffy, Ivankov, and Inazuma steamroll their way past the gaolers and into level 6, but to their disappointment Ace has already been taken away. To make things worse, Hanyabal has locked down all the exits and is filling the level with sleeping gas. Inazuma uses his scissor hands to cut up pieces of the floor to block the locked down stairs where the sleeping gas was coming from, but by doing this Luffy and company also trapped in Level 6.

Realizing that they are too late, Ivankov tells Luffy to give up as Ace is already on his way to Marine HQ, but Luffy refuses to abandon his brother. Despite Luffy's adamant insistence of following Ace to Marine HQ, the three of them still have no way of leaving Level 6, but at this moment Luffy and company hear the familiar voice of Sir Crocodile offering to help them escape. Sir Crocodile states that he had no interest of leaving before, but since White Beard is fighting the Marine he thinks it'll be a great opportunity for him to kill White Beard, and with his ability he can open up a hole in the ceiling for everyone to escape through. Luffy doesn't trust Sir Crocodile at all, but Ivankov states that the former Shichibukai would be valuable asset. Ivankov reveals that he knew Sir Crocodile from long ago and knows Crocodile's secret weakness in case he tries something funny. After Ivankov agrees to free Crocodile, Jimbei also offers to help and Luffy and Ivankov agree to release him as well. And thus, Luffy's company of three becomes a company of five and their new goal is to break out of Impel Down and get to Marine HQ.

Let's get the breakout party started.

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

As expected Luffy and company just misses Ace's transfer, and as a backup plan they recruit both Jimbei and Crocodile to form the ultimate breakout party. Crocodile is of course up to no good but it seems Ivankov has him under control because Ivankov knows Croc's secret weakness. I wonder what that could be? On their way back up, Luffy and company will probably pick up Bon, and perhaps Mr.1, Buggy and Mr. 3 if the latter two are still alive. I'm a little surprised that the former head gaoler Shiryuu didn't make an appearance since Ivankov mentioned him a few chapter before, but I guess he's not important. Everything is now pointing towards a big showdown at Marine HQ for Ace's life, but of course it'll take a few chapter for Luffy and company to storm their way back up to the surface and steal a ship. A Luffy vs. Magellan rematch shouldn't be too far in the future.

Bleach 355

The top three Espada are whooping the shinigamis in fake Karakura Town.

Here comes Shark Girl!!!

Summary:
In fake Karakura Town, things aren't going too well for the Shinigamis in the three ongoing matches. In the Stark vs. Kyoraku match, Kyoraku still remains uninjured but his situation is getting worse as Stark begins to take the match more seriously. Meanwhile, Soifon and Omaeda have already been sent crashing into a building by Barragan, who then retrieves a giant axe from his hovering chair. Omaeda asks Soifon to release the power limit that is usually placed on captains when they enter the human world, but Soifon states that the limit was not imposed for this mission. Elsewhere, Halibel grows tired of knocking Hitsugaya around and reveals her true form, which merely replaces her outfit with some streamlined, shark-themed armor and weapon. With one swing of her sword, Halibel cuts off Hitsugaya's right arm and thus defeats the shinigami captain.

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

There goes Squad 10. Hitsugaya's defeat is expected of course since he is probably the weakest out of all current captains, and now with Rangiku being down as well Squad 10 becomes the first shinigami squad to be taken out of the battle. Obviously someone else will have to tag in for Hitsugaya. I think the most likely candidates are Yammamoto (who hasn't appeared after torching Halibel's fraccions) and Ukitake (who is playing around with Stark's fraccion Lilinette) as they are strongest shinigami who are not currently fighting, but maybe we'll see Komamura or even Ikakku take another shift.

Moving on to the other fights, the Stark vs. Kyoraku fight may last a while since Kyoraku hasn't gone bankai and Stark hasn't used resurreccion, but Stark will probably end up being stronger. On the other hand, it looks like Soifon has to go bankai (assuming she has one) just to survive against Barragan's current form, and she'll probably have a really tough time when Barragan releases his true form.

Let's see how many chapters we need to cycle through these fights so we can go back to Hueco Mundo and see what Espada 0 Yammy-zilla is up to.

Naruto 445

Nagato continues recounting his childhood memories to Naruto.

Summary:
Continuing on from last chapter, the young Nagato wakes up to see his parents and the two Konoha ninjas lying dead in his house. It is only later that Nagato realized that he was the one who killed the two ninjas. After burying his parents, Nagato leaves home with little provisions and wanders about the land. During his journey Nagato is joined by a dog which Nagato names "Tiny". Nagato eventually collapses due to hunger, but he is saved by the young Konan who brings Nagato back to the hideout that she and Yahiko share. Konan and Yahiko are both war orphans as well, and the three kids survived together during the tough times by begging and stealing food.

So it turns out Nagato wanted to rule the world and destroy Konoha because Jiraiya and company accidentally killed his puppy.

One day the three friends and Tiny are walking out in the rain and Yahiko declares that his dream is to become God and change the world. As Yahiko and friends are chatting, an errant kunai with an explosive tag lands nearby and sends the kid hurtling to the floor. The three kids are uninjured but Tiny the dog is mortally wounded. Yahiko peaks over a large rocky outcrop and spots Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru battling against Hanzo, the chief of Amegakure. After getting away from the battle, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan are saddened and angered by the fact that Tiny has passed away. Yahiko declares that he'll become God one day so he can end the war, and at that moment Nagato also shares the same dream.

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

Not too bad for a story-telling chapter, but obviously not terribly exciting either. This chapter revealed why Nagato made Yahiko's body into God Realm, and of course why Nagato has a God complex. We know that Nagato's first great source of pain is the death of his parents, so what is his second great source of pain? Probably the death of Yahiko I'd imagine, but maybe Nagato is referring to the death of his puppy lol. In any case, we'll find out the real answer next week when Nagato recites another (un)exciting chapter from his memoir.

Queen's Blade 04

Clodette catches up and attempts to drag Reina back home.


My shoddy list of highlights:
- While inspecting the room Reina had stayed in, Clodette is approached by Echidna who hints that she let Reina go on purpose and teases Clodette on not being able to inherit her father's title because she is not the daughter of the count's official wife. Clodette swings her sword at Echidna a couple of times to express her indignity but then lets mercenary go.
- In a forest somewhere, Reina eats some magic mushroom for dinner and gets the expected results.

I suppose no one taught Reina not to eat strange mushrooms.

- After getting word of Reina's whereabouts, Clodette leaves town on a horse and chases after her little sister. During the journey, Clodette thinks back to her childhood memories of how she once saved Reina's life and how all of the maids were only worried about Reina. Even though Reina loves Clodette, none of the household workers or the count openly express their appreciation for Clodette, but Clodette believes that her father does love her but has to hide his feelings in public.

Reina to Nanael: I have a headache, so can you stop talking and hand me the milk so I can spit it in your face?

- Back in the forest, Reina is still suffering from the effects of the magic mushroom when she is approached by the angel Nanael. Nanael's true purpose is to stall Reina until Clodette catches up. The angel first offers Reina some angel milk to heal her stomach but Reina ends up spitting the milk in Nanael's face.
- After some more entertainment from Nanael, Reina gets bored and is about to leave. Nanael tries to put on a Queen's Blade Q&A, but Reina isn't interested because she wants to chase after her beloved Risty. Thankfully for Nanael, Clodette arrives just in time.

Indecent intentions is right.

- As the two Vance sisters confront each other, Nanael throws a spell over the surrounding area so people from all over can watch the battle. Among the watchers are Risty, Tomoe and Shizuka, and Elina and Count Vance.

It's funny how Reina only swings at Clodette's sword. Certainly not the conventional way to win a sword fight.

- Clodette is reluctant to fight Reina on broadcast TV and Reina manages to slice off Clodette's bra and belt with her half-ass strokes. Reina also states that Clodette doesn't really get what their father is thinking and Count Vance's treatment of Clodette is one of reasons why she ran away.

Clodette enlightens Reina with the power of electricity.

- Clodette eventually grows tired of Reina's whining and beats down her sister with a couple of lightning strikes. Unfortunately, Reina happens to be sitting near a cliff face and Clodette's attacks have loosened the earth and sends Reina tumbling down into a deep ravine. Clodette grabs Reina's arm in time and is reminded of the childhood memory where she saved Reina in a similar way. Reina tells Clodette to let go and Clodette eventually does (perhaps accidentally) after realizing that her father was nice to her only because Reina liked her.

Looks like playtime went a little overboard.

- The ED sequence features a compilation of Clodette and Reina's childhood memories accompanied by an instrumental version of the ED song.

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

A cliff-hanger ending eh? Overall, this week's show was a half-decent and was similar to episode 2 in that there's a somewhat interesting story and that the boob shots have taken a back seat. I was wondering from the first episode why Clodette wasn't the one to inherit her father's title given that she's more powerful, experienced, capable, and not to mention responsible, and this episode answers that question nicely. Not getting attention from the dad and not being to able to inherit the title kind of sucks, but Clodette still gets to be general and live in a nice castle, so it could be worse. From the info given in this episode, it looks like Reina really is one of those spoiled brats who decided to throw a hissy fit and run away from her pampered palace, but at least her education through the school of hard knocks seems to be progressing nicely. It's about time for Reina to learn some real combat skills though, since her record now stands at an unimpressive 2-3 (one win and one loss against the bunny monster, one win in mud wrestling, one loss in oil wrestling to Echidna, one loss to Clodette).

Moving on to other info, we now have confirmation that Reina is in love with Risty. Even Nanael can see that Reina's feelings for Risty is beyond just normal friendship and indecent lol. I don't know if Risty would be interested in Reina though, although being even friends with Reina should solve Risty's money problems.

Another interesting note in the episode is that Reina's armor was shattered by Clodette's lightning attacks during the battle. This is a little strange given that the armor didn't even receive a scratch from the bunny monster explosion, and isn't the armor supposed to be super durable since it had belonged to Reina's mother? I guess given this is Queen's Blade, even legendary armor have to give way to boobage.

Next week is Tomoe and Shizuka vs. the Egyptain priestess, which should be a more entertaining battle then this week's little sister-on-sister scuffle.

Dropping Shangri-La

In a shocking development in this week's episode of Shangri-La, Kuniko failed to stop her boomerang with her kick and was sliced in half. The end.

This is the last we'll see of Kuniko, who decided it was a good idea to sight-see and become inebriated while being shot at.

Okay, that's an outright lie since Kuniko didn't use her boomerang at all in this episode. What really happened was that Kuniko was fatally shot while she was ogling (with pupils dilated as if she was high) at Atlas' spacious interior and totally forgot that armed guards were chasing her. Her last words were "It's so huge!"

Okay, so Kuniko didn't die because her friends were still sober, but this is the last time I see her because I'm dropping Shangri-La. Why do I feel like dedicating a post to the dropping of Shangri-La? Well, I think the series at least deserves some parting shots. With a fair bit of hype riding before the season, Shangri-La stumbled out of the gate with a confusing mess of a premiere. There were some interesting concepts and characters, but the writers forgot to put in a coherent storyline and the episode was boring. Despite the poor debut episode, I decided to give it two more episodes to redeem itself. Unfortunately, the second episode was just as bad if not worse than the first. This week's episode was better than the previous two, but it still sucked. The plot of this episode was slightly more coherent than before, but on the other hand the animation quality, especially the facial animation, is starting to go downhill. Or maybe the facial animation was bad from the start? I don't really remember now.

Of course, not everything is terrible in Shangri-La. The show had quite a bit potential and the carbon trading is a pretty original (but boring) concept. The OP song by May'n and the EDs are also quite nice. Unfortunately, this is all of good things I can come up with. Judging from the first three episodes, it looks like Shangri-La is well on its way to becoming another Gonzo disaster in the same league as Linebarrels of Iron. I managed to stay through Linebarrels because there were at least decently-rendered giant mechas to look at, while in Shangri-La all we have to look at is the cast of bizarre characters.

Now that Shangri-La has struck itself out of my lineup, I'm going to start watching Sengoku Basara. From what I've read so far, I take it that the show has no real plot and I won't remember anyone's names, but supposedly there are good fights, climaxing ninjas, and gravity-defying horses. Can't go wrong with those three items. Even if the show goes wrong, I doubt it'll be as terrible as Shangri-La. As with most shows I watch, I won't be blogging Sengoku Basara weekly; it'll just be a paragraph or two during mid-season impression posts and a review at the end.

Review: FLCL

In my effort to expand my knowledge of anime and manga, every so often I will watch and review old series (as in not currently airing/in serialization) that have caught my attention for various reasons, and this time I have decided to watch the chaotic eccentricity known as FLCL.

FLCL, also known as Fooly Cooly, is a six episode OVA released between 2000 and 2001. The series produced by the FLCL Production Committee which included Gainax, Production I. G., and Starchild Records. The OVA series takes place in the quiet fictional suburb of Mabase where 12-year-old Naota Nandaba lives a peaceful and boring life with his father and grandfather, but the days of peace are interrupted when Haruka Haruhana arrives in town, runs over Naota with her scooter, and subsequently whacks Naota on the head with her bass guitar. After surviving the attack Naota returns home and is shocked to learn that Haruka has become his family's live-in maid. Haruka is searching for an alien being known as Atomsk, and it turns out that Naota's head is perfect for creating a N. O. channel that Haruka needs to conduct her search. The rest of the series follows Naota as he tries to deal with Haruka, the other residents of Mabase, and the robots that emerge out of the N. O. channel in his head.

FLCL is at heart a coming-of-age story for Naota as he learns to be more independent and step out from the proverbial shadows of his baseball-playing brother, but you wouldn't be able to tell at first glance as everything is wrapped up in an eccentric brand of chaos. Common occurrences in FLCL include giant robots emerging out of people's heads; people getting run over by various vehicles; and people and robots being bashed around by guitars. To add to the craziness, the show makes use of alternative artwork such as appearing as a moving manga and even using South Park-style artwork for one particular scene. In short, FLCL is just short of a riot; it is a bunch of chaotic scenes shoe-stringed together with what barely qualifies as a plot. Surprisingly, everything actually works out because the chaos and craziness make it hard to pay attention to the less exciting aspects of the show such as the story (or lack thereof).

As expected from a series that excels at mayhem, FLCL features a cast of crazy characters. Haruka is of course the eccentric, Vespa-riding, guitar-wielding catalyst that sets everything in motion, but the other members of the cast are quite lively in their own right. For a supposedly normal and quiet suburb, Mabase certainly has its fair share of strange people even before the arrival of Haruka. Naota's father and grandfather are both huge perverts; Minami has an unhealthy obsession with fire and Naota's brother Tasuku; Commander Amarao covers his eyebrows with seaweed etc. Naota, who is relatively normal by comparison, also has a personality quirk in that he idolizes his brother to the point of allowing Minami use him as a substitute for his brother. The point is, almost every (important) character in FLCL can be deemed as abnormal, and the weirdness of the cast adds another level of chaos on top of the robot-guitar-bashing that's already going on., making the series even more fun to watch.

Besides the aforementioned tendency to switch to another art style, the animation of FLCL in general was impressive. The default art style is not very sophisticated in terms of details and shading, but the style is loose and expressive which fits well with the tone of the series. It is during the action sequences where the animation really proves its mettle, with all the motions being fast, fluid, and full of life. Moving on from the animation, the rock music used FLCL is also nice and compliments the casual and offbeat feel of the show.

In short, FLCL is a case of craziness done right. The plot doesn't make much sense and there are tons of things that aren't properly explained (such as why robots randomly appear from N.O. channels and what "FLCL" really means), but the series makes up for it with its eccentricity and chaos. FLCL is the type of show that may leave you scratching your head at the end and wondering what really happened, but at least you'll remember the craziness and mayhem.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 03

Ed and Al arrive in Lior to investigate a religious leader who can perform "miracles".

Edward the Terrible!!!

Rose: Me no comprendre le chemistry.

Really brief summary/breakdown:
I don't feel like writing a summary for this episode, and most people probably know what went on already. The episode is basically the condensed version of the first two episodes of the old series. Ed and Al arrive in Lior and eventually overthrows Father Cornello and his little cult. At the end, the defeated Cornello is killed by Lust and Gluttony, while Ed tells Rose "to use her legs".

I thought kicking endangered animals was a crime?

Al's armor is pretty impressive. It doesn't even dent when hit by the bullets from a mini-gun.

Cornello is reading dirty magazines and forgot to turn his radio off.

Here are some of the major differences between this new adaptation and the old FMA episodes covering Lior:
- Ed did not let himself be captured and rather just sneaked into Cornello's office
- The story of Rose trying to revive her boyfriend has been ignored for the most part, and Cornello does not create the giant parrot chimera to fool Rose.
- Near the end after the alchemy refraction, Cornello powers himself up with the Philosopher's stone and has a brief fight with Ed.
- Envy doesn't make an appearance.

Cornello and his impersonation of the Hulk.

Gluttony: Hmmm... looks a bit old and pasty, but since I have no taste buds why worry?

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

This was more or less what I was expecting, although I'm a little surprised by how much they've compacted the whole story. It seems like they are trying to claw their way through the "repeated" parts as quickly as possible, which I'm okay with as long as they don't throw away too much of the story. A lot of the details that was featured prominently in the old anime and manga (they were almost identical at that point) were left out, but I don't think these details play much of a role later in the manga so it's probably okay. The other obvious difference between the Brotherhood version and the old series is that Brotherhood has a much greater tendency to go into SD mode and play for laughs. There were plenty of "Ed is short" jokes, and even some of the action sequences were comedic in nature. Next week's episode should be more serious though since it's about Shou Tucker and his experiments. Not much else really to say at this point, since we are still many weeks away from the good parts of the story, so for now we'll just have to sit through more episode like this one.

To-Love-Ru 145

An alien model tries to kidnap Peke.

Summary:
Mikan and Yami are walking on the streets when they spot a girl in strange yet familiar clothing. The girl spots Mikan and Yami and surprises them both by identifying herself as Peke. Peke explains that she used the dressform program to change into human form because previously kids would start bothering her if she went out by herself. The talk is interrupted when a bizarrely-dressed man approaches Peke, and Yami identifies the man as an alien. The alien introduces himself as the galaxy's number 1 model Karman, and he then grabs Peke and runs off.

Rito and his wandering hands... Not even his sister is off-limits

Not too far away, Rito is wandering the streets on his own when Karman (with Peke in tow) bumps into him. The confused Rito is then run into by Mikan, and Rito's hands end up grabbing Mikan's hips. After getting back on their feet, Mikan informs Rito that Peke has been kidnapped.

On a grassy field under a bridge, Karman explains that he wants Peke to be his costume robot and therefore he won't have to buy any clothes. Peke refuses to obey Karman's orders but Karman pulls out a drill and plans to erase Peke's memory of Lala. Peke's life flashes before her eyes as Karman is about to drill into her forehead, but suddenly Karman's tools are sliced into pieces by Yami. Rito then charges in from behind Karman and knocks out the alien model with a baseball bat. After being rescued, Peke thanks her friends and starts crying, and this prompts different reactions from Mikan, Rito, and Yami. A little later as Peke gets a hug from Lala, Rito wonders if Peke was programmed to be considerate, but Yami states that Peke probably has a considerate heart. Meanwhile, Mikan is feeling glad that Yami helped out to avert the crisis.

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

Peke is a girl!? I always thought of her as a male character. Peke's human form was kind of unisex: she looked an effeminate boy or a boyish-looking girl. She might be able to change her own costume though to look more like a girl. Anyways, it looks like we have another addition to Rito's ever growing harem lol.

In terms of other highlights, the alien model Karman will probably return after a while since he did hint that he'll be back. We also have Rito grabbing a piece of Mikan's ass, and (not) surprisingly Mikan doesn't seem to mind that much. I think it's pretty clear now that Mikan has a brother complex, and her tolerance for Rito's antics is getting up there to the level of Lala and Momo. Then again, Mikan is Rito's sister and therefore she must be used to it lol.

Naruto 444

Naruto wants to hear Nagato's story.

Naruto is pretty sensitive when it comes to his tummy. Making fun of his stomach is a big no-no.

Summary:
Naruto arrives in front of Nagato and Konan and Nagato asks Naruto give him an answer to his question about how to achieve peace. When Naruto hesitates about attacking Nagato, Nagato shoots a chakra rod into Naruto's stomach in an effort to control Naruto, but Naruto repels Nagato's effort with his fox chakra. Nagato realizes that Naruto got hit on purpose, and Naruto states that he wanted to find out what it feels like stand in face to face with Nagato. Naruto concludes that he can't forgive Nagato for what he has done and rushes Nagato, but he stops short of hitting Nagato. Naruto asks Nagato to tell his story about how he came to be this way, and Nagato agrees despite objections from Konan because he wants to hear Naruto's answer to his question. Nagato states that he has two great sources of pain in his life and begins telling the story of how he lost his parents:

Years ago, Nagato's homeland Amekagure was the battlefield in a war between two large nations. One day, two Konoha ninjas stumble onto Nagato's house and search inside for food and supplies. Nagato and his parents are hiding in the back of the house and Nagato's dad suggests that they leave while the ninjas are busy going through the front of the house. The family of three tries to quietly leave but Nagato accidentally bumps into a vase which falls onto the floor. The two ninja notice Nagato's family and thought they were the enemy, and only after killing Nagato's parents did the ninjas realize their mistake. The ninjas try to apologize to Nagato, but Nagato is filled with rage and activates his Rinnegan.

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Blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Looks like our worst fears have been realized and for the next couple of chapters we'll have Nagato reciting his memoire to Naruto. I don't understand why Naruto feels it's necessary to justify his own actions to Nagato, since Nagato is clearly not right in the head and reasoning with someone like that will probably turn out to be a waste of effort. Naruto should have just punched Nagato out and be done with it. Oh well, let's hope that Nagato's sob story won't be too boring or long-winded.

Bleach 354

Yammy has a "big" surprise for Rukia, Renji, and Chad.

Summary:
On the lower level of Las Noches, Yammy, Rukia, Renji and Chad sense that Ulquiorra has been defeated. Yammy is disappointed that Ulquiorra went and died on him and is frustrated that for all of his preparations he only gets to beat up Rukia and her friends. Rukia and friends spot the "10" on Yammy's shoulder and thinks that Yammy is weaker than the other Espadas they have encountered, but Yammy goes through ressurecion and the number on his shoulder turns to a "0". Now a gigantic monster with many legs, Yammy explains to his adversaries that the Espada numbers actually went from 0 to 9, and he is the only one whose number changes after resurrecion. The giant arrancar then strikes down upon Rukia and company with his boulder-sized fist.

I'm bigger than you!!

Back in the fake Karakura Town, Hitsugaya is sent crashing into a building by Espada #3 Halibel. Halibel then looks to end the fight with one more attack.

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

So there was a reasonable explanation of why Kubo kept Yammy around for so long. So if Yammy is Espada #0 then does that mean in released form he is stronger than any other Espada? If he was that powerful then why does he let Ulquiorra boss him around and also let Urahara humiliate him during their encounter? I guess we'll find out the answer to at least the first question sooner or later. If Yammy is really that powerful then Ichigo will have another chance to play hero in Hueco Mundo, but there are still the four captains who haven't done much for a while and we know Kenpachi is dying to cut someone up.

The storyline also touched back upon the battle in the fake Karakura Town after 20 or so chapters. Hitsugaya is getting his behind handed to him by Halibel as expected, and it looks like Halibel doesn't even have to reveal her true form to defeat Hitsugaya's bankai. Hopefully we'll see the other matches in the next few chapters.

Queen's Blade 03

After a surprisingly decent 2nd episode, Queen's Blade falls back into old habits. In this episode, Risty leaves Reina behind to be molested by a mercenary hired by Reina's sister Clodette.

Bikini malfunction.

My shoddy list of highlights:
- Tomoe at Shizuka arrive on the mainland and stay at a tropical seaside resort. During their stay Shizuka manages to convince Tomoe to shed her miko attire and put on a revealing swimsuit that "malfunctions" afterwards.
- Reina and Risty journey past the place where they first met (the place where Risty rescued Reina from the bunny monster) to the long wall that serves as the border between the Vance's land and the Queen's land. Reina and Risty thinks that Clodette hasn't returned to her border post yet and cross into the Queen's land without problems, but unbeknownst to them Clodette has returned and has hired elven mercenary Echidna to teach Reina a lesson and take her back home.

Looks like even the "fearless" Risty is afraid of snakes.

Scantily-clad women are a common thing in Queen's Blade, but Echidna tops everyone by walking around without covering up her lower body.

- After checking into an inn, Reina and Risty walk around town and then have a meal together. During the meal, Risty states her intentions to part ways with Reina as she has safely brought Reina past the border. Risty offers to pay for the meal but Echidna arrives and steals Risty's bag of coins by using her snake (which also serves as her undies) to distract Risty and Reina.
- Reina and Risty end up having to do the dishes for the restaurant after having their money stolen. Risty heard that the inn becomes a gambling haven at night and wants to rob the reserves, but Reina insist that they should work for money and enters a mud-wrestling match held at the inn. (Yup, it's all downhill from here)

I heard that mud is good for your skin.

- While Reina participates in her mud-wrestling match, Risty is approached Echidna in the audience stands. Echidna hands Risty a sizable bag of gold coins and tells Risty that the reserves will have a lot more gold after midnight. In exchange, Risty has to convince Reina to participate in the midnight wrestling match and leave Reina in Echidna's hands.

A little camel clutch to start off the match.

- After winning her first match, Reina is convinced by Risty to participate in the midnight wrestling match for which the prize money is much higher. Instead of wrestling in mud, the participants are wrestling in a pool of oil and Reina's opponent is none other than Echidna herself. During the match, Echinda tortures Reina with several submission holds, and then the elven mercenary kicks out the audience because they are too rowdy. Echidna then returns and molests Reina some more and her poisonous snake bites Reina (take a guess where). Reina is eventually rendered unconscious by the poison and Echidna administers the antidote via mouth to mouth.

It's true: Reina has been violated by Echidna in this episode.

- While Reina is being tortured by Echidna, Risty ransacks the inn's reserves and in the bag of gold coins she discovers the double-sided coin that she had given to Reina earlier and Reina had used it as entrance fee for the wrestling match. Risty leaves the coin on Reina's bed and leaves the inn.

One coin is what Risty thinks Reina is worth.

- After regaining consciousness, Reina returns to her room in the inn and discovers that Risty had ditched her. Reina cries herself to sleep and the next day decides that she'll catch up to Risty so they can travel together again.
- Elsewhere, Tomoe and Shizuka have left to tropical resort and are journeying towards the capital city.
- The ED sequence featured a different set of characters from last week, including Risty and Echidna.

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Looks like last week's episode was an anomaly after all. this week Queen's Blade returns to its roots by assaulting us with an excessive amount of fan service. The oil-wrestling match torture session was the highlight/lowlight of the episode and was over the top, but what would you expect from a mercenary who uses a poisonous snake as her underpants? I don't understand why Echidna didn't drag Reina back to Clodette after the match and actually let Reina leave the inn next day. Didn't Clodette hire Echidna to capture Reina? I'm pretty sure Clodette also never meant for Echidna to violate her little sister either, but in the name of fan service, reasonable plots take a backseat. Judging by the previews, it looks like Clodette will personally retrieve her runaway little sister in the next episode, but Echidna will still be around doing who knows what.

As for Risty, her decision to ditch Reina is understandable since Reina is still pretty weak-sauce despite defeating the bunny monster in episode one. Risty may have taken a slight liking to Reina, but she's not Reina's friend and a big bag of gold coins (to help the orphanage of course...) looks a lot more appealing than a girl whose sisters threw you in jail and tried to kill you. It might take a while for Risty and Reina to truly become BFFs (if it'll ever happen), so Tomoe has the advantage at this point since Shizuka is her best bud and both of them can fight well while Reina is still a noob.

Overall this week's episode was similar to episode 01, which means it was shockingly bad. The next episode looks a bit more promising though, but then again how can it not be. Well, maybe Queen's Blade will surprise all of us by hitting a new low lol.

Sekirei 81

After robbing the winners of the second match of their Jinki, Uzume visits her Ashikabi in the hospital.

Summary:
After defeating Sekirei #73 Namiji, Shiina thinks back to the moment when he was captured by Higa's Sekirei, and Higa states that he'll let Shiina see Yukari again if he cooperates. Namiji's Ashikabi Takano runs over to check on his Sekirei, but Uzume wraps him up in her sheets and tells him to hand over the Jinki. Takano refuses to hand over the Jinki and demands that Uzume's Ashikabi stop playing dirty and show him/herself. Uzume admits to herself that her behavior is dishonorable, but for the sake of her Ashikabi Uzume forcefully retrieves the Jinki, leaving Takano injured and lying on the ground. Uzume and Shiina then quickly depart as MBI helicopters approach the scene.

Around and around and around he goes!

Sometime later Uzume sneaks into the hospital to visit her Ashikabi Chiho. Chiho notices that Uzume has been crying again. Uzume tries to lie about it but Chiho states that she knows because she loves Uzume the most. Uzume is moved by Chiho's words and asks her Ashikabi for a kiss. As Uzume is about to leave through the window, Chiho tells Uzume not to do anything dangerous, but Uzume's only reply is "good bye". At this moment, the only thought on Uzume's mind is that she will do anything for Chiho, even if it means putting her own life in danger.

Back at Higa's headquarters, Shiina hands over the Jinki and asks Higa to let him to see Yukari. Higa states that he'll hold up his end of the bargain but he states that Shiina won't be able to make Yukari happy.

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

Higa the jerk gets his first Jinki by forcing Uzume and Shiina to commit highway robbery. Looks like Shiina and Uzume will be stuck running evil errands for Higa since their Ashikabis are being used as hostages and they are not powerful enough to defeat all of the Sekirei Higa and his cronies have under their command. Higa's statement at the end about Shiina not being able to make Yukari happy is interesting, but I think Higa is just playing mind games with Shiina. Well, Higa did tell Yukari that he wanted to marry her, so that could be what he's talking about lol. I doubt Higa will let Shiina go that easily since it's a lot more convenient to use him and Uzume to perform misdeeds. Higa doesn't have to take any responsibility or suffer any real loss if Uzume and Shiina are defeated since they aren't his Sekirei. Forcing other people's Sekirei to work for you is quite a clever tactic, but of course it's also underhanded and dirty. I look forward to the day when Minato and company finally beat down Higa's camp and liberate all the people Higa has been manipulating, but that probably won't happen in a while given how slowly the chapters come out.

Gantz 296

The malfunctioning Gantz Ball starts giving out scores.

Nishi is thinking ahead, unlike the rest of you dumb nuts.

Summary:
As Sakurai's score show up on the display, the Tokyo team notices that under Sakurai's picture is the word "finished". The same goes for Kaze, Takeshi, the two vampires, and Kato, with Kato being the only one with any points (65?). As most of the Tokyo team wonder if "finished" means they are being released from the game, the Gantz ball displays Nishi's score and Nishi has accumulated 102 points and the reward menu appears. Kurono, Kato, Sakurai and Kaze beg Nishi bring back the Old Man, but Nishi chooses a stronger weapon instead and now he has two H-guns in his possession. Reika is up next on the scoreboard and she also has over 100 points. After looking at Kurono, Reika tells the Gantz Ball to revive the Old Man, but suddenly the display on the Gantz ball fizzles out.

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

Arghhh they just had to push the big development off into next chapter! The Gantz Ball was definitely malfunctioning, since some of the point totals seemed to be wrong as I recall the male vampire having points after the Nura alien mission. It also didn't insult any of the players so that's another sign of something going wrong. Nishi predictably behaved like his anti-social self, but given the current situation getting a bigger gun might be the best choice other than cloning/reviving a skilled player like Kurono. Speaking of cloning Kurono, Reika didn't follow through with her little plan even though she had the points. I guess the peer pressure must have been too much. Both Kuronos would probably end up hating her and then fight each other to the death for the right to Tae. Reviving the Old Man probably won't turn out to be the best decision though, as he isn't much of a fighter. Just let the guy stay with his wife in heaven, you darn kids!! Anyways, let's hope the "twist" in the next chapter will be something exciting.

Oh, and it looks like the panda isn't coming back, but the Tokyo team is too concerned about their human friends to worry about our bamboo-eating friend.