Sekirei 85

As the third match gets under way, Minato's lineup and the third party in the match are revealed.

Tsukiumi and Oriha: Hey, long time no see!

Summary:
Minato arrives at the site of the third match accompanied by Musubi, Tsukiumi, and Homura. The third match takes a place at what is usually a busy freeway junction in the city, but the surrounding area has been evacuated for the match. Minato and his Sekirei are looking around of their opponents, and out of the fog emerges Higa and his Sekirei Oriha. Oriha and Tsukiumi instantly recognize each other from the battle before Homura's winging. Oriha wants a piece of Tsukiumi, but Higa tells her to restrain herself. Higa then introduces himself to Minato and asks if Minato ever thought of taking down MBI.

Elsewhere in the junction, Disciplinary Squad members Benitsubasa and Haihane arrive with their Ashikabi Natsuo.

We are back!!!

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

A short chapter this issue (well, all Sekirei chapters seem to be shorter than I wanted), but it delivered quite a bit of material. First of all, we get to see Minato's lineup for the match and his choices of Musubi, Tsukiumi, and Homura isn't too surprising. Musubi is definitely should be participating since she's the female lead, and Tsukiumi the most prominent female character after Musubi so the chances of her being chosen was pretty high too. For the remaining spot, it'd only be surprising if Minato chose Matsu. Homura is Minato's newest Sekirei, so I guess Minato wants to take him out for a test drive, and by that I specifically mean the kissing power-up lol.

The other piece of important info in this chapter is the third party in the match, and it turns out to be the Disciplinary Squad, or at least 2/3 of it. For some reason I thought some random Ashikabi and Sekirei would appear, but having the Disciplinary Squad in the match is much more exciting. Karasuba seems to be missing though, but I suppose the author is saving her up for later in the story. Everything is pointing to Musubi vs. Karasuba as the last fight at this stage of the story, so we can't have Karasuba fight against Minato's Sekirei just yet. Benitsubasa and Haihane have shown that they are formidable fighters, but they are not really super strong. Judging by the fight during the escape story, the two Disciplinary Squad Sekirei are about as strong as Tsukiumi, who is possibly the weakest fighter in Minato's party. Natsuo is present though so Benitsubasa and Haihane will be able to use power-ups, but that applies to Minato and Higa's Sekirei as well.

Lastly, Higa seems to have brought three Sekirei with him to the fight. His question to Minato about taking down MBI is pretty interesting, but not unexpected since Higa has always been shown as an ambitious person who's no afraid of using underhanded tactics to get what he wants. Higa is probably not content with playing under Minaka's rules.

Anyways, this upcoming match should be really interesting, as Minato's party has history with both Higa's Sekirei and the Disciplinary Squad, and of course there's the matters of Yukari and Uzume between Minato and Higa. Now the only important thing left to find out is the rules of the match.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 13

Al is kidnapped by Greed and his chimeras, prompting Ed to come to his brother's rescue.

I didn't know Medusa lived in a butcher shop.

Summary:
Inside the Curtises' home, Izumi states that she's proud that Ed and Al were able to see the Gate of Truth and come back alive, but because of this mistake Ed and Al are no longer her students. The dejected brothers go to the train station while accompanied by Sig. Sig tells the brothers to visit every so often, but Ed and Al thinks Izumi doesn't want to see them anymore. Sig calls the brothers idiots and state that even though they are no longer Izumi's students doesn't mean they can't interact with Izumi as peers. Realizing their mistake, Ed and Al immediately run back to the butcher shop to ask Izumi about how to get their bodies back to normal. Izumi notes that since Al lost all of his body he should have seen more from the Gate, so for now they will work on getting Al to regain his memories. Unbeknownst to the Elrics and Izumi, the gecko chimera Bido is watching them from outside.

Time for an Extreme Makeover, Instant Edition.

Hasta la vista, baby.

At Eastern HQ, after winning a chess match against General Gruman, Mustang informs his five most trusted subordinates (Riza Hawkeye, Jean Havoc, Vato Falman, Heymans Breda,and Kain Fuery) that they will be transferring with him to Central. In the East City slums, the recovering Scar is visited by his old master. Scar's master tells Scar that killing State Alchemists is not the right way, but before Scar can answer, two bounty hunters walk into the tent looking for Scar. The bounty hunters were directed to the tent by Yoki, who had ended up in the Ishvalan refugee camp after being humiliated by the Elrics. The bounty hunters try to grab Scar, but Scar destroy the arm of one of the bounty hunters and kills the other. Scar then tells his master that there's no turning back for him and leaves. Realizing that he can't stay at the camp anymore, Yoki decides to scram and follow Scar instead.

It's not fair for Al to be picking on someone so much smaller.

Dolcetto: You got it wrong! I pee with my right leg up, not left (as in the picture).

Back at Dublith, Al is sweeping in front of butcher shop when Bido throws him a note. Al follows the directions on the note and arrives at the Devil's Nest where he is welcomed by the chimeras Dolcetto, Roa, and Martel as well as Bido. The chimeras wants to know Al's secret about how his soul is attached to the armor, but Al decides to play tough to get and starts beating up Dolcetto. In the ensuing fight, Martel manages to enter Al's body and slow Al down with her flexible limbs, allowing Roa to restrain Al. Al (with Martel still inside) is tied up and brought to the Devil's Nest Bar where he is questioned by Greed, a homunculus who serves as the leader of the chimeras. Al is shocked that homunculi and complete chimeras exist, but Greed states that the chimeras were developed by the military and also puts on a demonstration of his regenerative abilities. Greed states that he wants everything including eternal life, and he thinks Al's body is the answer. Al states that he doesn't remember how his soul became attached to the armor and he didn't perform the feat himself, so Greed states that he'll just have to ask the person who performed the feat.

Greed to Ed: Bravo. If I were your drama teacher, I'd give you an "A" for effort.

Not far away, Ed is walking around looking for Al when he is approached by Bido. Shortly after, Ed arrives at the Devil's Nest after beating Bido up. After seeing Greed's Ouroboros mark, Ed tells Greed to asks the other homunculi since they appeared in the 5th Laboratory which was stationed by soul-attached armors, but Greed states that he can't go ask the other homunculi. Greed then offers to reveal the process of making a homunculi in exchange for Ed's knowledge of attaching souls to inanimate objects, but Ed is in no mood to talk and declares he is going to kick Greed's ass. Greed tells the chimeras to take Al away while he fights Ed. Ed is able to make Greed bleed at first, but Greed reveals his true form where his entire body is covered by ultra-hard carbon.

Back in front of the butcher shop, Izumi and Sig wonder where Ed and Al had wandered off to, and Mason informs the couple that someone spotted Ed heading for the Devil's Nest.

Let's play "Toss the Shrimp".

A regular kungfu master, this one.

Back at the bar, Ed has taken a bad beating from Greed, but eventually Ed figures out Greed's armor and is able to transmute the carbon and then deal damage to Greed. However, Ed's is still in a bad situation as he is injured and losing blood, but suddenly Izumi blows open the door and tosses the unconscious crocodile chimera into Ed as punishment for wandering off. Izumi moves in to confront Greed, but Greed states that he has no interest fighting a woman. Izumi, however, doesn't care about Greed's personal philosophies and kicks the homunculus into the wall after transmuting the carbon on his face.

I wonder why Izumi elected to wear a skirt if she knew she was going to be beating someone up.

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

This was a nice, action-packed episode. Even though the story is what drives the show, the action is gives the show that extra entertainment value. Not only did we get to see some good fights and the debut of Greed's gang, we also touched upon Mustang, Scar, and Yoki as well. Funny enough, all of the people on this wanted poster appeared in this episode. The introduction of Yoki might be confusing for some since Brotherhood decided to skip the mining town adventure where Yoki originally made his debut. Yoki will play a bigger role in this rendition of FMA, but he is still one of the third-string supporting characters, so all anyone has to remember for now is that Yoki as the corrupt lieutenant who lost his post because of the Elrics.

Compared to the manga, the episode cut out a fair bit of material just like last week's show, but it didn't feel as compressed as the previous episode probably because my memory of this part of the story is a bit foggy. The comedy and the action was blended together very well unlike some of the other episodes. The appearance of Greed and his gang of chimeras certainly helped to make this episode better mostly because the group as a whole has a humorous side. It's funny how Dolcetto keeps being beaten up, and Greed's dry reaction to Ed blowing up was well chosen.

The main fight between Ed and Greed was of course well animated, and more importantly the fight showed that while homunculi may have some awesome powers, they are far from invincible. I guess this applies especially to Greed, who doesn't have any more tricks once you solve his carbon shield. His fighting skills aren't that great and his attack power is pretty low. Other than transmuting the carbon armor away, there is another simpler but perhaps more difficult way to beat Greed as we will probably in the next episode.

Watching this episode was a good refresher for me since I already forgotten the details of what happened during this arc. I find it curious that Greed would want a body like Al's in the first place. Sure compared to Greed's current body, Al's has the advantage of feeling no pain and fatigue, but Al's body has a centralized weak spot, can't regenerate, and takes away a lot of pleasures in life (food and women being good examples). I'm not sure if it's worth the trade-offs especially for someone like Greed, who explicitly stated that he wants women. The other interesting part was Greed's offer of telling Ed how to make a homunculus. Since Ed rejected the offer, I don't think anything will come out of it, and I'm not even sure if it's possible for anyone other than a certain someone to make homunculi.

The next episode will be important since it will be where the story completely diverges from that of the old anime. We'll have the Elrics, Greed, Izumi, the chimeras, Alex Armstrong, and some surprise characters mucking around underground. Looks like someone will be showing off their sword skills hehe.

Umi Monogatari 01 - First Impressions

The Summer 2009 season has officially started, and one of the first shows out of the gates is Umi Monogatari ~Anata ga Itekureta Koto~ (what a mouthful... will be referred to as Umi Monogatari from now on), a magical girl series that is inspired by a line of pachinko machines (a device that's a cross between pinbal and slots). Weird eh? Anyways, below is a brief summary of the first episode and my first impressions.

Looks like a cheap ring to me.

Cute SD faces are cute.

You are never going to destroy a ring like this.

Kanon has quite the throwing arm.

Basic Premise:
Two "pure" sister who live in the sea journey to an island where they meet a high school girl, and this chance meeting awakens a hidden power as the world is threatened by an enveloping darkness.

Brief Summary:
Marin and Urin are two sisters who live in the sea with the fishes and whales. One day, a beautiful ring falls into the sea and is recovered by Marin, and Marin decides to go above water to return the ring. Marin and Urin journey to a nearby island where a festival is under way. After looking around, the sisters are able to locate the ring's owner, a high school girl named Kanon who tossed the ring into the sea because it was given to her by her nerdy ex-boyfriend. Marin and Urin try to return to the ring, but Kanon tosses the ring into the forest after catching sight of her ex-boyfriend with another girl. The two sister go off to look for the ring and become separated. Marin eventually meets up with Kanon again and they decide to look for Urin instead after the fireworks have started. Elsewhere on the island, Urin is frightened by the fireworks and runs to an abandoned shrine. On the shrine grounds, Urin spots the ring lying in a crack next to a sealed coffin. Urin is able to retrieve the ring but her efforts have broken the coffin's seal, and the young sea maiden starts hearing strange voices telling her to open the coffin. Urin complies and pushes open the lid, and suddenly dark smoke streams out of the coffin and engulfs the island in a fierce storm. The dark smoke also contaminates the ring, but Urin doesn't notice and hides beside a tree with the ring in her hands.

Are you sure she's one of the good ones? She looks pretty wicked to me.

It's hard to take your eyes off of that.

My Precioussss...

Isn't it common sense not to follow the order from strange voices?

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

The first thing I noticed when watching this episode was that the OP sequence was so bright! Everything has this shiny white tint over it. Thankfully the brightness didn't persist into the episode itself or else my eyes would hurt. I suppose you could say that ZEXCS know how to do their sunlight effects.

Anyways, the episode itself was decent. The animation qualify is quite good, especially evident in the underwater scenes. In regards to the story, not much happened in this episode until near the end where Urin opened the coffin. Most of the episode was character introductions and laid-back comedy, which didn't have much substance, but the SD faces of all of the characters were kind of cute. Judging by the absence of a villain going "Muhahahaha!" in the OP sequence, I'm guessing that the primary focus of the series will be on laid-back comedy and bonding between the two main characters Marin and Kanon. We have the standard contrasting personalities setup with Marin being carefree and airheaded and Kanon being cynical and depressed. We also have Urin, and current indications point to some comedic girl-to-girl friendship bonding involving Marin convincing Kanon to loosen up with saving the world on the side.

As noted by several other anime bloggers, the most impressive part of this episode was the ED sequence with Marin and Urin (a rather unfortunate name for us English speakers) watching a slide show of The Little Mermaid. The sequence was cuteness overload on Urin's part and it had a coherent story to boot. The song wasn't bad either and was better than the OP song. It's certainly one of the more memorable EDs I've seen.

Overall, the debut of Umi Monogatari was decent but not overly impressive (except for the ED). I'll at least stick around for a few more episodes to see where the story is going. It should be a watchable series if the animation quality can be maintained and the story doesn't go down the toilet. As for whether or not I'll blog this show episodically, I still have to check out the other new shows of the season before making the decision.

To-Love-Ru 154

Run coerces Rito into becoming her boyfriend for a day so she can show him off to Magical Girl Kyouko.

Summary:
Rito is out for a walk and runs into Run. Run asks Rito to be her boyfriend for a day, and Rito has no choice but to agree when Run turns on the tear ducts. Run drags Rito off to meet her friend who turns out to be Kyouko, the star of Lala's favorite TV show. Rito is initially stiff during the conversations with Run and Kyouko, but after finding out Kyouko is half-alien Rito begins to talk freely about how Lala is a big fan of Kyouko's. Seeing how Rito is so happy talking about Lala, Run becomes a little depressed and stops clinging onto Rito, and this is noticed by Kyouko.

While there's no question that the principal is perverted, the conduct of Rito and Kyouko seems pretty suspect as well.

Suddenly, Rito and the girls are spotted by the perverted principal, who quickly shreds his clothes to chase after the girls. Rito and the girls quickly run into an alley where Run takes out a bomb to ward off the principle. Unfortunately Run drops the bomb before she can toss it, and the explosion rips off all of Run's and Kyouko's clothes, giving Rito a full frontal view of both girls. As the principal approaches, Kyouko uses Rito to shield her naked body and torches the principal with a fire blast. After the principal is defeated, Rito runs off to get the girls some clothes while Run and Kyouko hide in the alley. Run admits that Rito isn't really his boyfriend, and Kyouko states that she had already noticed. Kyouko agrees that Rito is pretty cute though and promises to help Run in her pursuit for Rito. A short while later, Rito returns with Lala who can use Peke to fix Run and Kyouko's clothes, and Lala is elated to meet Kyouko in real-life much to Run's annoyance.

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

A random chapter about Run with nothing out of the ordinary other than Kyouko appearing, but the chapter wasn't bad since there was lots of ecchi-ness. Just like Haruna (who has Oshizu), Run now has a supporter in her pursuit for Rito. I don't think Run's position will improve much even with Kyouko's support, but I'm glad with the arrangement since this probably means that Kyouko will be appearing more regularly. Kyouko did say Rito was kind of cute, so there's a chance she'll fall for him too, especially given how Rito is first guy (of a similar age) to see Kyouko naked. As for Run, she may not have Rito's heart, but she now knows that Rito is weak to girl tears (well, most guys are weak to girl tears, especially from cute girls), so at least she can get him to go on dates by wetting her eyes a little.

Naruto 453

Madara orders Sasuke's group to take a detour.

Madara/Tobi: Hey Sasuke, Konoha is actually in the other direction.

Summary:
While on their way to Konoha, Sasuke and his gang are intercepted by Madara. Sasuke thinks he is done with Akatsuki, but Madara states that Sasuke had failed to catch Killer Bee. Sasuke doesn't care and attacks, but his strike goes right through Madara. Madara tells Sasuke that going to Konoha would be pointless anyways as Pain had destroyed the village and Zetsu arrives to reveal that Danzo, who was involved with the Uchiha massacre, is now Hokage. Because of Pain and Sasuke's actions, the five Kages had begun to move and are holding a summit, and Madara wants Sasuke's group to go to that meeting instead. After thinking things over, Sasuke agrees to go to the meeting instead of Konoha. Zetsu splits into two and the lighter half leads Sasuke's group to the meeting, while the darker half stays to talk with Madara. Madara reveals his plans to have Sasuke replace Nagato for syncing with the Gedo Mezo, but Madara notes that it's useless if he can't control Sasuke. Madara also states that he is sick of Naruto messing things up and will accelerate his “Moon's Eye” plan.

On the outskirts of Konoha, Omoi and Sarui are still demanding that Naruto and Sakura give them Sasuke's info. Sakura is crying and in disbelief about what Sasuke had done, but Naruto remains calm and suggests that Omai and Sarui's master is probably still alive. Naruto then agrees to help the Kumogakure ninjas search for their master.

Far away in Sunagakure, Kazekage Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro leave for the Kages' meeting.

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

Over the last four or five chapters, we have Sasuke is returning to Konoha; Sasuke is on his way to Konoha; Sasuke is getting closer to Konoha; and suddenly, Sasuke is not going to Konoha. Wait, what!? After spending the last couple of chapters building up for Sasuke's big return, I feel cheated that Sasuke is now taking a detour. At the very least, Sasuke should be allowed to see what's left of the village so that shock can fill his eyes, and his cronies can make fun of him for having no sense of direction. Looks like the Sasuke-Naruto reunion has been put off once again.

Anyways, Sasuke and his gang are back running errands for Madara again, although it's unclear what Madara and Sasuke's plans are for the Kages' meeting. Presumably Sasuke will want a piece of Danzo, but we don't know if Madara has any plans other than to disrupt the meeting. Finally, poor Zetsu, he doesn't know that Sasuke plans to set him on fire for fun.

Bleach 363

Ukitake and Kyoraku's fight against Stark is interrupted by unexpected arrivals.

Nice fingernails there, big guy.

Summary:
After “firing” a cero to drive back Stark, Ukitake states that Stark is getting help from Lilinette, then he will be giving help to Kyoraku. Kyoraku notes that he'll have to use bankai eventually, but Ukitake tells Kyoraku not to use his bankai where anyone can see. Stark starts wondering how Ukitake is able to fire a cero, and Ukitake tells Stark to keep shooting to find out. After firing and being fired upon three times, Stark figures out that Ukitake is absorbing the cero using one of his swords and firing it back out with the other. Stark wants to see what happens if he fires 1000 shots at Ukitake at once, but he is forced to defend when Kyoraku sneak attacks from behind.

Suddenly, a garganta (hollow inter-dimensional portal) appears nearby and Wonderweiss steps out of the portal followed by a gigantic creature.

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

Hey it's Wonderweiss! I completely forgot about this guy, but here his is leading some gigantic creature into the battlefield. It seems that Kubo doesn't think the Ukitake + Kyoraku vs. Stark battle is interesting enough, so here comes some more characters. I don't think there are any named arrancars left to appear in the battle, but Kubo can always pull out a character from nowhere. Wonderweiss is not ranked but he is supposed to have Espada-level powers, and the giant monster behind him may be even tougher given how it has Menos masks as finger nails. Hopefully the new arrivals will be threatening enough to make Ukitake and Kyoraku use their bankais that they don't want anyone to see. They had better not be something as boring as Soifon's bazooka.

One Piece 548

Luffy and company escape through the Gates of Justice thanks to someone making the ultimate sacrifice.

Maybe not as impressive as Moses splitting open the Red Sea, but still pretty impressive.

Summary:
The prisoners celebrate after getting on the Marine battleship, but their cheers are short-lived when the other battleships start firing at their ship. The Marines and Magellan thinks that the escapees are trapped by the Gates of Justice, but to everyone's surprise the gates actually opens for Luffy's ship to pass through. At the Impel Down generator room, Bon (disguised as Magellan) orders the guards to close the gates as soon as Luffy's ship passes through. Realizing that he had been had, the real Magellan rushes the generator room to confront his impostor. Back on the ship, Luffy finds out about Bon's plan and wants to go back to help Bon, but Jimbei states that would make Bon's sacrifice useless. Jimbei then hands Luffy a Den Den Mushi to talk the Bon presumably for the last time.

Back at the generator room, Bon gives up his disguise and is in the process of taunting Magellan when Luffy's voice suddenly rings through his Den Den Mushi. As Luffy and the other prisoners ask Bon to say something, Bon is overcome with emotions and tells Luffy to make sure he saves Ace. At this point Luffy's ship has just passed the Gates of Justice, and the call is disconnected as the gigantic gates close behind the ship. While they have successfully escaped the prison, Luffy, Ivankov and many of the prisoners start crying because they realize their escape came at a heavy price.

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

I was wondering where Bon was in the latter parts of the last chapter. Well, here he is, staying behind to open the gates so Luffy and the other escapees can get away. I guess Bon was built exactly for this "heroic sacrifice" role. Bon probably faces certain death now that Magellan has found him out, but Bon might still live given how people rarely ever die in One Piece. The only guy I remember dying was the Hyena dude who was killed by Flamingo, and of course people died during Robyn's flashbacks. Don't be surprised he shows up again alive and well somewhere down the road.

Anyways, thanks to Bon's sacrifice, Luffy and company have crossed the Gates of Justice and are heading to Marineford. While Luffy, Jimbei, and Ivankov's gang are on the same page about saving Ace, Crocodile and the others probably has other plans. Croc wants a piece of Whitebeard so he might end up replacing Blackbeard for the World Government. Buggy and the other prisoner probably want to get as far away from Marineford and Impel Down as possible, but they'll probably be dragged along since they are weak. With all the admirals, vice admirals, and most of the Shichibukais at Marineford, Luffy's gang seems woefully inadequate, but the defensive forces are probably preoccupied with Whitebeard's crew, giving Luffy an opportunity to sneak in during the chaos. Luffy also has Hancock and perhaps his grandpa on his side too. In any case, the battle at Marineford should be quite the gigantic mess given how many powerful fighters are involved.

100,000 Unique Visitors!

I never thought the day would come so soon, but as of today 100,000 unique visitors have wasted their time reading the product of my wasted time. These days my humble little blog averages about 600 unique visits and 1000 page views per day. Not all that impressive compared to the more popular anime/manga blogs (ex most of the blogs in my blogroll), but the numbers already far exceeds my expectations and is more than the traffic of all of my other websites combined. I wanted to do a big traffic analysis of this blog (because I'm such a nerd), but I'll save that for the first anniversary post in about a month's time.

Anyways, a big thank you to all the people who bothered to visit my blog (except for the spammers, but thankfully few have appeared thus far), and special thanks to the other bloggers who were nice enough to put my blog on their blogroll and to the people who comment here every once in a while. And finally, I have to thank the Google Gods for putting my posts high up on the search results lol (no thanks to Yahoo or MSN/Live/Bing... maybe they hate Blogger blogs). Without everyone's support, this boring, badly-written blog would still be struggling to get 10 visitors per day as it did at the beginning, so once again: Thank you. (even to those who loaded the page without reading a single word of what I wrote, because that unique page view probably earned me 1/100 of a cent)

Now that the blog is past the 100,000 mark, I suppose the next logical goal would be the big 1,000,000. At current traffic levels, it'll probably take this blog 4-5 years to reach that number. I doubt if I'll be writing this blog for that long, but hopefully I'll still be around for the 200,000 mark haha.

Gantz 302

Sebastian scares the bejesus out of Kikuchi and causes chaos in the city square.

Nothing is going right for Kikuchi these days.

Summary:
After the short chase, the man stops and turns towards Kikuchi, revealing himself to be none other than Sebastian. Kikuchi wonders what's going on with his contact, but Sebastian starts making crazy faces and starts talking about God. In order to give Kikuchi some examples, Sebastian looks at old lady nearby and the old lady falls lifeless to the ground. Sebastian then looks at the road and two cars suddenly collide. The frightened Kikuchi pulls out his pistol and demands Sebastian stop whatever he is doing, but Sebastian points towards the sky and seconds later a passenger jet plunges into a nearby building. As the wreckage burns nearby, Sebastian starts being teleported away, and the shocked Kikuchi has no idea what's going on.

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

At the end of last chapter, the "preview" message said something would go terribly wrong and that's exactly what happened. Sebastian has been pretty suspicious all along given how he seems to know everything and has all these contacts with the Gantz factory, and he was pretty much confirmed to be guilty two chapters ago for arranging the big interview. This chapter didn't really give us much insight about what Sebastian is or what his goals are, but my guess is he's probably one of the people who runs the Gantz show or directly working for those people. I remember the Nura alien also talking about God, so perhaps Sebastian is in the same camp?

Anyways, Kikuchi is still alive despite a plane crashing nearby, but I'm not sure what he can do at this point given that he has lost his main contact. One thing Kikuchi could do is sneak into the Gantz Ball factory, but Kikuchi would probably be putting his life on the line. Whatever Kikuchi has planned, it probably won't happen next chapter since the next issue is all about disasters happening all over the world.

Summer 2009 Anime

It's been another ~13 weeks already? Guess it's time again to look at the upcoming anime season. Just like my other pre-season posts in the past, this post is not really a preview, since I'm far too lazy to put together something like that and just about every other anime blog has posted one already. Instead, this post is just a list of anime series that I will blog about and/or look at (because I'm so self-centered), but I'll stick with the misleading post title since people are more likely to click thinking this is a preview. For those who want real previews, there's a list of them at the end of this post.

Shows that I'll definitely blog:

None at the moment. I'll wait until I watched the first episodes of everything in the list below to see if anything is worth blogging episodically. If I do blog series it'll probably be one of the short ones such as Canaan. This is because I only blog two or three anime series these days and I want to leave some room for the fall season, specifically for To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. I plan ahead lol.


Shows that I'll check out:

Bakemonogatari
The show has good buzz, and I'm down with fantasy series about magic and vampires.

Canaan
The show also has good buzz, and even better it's only 13 episodes, which means it won't take up any room in the fall season.

Umi Monogatari
Decent buzz, one season long, and nice visuals. I haven't watched a magical girl series for a long time, so let's see how this one turns out.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni
I haven't watched Higurashi no Naku Koro ni at all, but I've heard good things about it (lolis killing each other), so I'm going to check this series out since it's along the same lines as Higurashi. I don't usually watch murder mysteries, so this will be a chance to broaden my anime horizons so to speak.


It's a fairly short list. I planned it this way because I want to limit my lineup to six-seven shows so I have time to deal with other more pressing, real-life matters (such as remembering a couple thousand obscure abstruse recondite words for my GRE so I can get into grad school). As you can may be able to tell, my list is highly influenced by all of the previews from other anime blogs, so a big thank you to those bloggers for putting in all the hard work (so that I don't have to).

For those who stumbled onto this page looking for actual previews, here's a list of summer 2009 previews from the blogs on my blogroll.

- Eye Sedso
- METANORN
- Mikotoism
- Moe Moe Rabu
- Random Curiosity
- Sea Slugs!
- Tenka Seiha
- THAT
- Yoroshiku!
- 見ないで! ひとり言

Tenjou Tenge 125

The Takayanagis gang up on Souichirou while Makiko attempts to perform a special spell.

... all I see is a crazy, perverted old man staring at a paper fan.

Summary:
As Makiko holds Souichirou's back with her shield, Masataka notices that Mitsuomi froze up just like everyone else did before. Makiko tells Mitsuomi not to be ashamed as it's only normal for a human to be afraid of death. After Makiko repels Souichirou's attack, Mitsuomi has a vision of Shin telling him to live on, and this gives Mitsuomi renewed determination to fight against Souichirou. Before Mistuomi can attack, Masataka cuts in front and hits Souichirou from behind with an elbow strike, and even Dogen gets in on the action by hammering Souichirou with a powerful palm strike.

With the three Takayanagis ready to fight, Makiko tells the Takayanagis to hold off Souichirou for a minute while she attempts something. Makiko then calls upon her own Dragon Fist powers and starts gathering energy. Souichirou realizes something is wrong and teleports behind Makiko in an effort to stop her. Emi throws some kunais at Souichirou's eyes but Souichirou blocks the kunais with his eyelids. Emi's attack however allows Sagara to grab Souichirou for a German Suplex, and Mitsuomi and Masataka follow up with a double uppercut on Souichirou.

Makiko finishes charging but instead of going after Souichirou, she stabs the unconscious Maya in the chest through the magatama shape (the Dragon Gate symbol?). Makiko notes that Maya had said Souichirou's life can be used to end one hundred year war, but Makiko refuses and instead decides to use all of her power to revive Maya.

Hmmm... Maya looks different. Her eyes are smaller, and her neck is too long.

Note: the whole chapter is interlaced with a flashback sequence of a pregnant Makiko leaving her village with Sohaku. Makiko has been treated badly for her whole life because of her heritage, but she still wants to keep living and notes that nobody appreciates the joys of living more than Sohaku.

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

Hmm... I thought Makiko would fight valiantly but ultimately end up being defeated by her husband/son, but Makiko instead decides to pass on the torch and revive Maya. I suppose Maya had to wake up sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner. So since Maya is Amateratsu, is Souichirou Tsukiyomi? Actually, I don't really care anymore since that stuff about Amateratsu and Tsukiyomi confused the hell out of me. As with many chapters of Tenjou Tenge, this month's rendition also features an interlaced flashback, but it wasn't too confusing since Sohaku and the younger Makiko are not too hard to recognize.

Just like last chapter, I'm disappointed that Mitsuomi is still in the picture, alive and kicking, but hopefully it'll be Maya's show starting from next chapter so Mistuomi can stop hogging all of the panels. It'll be Dragon Gate vs. Dragon Fist; who will win? I'm sure the fight will drag on for a while though, since Aya (bringing the Dragon Eyes) and Reiki have to make a physical appearance, and Masataka will have to do something else other than hitting people with elbow strikes.

And finally, Dogen getting in on the action was quite hilarious. He is pretty boring or even annoying when he sprouts all that stuff about the "True Warrior", but he's actually not bad as comic relief (whether intentional or not).

Review: Kurokami: the Animation

Another anime season is nearing its end, which means it's time once again for some end-of-series reviews. Today's (half-assed) review is for Kurokami: the Animation, a Sunrise production that was entertaining despite having a botched plot.

Kurokami: the Animation, produced by Sunrise, is an adaptation of the manga Kurokami (also known as Black God) by Dall-Young Lim and Sung-Woo Park. The story features a high school student named Keita Ibuki who has been emotionally detached ever since his mother died in a car accident. One day Keita meets a strange girl named Kuro and treats her to a bowl of ramen. Kuro is actually one of the Tera Guardians, which are beings with supernatural powers that are tasked with keeping the balance of the world. After several more run-ins with Kuro, Keita is injured in the heart during a fight between Kuro and another Tera Guardian. In order to save Keita's life, Kuro makes a special contract with Keita by exchanging his heart for hers, and thus Keita is unwilling dragged into an adventure that could change the fate of the world.

Kurokami: the Animation had a strong introduction with its first two episodes. The show presented some interesting concepts with the three-people-in-one Doppleliner system and how the Tera Guardians are tasked with maintaining the system and thus the balance of the world. The most impressive aspect of the first two episodes was the action: the fights being fluid, well-choreographed, and were sufficiently violent without being excessive for a shounen series. Sunrise, when they are up to it, definitely has the ability to produce eye-catching action sequences. From the first two episodes, Kurokami looked like it was on the way to becoming a decent action series, but unfortunately it didn't quite turn out that way.

Although named after the manga, Kurokami the Animation only utilizes the basic concepts and characters designs from the manga. The plot, presumably conceived by Sunrise, was very different than that of the manga and it's divided the series clearly into a first and second half. Except for the strong introductory episodes, the first half of the Kurokami lacked direction as Kuro and Keita spent most of time wandering around while accomplishing little. It certainly didn't help that the fights were going downhill and that Keita was portrayed as worse than useless in several situations. The subplot involving Shinobu had potential for drama as Shinobu was responsible for the death of Keita's mother, but the only thing that came out of the situation was a mediocre fight between Kuro and Shinobu's Tera Guardian Hiyou. The first half of Kurokami had the potential to be exciting, but the show just didn't execute on either the plot or action fronts and was therefore boring.

However, everything changed in the middle of the series when the main villain Reishin is betrayed by his subordinate Kuraki, who then takes over the position of main villain for a few episodes. After that everything went nuts: people came back from the dead; random character came out of nowhere and disappeared in the same episode; and there were several big twists in the story. While the first half the series basically went nowhere, the second half of Kurokami went all over the place. There is no denying that the plot structuring for the second half was terrible, but compared to the boring first half, the second half of Kurokami was actually more entertaining. The quality of the action climbed back up, and through all the crazy twists the second half was able generate genuine moments of excitement and anticipation that the first half sorely lacked. Maybe the sense of excitement was solely because I wanted to see how ridiculous the story would become, but I honestly thought that the second half of Kurokami was kind of fun to watch.

In conclusion, Kurokami is by no means a good anime series due its botched plot, but it wasn't absolutely terrible either. The series had an interesting premise, good production quality and decent action, but unfortunately these positives weren't enough to make up for the shortcomings of the story. Kurokami certainly wasn't the worst series I watched in the spring 2009 season though (that honor of course belongs to Queen's Blade), and the second half was entertaining from a purely action standpoint. Kurokami isn't a series that I would recommend, but it's watchable especially if you are really bored and likes shows with hand-to-hand combat.

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

Other thoughts that didn't quite fit into the review:

• The last episode of the show was a bit unnecessary, as episode 22 already brought closure to the story. Episode 23 is basically a collection of extra scenes and a short epilogue. The episode would be a nice DVD bonus, but it doesn't really fit as a "last episode". The epilogue did generate what perhaps is the only touching moment in the series though.


• How come Excel is immortal (or ages slowly) unlike the other contracted characters? The show never bothered to explain why Excel's contract with Steiner was special.


• Kurokami, with its ridiculous second half, reminds me of Linebarrels of Iron, which similarly threw all sensibilities out the window in its second half. I bashed Linebarrels pretty badly in my review, but Kurokami didn't seem nearly as bad despite pulling off the exact same thing in its second half. After thinking about it, here are some excuses that I've come up with for my differing views on the two series:
  
  
  
  • The first half of Linebarrels looked like it was going somewhere, while the first half of Kurokami looked like it was going nowhere. Therefore in the case of Linebarrels, flushing the plot down the drain in the second half was a step back from the first half, while for Kurokami it was actually a step up since (for me) senseless entertainment is still better than being bored.
  
  
  • During the season when I was watching Linebarrels I was also watching Gundam 00 (which was superior in production quality) and ToraDora! (which was superior in plot and character development). In contrast, in the last 11-13 weeks I was watching Queen's Blade alongside Kurokami, and Queen's Blade was one of those shows that makes every other show look better lol. The point is my subjective opinion of a show is partially determined by my opinion of other shows in my lineup.
  
  
  • Kurokami's final fight wasn't great, but it was still a lot better than Linebarrels' cheesy and woefully inadequate final battle.
  
  

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 12

Ed and Al visit their master Izumi Curtis in Dublith.

For some reason, people like to welcome Ed by hitting him in the face.

Summary:
After arriving in Dublith, Ed and Al visit the butcher shop operated by Sig Curtis, who is the husband of their master Izumi. Sig leads the Elrics back to his house where Izumi is resting, and Izumi welcomes the brothers by kicking Ed to the curb (for becoming a dog of the military and tossing Al onto the lawn (for not training enough). Ed and Al are surprised that their master is so full of energy, but Izumi soon spits out some blood and then shares a lovey-dovey scene with Sig.

The Curtises are a loving couple despite their formidable appearances.

Now inside the Curtises' home, Ed and Al asks Izumi about the Philosopher's Stone, but Izumi states that she hasn't done any research into the stones. However, Izumi did run into an alchemist who was researching the stones, and the name of that alchemist is Hohenheim much to the Elrics' surprise. The mention of Hohenheim makes Ed angry, but Al is calmer and asks if their father had said anything, and Izumi states that Hohenheim mentioned something about fulfilling his lifelong dream. Later during dinner, Ed and Al recall how they helped deliver a baby in Rush Valley and how amazing the experience was. Izumi agrees that human birth is a wonderful event and tells her students to be proud of their lives for this reason.

And around and around they go on Izumi's arm. That actually looks like fun.

At night, Ed and Al lie on their beds in the guest room and reminisce about how they met their master. Years ago, a river near Resembool was about to overflow. As the sandbag wall is about to collapse, Izumi, who was passing by, walked up to river banks and used her alchemy to build a tall wall to hold back water. Ed and Al were among the people watching at the time and they begged Izumi to accept them as students. Izumi initially refused, but she changes her mind after learning that Ed and Al are living on their own.

You'd eat the rabbit when you are hungry enough.

Ed to Al: Just one itsy bitsy bite, please?

However, before teaching the Elrics any real alchemy, Izumi dumped the brothers on an unpopulated island to hone their skills. The brothers had to survive on the island for a month without using alchemy and at the same time figure out the meaning of the words "All is one, one is all". During the first few days, the brothers had trouble getting food and spent most of their time feeling hungry and depressed, but one night Ed finally came to a conclusion that he had to survive no matter what, and after that he and Al had were able to catch dinner and light a fire. After 30 days had passed, Izumi returned to the island to ask the Elrics for the meaning of "All is one, one is all", and the brothers answered that "All is the world, and one is me". Izumi laughed at the answer and after that day started to train the brothers in combat and alchemy. One day while training with Izumi, Al wondered how Izumi can use alchemy without using a transmutation circle, and Izumi cryptically answered that one can do it after seeing the Truth.

This reminds me of Lord of the Flies for some reason.

Izumi looked like she was using Tai Chi.

Back to the present, Ed realizes that Izumi must have been to the Gate of Truth to be able to use alchemy by clapping her hands. The next day Ed and Al try to ask Izumi about the Gate of Truth, but Izumi ends up confronting the brothers about what happened to their bodies. After learning what the brothers had done, Izumi and Sig reveal that Izumi had also tried human transmutation to bring back her stillborn baby, and in exchange she lost a number of her organs. Izumi states that Ed and Al must feel awful about what happened to their bodies. The brother try to put on brave faces but Izumi hugs them and tell them that they don't have to pretend anymore. Ed and Al then starts saying that they're sorry.

Ed and Al were long overdue for a hug.

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

This episode continues Brotherhood's tradition of blazing through the storyline. This episode was compact even when compared to the manga, as the animators have decided to cut out Mason completely from this Izumi-visit plus the training flashbacks. Mason, if you don't remember, is Sig's employee at the butcher shop and is also the masked man who harassed Ed and Al while they were on the island. I suppose Mason's role in Ed and Al's training wasn't pivotal, but his presence added a certain flavor and more depth to the story. Without Mason as the masked guy, the Ed and Al island flashback was pretty bland. Little Ed and Al spent so much time talking about the "circle of life" stuff, which, while perhaps theoretically important, wasn't very interesting to watch. They did have a informative scene of Izumi trying to revive her baby with alchemist which was not in the manga (not at this point of the story anyways). Overall this episode was too quick, lacked the emotional impact of the original, and therefore was a bit disappointing. That's probably because I read the manga and watched the original series lol.

I guess we might as well move on quickly to Greed and his chimeras, which should at least bring some action to the table if nothing else.

To-Love-Ru 153

Rito/Peke overheats and malfunctions during gym class due to Lala's sexy body.

How come Yui always gets the best costumes?

Summary:
Having promised Momo to play the part of Peke for the day, Rito (in Peke's body) serves as Lala's gym uniform while Lala is going through the stretches. Rito becomes embarrassed and aroused due to the fact that he feels every inch of Lala's curves, but he decides to stick with the plan since so that Lala doesn't know that it was Momo's mistake. Unfortunately, Rito's natural reactions trumps his emotions and he starts to malfunction. First Rito loses control of the tightness of Lala's gym shorts, and later he loses control completely when Lala goes on a run with Haruna and Oshizu. Rito unwilling transforms into a bikini and starts tightening up on Lala, while at the same time he starts putting costumes on all of the nearby girls. Rito/Peke eventually overheats and shuts down, and Momo runs over to give Lala a temporary Peke badge of the gym uniform while she takes Rito/Peke home.

On the way back home, Momo apologizes to the unconscious Rito for putting him through this ordeal. Momo states that Rito is a kind person and this is why she's attracted to him. In the morning after Rito has been separated from Peke, Lala tells Peke to tell everyone if she's not feeling well, but Peke has no recollection of what happened and doesn't know what Lala is talking about.

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

Just as expected, Rito could not control himself in the presence of Lala's sexy body and malfunctioned, causing a big mess. Fortunately for Rito though, he didn't get dumped out in the middle of the girl's locker room, so at least he doesn't have to go to hospital after this ordeal. As stated by a commenter who posted on my last To-Love-Ru post, Rito basically did what Saruyama would have done in the same situation, but of course Rito didn't do it on purpose. Saruyama would probably have continued terrorizing all of the girls until he was expelled from Peke.

On another note, I found it interesting that Peke put costumes on other people that she is not currently attached to. Those costumes could be permanent or maybe have a time-limit since Peke didn't need to stay in contact. If Peke can use this ability when she's functioning correctly then Lala wouldn't have to worry about suddenly becoming naked when Peke falls off... but that'll never happen since Lala becoming naked is one of the primary running jokes of the series.

Overall the last two chapters were fairly decent. We already knew that Momo had the hots for Rito a while ago, and she didn't make much of move towards Rito in these two chapters. So basically there were no new developments in terms of the plot or the storytelling formula, but at least these chapters stuck to what To-Love-Ru does best and were kind of funny.

Naruto 452

Naruto and Sakura try to dig up some info on Danzo from Sai, but they are confronted by two of the Kumagakure ninjas who are after Sasuke.

Summary:
After learning that Sasuke has been labeled a missing-nin, Naruto and Sakura want to march off to confront Danzo, but Kakashi stops them stating that they will be playing right into Danzo's hands. At makeshift Hokage's office, Danzo orders Sai to keep an eye on Naruto. Sai wonders about Danzo's plans for Naruto, and Danzo states that he'll just monitor Naruto for now as Naruto is a hero of the village.

Sai: Check out my Fruit Roll-Up tongue tattoo. Cool eh?

A bit later, Naruto and Sakura run into Sai on the outskirts of the village. Naruto and Sakura want Sai to give them info about Danzo, but Sai points to a seal on his tongue and states that he can't talk about Danzo. Naruto and Sakura are appalled that Danzo would put such a seal on his own men, but Sai states that Danzo is doing this for the good of the village. Naruto and Sakura then start talking about Sasuke and this moment they are confronted by Omoi and Karui. After a brief scuffle, Omoi and Karui reveal that Sasuke had helped Akatsuki kidnap their master (Killer Bee) much to the shock of Naruto and Sakura.

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

The chapter is mostly setup for Sasuke's big homecoming. Danzo doesn't look like he is in a hurry to do anything yet, but that will probably change especially if Sasuke shows up. As for Sai, I don't think the talk seal alone is enough to stop Sai from tattling on Danzo. The tongue seal certainly doesn't stop Sai from thinking about Danzo's secrets, so unless the seal guards against writing and memory extraction by interrogators then Sai can easily reveal the info some other way. It's possible that Sai just doesn't want to tell Naruto and Sakura since he is still loyal to Danzo, or maybe Danzo, given how paranoid he seems to be, does have the other safeguards in place to prevent information leaks. If I recall correctly, Sai has been sent to assassinate Sasuke before so I can't see him really helping Naruto and Sakura "save" Sasuke.

With Sasuke (ever so slowly) on his way to Konoha, at least Naruto, Sakura, and Team Ssamui wouldn't have to aimlessly look around. I wonder if Killer Bee will show up seeing how Sasuke and his students are going to be in Konoha at the same time.

Bleach 362

Kyoraku in shikai vs. Stark in his true form.

Lilinette (the pistol): What do you think you are doing!?
Stark: Giving you a rectal examination.
...
That's just wrong.

Summary:
After combining into one, Stark and Lilinette (now Stark's pistols, with the tip being her head and the hammer being her butt) start arguing with each other. While Stark is distracted, Kyoraku launches a sneak attack but Stark is able to counter with a cero from his pistols. Kyoraku is forced back by the counterattack and thinks that Stark's pistols can shoot something other than ceros. Stark denies the fact but Kyoraku thinks Stark is lying. Stark then tells Kyoraku to show his bankai, but Kyoraku doesn't want to if Stark is only going to shoot ceros. Stark then fires a barrage of ceros at Kyoraku, and Kyoraku has trouble dodging all of the blasts. Just when it looks like Kyoraku is about to be hit, Ukitake steps in the way with his shikai and launches a cero-like blast at Stark.

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

Good news: looks like it really will be Kyoraku and Ukitatke vs. Stark (and Lilinette). Considering Stark is the Primera, it isn't too farfetched if both Kyoraku and Ukitake have to go bankai. Now that we have a better look at Stark, I think my assessment of his costume being a pimp-disco-cowboy is completely accurate. Other than the costume, it's also pretty funny how Lilinette is still conscious after combining with Stark. If the hammer of the pistol is her butt, doesn't that mean Stark is touching her rear end more often than not? I guess this confirms that Stark is a lolicon/pedophile lol. As for Kyoraku's assessment of Stark's pistols, of course Stark's pistols can shoot something else. It'd be incredibly boring if Stark could only shoot ceros, and the “other” attack had better not just be the black cero that Ulquiorra likes to shoot, because even if you change the color it's still a cero. Hopefully the attack will be something funky like Stark's costume hahahaha.

Queen's Blade 12 (Finale)

Reina and friends battle the Swamp Witch's minions in front of the entrance to the capital.

Way to get yourself surrounded and drag the rest of the group behind, Reina.

Long time no see... the elven no pantsu,

Summary:
Reina and company face off against Melona, Airi, Menace, and their army of skull warriors. A couple of Elina's attendants are killed by the skulls, but the main warriors manage to hold their own. Tomoe and most of the good warriors make it past the arch at the bridge entrance and the skull warriors are unable to cross that point, but some of the other warriors (namely Reina) are being surrounded by enemy forces. Nanael is watching the fight from the air and wonders if she should help Reina, but she is called to the walls of capital by the priestess Merfa. Merfa serves under the current Queen Aldra and has been ordered by Aldra to ask Nanael to initiate the Queen's Blade tournament. Nanael is more than happy to comply, and Merfa does the good warriors a favor by destroying all the skull soldiers with a spell.

So how many times has Nanael been squashed by someone's oppai?

Why can't the real Tomoe dress like this? (This is Melona by the way)

Stab and miss! But somehow Melona (the Reina on the left) still gets sent flying.

With their army gone, Melona, Menace, and Airi are left to fight against the first group of warriors plus Cattleya (and her son), Yummil, Nowa, Allean, and Shizuka. Reina engages Melona in a one-on-one fight where Melona tries to use her shapeshifting to gain the advantage, but Reina knocks her away with the Dragon Tail. While Airi and Menace have called it quits, Melona is not giving up just yet. The shapeshifter jumps into the water and transforms into a giant half-woman, half serpent monster. The warriors are not sure how to handle the monster, but with some help from Nanael, Reina gets up to the monster's face and stabs the monster in the eye. While the monster is bleeding rainbow-colored lights from its eye, Aldra appears on the walls of the capital and finishes off the monster with her petrifying gaze.

This is really is Yummil's worst nightmare.

What kind of dark magic monster spews rainbow-colored light from its wounds?

After the battle, Nanael goes back to heaven while the other warriors praise Reina for her bravery. After the chatter dies down, Aldra announces that it's time to decide the new queen and she opens the gates to let Reina and friends into the capital. As the warriors are walking towards the gate, Aldra and Reina glance at each other and Reina introduces herself as the Wandering Warrior.

Trust me, Reina. You don't want to enter a staring contest with Aldra.

There's a new ED for the finale, featuring a sepia-toned highlight reel of the series coupled with some instrumental music.

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

Hmmm... the finale certainly could have been worse, but it still wasn't good by any means. The animation was inconsistent, and the battles were pretty mediocre. On the plus side, every character except for Echidna and Irma was present and had some part in the battle. The fan service was present and wasn't too excessive, although the best fan service in the episode was about the parts unseen (ex Nowa and Allean's no-pantsu). It was still mostly Reina's show though, and despite the magical skill improvement we saw in episode 10, Reina still spends half of her screen time being battered around by the three stooges while displaying only fleeting moments of brilliance. I suppose if it wasn't for Echina's training Reina might have been killed by the skull soldiers lol.

Anyways, looks like Reina and everyone else are off to the real tournament. I wonder if Melona is still around since she was petrified by Aldra, but the second season promo indicates that Miss Bunny Shapeshifter will be back. And yes, everyone who cares probably knows by now that there will be a second season, much to the joy of some and chagrin of many. The second season is called Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne or Queen's Blade and the evil eye, and the "evil eye" probably refers to Aldra, who really does have an evil eye. Since I blogged this season of the show, I guess I'm obligate to blog the second season, but I haven't decided yet. If there are a ton of good shows during the season that the second season will air then perhaps I won't episode-blog Queen's Blade. I'll probably watch the second season though, and I'll check out the DVD OVAs if I can find them.

Overall, Queen's Blade had its share of expected and unexpected aspects. The expected was that the show stuck to its premise of skimpily dressed women fighting each other and the series was generally bad. It's probably not the worst anime ever made, but it certainly wasn't good despite having some decent episodes. The unexpected was of course how far the explicit fan service went (especially considering that it was a network TV show) and that there were actually two or three decent episodes in the series. Despite all of the show's shortcomings, the one undeniable benefit of watching Queen's Blade was that it made all the other shows I watch seem a lot better. For example, almost everybody have dismissed Kurokami as shit, but I thought the show was actually getting better, and this partly has to do with me watching Queen's Blade during the same period of time lol.

One last note about Queen's Blade: for a show that's supposed hated by the vast majority, Queen's Blade actually got a surprising amount of coverage even after the initial buzz died off. My Queen's Blade coverage proved to be just as popular as my FMA: Brotherhood coverage, and FMA is a lot more popular. Maybe this is because everyone and their dog is watching FMA and so many blogs cover that show, but I think Queen's Blade was fairly successful in reaching its target audience lol.

Gantz 301

Kikuchi learns "the truth" behind Gantz.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, all in the form of a morbidly obese woman who mutters random numbers.

Summary:
Inside the giant mansion, Kikuchi and Sebastian follow Heinz Bernstein and his bodyguards up some stairs into a room. With Sebastian serving as a translator, Kikuchi gets right down to business and asks about the Gantz balls, and Berstein admits that he is the one who arranged everything. Berstein explains that the battles between the Gantz teams and aliens are streamed all over the world and bets are placed, and people who place bets include actors, politicians, and even royals. Kikuchi wonders how Bernstein got the idea, and Bernstein points to a morbidly obese woman lying on a bed and muttering what seems to be gibberish. Berstein states that the woman is his daughter and was born with mental disabilities. One day, Bernstein's daughter started muttering random numbers, and Berstein hired researchers and professional in an effort to understand the message. These efforts proved to be successful and following his daughter's instructions, Bernstein was able to get his company out of debt and expand 10 fold. Using the numeric formulas from his daughter as a base, Bernstein and his scholars were able to build the black balls and place them all over the world. At this point, Kikuchi becomes nervous and wonders why Berstein is telling him all of this. To Kikuchi's surprise, Berstein laughs and states that he has already been interviewed by the CNN and BBC, but neither news networks were willing to take him seriously.

Later back in his hotel room, Kikuchi is stressed out and wondering what he should do. Suddenly, Kikuchi notices someone is just outside the door (Kikuchi heard the person's footsteps?), and the freelance journalist grabs his holdout pistol and gives chase. Kikuchi chases the man to an open area where the man stops and turns to face Kikuchi (not sure if it's Sebastian or not).

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

BOO YAH!!! I was right!!!... or at least partially right about the explanation for Gantz. Turns out all the battles really were some sick-minded entertainment for the rich and powerful (not alien overlords as I've stated in my last Gantz post), or at least that's what Bernstein wants people to believe. Obviously the real answer isn't nearly as simple, but at least I guessed right about the explanation they were going to give. What can I say, I guess I really am psychic.

Back on topic, this was certainly an intriguing chapter. Bernstein obviously didn't give the real answer, but I wonder how much of what he said is actually true. Did his daughter really give him all the instructions and technologies for Gantz, or is his explanation a complete lie. Or perhaps Bernstein's daughter is really an alien or a communication device for aliens to instruct foolish humans to do stuff. The possibilities are endless, and there are still so many questions such as where all the aliens came from. I suppose the more pressing question (other than the real and entire truth behind Gantz) is whether or not Kikuchi is going to survive this trip. Sebastian has been pretty suspicious all along, and Bernstein might want to shut Kikuchi up just in case, especially if Kikuchi somehow learns the real truth.

Overall, the plot is building up really nicely for the big reveal. Supposedly Gantz will be released back to back for three weeks, so we don't have to wait half a month for the next chapter. Yippee!

One Piece 547

Jimbei and company try to secure a ship while Luffy and Mr. 3 have trouble holding off Magellan.

Summary:
Inside Impel Down, Magellan calls upon his more powerful poisons and Luffy's wax gloves and shoes are no longer effective. Magellan then summons a giant poison demon called “Hell's Judgement” which forces Luffy and company to retreat towards the main gate. Out on the sea, Crocodile and Mr. 1 are busy securing one of the Marine ships, while Jimbei uses his water blasts to hold off other Marine ships.

Foot odor x 1,000,000!!!!!!

At the front gate, Bon is glad to see Luffy approaching but unfortunately Magellan and his poison demon are in hot pursuit. At this moment, Ivankov with the giant head, using his Death Wink as propulsion, bursts out of the floor with Inazuma in his arms. Luffy receives a Den Den Mushi that's connected to Jimbei. Jimbei informs Luffy that his group has secured a ship and although it's still far away from the dock, Jimbei tells Luffy and the others to keep running and jump into the water. The other prisoners are skeptical of the idea, but Luffy trusts Jimbei because Jimbei is Ace's friend. Luffy and Mr. 3 combine for a Candle Wall/Gear Third attack to knock Magellan back, and then Ivankov uses his Death Wink to launch everyone off of the dock. To everyone's surprise, the prisoners all land on a school of whale sharks summoned by Jimbei (who is whale shark merman), and Jimbei directs the sharks to carry the prisoners to Marine ship his group has commandeered.

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

Whale sharks to the rescue!? The surprises just keep on coming. Tthat was a rather convenient turn of events for the escapees, but wouldn't most of whale sharks become sea king lunch? Anyways, if this is how Luffy and company escape from Impel Down then it's pretty disappointing, since I was hoping for a Luffy vs. Magellan rematch. I suppose fighting Magellan would take up time that Luffy cannot afford to lose, and Ace's execution will be where the real action is. Magellan can always summon a Marine ship to chase after the prisoners if Jimbei and Crocodile didn't destroy all of the other ships, but at the moment the chief warden won't be able to give chase since he can't swim. Hopefully something interesting will happen in the next chapter, because up until now the escape from Impel Down hasn't been all that exciting.

In other news, we still don't know what's going on with Shiryuu and Blackbeard, but at least we know that Ivankov and Inazuma are still alive.

Sekirei 84

The third round of matches is about to begin.

That is some kind of "welcome home".

Summary:
After returning from the shopping trip with Musubi, Minato tells his other Sekireis about the meeting with the Ashikabi who wanted to escape from the city. Minato realize he had made the decision to reject the offer without consulting his Sekireis, but all of his Sekireis agree that running away is the wrong choice. To satisfy her curiosity, Matsu hacks into the MBI network and finds out the Ashikabi Minato had met has been taken into custody and his Sekirei (#78) is no longer functioning thanks to the Disciplinary Squad. Matsu notes that currently there is no Sekirei who can stand up to Karasuba except if Sekirei #1 decides to intervene. Musubi suddenly pops into the room and promises that she'll become strong enough to face Karasuba, and her sentiments are echoed by Tsukiumi and Kusano. Minato asks Matsu about what happened to Sekirei #1, but he is quickly shushed by Homura and Kazehana, both of whom warn Minato that a horrible demon will appear if he keeps asking about #1. At this moment Miya appears much to the shock of Matsu, Kazehana and Homura. After telling everyone that the food is ready, Miya tells Minato that Sekirei #1 died along with MBI's Takehito Asama.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Before Minato can fully digest Miya's words, his cellphone starts ringing. As the Sekirei symbol is shined on to the sky, Minaka announces that the third round of matches is about to begin. The match will consist of three Ashikabis and each Ashikabi can bring up to three Sekireis, while other rules will be announced at the site of the match. Now that Minato is a confirmed participant, all of his Sekireis except for Matsu want to go to the match. Meanwhile, Higa also receives the phone call to participate.

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Another filler chapter, but the good news is that the third round is finally starting! Even better, it's going to be the highly anticipated Minato vs. Higa showdown!! There is quite a bit of bad blood between the Minato and Higa given what Higa has done to Minato's sister Yukari, Kusano's best friend Shiina, and Uzume, but of course at least Minato doesn't know these things yet. Once everything gets out in the open, it should be an explosive match up. We don't know the other rules for the match yet, but it's still three teams with up to three Sekireis each like the second round. This of course begs the question of which three Sekireis is Minato going to take to the match. I think Musubi is probably going since she is the female lead, and Matsu is definitely not going since she's better utilized as strategic support. Kusano is the weakest and most inexperienced out of the remaining four, but she is connected to Shiina who is being manipulated by Higa, so she might be chosen (by the mangaka, not Minato lol) because of this connection. But then again, I don't think Higa will try anything funny during the match as Minaka would probably sic Karasuba on anyone who breaks the rules. Minato's other three Sekireis are pretty similar in terms of strength. Tsukiumi might be a little weaker than Homura or Kazehana, but she is more prominent in terms of character. Kazehana is probably the most powerful and most experienced, while Homura is pretty powerful as well. It's too hard to call right now, but I don't think Minato can go wrong choosing any of his Sekireis.