To-Love-Ru 159

Lala invites everyone to a day of fun at the new water park, but a dangerous aquatic beast is on the prowl.

It's a proven fact that Lala has a profound influence on people's love lives.

Summary:
At Mikado-sensei's clinic, an aquatic alien reports that he had lost his dangerous pet. Meanwhile, Lala phones up all of her friends and invites them to go visit the brand new water park. Almost every character shows up in the water park including even Kyouko and Run who are there to perform a concert. While the girls play around, Saruyama remarks that Rito can now talk to girls in swimsuits without fainting, and hypothesizes that this has something to do with Lala staying in Rito's house. Rito then stares at Lala in the pool and wonders if Saruyama's words are true. While everyone is having fun in the water park, a pair of prowling eyes emerges from one of the pools.

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

Another swimsuit fan service arc, but we also have some hints of relationship development. Lala and Haruna and back in "friendly-competition" mode; Yami still hasn't gotten over what happened last chapter; and perhaps most importantly Rito is showing more signs of swaying towards Lala. What I really want to see in this mini-arc is that the monster threatens both Lala and Haruna which forces Rito to make a choice as to who to save first. That'd be pretty awesome, but I doubt it'll happen since this is To-No meaningful development this week-Love-Ru after all. Well, I'll be satisfied if the mini-arc ends hilariously, and given the situation I'd say we have plenty of chance for swimsuit malfunctions.

Bleach 368

Continued coverage of the Vizards and shinigamis vs. Aizen's minions.

Wonderweiss is biting on more than he can chew.

Summary:
In one part of the battlefield, Hisagi states that he'll use what Tosen had taught him to “open Tosen's eyes”, but Tosen states that someone who has no fear like Hisagi has no place on the battlefield. In another part of the battlefield, Wonderweiss is pissed that his favorite pet Fura (the big Gillian-barfing monster) was taken out by Mashiro. Wonderweiss forms a cero with his mouth but ends up getting a mouthful of Mashiro's boots and is sent crashing into a building while Gin watches with amusement. Elsewhere, Hitsugaya suddenly chickens out asks Hiyori if he can leave and go fight Aizen. Hiyori berates Hitsugaya for his request and the two end up tussling with each other while Lisa goes to fight Harribel by herself. Finally, before confronting Barragan, Hachi greets Soifon but Soifon pretends that she doesn't know Hachi. Hachi then attacks Barragan with kido but unfortunately Barragan can “age” kido as well.

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

Is Mashiro awesome or what? That Kamen Rider-esque costume isn't just for show. It was hilarious how Mashiro kicked Wonderweiss in the mouth just as he was forming a cero. Wonderweiss probably isn't defeated yet given how easily he took out Ukitake, but right now he looks pretty beat up. It certainly doesn't help that Gin is having trouble not laughing out loud in the background.

As for the other fights, Tosen is spewing his typical philosophical BS. Meanwhile, Hitsugaya seemed to have suddenly lost 40 IQ points when he asked if he can skip Harribel and go get walloped by Aizen. Or maybe Hitsugaya was being considerate and didn't want to get in the way of a good catfight. Finally, Barragan's powers are just too… overreaching, but I think Hachi can still deal damage when he applies his time-reversing healing powers.

On a completely unrelated note, this is my 500th post on this blog. Hurray!

Naruto 458

The meeting of the five Kages, plus Sai telling Sakura that she's a bad influence.

Summary:
At the meeting of the Kages, the five leaders and their guards argue and almost come to blows. Gaara thinks he should speak first because he's bad-ass a former host; the Tsuchikage thinks Gaara is a noob; Danzo is still looking devious; the Mizukage wonders if she should reveal that her predecessor was actually being manipulated by wicked forces; and the Raikage wants everyone to shut up. The Tsuchikage eventually reveals that some of the villages had hired Akatsuki at one point or another to do their bidding, and Danzo reveals that Akatsuki's leader is Madara. At this point, the moderator Mifune suggests that the five villages form a strategic alliance, and just like before Danzo nominates himself to be the leader as Konoha is the only village with a host.

Back at Konoha, Sai tells Sakura that Naruto got beat up over his love for Sasuke and he went with Kakashi and Yamato to beg for Sasuke lifes. Sai then states that Naruto loves Sakura but also that Sakura causes Naruto pain.

(Top) Sai to Sakura: Take that, you no-good floozy!
(Bottom) Danzo: I should be the leader because I'm the only (fake) one-eyed pirate in here!

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

Hilarious chapter. Good ol' Danzo, always so quick to nominate himself for any position of power. I guess he must have forgotten the part that Naruto is an ally of Tsunade and doesn't listen to him at all, but the other Kages probably don't know that yet. The discussion between the Kages was mildly interesting though, since at least a few of the villages are guilty of supporting Akatsuki at one time while the Raikage is guilty for building his muscles army. It'd clear that none of the Kages trust each other, so this so-called alliance will be more in appearance than anything else. When push comes to shove, these guys probably wouldn't hesitate ripping out each other's throats.

Moving on, I guess Sai must have fallen in love with Naruto, or else he wouldn't have gone so far as to call both Sasuke and Sakura floozies. Looks like Naruto is on his way to building a nice little bisexual harem. Don't forget that Hinata is still being ignored despite her confession and death+revival. At least we are getting some relationship development on the Sakura and Sai fronts though.

Maria Holic Fan Art

It's been over two months since my last artwork post. This just goes to show what a slow artist I am lol. Anyways, here is a piece of Maria Holic fan art inspired of course by the anime's trippy OP, which was (unfortunately) one of the best parts about that series. In the picture, we have Mariya (lead singer/guitar), Matsurika (THE lead guitar), Nanami (second guitar), Ryuuken (base guitar), Sachi (drums), and Yuzuru (keyboard) giving a concert to a bunch of drooling and nosebleeding Kanakos. Matsurika probably wouldn't like it too much if Mariya pulled the "smash the guitar" trick.

The picture started out as a pencil sketched, and it was lined and colored using Photoshop. It took way too long to color, but at least I managed to finish it before the second season of the anime lol. I know some of the lighting is probably wrong, but like always I'm too lazy to find and fix them. I always put way too much effort into the sketch and then get tired of the picture during coloring. The fact that I'm slow at sucky at coloring certainly doesn't help.

This is probably the last piece of artwork I'll post here for a while (not that I'm not slow enough already), since for the next month or so I'll be devoting most of the my free time to writing my statement of intent/purpose for my grad school application. Although every school have different requirements, I'm just going to write a generic one to start and then edit it into different version when I actually apply. Hopefully writing this statement won't be too much of a pain.

One Piece 552

The epic battle between Whitebeard's forces and the Marines is about to begin.

Summary:
After crossing the Gates of Justice, Ivankov mentions that there's no way that Dragon would let his son Ace get executed, but Luffy nonchalantly reveals that Ace is actually Gold Roger's son. At Marine HQ, Whitebeard follows up his impressive entrance by using his earthquake-creating powers to form two massive tsunamis. As the tsunamis hurtle towards the Marines from the sides, a flashback sequence of how Ace joined the Whitebeard Pirates starts playing:

Ace was once a hotshot pirate with his own crew. He had met Skanks, fought Jimbei to a draw, and was eventually defeated and captured by Whitebeard. Ace had tried and failed assassinate Whitebeard many times, and eventually he chose to join Whitebeard's crew and rose to the commander of the 2nd Division in Whitebeard's fleet. After Blackbeard had killed a crewmate and fled, Whitebeard had a bad feeling about Ace going after Blackbeard, but Ace went after Blackbeard anyways.

Back to the present, Ace wonders why Whitebeard and the guys came to save him even though he caused so much trouble, but Whitebeard and the crew don't care and declare that they are going to save Ace no matter what. As the tsunamis are about to crash down upon Marine HQ, the stage is now set for the battle that will literally shake the world.

I wonder how the Marines are going to get out of this one.

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

After months of build-up, the epic showdown between Whitebeard's band of pirates and the World Government forces is finally underway. I wonder if this will be a fight to death for both sides or Whitebeard will just try to grab Ace and then run. If they go all out, then losses will be significant for both sides which can leave them vulnerable for a third party to take both sides out in one fell swoop. Given all the surprises we've had already, I wouldn't be shocked at all if some other powerful forces showed up. In the short term though it's going to be Whitebeard and allies versus the Marines and the Shichibukai, and there should be plenty of interesting match-ups. Hopefully Whitebeard's crew will have some formidable members to match up against the powerful admirals and Shichibukai, since it's unlikely that Whitebeard can take on all of them by himself. As for Whitebeard himself, creating tsunamis via earthquakes is a pretty awesome power, but wouldn't it be more straightforward to just collapse Marine HQ with an earthquake? I suppose Whitebeard is trying to take out some of the fruit users with the water, but wouldn't that put Ace and his own fleet into danger as well? There are pros and cons to both methods, but I have to admit that the tsunamis look more impressive lol. Whitebeard definitely has style hahaha.

Tenjou Tenge 126

The revived Maya struts her stuff.

I guess this constitutes as "friendly fire".

Summary:
Thanks to Makiko's Dragon Fist, Maya regains consciousness for the first time after her brutal fight with Kagiori. The sight of Maya's naked body causes Masataka to nosebleed, and this makes Dogen thinks that his son is injured. Now standing on her own, Maya remarks to Mitsuomi that he broke their promise of meeting in the tournament finals; she wanted to be the one to save Mitsuomi from his heart condition, but he managed to do it himself. Not content on being ignored, Souichirou charges at Maya but Maya stops him in his tracks by telling him to back off. Maya then notices that all of Mitsuomi's subordinates are bowing towards her and wonders what's going on. At this moment, Makiko walks besides Maya and covers her up with a sheet. At the same time, Makiko explains that everyone is bowing because they revere and fear Maya/Amaterasu and that only Amaterasu has the power to change fate. After delivering her message, Makiko's finally succumbs to strain of using the Dragon Fist and her body shatters.

In the spiritual plane, Aya and company can feel the sadness coming from Souichiro's consciousness and tears starts flowing down their eyes as well.

Even Souichirou has to respect Maya's boobies powers.

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

Took long enough for the translations to come out this month. I was thinking about blogging the RAW if the scans won't come out. Anyways, Makiko bites the dust, but that was expected given how she's been in pretty bad shape throughout the course of the story. You can even say Makiko's only real function was to open Maya's Dragon Gate and unleash Amaterasu, but it's a little sad to see her go. At least Makiko knows when to die unlike a certain muscle-bound guy with funny hair who makes Rocky impressions (I meant Mitsuomi in case you didn't get it).

The other big development is of course that Maya is back! She was certainly quite impressive in her debut as Amaterasu, even stopping Souichirou with just a scream, although I think the impressiveness has more to do with Maya's glorious naked figure than anything else lol. I think all the guys (including Souichirou) are so mesmerized by her curves that they can't do anything else but stare or bow down. The only two guys who weren't affected were Dogen and Mitsuomi, and this is because the former is a pervert and the latter has probably seen Maya naked a few times before (bastard...). Oh! great sure knows how to draw them gratuitously well-endowed female figures, although in some of the panels Maya's neck is way too long.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing what Maya's show off her real powers, and I'm also hoping that there will be some development on Aya's side as well since staying at a giant baby, no matter how freaky it is, gets a little old after a couple of chapters. And yes, the images I used are censored (by the scanlators, not by me) so I can post them without giving a warning. Read the raw if you want to see the naughty bits.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 17

Maria Ross is found guilty of murdering Maes Hughes and various characters in Central scramble to react.

I just find it wacky that Al can polish his own head like this.

Summary:
In a military prison, Henry Douglas is questioning Maria about Maes Hughes' murder. Despite the significant amount of evidence that suggests otherwise, Douglas is sure that Maria is guilty. Outside, Alex Armstrong is refused entry by the guards even though he is Maria's commanding officer. As Alex walks away, Danny Brosh arrives and reports both he and Maria fired a shot on the day of the 5th Laboratory incident. Brosh had reported the incident but the military court isn't even considering the evidence, and this leads Alex to think that someone wants Maria to be the scapegoat.

At the Central Hotel, the Elrics and Winry are hanging out in the brothers' room. Winry wonders what Ed and Al will do from now on, but she's surprised when Ed asks her what she thinks. Winry states that she hopes the Ed and Al will get their bodies back, but on the other hand she doesn't want them to go into dangerous situations. Al remarks that Winry is very gentle and considerate, and this causes Winry to hit him out of embarrassment.

At the rundown apartment, Felman receives the daily paper and is shocked by what's on the front page. After reading that Maria had been found guilty of Hughes' murder, Felman immediately phones in to Mustang's office. Back the hotel, Ed and Al also find out about the news and leave the hotel.

Barry to the guards: Want to see my other trick?

Isn't Barry awesome? Maria agrees.

In the military prison, Ling is begging the guards to let him out, but the guard's attention is drawn to a commotion down the hall. The prison is actually under attack by Barry the Chopper, and thanks to his immortal body Barry is easily able to knock out all the guards. Ling asks Barry to let him out, and Barry agrees after hearing that Ling is from Xing. Barry and Ling then walk over to Maria's cell and Barry hands Maria the daily paper with the news of her guilty verdict. Barry tells that she only has two choices: stay and get executed, or follow him and escape. Neither choice sound very appealing to Maria, but she is not content to die just yet and thus follows Barry and Ling out of the prison. Meanwhile, Henry Douglas learns of the prison break and gives out the order to capture Maria and her cohorts and the permission to kill them if they resist.

This not the time to be a drama queen, Maria.

Quit posing, Mustang. Your coolness was gone many episodes ago when Riza called you impotent.

Out in the street, Barry, Maria, and Ling run into the Elrics, who are shocked that Maria and Ling are with Barry. Ed wants Maria to explain about Maes' murder, but Barry tells her to run down and alley while he holds off the Elrics. Maria runs down the alley and is met by Mustang and a subsequent bright flash of light. Back on the street, Barry and Elrics spot the explosion coming from the alley. Barry knows that he did his job and runs away with Ling, while the Elrics rush in to see what happened. At the end of the alley, the Elrics find Mustang standing over a burnt corpse with Maria's prison tag. Ed and Al take their turns confronting Mustang, but Mustang coldly states that it's just orders from the higher-ups. Later, Douglas and other military personnel arrive on the scene. Douglas alleges that Mustang orchestrated Maria's prison break out so he could kill her and avenge Hughes with his own hands, but Mustang denies these allegations.

Alex shows off his dynamic range.

At the morgue, the Elrics, Mustang, and Alex Armstrong wait for the coroner Knox to conduct the autopsy on Maria. Knox exits the autopsy room and states that he has identified the body as Maria Ross based on dental records, but most of the body is unrecognizable. Knox asks if Mustang is happy now that he has avenged Hughes, but Mustang chooses to ignore the question. After Knox walks away, Alex starts getting emotional about losing Maria and Mustang tells Alex to take a vacation in the east.

For Felman, the more the un-merrier.

In the chamber with the caged chimeras, Envy reports to Lust that everything had gone as planned and now Mustang's underlings are becoming apprehensive of their commander. Back at Mustang's office, Riza asks for some vacation time which Mustang allows. After Riza leaves, Mustang starts talking on the phone with a woman named Elizabeth much to the chagrin of his remaining subordinates. In the courtyard behind the apartment Felman and Barry are staying in, Fu and Ran Fan arrive after Ling called for them using smoke signals. At the Central Hotel, Alex Armstrong arrives at the Elric's room and punches Ed on the right arm. Without giving Ed a chance to speak, Alex determines that Ed's automail arm is broken and thus needs to make a trip back to Resembool. Alex then drags Ed away while telling Al to stay put. Ed wonders what's going on, to which Alex answers that it's an order from Mustang.

Looks like Alex has the same talent as Maes for dragging people away.

In the chamber full of chimeras, Envy reports that the person who helped break Maria out was Barry the Chopper, but unfortunately he was not able to locate Barry due to lack of manpower. To help located Barry, Lust points to a beastly-looking man in one of the cages who she also refers to as Barry the Chopper.

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

Business sure is picking up in FMA: Brotherhood. Mustang basically deals with the Maria issue in a somewhat unexpected way and sets the wheels in motion for his next plan. The episode hints that Mustang ordered Barry to break Maria out of prison, but I don't quite understand why Felman was left out of the loop. I guess Mustang thinks Felman is too whiny lol. On the other hand, Barry the Chopper was pretty awesome in this episode, but then again Barry the Chopper in FMA: Brotherhood is just awesome in general. The bad guys seems to be parading their own version of Barry the Chopper around, and it'll be interesting when the Barrys actually meet each other.

Okay, I'm trying my best, but since I read the manga it's hard for me to really appreciate or speculate on the plot without spoiling anything. Anyways, Bones did a pretty decent job with this episode, and you can feel that the plot is moving towards something big. I always found a little strange that the mangaka chose this time (when everything is starting to come together) to move Ed and Alex Armstrong out of town, but there are still plenty of characters left in Central to throw a party. Mustang is obviously on the move, and so are the homunculi, and the two sides are going to smash together sooner or later. The next few episodes should be quite entertaining and exciting if Bones can keep up their standards.

CANAAN 04

After Maria's kidnapping in the last episode, Maria is depressed while Canaan decides to go say hello to Alphard.

Maybe Canaan should have became a stand-up comedian instead.

Summary:
After what happened in the transit tunnel, Maria returned to her inn and locked herself in the room. While Minoru is banging on the door begging to be let in, Maria realizes that she was just lying to herself when she thought that Canaan was a normal girl. Meanwhile, Canaan is back at her rundown apartment treating her injuries. After the "break-up" with Maria, Canaan wonders if she is going to lose someone important again, and this makes her think back to her time with Sham, the man who taught Canaan her combat skills. Canaan and Siam became close but one day Sham was killed by Alphard during an operation. Canaan still thinks about avenging Sham, but Sham had warned her not to be caught up with hate. Despite Siam's warning, Canaan decides that she'll pay a visit to Alphard, who will be attending a party in town later.

The taxi company didn't fire this guy for landing his cab on top of a building? Wait, that's probably the reason why the company will never fire him.

Yunyun is a girl of many talents, but playing erhu is not one of them.

Back at the inn, Minoru finally convinces Maria to open the door and takes her out to dinner to cheer her up. After being taken to the restaurant by the awesome taxi driver, Minoru and Maria enjoy some off-season crab while Yunyun supplies some lovely music with an erhu in the largely empty restaurant. After the dinner, Maria decides to take a stroll on her own despite Minoru's protests. With Maria gone for now, Minoru calls back to his editor's office to see if anything was found on the people with strange marking. The editor's secretary states that the photos Minoru sent were are too low-quality, but the editor had commented that the strange markings on the people looked like blood vessels converging together.

Alphard sure cleans up nice...

... and Liang Qi agrees.

Somewhere in the city, a bunch of protesters are handing out flyers about the police trying to cover up the disappearance of an entire village. In a nearby cafe, Canaan's handler Natsume is talking to Santana (the green haired girl Hakkoo's boyfriend). Santana refuses to accept Natsume's payment because the operation isn't complete, while Natsume wonders if Santana wants to wipe away his past just like he wiped away the village. At the end, Santana leaves without taking the money despite Natsume telling him to use the money to get something nice for Hakkoo.

Yunyun to the rescue!!!

No Yunyun, you're the 8th wonder of the world.

Meanwhile, Maria is revisiting the places the she and Canaan had gone to together. Maria eventually comes upon an alley where three men are drinking beer, and at this moment Maria finally comes to the realization that Canaan was using violence to protect her during many of their previous encounters. As the three men walk over to investigate Maria's strange behaviour, Maria yells in Japanese that she is Canaan's friend (and men, being Chinese, don't understand a word of what she's saying). Before the men can get their hands on Maria, Yunyun suddenly appears and whisks Maria down the alley. After saving Maria, Yunyun lectures Maria about this not being her country and is about to leave, but Maria clings on and wants to learn more about Yunyun and Canaan.

Is Canaan trying to grab Alphard's booty here?

Maybe you guys should get a real room instead of trying to get it on in a restroom.

At the big party, Alphard is in the restroom touching up her makeup but she knows that Canaan is hiding in one of the stalls. When the two are finally alone in the restroom, Alphard states Canaan has sunk down to the same level as her and is acting through hatred. Canaan takes the first shot, but after a quick scuffle Alphard is able to pin Canaan against a wall. Alphard likens hatred to mud and states that she has already endured the disgrace and gotten back on her feet. Alphard then puts a few rounds into wall around Canaan to hammer home her point, and she states that Canaan still has entertainment value. Canaan escapes before security arrives, but she is now haunted by Alphard's words about hatred.

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

This episode revealed a lot of important info, but at the same time it also raised more questions. My first question is about Canaan's tattoo. We know that Canaan and Alphard both have similar tattoos on their left arm, but Canaan obviously didn't get her tattoo for Alphard. Canaan seems to have gotten the tattoo because of Sham, but Sham doesn't seem to know that the tattoo is about. This also leaves the question about Alphard's tattoo, but at least we are pretty sure that she has some connection to Sham as well. There's of course the big question of what kind of operation Sham had Canaan running and what Alphard is trying to do, but the series will probably (or hopefully) provide answers to these.

Another scene that raised questions was the meeting between Natsume and Santana, and the two are in cohorts but they don't seem to be that "good" either seeing how Santana supposedly wiped out a village. Given what Natsume had said, we know that Hakkoo definitely has some useful powers (other than showing off her boobs). Hopefully we'll find out more about what these people are up to as well.

As for the episode, it was okay but I found the confrontation between Canaan and Alphard to be a little disappointing. I guess the show is just teasing us for now. Looks like Canaan's haXX0r eyes don't work against Alphard lol. Alphard was pretty impressive though since a gal who can kick ass in a dress scores big points in my book. As for Maria, I'm glad that she eventually came to her senses about Canaan, but the scene with the three beer-drinking guys was just weird. I guess Maria was supposed to be a weirdo anyways so that's probably the reason she was acting strangely. I think Maria's logic was to provoke the men so that Canaan would come to her rescue, but Yunyun is by no means a bad substitute. Looks like we'll finally find out more about this bun-stuffing girl who can hold down like 10 part time jobs at the same time.

To-Love-Ru 158

After being sprayed with Celine's pollen, Yami forces Rito to go on a date with her.

Would you let Yami feed you?

Summary:
Celine had gotten drunk after drinking cola from the fridge, and now she is running on the streets with Rito and Lala trying to catch her. Celine runs into a park where Yami is sitting on a bench and she sprays Yami with her pollen. Lala grabs Celine and goes home, but Rito is “borrowed” by Yami who is now infatuated with Rito thanks to Celine's pollen. Yami first decides to treat Rito to some taikyaki. After seeing a woman feed a taiyaki to her boyfriend, Yami tries it herself and jams a half dozen taiyakis into Rito's mouth. Rito has to go to a washroom to clear his mouth, and afterwards Rito notices that Yami has changed her outfit. Yami explains that she used her transformation ability to change her clothing and asks what Rito thinks, and Rito states that the clothes suit Yami. Yami and Rito continue to walk together and Yami gets embarrassed by Rito's glances. A person bumps into Rito from behind, and Rito ends up groping Yami. Yami would have normally pulverized Rito, but in her current state Yami instead gets real close to Rito and wants to experience a kiss. Despite the temptation, Rito manages to hold his ground and push Yami away. At this moment, the effects of Celine's pollen wears off, and Yami instinctively slaps Rito away. Now back to her normal self, Yami wonders why Rito declined the kiss, and Rito states that it would have been hurtful since Yami wasn't in the right state of mind. Yami calls Rito an idiot for thinking of the person who wants to kill him, but she flashes a smile and states that she likes idiot. Because of Rito's good performance, Yami promises that when it comes to the time to kill Rito, she'll give him a quick and painless death.

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

Instead of making progress with girls who are already infatuated with him, Rito continues to solicit other girls to join his harem, and this week he actually managed to make some progress with an assist from Celine. It's pretty obvious that deep down inside Yami has feelings for Rito that prevents her from slicing and dicing him, so in a way Celine's pollen merely made those feelings stronger for a few hours. It's curious though that Yami wasn't as crazy as the other people who were sprayed Celine's pollen several chapters ago, and she also remembers about what happened while she was intoxicated by the pollen. This is probably because Yami is a trained assassin with a lot of discipline, or maybe the pollen's effect on everyone is different. Anyways, Rito probably won't be eating any taiyaki any time soon after this date. It was pretty smart for Rito to reject Yami's kiss though, since afterwards Yami would have killed him for sure just out of embarrassment.

One Piece 551

Whitebeard and allies make a big entrance at Marine HQ.

Summary:
While everyone else is still reacting to the news that Ace is Roger's son, Garp thinks back to the time where Roger asked him to take care of Ace's mother and when he introduced the young Ace to the young Luffy. Back on the tower, Sengoku announces that Whitebeard took Ace in for the purpose of raising Ace into the new Pirate King, and so this execution has much more meaning than most people thought. At this moment, a subordinate reports that the Gates of Justice in front of Marine HQ has opened on its own and there's no communication to the power room. In front of the gates, Luffy and his group wonder why the gates have opened.

Back at Marine HQ, a large group of pirate ships allied with Whitebeard suddenly appear in front of Marine forces. Soon after, four ships from the Whitebeard Pirates surface in the middle of the bay behind the Marine battleships. Whitebeard's ships have been coated with the resin and used to underwater route to sneak into the bay. After the ships surfaced, Whitebeard emerges on the deck of his flagship and tells Ace to wait a little longer.

How is he Whitebeard!? He doesn't even have a beard!!

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

Whitebeard has finally his appearance, and the fight for Ace's life is on. Not much really to talk about here since we don't really know much about Whitebeard's allies, so it's hard to even speculate on match-ups. The Marines did make a dumb mistake with their formation though, and it looks like they are surrounded by the pirates. On the other hand, some unknown forces have opened up the Gates of Justice to let Luffy's group in. The unknowns could be part of Whitebeard's group, or possibly it might be Dragon. On a somewhat related note, the scene of Buggy pretending that he opened the gates through some sort of miracle was pretty funny. Buggy might not have many real skills, but he sure knows how to posture at the right moment lol.

Bleach 367

The Vizards and remaining shinigamis join forces.

Wonderweiss is stunned by the awesomeness of Kamen Rider.

Summary:
Shinji goes after Aizen but ends being nicked on the forehead by Tosen, but Tosen is then pushed back by Komamura, who then declares his intention to help the Vizards. Not far away, Harribel goes after Hitsugaya again but she is confronted by Lisa and Hiyori. With the agreement that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, Hachi joins Soifon and Omaeda in their fight against Barragan, and Love and Rose face off against Stark. This leaves Kensei and Mashiro to take care of Wonderweiss and the big monster, and Mashiro quickly leaps in front of Wonderweiss and then kicks the giant monster.

Meanwhile, Tosen and Komamura posture against each other, but they are then joined by Hisagi who wants a piece of his former captain.

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

Pretty much everyone saw this coming. We have most of our match-ups between the good guys and the bad guys, although some of the biggest players are still unaccounted for. It's unclear whether Shinji is going after Aizen or Tosen right now, but I'm guessing that Shinji will continue to go after Aizen and leave Komamura and Hisagi to settle their scores with Tosen. Yamamoto and Gin are still floating around as well, and Kyoraku looks like he's not too injured from two chapters before. Everyone will be matched up sooner or later though. Out of the already established fights, I think the one between Barragan and Hachi will be the most interesting since their abilities are directly opposite. Hachi will probably have to heal Soifon's arm first though.

Given that there are so many match-ups, it'll probably take many chapters to get through all the fights so it'll probably be another 50 chapters before we see some major development (that is if we don't suddenly jump back to Hollow-Land), but I'm looking forward to seeing all of the Vizard's shikais and bankais.

And yes, I'm back to using "Vizards" instead of Visoreds. I don't really care which word is official anymore, but the word "Vizard" looks cooler.

Naruto 457

While Sasuke's gang sneaks towards the meeting place, Naruto catches up to the Kumogakure entourage and begs the Raikage to forgive Sasuke.

Instead of a meeting, the Kages decide to have a little game of No-limit Texas Hold'em.

Summary:
In the Land of Iron, Sasuke's group has found a route to sneak into the meeting place. Using Karin's chakra sensing abilities, Sasuke and his comrades are able to avoid the samurai guards and sneak further towards their destination. Elsewhere, Danzo receives a message from Sai but tells his guards that it's just an update.

Meanwhile, the Raikage and his two guards meet up with Team Samui, but the Raikage's guards also discover Naruto's group following Team Samui. Since there's no point hiding anymore, Naruto gets on his knees and begs the Raikage to retract Sasuke's execution order, but the Raikage refuses. Yamato brings up some of Kumo's prior incursions into Konoha, but Raikage cites that strength is everything in the ninja world. After giving Naruto a lecture about how begging for the mercy of a criminal is not friendship, the Raikage leaves for the meeting with his guards, leaving Naruto bowed over in the snow.

Back in Konoha, Sai thinks more about his prior conversations with Naruto and decides he can't just sit back and do nothing, and so he goes to talk to Sakura. Back in the land of Iron, Sasuke's group has sneaked into the meeting place and Zetsu identifies Danzo for Sasuke. With all five Kages gathered, the moderator Mifune starts the meeting.

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

Naruto got to the Raikage sooner than expected, and thankfully the Raikage had enough wisdom not to succumb to Naruto's funny logic. Naruto groveling on the ground begging for a guy who doesn't give a damn about him was just so pathetic, and (unfortunately) this is probably not the last time he'll beg the Raikage to forgive Sasuke. Other than Naruto's irrational obsession over Sasuke, I must say that the situation is getting pretty interesting. The five Kages are together for the talks while Sasuke has sneaked in and IDed Danzo. Naruto's group is obviously not going to leave, and Sai might arrive with Sakura some time later. It should be quite the party when Sasuke makes his attempt on Danzo's life.

Sekirei 86

As the third round is about to begin, Higa offers Minato a chance to join together and overthrow the MBI.

The flat-chests vs. the well-endowed.

Summary:
After asking if Minato had ever thought of overthrowing the MBI, Higa explains that the MBI's plans have messed up the lives of many people including Minato's. Higa offer Minato a chance to join forces, but Minato remembers Seo's warnings about Higa and declines. Higa states that he's always available in case Minato has a change of heart, but he calls Minato stubborn as he walks back to his own Sekirei.

After the chat between the two Ashikabis, Homura wonders if rejecting Higa's offer was the wrong thing to do. Minato remembers that Homura hates the MBI, but he doesn't like how Higa treats his own (referring to Higa) Sekirei (last chapter Higa told Oriha that he didn't need a Sekirei who doesn't follow orders). At this moment, the Disciplinary Squad arrives on the scene, and Benitsubasa and Haihane are surprised to see Tsukiumi and Musubi as their opponents.

With all three teams present, Minaka announces that the match will be a simple free for all, and the last team standing will receive three jinkis as the prize. Back at Izumo Inn, Matsu realizes that Minaka is using the match to get rid of people (Minato and Higa) who pose a threat to to his plans. Back at the intersection, Minato tells his Sekirei that he doesn't intend to lose anyone and wants everyone to work together to win. With the team on the same page, Minato and his Sekirei face off against Higa's team and the Disciplinary Squad.

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

Another typically short chapter of Sekirei. As expected, we still don't have any action, but Minato predictably rejected Higa's offer because Higa was giving off a$$hole vibes. The other big news in the chapter was the match stipulations, and although I'm slightly disappointed that we don't have any weird rules, a last-team-standing match is the appropriate choice given the teams and the stage of the story. I don't think there's any love between the three teams, although makeshift alliances can still happen, especially given that Higa is a calculating bastard. As Matsu stated, the match-up was made for the Disciplinary Squad to weaken both Minato and Higa's forces, but the Disciplinary Squad isn't in a very good position right now. We still have yet to see Higa's remaining two Sekirei, but it doesn't really matter since two of the teams are going to lose all of their Sekirei unless something extraordinary happens. If we assume that the match won't be interrupted, Minato is obviously going to win since he's the main character and probably has the strongest team out of the three, but the big question will be if he is going to lose any of his Sekirei. I don't think Musubi and Tsukiumi are going to go down given they are the two most important female characters, but it's possible that Homura won't survive the match. Anyways, we had better get some real action in the next chapter.

CANAAN 03

Maria and Canaan hang out together for a day while Minori has more than one run in with the quiet, green-haired hottie.

That's quite the show-and-tell.

Summary:
Minoru and Maria follow the sexy cat-costume lady to a cosplay karaoke bar. Minoru wants to ask the girl something but the girl misunderstands and takes her top off. Minoru notices that the girl has a mark on her body that's similar to the one he saw on the old man and the dead people in Maria's pictures. Minoru tries to question the girl about the mark, but he and Maria are promptly tossed out by the bar owner.

Stress relief via shooting your manservant with a pellet gun is all the rage these days.

In a control room somewhere, Alphard, Liang Qi, and Cummings are checking out a shelter room through the monitors. Liang Qi tries to get Alphard to talk about Canaan, but Alphard ignores her. After Alphard leaves Liang Qi lets off some steam by shooting Cummings with her pellet gun.

A perfect landing.

After being tossed out of the bar, Minoru and Maria eventually find a place to stay for the night but they are forced to share a room. The next day Maria is depressed because she thinks Canaan won't be able to find her for their play-date, but to her and Minoru's surprise Canaan shows up at the window (of their 5th story room). Minoru wants to interview Canaan, but Canaan states that she wants to play and Minoru knows better than get in Supergirl's way.

Despite her slim figure, Maria has quite the appetite.

Maria and Canaan spend the day shopping and sightseeing around Shanghai, visiting landmarks such as the Oriental Pearl Tower. Later Maria and Canaan have some ice cream together (while being served by the same waitress girl from last episode) and Canaan remarks that this is the first time she's gone out with a friend like this. Canaan's remark reminds Maria of the time she taught Canaan how to play cat's cradle. Canaan reveals that she had a sister and that she lost her family in a war. Maria also remembers seeing Canaan's room full of weapons, and Canaan explained that the tattoo on her left arm is matched with someone that she likes. Back to the present, Canaan notes how Maria likes to say the word "sugoi" (meaning "amazing") and uses the word to describe Maria much to the latter's embarrassment.

Mmmmm finger-licking good.

In a park somewhere, Minoru is eating a bun and feeling frustrated, but suddenly he notices the green haired woman from the cosplay bar dancing around. The woman notices Minoru and sits down beside him. Minoru discovers that the woman might be a mute and offers her his bun, and the woman takes the bun and starts eating it.

Meanwhile, Maria and Canaan take a ride in the lighted transit tunnel near the Shanghai Bund, and in the middle of the ride the tunnel suddenly shuts down. While Canaan runs off to investigate what's wrong, Maria is kidnapped by a boy who happens to be the younger brother of the old man who Canaan had killed. Moments later, Canaan realizes something is wrong and uses her special ability to track Maria.

Realizing that he doesn't have very long to live, the kidnapper decides it's the right time for him to learn about a woman's body.

Canaan locates Maria tied up in a sewer chamber with a time bomb installed on her head. The boy is somewhere within the room, but Canaan can't locate him immediately even with her special senses. The boy states that he and his older brother were infected with the UA virus, but their bodies developed mutation that allowed them to regenerate organs and survive. His older brother had two hearts which accounted for his superhuman athleticism and also his rapid aging. The boy then concludes that he and his brother are freaks created by the UA virus just like Canaan. At this moment, Canaan locates the boy and rushes towards a narrow space on the walls, but a bullet flies out and scratches her on the left arm. The boy then crawls out of the space and explains that the mutation had caused him to stop growing allows him to fit into narrow spaces. The boy wonders how Canaan had located him, and Canaan states that she caught Maria's scent on his body.

Cue the horror movie music.

I don't get how a downward pistol shot can send a crouching person flying into the air like that.

As the boy starts walking towards Maria, Canaan disarms the boy and demands that he hand over the detonator, but the boy states he had swallowed it. While Canaan uses her senses to locate the detonator, Maria remembers what the boy said to her before Canaan arrives. The boy stated that he had no intentions of harming her and just wants to prove the point the Canaan would use lethal force in order to protect her. The boy then told Maria that she could only yell "Canaan!" while Canaan is present, or else he would blow himself up. Back to the present, Canaan locates the bomb remote control in the boy's stomach and promptly shoots the boy at that location despite Maria screaming "Canaan!!". When this fails to stop the timer, Canaan runs over to try to knock the bomb off of Maria but she is too late. Fortunately, the bomb turns out to just a toy, but Maria is deeply affected by what she just saw. As Canaan unties Maria, she sense that Maria is emitting a feeling of rejection and so she decides to leave without Maria.

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

Lol this series is making less and less sense as the episodes go on. For the moment, let's just forget about what Alphard is up to or that green haired hottie and focus on the main event with the boy. If I remember correctly, this mutant boy and his older brother were pretty insistent about killing Maria and Minoru and later Canaan in the last episode, so I don't understand why he suddenly turned sympathetic after Canaan made his brother jump into some high voltage lines, and I certainly don't understand why he decided to use his own life to prove to Maria that Canaan will kill to protect her. Where did that even come from? It just doesn't make any sense at all. I also don't get why Maria doesn't believe that Canaan would shoot people to protect her, given that she knows that Canaan cares for her a lot and is always packing some heat. A person doesn't carry guns if they are not prepared to shoot anyone with them. I suppose the show wants to portray Maria as an innocent and naive airhead, but such characters can be frustrating to relate to.

On another note, Canaan's Synthesiest (or whatever the name is) abilities are getting out of hand. With her magical red eyes, Canaan can located people hidden behind cover, dodge and deflect bullets, track a normal person's scent better than a bloodhound, and now she can hack computer passwords via direct cable connection? What will amazing feat will she pull off next? Mind control people? Use telekinesis? Basically, I think her powers are little too broad in scope. It won't be all that fun is Canaan is able to do anything, and hopefully she'll be balanced out by Alphard's powers.

If we can look past everything that didn't make sense, this episode was pretty decent. This week's show didn't have as much action as the previous two episodes, but the animation was still top notch. I especially liked how the Canaan and Maria visited real Shanghai landmarks like real tourists. If I ever go to Shanghai (and hopefully I will some day), I'll definitely visit those places. I also like where the story is going with the UA virus, since having mutants around should provide some interesting opponents for Canaan. The mutagen ability of the virus also makes me wonder if the green-haired hottie is a mutant and of course what she and her boyfriend are up to.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 16

Ed, Al, and Winry finally learn of Maes Hughes' murder.

Next time remember to bring your passport.

Summary:
After arriving at Central, The Elrics and Winry depart for their hotel while Fu and Ran Fan discover that Ling had ran off. Somewhere in Central, Ling muses to himself that there's something not right about the city. Later, Ling is found lying in the streets by two police officers, and he is taken into custody on suspicion of entering the country illegally. In an out-of-the-way apartment, Havoc visits Felman who unfortunately has been handed the task of watching Barry the Chopper. Felman is looking for some sympathy, but Havoc is thinking about his new girlfriend while Barry wants to chop some people up.

Felman: Why me? Oh why me?

I didn't know Mustang was such an avid reader.

In front of the hotel, Winry says goodbye to the brothers and goes off to visit Gracia and Elicia. Ed and Al then decide to go to the Intelligence Bureau to pay Maes a visit. At the bureau, a female coworker asks Sheska to open room number 3 for her, but Sheska frantically states that she needs to clean up the room first and tells the coworker to come back later. After the coworker leaves, Sheska opens the room and finds that Mustang has dozed off inside. After Mustang wakes up and leaves for a meeting, and as Mustang walks off, Sheska's boss Focker arrives. Focker wonders what Mustang is doing here and Sheska reveals that Mustang is probably investigating his friend Maes' murder. Satisfied by the explanation, Focker leaves Sheska to her tasks, but unbeknownst to Sheska, the "Focker" she was talking to is actually Envy in disguise.

Inside a washroom, Mustang runs into Alex Armstrong, and Alex reports that he ran into the Elrics in Dublith. Mustang wonders if Alex told the brothers about Maes, but Alex states that he didn't tell the brothers about the murder. Mustang then states he knows Hughes was killed because he was investigating stuff for the Elrics, and that Alex didn't tell the Elrics because he didn't want the brothers to blame themselves. Mustang states that Alex is too kind (or too soft), and Alex tells Mustang to be careful.

Maria: Burrrrrrrrp! I mean uh excuse me.

A little later, Mustang and Riza runs into the Elrics who are at the bureau to visit Maes. On the mention of Maes, Mustang lies that Maes had quit his job and gone back to his home town. Before leaving the brothers, Mustang advices Ed not to anything reckless. Down the hallway, Riza wonders if lying to the brothers was the best thing to do, but Mustang states that the brothers don't need another obstacle to tie them up. Mustang then muses that he has no right to tell Alex that he is too nice, but Riza states that hiding the truth from the Elrics is a cruel thing to do. Meanwhile, the Elrics are wondering why Hughes had quit when they bump into Maria Ross. Maria doesn't know that the Elrics haven't learned about Maes' murder, and after talking for a bit the Elrics finally figure out the tragic truth.

Elsewhere in the city, Winry buys a basket of apples before going to the Hughes' residence. At the Hughes' residence, Winry is greeted by Elicia who is still looking for her dad. While Winry wonders what's wrong, Gracia appears at the door and only manages to muster up a weak smile. A little later, the Elrics arrive at the Hughes' home and finds a saddened Winry sitting in the living room. The Elrics sit down and Ed explains that Hughes was killed when he was investigating the Philosopher's Stone. The brothers apologize to Gracia for dragging Maes into their mess, but Gracia tells the brothers not to give up because giving up would make her husband's death meaningless. After walking out the door, the Elrics and Winry can hear Gracia sobbing and Elicia asking her mother to stop crying.

That's a mighty big steak there for a sad little guy.

Winry really wanted that apple pie.

Now back at the hotel, Winry and Al coop themselves up in their rooms while Ed goes off to have dinner by himself. After the meal, Ed returns to his floor and suggests that Winry go get something to eat before the hotel restaurant closes. Winry invites Ed into her room and shows him the basket of apples she brought earlier. Winry explains that after her last stay at the Hughes' house, she had been practicing baking apple pies and really wanted Maes to taste her pie one day. Winry then starts crying and Ed also feels stricken.

I have a feeling that we'll see this handsome chimera again in the future.

In a dimly lit room full of caged chimeras, Envy reports to Lust about Mustang's investigation while Gluttony plays with one of the chimera. Lust wonders if there's any way to make Mustang behave, and Envy suggest that they should give Mustang something to chew on. At a military cafeteria, Maria Ross is arrested on the charge of murdering Maes Hughes. In another part of Central HQ, Mustang orders Riza to obtain information on Maria but do it secretly. Elsewhere in the city, Havoc buys some flowers and meets up with his new girlfriend Solara who actually happens to be Lust.

Lust needs to wear something more revealing. A body that hot is not meant to be covered up like that.

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

For a transitional episode without any fighting, this week's show was surprisingly good. Bones actually did put some emotional weight into this episode and appropriately toned down on the comedy. The best moment was Winry explained how she wanted to bake an apple pie for Maes. The moment wasn't super-super sad, but it was a nice end point for bringing together all the heavy emotions in this episode. I also don't remember having read such a scene in the manga, so that's probably why I thought it was effective. My memories of this part of the manga is a bit sketchy, so I'm not sure if Bones did a good job adapting the material or not.

Other than having the brothers and Winry learn about Hughes' murder, this episode is a transition and the story is starting to pick up again. Maria is being framed by the bad guys for Maes' murder, and the big question will be how Mustang reacts the news. The homunculi are still playing their little games, but we'll see how long before the good guys find out the truth.

Review: Hatsukoi Limited

Here is my long overdue end-of-series review for Hatukoi Limited. I usually write these reviews right after the series ends, but real-life got in the way. It's been a few weeks since the end of the show, so this review is more like a collection of random thoughts (that I still remember). Anyways, Hatsukoi Limited turned out to be a very pleasant show that featured the right blend of light comedy and romance, and it was one of my favorite shows of the spring 2009 season.

Animated by J.C. Staff and adapted from the manga by Mizuki Kawashita (Ichigo 100%), Hatsukoi Limited (literally meaning "First Love Limited") is a romantic comedy series that follows the intermingled lives of several middle school and high school students. Rather than having one central storyline, the show spotlights a different set of characters each episode and focuses on the characters' experiences with first love.

Before the series started, I was a bit skeptical about Hatsukoi Limited mainly because the manga ended at only 32 chapters, and short serialization, especially for weekly series, is usually not a good sign. The decentralized narrative also poses difficulty to build up meaningful characters and storylines. Fortunately, my concerns were largely unfounded, as Hatsukoi Limited managed to weave its not so limited number of characters and their stories into a web of lighthearted fun.

At the surface, Hatsukoi Limited looks like a collection of archetypes and clichés from the harem comedy genre. There is the intimidating beast, the ugly pervert, the alpha male, the brocon, the siscon, the tsundere…the works. With this potentially-awful mix of situations and only 12 episodes to tell everyone's stories, Hatsukoi Limited could have easily ended up as a shallow and uninspired mess, but it actually turned out to be well narrated show that delivered substance in (most of) its stories. While each of the episodes have one or two stories as the focus, but J.C. Staff did an admirable job of tying in the other stories so that overall narrative flows nicely between episodes. As for the characters and their stories, it's true that they are somewhat stereotypical, but on the other hand they are surprisingly well developed. The characters (or at least the important ones) are easily recognizable not only in appearance but in personality. I'm particularly impressed that many of the female characters (the show is more about the girls than the guys) learned something from their first romantic experience and underwent character growth despite the limited screen time allotted to each of their stories. Some of the stories are better than the others, but each of stories in Hatsukoi Limited is unique in its representation of “first love” and enjoyable in its own way.

Hatsukoi Limited is also commendable for keeping a good balance between the comedy and romance. While romance may be the central focus of Hatsukoi Limited, the show keeps itself light with humor and never gets bogged down with too much drama. The comedic nature of the show is easier to watch, because it's hard to take most of the stories seriously. There is a fair bit of fanservice, but it's not excessive and actually makes the show funnier. It certainly helps that all of the girls are appealingly designed, but then again I've always been a fan of Kawashita-sensei's art style.

Overall, Hatsukoi Limited turned out to be a pleasant surprise. This could be because I didn't go into the series expecting a lot, and the show easily surpassed my low expectations. Despite the different focus in each episode, Hatsukoi Limited consistently delivered a blend of light comedy and romance that, while not really thought provoking, was nonetheless entertaining. Hatsukoi Limited may not be the best anime I've ever seen, but it was fun little show and it was probably the best show that I watched in spring 2009.


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

Related notes:

• The last sentence of my review might not be saying much, since my spring 2009 line-up included gems such as Queen's Blade, Kurokami, Sengoku Basara, and Valkyria Chronicles, all of which are shows that have at least one major flaw. HL is certainly not perfect, but I didn't find anything that's majorly wrong with it. I was also watching FMA: Brotherhood which was okay, but it's not much to get excited about given that I read the manga.


• I didn't find the fan service to be very noticeable probably because I was watching Queen's Blade at the same time.

To-Love-Ru 157

Concerned about Momo sticking too close to Rito, Mikan decides to sneak into Rito's bed at night to catch Momo sneaking into Rito's room.

Summary:
Mikan and her two friends are walking home from school, and her friends wonder why the popular Mikan doesn't go out with any guys. One of Mikan's friends suggests that it's because Mikan has a really cool brother, and this gets Mikan all flustered. Later at home, Mikan finds Rito and the Devilukean sisters playing video games together, and Mikan becomes a little concerned when she sees Momo draped all over Rito. Afterwards, Mikan gives Momo a friendly warning about not sticking to Rito too closely. Mikan wonders what Mikan is up to by sneaking into Rito's room at night, but Momo just laughs it off without providing a real answer. Mikan finds Momo's actions very suspicious and decides to do some investigating.

Rito is a pervert even in his sleep.

Late at night when everyone else is asleep, Mikan sneaks onto Rito's bed because she wants to catch Momo in the act. Some time later, Momo still hasn't shown up and Mikan turns her attention to the sleeping Rito. Mikan playfully pokes Rito in the face, but to Mikan's surprise Rito turns around grabs her hips, thinking they are marshmallows. Mikan eventually gets Rito to let go by pinching his face, and she starts wondering what she's trying to do by sneaking onto Rito's bed. Suddenly lightning flashes outside the house and Mikan becomes frightened. As if by instinct, the sleeping Rito turns around again and holds Mikan in his arms while telling Mikan not to be scared. Mikan then remembers that Rito had always comforted her when she was scared of thunder and lightning and she slowly dozes off.

In the morning, Rito wakes up and is surprised to find Mikan sleeping beside him, and Mikan realized that she must have fell asleep. To both of their surprise, Momo pops up beside the bed and starts making fun of Mikan. Mikan tells Momo to stop misinterpreting situations, while Rito wonders what's going on with the two girls.

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

Looks like competition is in the air. Mikan and her brother complex are now threatened by Momo's tendencies to drape herself all over Rito, and this chapter shows that Mikan isn't just going to stand by and let Momo usurp her position as the little sister. It's about time that Mikan and Momo got some competition in their own weight class. I want to see this competition escalate, since it'd be really funny if Momo and Mikan continuing try to one-up each other. It'll certainly be more interesting than Rito getting nowhere with Lala and Haruna. As for Rito, this chapter demonstrates that he is indeed a true pervert, and his hands seem to have an affinity for grabbing Mikan's behind lol (happened a couple of chapters ago too… accidentally).

Naruto 456

The five Kages, Team Samui, Sasuke's group, and Naruto's group are all their way to the Kages' meeting.

Before sneaking out of the village and following other ninjas without permission, you should always take the time to stretch as Naruto demonstrates.

Summary:
In the forest, Danzo singlehandedly kills the attackers and continues his journey to the Kages' meeting. Back in Konoha, Kakashi tells Sai not to reveal to Root that Naruto is leaving. Kakashi states that he knows Danzo sent Sai to spy on Naruto, but he has faith in Sai to make the right decision. Later, when Naruto is saying goodbye to Konohamaru, Kakashi knocks out two Root ninjas who were spying on Naruto, and Kakashi notes that Root doesn't trust Sai anymore. At the Konoha Library, Team Samui finishes writing some scrolls and leaves for the Kages' meeting, but unbeknownst to the team members they are being tracked by Yamato.

The Kages' meeting takes place in the Land of Iron, a neutral country with a strong military composed of samurais. Gaara is the first Kage to arrive at the meeting place. Meanwhile, Sasuke's group is on the outskirts trying to find the easiest way in to the meeting place, and Naruto's group has also arrived within the country.

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

I'm disappointed that Danzo didn't do anything cool with his Sharingan. Yeah, he killed a bunch of nameless assassins, but anyone could do that. At least Kakashi has his own special moves with his Sharingan. While Danzo himself seems competent, his underlings are definitely not and so Naruto and company managed to escape Konoha with only the slightest of efforts. I wonder why Yamato suddenly agreed to go along, but I supposed he has a duty to watch over Naruto.

Anyways, looks like all the important parties are their way to the meeting place inside the Land of Iron, a country with samurais instead of ninjas. I see ninja vs. samurai battles in the battle, although the named characters should be able to beat down a few foot soldiers without any problems. I'm hoping that since the country is called the Land of Iron, the soldiers there will have guns and cannons. Hopefully the Kages' meeting and subsequent fights will be enough for me to overlook the impending emo-fest between Sasuke and Naruto.

And what's up with the Mizukage? I guess she's on her way to becoming a running joke in the series.

Bleach 366

The Visoreds whoop some Gillian behind.

It's Kamen Rider!!!

Summary:
After donning their masks, the Visoreds proceed to tear the helpless Gillians apart. Meanwhile, Shinji decides to take a shot at Aizen.

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

Shortest summary EVAR!!! Predictably, the Gillians were just cannon fodder for the Visoreds to “demonstrate” their skills, although given how weak Gillians are compared to even current captains and lieutenants the demonstration was kind of pointless. We got a good look at all the Visoreds, and out of them I thought Mashiro's form was kind of cool since she looks like one of those Kamen Riders (old school Japanese superheroes). Her mask actually fits with her costume! Anyways, the real fight will start next chapter. Obviously Shinji is not going to take down Aizen, and I'm banking on the Espada and Wonderweiss/one-eyed monster fighting the Visoreds before Aizen and friends have to draw their swords. Of course Aizen can just pull out his (probably) grossly overpowered bankai and defeat all the good guys, but I doubt that'll happen next week.

One Piece 550

Three hours before the execution, Fleet Admiral Sengoku makes a big announcement about Ace's father.

I don't recall Boa Hancock being particularly tall, which means the Marines must be tiny.

Summary:
Three hours before the execution, non-Marine residents have been evacuated from Marineford and the admiral, five of the Shichibukai and 100,000 troops have assembled at Marine HQ ready to take on Whitebeard. After Ace is brought out on to a platform, Fleet Admiral Sengoku arrives and states that he has an announcement to make. Sengoku asks Ace to reveal his father's identity and Ace answers that his father is Whitebeard, but Sengoku doesn't believe him. The Fleet Admiral then goes on to explain that Ace's mother had pulled off an incredible feat of being pregnant for 20 months in order to hide the identity of Ace's father, but the feat came at the cost of her life as she passed away after giving birth. Sengoku then goes on to declare that Ace's father is none other than the Pirate King Gold Roger much to the shock of the crowd.

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

Ace's father is Gold Roger?! Judging by the last panel featuring Ace and Garp's reaction and the flashback panel to Gold Roger, this seems to be the truth. Garp probably took in Ace because it was the GAR thing to do. If this revelation is true, it would mean that Ace and Luffy aren't actually related by blood as both Ace's parents were dead after he was born. I suppose this explains why Luffy and Ace have different family names, and Ace went with his mother's family name. Luffy's father is probably still Dragon the Revolutionary though, since that's what we've been led to believe over last couple hundreds of chapters. Luffy's family sure has a complicated history, but I'm not sure how Ace being Roger's son would change the current situation. Chances are the situation won't change much, since both Whitebeard and Luffy are set on rescuing Ace anyways.