OH CANADA!!!!

Canada wins!!!! Canada caps off the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games with a dramatic 3-2 overtime win over USA in men's hockey. The hockey gold isn't the "only gold that matters" as some put it, but it is probably the most important to Canadians. Sidney Crosby, who didn't do much in the last two games or for most of this game for that matter, scores the OT winner, giving Canada its record-breaking 14th gold medal. As a Canadian, of course I'm happy with the result. Have to give props to the American team though, coming back from 2-0 down to tie the game with 20-something second left to go in the third period. That was a great hockey game.

Overall, Canada has done pretty well in these Olympics games. Canada didn't quite "own the podium" as the Americans and Germans have more medals, but with 14 gold medals, Canada is on top of the gold medal standings and has broken the record for golds by a single country in Winter Olympics. Great job, Canada! Despite the shaky start to the games with the protests and the unfortunate death of the Georgian luger, and also the persistent weather problems (who would have thought that Canada wasn't cold enough...), it's been a good Olympics games. Time to watch the closing ceremonies.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 46

Everyone continues to make preparations for the promised day.

Unfortunately for Ed, he didn't actually get to see anything.

Already bickering so much... I wonder what'll happen if these two ever get married.

Summary:
With the help of Miles, Winry manages to sneak back to her house in Resembool. To her surprise, she finds Ed, Greed/Ling, and their chimera buddies inside her room. After sorting everything out along with Grandma, Ed and his entourage leave to meet up with Hohenheim to deal with the "promised day". Back in Lior, Jerso, Zampano and Yoki join up with Scar and Marcoh once again, and the group then joins other Ishvalans in the fight against Father.

Hey, how come they are getting food when we aren't getting any?

Not a good time fall asleep.

In the east, General Gruman is meeting up with Major Miles during an army exercise. Gruman and Miles want to make a move for Central, but unfortunately King Bradley is on location watching over the exercise. In the nearby train yard, Al is hiding in a train car where he feels like his soul is being ripped away from his metal body once again. To make things worse, a reborn Gluttony shows up and chases Al out into the train yard, which allows a nearby Pride to use his shadowy tendrils to capture Al.

Looks like Mustang got the last laugh this time.

Back in Central, Mustang visits Olivier in the Armstrong mansion. While the two engage in some small talk, Roy comments that the mansion is big enough to hide a small army. He also hands Olivier some flowers which contains a note saying that Selim Bradley is a homunculus. Roy then makes fun of Olivier, who reacts by throwing the flowers along with note into a fire pit.

This guy is a fox.

At the military exercise out in the east, both King Bradley and General Grunman are wondering what each other is up to. Grunman and Major Miles is informed by one of their underlings that Alphonse has gone missing. In Bradley's camp, Major General Haruko informs the Fuhrer that Mustang use this exercise and planned terrorist attacks as diversions to take over Central. After thinking things over, King Bradley decides to get on a train to go back to Central. However, the train never makes it back to the capital as it gets blown up along with a the bridge it was on by some people loyal to Mustang.

With both the Fuhrer and Selim out of Central, Riza, Breda, and Fuery start their part of the plan. In the Central HQ, Olivier and other high-ranking military officials who are in on the Fuhrer's secret are discussing what to do now that the Fuhrer is missing. Olivier thinks that this is a chance for her to seize control, but unfortunately Father and Sloth show up in the meeting room.

I'm. still. here.

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

First of all, Japan is(was?) on tsunami alert after the big earthquake in Chile, so that's why there is the map of Japan on every screen shot.

Back on topic, FMA:B continues to build up towards a big showdown on the promised day. The bad guys and the various groups of the good guys are making their moves. Scar has gotten his Ishvalan brethrens together; Olivier is setting up her mansion for something; Mustang's subordinates have gotten together and more. The most impressive though was General Gruman who showed a bit of deviousness in tricking King Bradley into getting on the train and then blowing up the train. The expression Gruman had was hilarious. The guy is an old wily fox, there's no mistake about that.

Compared to the other groups, Ed didn't do much in terms of planning in this episode, but he already got Greed/Ling on board. For Ed, this episode was mostly for him to see Winry one last time before the promised day. It's apparent from the art that Ed now looks more manly ever since his near death experience. Over the last 40-odd episodes, Ed and Al has grown both mentally and physically, and it's good that the art takes note of this. The scene in Resembool is also probably the point where Winry bows out of the adventure. She tagged along during the Brigg's arc and didn't too badly (at least she didn't drag the others down), but the promised day is the biggest and most important event to date and people who can't fight are not that useful (despite Winry's offensive skills with her wrench).

Despite the good guys getting their acts together and Gruman blowing up Bradley's train, Father and the homunculi aren't sitting around either. Father has taken the leadership role in Central, and even worse Al has been captured by Gluttony and Pride. The next episode is where the action will truly start, and it's going to be an awesome episode. By the way, I loved the Arabian music they used during the preview. Reminded me of the Prince of Persia video games.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 21

More "poltergeist" activities occur near Haruue.

Kuroko caught Mikoto browsing at yuri manga.

Summary:
After the "poltergeist" activity at the fireworks festival, Kazari and Ruiko accompany Haruue to hospital while Kuroko and Mikoto sneak back into their dorm room. Back in the dorm room, Mikoto starts looking up information about Kiyama and the Level Upper incident since that incident also involved interference with people's AIM diffusion fields. Kuroko assures Mikoto that Kiyama is still in jail, but Kuroko starts suspecting Haruue due to her strange behavior before the incident. Mikoto also remembers that Saten mentioned that there was a lot of "poltergeist" activity in the district that Haruue came from, and Kuroko decides that the matter warrants further investigation.

Other than causing strange events, Haruue seem to spend the rest of her time sleeping and eating.

Meanwhile, Haruue has been brought back to her dorm room by Kazari and Ruiko. After Ruiko leaves, Haruue wakes up and apologizes for causing any inconvenience, but Kazari promises she will take good care of Haruue and the two start eating watermelons together. The next day, Kazari takes Haruue out on a date at the nature park while Ruiko and Mikoto visits the Judgment office. While Konori is dictating her lunch menu to Ruiko, Mikoto hacks into the city database and pulls up Haruue's file. Haruue is a level 2 telepath which means she shouldn't have the ability to mess with other people's AIM diffusion fields, but there is a worrying comment on her file about her abilities becoming more powerful in certain conditions.

Yes, I'm getting my exercise. I swear.

At the nature park, Haruue tells Kazari that she is looking for a lost friend. After Kazari promises to help, Haruue suddenly starts acting strangely again and the nearby area is hit by "poltergeist" activity. The incident prompts Telestina and her MAR team to appear again, and both Haruue and Kazari are taken to the hospital. Mikoto, Kuroko, and Ruiko meet up with Kazari at the hospital lobby. Kuroko reveals her suspicions about Haruue but Kazari is not happy about it. At this moment, Telestina appears and states that it's impossible for a level 2 to cause this much damage, but she decides to take Haruue to her institute for an examination just to be safe.

This is Academy City. A flying boat shouldn't be a strange sight.

By extension, Mikoto approves of the pink paint job on Telestina's mech.

At Telestina's institute, Mikoto and friends are chatting with Telestina while Haruue is undergoing testing. Kazari asks Telestina about the results, but Telestina deflects the question by offering Kazari some candy. Later, Telestina receives the results and tells Kazari and friends that Haruue isn't the cause of the "poltergeist" event, but this leads Mikoto to wonder about who is perpetrator. The four friends and Telestina then visit Haruue in one of the institute's rooms. Kazari hands Haruue her pedant and wonders what's in the pedant. Haruue opens up the pedant which reveals the picture of young girl named Bani, and Mikoto recognizes Bani as one of Kiyama's research subjects. Haruue then reveals that she is actually a Child Error.

Best friends forever.

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

Not bad of an episode. The story of this arc continues build, albeit at a fairly leisurely pace. So Haruue is a Child Error, and she has a telepathic link to Bani, one of Kiyama's research subjects. This sort of explains why Kiyama is in the story, but what this has to do with the "poltergeist" activities and the rest of the arc about a potential Level 6 still remains to be seen. The arc presumably has to last to the end of the series, so Railgun is going to take its sweet time when it comes to giving answers.

Other than the revelation about Haruue, this episode also saw the reintroduction of friction between Kazari and Kuroko. Kuroko has the right to be cautious, but her business-like manner conflicts with Kazari's attitude of welcoming everyone with open arms. Neither of them is "wrong" in the way they are acting, and it's just that sometimes Kazari and Kuroko have their differences. I think Kuroko probably has the better instincts though.

Last week many people were commenting on the horrible pink paint job on Telestina's mech, but this week we finally understand why Telestina's mech has such a paint job lol. At least Mikoto approves of Telestina's tastes.

Finally, we found out that Mitsuko is doing okay after being attacked by her dolls. As usual though, once she's confirmed to be okay she is then ignored. Poor girl.

Possible Blog Mascot - Take Two

It took two months, but I finally completed another piece of artwork. In continuation of my attempt to create a team of mecha power ranger girls as mascots for this blog, here is the blue ranger (post about red ranger here). According to Wikipedia, blue is the only color other than red to appear in all Super-Sentai/Power Ranger series, so it makes sense to draw the blue after the red. Blue 07's human name is Audrey, and she is the outdoorsy, active, and talkative type. She likes to tease, especially the red ranger. Primary weapons are two boomerang blades, one large, one small.

This drawing took very long (as with most of my other pieces because I am terribly slow at both lining and coloring), but I'm pleased with how it turned out. Slight improvement over the red one, or maybe I just like the color blue more than red. Blue's left forearm seems a little too long though... wait, I didn't mention that. I can probably fix it, but I'm feeling too lazy right now.

The next one I draw will probably be either green or yellow, because we all know pink is always last ;).

Naruto 484

Kakashi battles Sasuke.

This is like the worst player on a sports team getting the ball and tries to make the late game-winning play by himself/herself. Usually doesn't turn out well.

Summary:
Sakura has taken Karin away and started healing and Karin can see that Sakura is crying. Meanwhile, Sasuke is angry with Kakashi showing off his Sharingan and the fight starts. The two combatants end up under the bridge where Sasuke has his Susanoo fire an arrow at Kakashi, but Kakashi warps the arrow away with his Mangekyou Sharingan. Kakashi pleads with Sasuke to be reasonable, but Sasuke refuses to abandon his hate. Sasuke calls his powers and transforms his Susanoo, but suddenly the Susanoo fizzles out and Sasuke is losing his vision. Sakura sees this opportunity and sneaks up on Sasuke in an attempt to stab him, but she can't go through with it. Sasuke notices Sakura and grabs her, takes her kunai and is about to stab Sakura, but Naruto comes out of nowhere to pull Sakura out of Sasuke's grasp.

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

If it wasn't apparent from the previous 20 chapters, it should be now: Sakura officially sucks. She just can't get anything right these days. Then again, Naruto has never been very kind to its female characters (Karin - betrayed and stabbed; Tsunade - half dead; Hinata - ignored). Sad to say this, but it's probably better for Sakura to stay on the sidelines and let the guys handle the situation.

So Naruto finally arrives on the scene just in time to save Sakura from being stabbed by Sasuke. It'll be interesting to see what Naruto's reaction will be after seeing what Sasuke was doing. There will likely be a bit of arguing and pleading from Naruto, but this probably won't be the conclusive Sasuke vs. Naruto fight. Sasuke is really out of gas, so I still stand by the prediction that he is going to escape (probably via Madara). The transformation in Sasuke's Susanoo was interesting though; it made the Susanoo look more like Itachi's version, but of course darker. We probably won't see what that'll mean for a while though.

Bleach 393

Old man Yama enters the fray.

I'm Extinguir, the Extinguisher of fires!

Summary:
Aizen cuts down Hitsugaya and the other shinigamis/Vizards but does not kill them. Instead, Aizen wants his fallen enemies to watch the outcome of the battle. Now that Aizen is done with Hitsugaya's group, Yamamoto appears in a blaze of fire to confront Aizen. Aizen taunts Yamamoto for a bit and then quickly stabs Yamamoto in the stomach, but Yamamoto grabs Aizen's arm and verifies that he has grabbed the real Aizen by the reiatsu from the sword in his stomach. Holding onto Aizen, Yamamoto activates Ennetsu Jigoku which sees giant columns of fire sprouting up and surrounding himself and Aizen. Yamamoto plans to use this attack to take Aizen out and doesn't care if himself or any of the other shinigamis or Vizards are caught. Yamammoto is about to strike, but Wonderweiss (in his true form) suddenly appears behind the squad 1 captain. Yamamoto swings at Wonderweiss with his zanpukto, but Wonderweiss somehow wards off the flames and Yamamoto is forces to dodge. With Yamamoto wondering what's going on, Aizen explains that Wonderweiss was especially made to counter Yamamoto's powerful flames.

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

So the old man finally enters the battle and actually came up with a plan. Yamamoto has never shown much in the form of cunningness, so I'm slightly impressed that he actually thought of something for once. I always thought that Yama just torched anything that he didn't like, although he still doesn't give much of a damn about the opinions or well-being of his subordinates by going with a big-bang kamikaze attack. This also explained why he was conspicuously missing when his subordinates were being owned by Aizen.

Of course, Aizen still one-ups Yama with the perfect counter of Wonderweiss. Looks like Aizen had plans for at least one of his arrancars despite unceremoniously dumping the rest of them. I guess Wonderweiss must have disposed of Kensei and Mashiro while the other battles were going on. With Wonderweiss being specially created to fight Yamamoto's fire, I wonder if Wonderweiss is weak against other attacks. However, since Yama has surrounded himself with columns of flames, it might be hard for the others to come to the rescue. Ichigo is probably going to sit and watch for a few more chapters.

Mid-season Anime Thoughts Winter 2010

Here comes my usual mid-season anime short impressions post. I'm only following four shows this season, three of them being carry-overs (FMA:B, Railgun, and Tatakau Shisho), and one new show (Vampire Bund). Let's get down to business, shall we?

(And yes, this post has spoilers, as with almost every other post in this blog)

Dance in the Vampire Bund

Needs a little more of this.

The only new show I picked up in this season, Vampire Bund has thus far proved to be decent. Outside of the bizarre first episode, the show is progressing in a somewhat typical manner. There is nothing really good about the show, but there is nothing really bad either. Animation is decent, story is tolerable, characters are alright, and the action is good but a bit scarce for my tastes. After watching the trailer three or four months ago, I was under the impression that Vampire Bund is going to turn into a blood-fest. That hasn't happened yet. I'm still waiting for the scene in the trailer where Mina lopes off the head of some unfortunate commando.


Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Watch FMA if you don't want this kid to get hurt.

Just like a season ago, FMA:B continues to roll along. Over the last 13 weeks, the story moved through the Briggs arc of the manga. There were a bunch of big revelations (Selim is Pride, Sloth's debut, reverse transmutation circle and more), and there were some good action as well. Production quality is as good as always, and the story is becoming more compelling as we move towards the next arc. The only thing of slight concern is the endings of the manga and this series. The manga is near the end but could still have a few months left, and FMA:B is going through the material pretty quickly. The endings are probably coordinated though, which would give the manga maybe three or four more months which sounds reasonable.

FMA:B is only going to get better from this point on, so I'm definitely looking forward to the upcoming episodes.


Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra

R.I.P. Noloty.

In my last mid-season post, I commented that Tatakau Shisho was intriguing but somewhat of a mystery. Over the last 13 weeks though this show has become surprisingly good. All of the seemingly unconnected story-arcs from before have been tied-in together to form something grand and exciting. I'm really impressed with the way this show build up its story.

While the story has really upgraded in terms of its scale, one thing about Tatakau Shisho still remains the same as episode one, and that is it has no reservations about killing any of the characters. Volken got killed off, the old lady got killed off, even Noloty the hot mocha-colored babe got killed off (those bastards). On the other hand, the queen bitch Harmutz is still alive, and I have a feeling that she's going to live at least until the last episode. After all, Harmutz is (sort of) the protagonist.


To Aru Kagaku no Railgun

Kuroko is not pleased about the string of fillers.

The To Aru Majutsu no Index spin-off that I had such high expectations of. I have since learned to lower my expectations. J.C. Staff really should have made this show one cour (13 episodes), but instead they chose to make the show two cour (~24 episodes?). This translated into quite a few filler (or near filler) episodes over the last 13 episodes. The end of the Level Upper arc was decent; the swimsuit episode was... well, the swimsuit episode; episode 14 wasn't bad since it was an epilogue for the Level Upper arc, but things started going downhill after that. The two Big Spider episodes were not that great, but still better than the next two side-character fillers that came after. Those two filler episodes were boring and uninspired, and they were the lowest point of the show so far. Things appear to be on the rebound though as the show moves into the major story-arc of the second half. I'm not expecting too much at this point especially since it's an anime-original arc, but I'll be happy if the arc has a few scenes of Mikoto and friends kicking ass and blowing up stuff like in the second OP. That's not too much to ask, is it?

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA 01

Gundam is back in anime form once again, and this time it's in the Universal Century. Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is a 6 part OVA based on a series of light novels of the same name, and the story is about... you guessed it: teenagers piloting powerful mobile suits.

Wow! The guy in the middle somehow survived that explosion!?

Summary:
In U.C. 0001, the president of the Earth Federation is making a speech from a space colony, but the colony is destroyed by a terrorist attack in an event known as the Laplace Incident. Over the years, one of the surviving terrorists became known as Syam Vist and somehow took over the reins of the influential Vist Foundation. In U.C. 0096, the title of the family head has passed to Cardeas Vist, Syam's grandson, but Syam is still alive and Cardeas is working to carry out Syam's will regarding Laplace's Box, a mysterious object that has the power to change the world.

The Jegan pilot got some skills, but unfortunately his suit can't stand up to the Kshatriya's jets.

The Garrancieres, a ship belonging to the Neo Zeon remnants known as "the Sleeves", is traveling tn the colony of Industrial 7 to meet with Cardeas about "the box". En route, the ship is attacked by three London Bell mobile suits, but the pursuing mobile suits are destroyed by Neo Zeon pilot Marida Cruz and her Kshatriya mobile suit. At the colony, technical school student Banagher Link spots a white mobile suit flying far off in space. The white mobile suit is the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam, a prototype mobile suit developed by Cardea's organization, and Cardeas and a pilot was taking it out for one last test run. Upon returning to base, Cardeas learns of London Bell attack on the Neo Zeon ship, and in response Cardeas announces that the testing on the RX-0 is complete and tells his staff to starting deleting data.

I guess in the distant future, big hair will make a comeback even for teenage girls.

The Neo Zeon ship finally arrives at Industrial 7, and a girl sneaks off the ship and tries to find her own way into the colony. Unfortunately for the girl, she picks the wrong way and is ejected into the middle of the colony, in danger of falling to her death. Not far away, Banagher somehow knows that the girl is in trouble and runs to her rescue with a petite mobile suit. After crash landing inside the colony, the girl tells Banagher that her name is Audrey Burne and that she has urgent business inside the colony builder ship. Banagher guides Audrey towards the colony builder, but in the middle of their journey they run into Marida Cruz and two subordinates who have been sent to retrieve Audrey. Using his Haro as a distraction, Banagher manages to throw off Marida's group, and he successfully leads Audrey to Vist family estate located inside the colony builder.

Upon arriving inside the Vist mansion, Banagher has a feeling that he has been there before. The two of them are met by Cardeas, and Audrey immediately gets down to business by questioning Cardea's decision to hand her group "the box". Cardeas asks Banagher to leave. Banagher feels that Audrey needs his help, but Audrey denies it and Banagher is dragged out by security.

It's cool how these mobile suits have air bags. How come we don't see them in mobile suits from other universes (ex. SEED, 00)?

Later in the day, Cardeas meets with Suberoas Zinnerman, the captain of the Garrancieres, about the handover of "the box". Cardeas goes on a long speech about how he is only handing over "the key" to "the box", and Suberoas doesn't really understand and is more concerned about retrieving Audrey. Unbeknownst to them, the whole colony is surrounded by a London Bell task force. The London Bell mobile suit force their way into the colony and engages Marida in her Kshatriya. The battle rages on and causes a lot of damage inside the colony. Banagher and his fellow classmates are caught in the wrong place in the wrong time, and several of Banagher's classmates are killed. For some reason, Banagher is more concerned about Audrey than himself and his two remaining friends Takuya and Micott, and he runs off to find Audrey. Meanwhile, the Vist foundation building is stormed by London Bell commandos. Suberoas' group manage to escape and pass by Banagher who is going in the other direction. On the other hand, Cardeas is cornered by two commandos led by the traitor Alberto. Cardeas manages to kill the two commandos, but he is shot by Alberto who quickly leaves the scene.

At least one London Bell pilot gives a damn about civilians.

While the battle is raging outside, Audrey is trying back to her ship by herself, and on the way she runs into Takuya and Micott. The three of them are then rescued by a London Bell ReZel unit. Elsewhere in the colony, Banagher follows some corridors into a burning hangar where the wounded Cardeas is preparing the Unicorn for launch. With his dying breath, Cardeas entrusts the Unicorn to Banagher and Banagher finally remembers that Cardeas is his father. Banagher launches in the Unicorn and literally runs into the Kshatriya. Banagher and the Unicorn pushes the Kshatriya out into space, and once outside the NT-D in the Unicorn activates and the Unicorn transforms into its Destroy Mode.

That's quite a bit of pushing power packed into those relatively small thrusters.

Wouldn't really be a Gundam series without a Gundam.

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

A good first episode. The animation was impressive to say the least and was definitely one of the highlights. This is probably the best-looking Gundam series I've watched, and it probably should be given that this is the newest Gundam OVA. One thing I noticed about the mobile suit battles is that they are a little slower (in terms of mobile suit movement speed) than the battles I've seen in other Gundam series, and I can see that there is a lot of attention being paid to details on the mobile suits movements. It's a little different than what I'm used to seeing from Gundam TV series, but it was pretty darn good. I also liked the incorporation of CG, especially during the Unicorn's transformation into Destroy Mode. The art style of the characters were pretty cool too in a retro kind of way. I guess the retro hair styles and rounder faces are how you identify the people as being UC inhabitants.

As for the story, it was decent, but not as good as the animation. The story thus far definitely has some similarities with the original Mobile Suit Gundam, mainly the part about a teenage boy coming into possession a super-powerful, prototype Gundam. The whole thing about "Laplace's Box" is a bit lost on me though, but I suppose it will become clearer in future episodes. I probably should have done some homework and watched some of the other Universal Century series (I remember watching the original Gundam, Zeta, and ZZ, but all were more than a decade ago), but I did read up a bit through Wikipedia and other internet sources. I'm guessing that Cardeas wants to hand "the key" to "the box" to the Neo Zeon so that neither the Neo Zeon or Earth Federation has the power to open "the box" by themselves. This seems like a good idea from some perspectives, but on the hand if both sides might go to war in order to obtain the other piece of the puzzle. At this point, it's not even clear what "the box" and "the key" are, so the story still has a lot explaining to go.

Moving on to the characters, Banagher is an alright protagonist thus far. I don't really like him or dislike him. Banagher is tolerable (ex not annoying), but his behavior is a little strange at times, probably due to his "premonitions" (NewType powers?) about the events in the episode. Not much to say about the others at this point.

Overall, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is looking good so far. I'm expecting that Sunrise would keep the animation quality near the top and hopefully the story will unfold nicely. Looking forward to the next episode, whenever that may be.

Tenjou Tenge 131

A typical Tenjou Tenge chapter with flashbacks and random stuff.

You sure they didn't spell it "Airon Fist" on purpose?

My pathetic attempt at a summary:
Back in the times of feudal Japan, Ichiyo Nagi and his companion Crab Girl beat down some freakish bandits. Ichiyo is trying absorb all the other supernatural powers with his Dragon Fist, but the more powers he absorbs the closer he is to losing control and becoming Susanoo. Jumping to the presents, Souichirou is continuing his ancestor's work and absorbs the power of some street thug.

Meanwhile, Masataka, representing the Juuken Club, is fighting with a bunch of Tekken cosplayers (no, I'm not kidding) as warm-up for the upcoming tournament. Back at the Juuken clubhouse, Maya (in child form) and Aya are hanging out together. Maya states that Souichirou will probably return after absorbing many supernatural powers and would have trouble controlling himself, and therefore she plans to use her Amateratsu Dragon Gate to alleviate his pain. Maya adds that she has received help from many people over the years, and it's time that she helped someone else. Aya comments that Maya had grown up and also surprisingly states that she wants to quit the club. In response, Maya starts biting on Aya's head.

At this time, Bob returns to the clubhouse after completing a 20km run. Maya and Aya tell Bob to take a break, but Bob states that he cannot rest or he'll be left behind by Souichirou. Bob adds that since Souichirou is his old buddy, he can't just let Maya and the other club members do all the work.

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

Looks like Tenjou Tenge has completely moved beyond the fight on top of the Takanyagi buildings. Maybe Sohaku really died when everyone stabbed imaginary Reiki through him within Souchirou's mindscape. It doesn't look like we'll get any more answers about what really happened at the end of that battle, so there is no point dwelling on it.

The story seems to be focused on the upcoming school tournament to determine which club runs the school. Souichirou is slated to return, and chances are it's going to be Souichirou vs. Masataka in the final fight. I'm not sure what will happen with everyone else, especially Aya who said she was quitting Juuken Club. It's way too late to hope for a coherent story at this point, but hopefully we'll at least get a few decent fights. Also, I'm hoping the story won't drag on for too long now, since one of the main reasons why I'm still reading this manga is because I'm under the impression that the story is almost over.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 45

Greed cuts ties with the homunculi (again), and various factions start making their moves in preparation to "that promised day".

Greed has gotten better, but still not good enough.

Summary:
A somewhat crazed Greed attacks Wrath in the Fuhrer's house. Wrath fends Greed off, and Greed escapes through a window.

The Armstrong siblings sure play rough.

Back in Central, Olivier Milla returns to the Armstrong manor and tells her father to take a hike. Mr. Armstrong then lets her and her brother Alex Louis fight for the estate while the rest of the family leaves for vacation. Olivier Milla lives up to her fearsome reputation and beats up Alex to take control of the estate, although all this is really a plot to send her parents and little sis out of the country so they can't be taken hostage.

May arrives in the mining town of Youswell and is welcomed by the residents. May is about to leave the country with Envy, but Envy goads May into returning to Central in order to find the "real" secret to immortality and help save Amestris.

Looks like Ling still has the same appetite as before.

In an effort to reunite with Al, Ed and his two chimera buddies arrive at the rural house where Ed and company had fought Gluttony, but Al is nowhere to be found. Instead, Ed and the chimeras bump into Ling and they find out that Greed has cut ties with all the other homunculi after remembering the past events. Ling also says that Father will open the Gate when "the Day" comes and suggests that Ed may be retrieve his and Al's bodies when that happens. After a while though, Greed takes back the controls and was about to leave, but Ed sort of convinces Greed to stay with them, or rather states that he and the two chimeras will follow Greed.

That's sexual harassment right there.

Around the country starting at Dublith, Al's message about "the promised day" is passed among many of the good guys in the North, the East, and finally to Central and Roy Mustang.

There is probably some pot wrapped inside that paper.

In the ED sequence, the different groups including the homunculi are mobilizing in preparation for "the promised day".

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

Yes! FMA:B has finally reached the point where I can recycle my old manga summaries, which means I need less time to write these posts. It'll be all copy-pasta from now on.

This was another build-up episode leading towards what is slated to be the "final" showdown, and it was a pretty good build-up episode. The episode was a mix of different events, but the events all flowed well together. The fight between Wrath and Greed was brief but well-animated, and it's safe to say this probably won't be the last time Wrath and Greed face each other. Greed cutting ties with the homunculi is a pretty significant, since this translated into useful intel for Ed's group and a powerful ally to boot. Greed might not be a big fan of Ed, but he always had a liking for chimeras.

The sequence with Olivier taking over the Armstrong manor was hilarious. I loved how the other Armstrongs weren't a bit concerned about Olivier tossing Alex all over the place. There is a reason why so many people are scared of Olivier. To be honest though, Alex probably can beat Olivier if he used alchemy, but this was just a play-fight despite the amount of damage caused by the two siblings.

As many people had probably guessed, May doesn't make it out of the country and is convinced into going back to Central. We can't have her and Envy disappearing from the story when the big showdown is right around the corner.

Lastly, there was the complex message passing between the good guys. The good guys look like they are organized and ready for action, but the homunculi are probably still ahead since they have everything set already and are just waiting. FMA:B is steadily building up to "that promised day", and it shouldn't be too long until we get to the action.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 20

Kazari gets a new roommate.

Kuroko is really handy to have around on moving day.

To stop the spread of the cooties, please remember to wash your hands often with soap and warm water.

Summary:
Kazari gets a new roommate named Harueh, a somewhat aloof girl who transferred from the 19th district. Ruiko, Kuroko, and Mikoto help move Harueh's stuff into Kazari's dorm, and then Mikoto and Ruiko take Harueh out to stroll around the neighborhood while Kuroko and Kazari attend a joint Judgement and Anti-Skill meeting about the recent earthquakes. At the meeting, Yomikawa explains that the "earthquakes" are actually the result of the RSPK syndrome which causes espers to temporarily lose control of their powers. RSPK syndrome can spread among espers and the "earthquakes" are the result of simultaneous RSPK reactions. Yomikawa then passes the mike to Telestina from the psychiatric rescue force (Academy City's version of the fire department?). Telestina basically repeats what Yomikawa had said without offering a solution, and she tells the Judgment members to help stop people (ex Ruiko) from spreading rumors that the earthquakes are supernatural phenomenons.

Where is Ruiko's left hand grabbing at?

If Ruiko had arrived any later, these two klutzes might have really choked themselves to unconsciousness.

After the Judgment members are dismissed, Konori decides to do her own little investigation into RSPK syndrome while Kazari and Kuroko head off to meet up with Mikoto's group. The girls meet up at an arcade where they take a group photo inside a photo booth. While Harueh is talking with Kazari, Ruiko comments to Mikoto and Kuroko that Harueh reminds her of Kazari when she and Ruiko just met. The five girls then decide to attend the fireworks festival going on at night. Kazari and Harueh return to their dorm to put on yukatas, but after several unsuccessful attempts they call in Ruiko for help. Kazari uses the opportunity to thank Ruiko for her help during the Judgment entrance exams and states that she wants to help Harueh just like how Ruiko had helped her.

It's true: Mikoto is a victim of mass merchandising.

This somehow turned into a yukata fanservice episode.

The five girls meet up after Mikoto and Kuroko successfully sneaked out of their dorm. After visiting all the festival booths, the girls notice several Multi Active Rescue (the psychiatric rescue force/fire department) vehicles parked nearby. The girls then climb up to a viewing platform up a hill. While watching the fireworks, Harueh suddenly starts acting strangely and wanders off, but Kazari and Ruiko and notices and follows her. With the other three girls gone, Kuroko uses the opportunity to snuggle up to Mikoto, but suddenly she gets a call from Konori who states that the RSPK outbreak is causes by someone is interfering with people's AIM fields. At that moment, the ground suddenly starts shaking and the viewing platform begins to collapse, forcing Kuroko to teleport herself and Mikoto to safety. Higher up on the hill, Kazari grabs hold of Harueh just as a light pole is about to fall on them. However, Kazari and Harueh are saved by Telestina who holds up the pole with her mechanized suit. While Ruiko, Kazari, Mikoto, and Kuroko wonder what happened, Harueh is clutching the pedant she's wearing and Telestina flashes an evil grin. Back down by the river, the crowd begin to notice that the platform has collapsed, and among the crowd is Kiyama.

I thought someone like Telestina would grow beyond the pink paint job thing. Apparently I was wrong.

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The second half story-arc finally begins, but Railgun is probably going to take its sweet time building the story up. This arc has to last to end of the show I presume. This episode formally introduced the two important characters of this story-arc (Harueh is the girl form episode 17 and Telestina is the glasses lady from the end of the Level-Upper arc) and gave some hints about the upcoming attractions, and there were plenty of scenes devoted to the five girls hanging together and having their slice-of-life moments. All the talk about RSPK syndrome sounded like mumbo jumbo to me, but that's probably the case for every other exposition in the Index/Railgun universe. It wasn't the most exciting introductory episode, but at least we're not on fillers any more.

Judging by the OP sequence, we know Telestina is going to start popping pills, and Kiyama is going to be involved as well, but probably as an ally to Mikoto's gang this time. Speaking of Kiyama, did she escape from jail or something? She should have been locked up for a long long time for all the damage and grief she caused with her Level Upper scheme. There is no legitimate reason to let Kiyama out early, so she either escaped or probably made a backroom deal to get out jail early.

Doesn't look there will be any major action next week. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long until some Mikoto pwnage. Also, I wonder what happened to Mitsuko after she was attacked by her doll collection. That girl is always get the short straw in this series lol.

Sekirei 96

The confrontation between Uzume and Minato's group becomes more interesting.

Minato always knows how to take advantage of the situation.

Summary:
Uzume reveals herself and declares her intention to rob the jinki from Minato's group. Musubi wants to fight Uzume one on one, but while Minato's group is distracted by the suggestion, Uzume wraps up both Musubi and Tsukiumi and then grabs Minato. Homura orders Uzume to let Minato go, but Minato suddenly gives Uzume a hug and begs Uzume to stop. Minato knows that Uzume isn't a bad person and states that everyone at the Izumo Inn wants her to come back. Uzume is touched by Minato's actions and emotionally states that she likes everyone at the inn too, but it's too late for her to go back. Suddenly, a shower of ice needles appear out of nowhere, forcing Uzume to block with her sheets. The attack came from Akitsu who has arrived with Mutsu and Mikogami.

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

What were Minato's Sekirei doing!? It was a 3 on 1 and they let Uzume grab Minato! At this stage of the game, they really need to pay more attention to their Ashikabi. Most of this chapter was Minato using his puppy eyes and hugging to try and convince Uzume to come back to the light, but it wasn't completely successful. I was expecting more reinforcements from Higa's camp to back up Uzume, but instead Mikogami showed up with two of his strongest Sekirei. Mikogami's group seems to be targeting Uzume, but maybe they are after Minato's jinki as well. I can't see why Mikogami would go out of his way to help MBI enforce the rules. The situation is developing, but looks like it could be a while before this goes anywhere.

Naruto 483

Kakashi catches up to Sasuke and Sakura.

No inappropriate touching on the first date.

Summary:
Kakashi catches up to Kiba, Lee, and Sai who are still lying on the ground from Sakura's sleep gas bomb. After learning Sakura's destination from Kiba, Kakashi leaves the younger ninjas on the forest path and continues on.

At the bridge, Sasuke questions Sakura's sincerity for joining him. To test Sakura's loyalty, Sasuke tells Sakura to kill the helpless Karin. Sakura walks up to Karin and Sasuke and thinks about stabbing Sasuke, but Sasuke has the same idea and acts first. Fortunately for Sakura, Kakashi arrives in time to drive Sasuke back. Kakashi tells Sakura that she shouldn't burden herself with all of the responsibility and states that it's his failure as a sensei that Sasuke has fallen so far. Kakashi tells Sasuke to stop his obsession with revenge, but Sasuke isn't in the mood to listen. Seeing that Sasuke has fallen too far to be saved, Kakashi tells Sakura to take Karin and heal her up for questioning. With Sakura and Karin gone, Kakashi reveals his Sharingan and faces off against Sasuke. Meanwhile, Naruto is on his way.

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

For a second week in a row, a commenter from the previous week has made the correct prediction, this time about Sasuke asking Sakura to kill Karin to prove her loyalty. It all turned out to be a faint by Sasuke though. Even though Sasuke is insane, he isn't quite stupid enough to fall for Sakura poorly-thought-out plan. As ridiculous as that scenario was, I'm a little disappointed that Sakura didn't go with Sasuke. We won't be able to see the look on Naruto's face when he sees Sasuke and Sakura back together. That would have been a great moment lol.

With Sakura's situation resolved for now, we have Sasuke vs. Kakashi, another former student vs. mentor match. Sasuke at full power is above Kakashi's league, but right now Sasuke is spent while Kakashi has all of his chakra reserves, so this fight will probably be close. Since I can't imagine Naruto catching up to Sasuke so soon, I'm going to guess that Sasuke will probably turn tail and run soon enough, either by his own will or Madara will show up and whisk him away.

One Piece 575

Whitebeard battles Akainu, and someone makes a surprise return.

Akainu gets what's coming to him.

Summary:
Luffy is devastated by Ace's death and is unable to move. Akainu goes after Luffy, but Marco blocks the attack while Jimbei grabs Luffy and runs. Akainu is then punched into the ground by the enraged Whitebeard. Akainu retaliates and burns off Whitebeard's left face, but Whitebeard is unfazed and smashes Akainu in the midsection with a mighty blow. Whitebeard's attack was so powerful that it creates a chasm separating the Marines from the pirates, and the injured Akainu falls down the chasm into the sea below. The pirates take the cue and start retreating to their ships, while Whitbeard continues to tear through the Marines. Suddenly, the Marines and Whitebeard notices the Blackbeard Pirates standing near the Marine HQ building.

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

Whitebeard owned Akainu! Then again, you wouldn't expect anything less given the circumstances. It seems that the story has moved beyond Ace's death for the moment, and I think that's a good thing since there will plenty of time after the battle for characters to think about Ace. For now though, it's back to Whitebeard's glorious last stand, made even better by the surprise return of the Blackbeard pirates. Blackbeard's crew has grown both in numbers and in strength. The new members probably came from Level 6 of Impel Down, which means they are probably a lot stronger than Blackbeard's original crew. With Marine HQ in disarray, this may be a good opportunity for Blackbeard to seize control, but even with his current crew I don't think Blackbeard has the strength to take out all of the other Shichibukai, Sengoku, Garp, and the two remaining admirals. Blackbeard probably has something else up his sleeve, and I wonder if he found what he was looking for during his visit to Impel Down.

No One Piece next week.

Gantz 313

Kurono #1's group check themselves into a hotel for the night.

It's a well-known fact that Weekly Shounen Jump is essential for survival during a disaster.

Summary:
Kurono #1, along with Tae, other students, and two teachers, walk into a hotel and finds it to be completely empty. The students grabs door keys from the counters and check themselves into several rooms. One female student manages to call her mother and learns something bad has happened to her dad, so she decides to walk home. For food, the male students raid a nearby convenience store (also abandoned) and grabs lots of junk food along with a few copies of Weekly Shounen Jump. After hanging out in their rooms for a while, everyone soon falls asleep. Suddenly, everyone is awakened by a loud explosion in the distance. The girls in one room open their window and sees a giant mech blasting buildings, and they scream for Kurono. Kurono gets up and tries to leave his room, but he is suddenly teleported away.

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

Just like the previous chapter, not much happened for the majority of this chapter. The scale of the disaster hasn't really sunk in for most of the students, and many of them think they are on a field trip where they can get free stuff. It's curious that the hotel and nearby convenience store was completely empty though, since buildings are a good place to hide from the troopers. I guess all the people are scared of the mechs blowing up the hotel and so they left. Anyways, the only interesting part of this chapter was the end where Kurono is teleported away. Looks like there will be one "final" mission after all. It was about time the story started moving again. Let's see if the Gantzers will get upgrades to their arsenals.

Deadman Wonderland 29

Chief Makina calls in reinforcements; Ganta is captured and brought to Tamaki; and Azami tries to get help to rescue Ganta.

Tamaki: DW used to be your house. Shiro is the Red Man. The dunk contest was boring. Canada finally won a gold medal on home soil. You'll never get into college. The world is unfair.
Ganta: It's NOT TRUUUUUUUEEEE!!!!

Summary:
To further her own plans to take over Deadman Wonderland, Chief Makina calls in three of her old buddies Ekou, Kashima, and Bonbu to be part of her special forces. Makina's three friends also bring in advanced weapons based on technology that Scar Chain had smuggled out. Chief Makina then turns her attention to Ganta who hasn't reported in for 28 hours.

After being captured by the crazy doctor's forces, Ganta is brought to a dining room to meet with Tamaki. Ganta demands to know that Tamaki is up to by performing all these inhumane experiments, and Tamaki agrees to answer. Tamaki explains that his father, the original chief director of DW, had wanted to create someone who can play with the Wretched Egg. The Wretched Egg was created by the old director, and what's more Ganta's mother had helped with the Wretched Egg's creation when she worked with the national medical research center. Tamaki states that DW was built on top of the old research facility in order to contain the Wretched Egg, which means in a cruel way Ganta has really returned home when he was thrown into DW. Ganta doesn't remember any of these things, but Tamaki tells him not to be so conflicted because their goals are the same. Tamaki then states that the ultimate goal of his experiments is to kill the Wretched Egg, and he wants Ganta to join his operation.

Meanwhile, a dazed Azami (suffering from mask withdrawal) wanders into Deadmen territory hoping to find someone to help rescue Ganta, but instead she is kicked around by Senji and the other Deadmen who refuse to believe what she's saying. Suddenly, Shiro drops in from the ceiling onto Senji. Shiro and Azami are about to head off to rescue Ganta, but they are blocked by the other Deadmen who are still pissed about the writings on the masks. Shiro doesn't care and tries to leave, but she is whipped in the face by Minatsuki. Shiro comes back by saying that Minatsuki and the other Deadmen are all weaker than Ganta, since Ganta isn't trying to run away from his past. Shiro and Azami then run off with a few Deadmen chasing them, but Minatsuki, Senji and some of the others are thinking about what Shiro had said.

Back in the dining room, Tamaki warns that Ganta will be used for experiments if he doesn't cooperate. Tamaki opens a door and shows Ganta all of the sick experiments going on inside and states that he will find a way to defeat the Wretched Egg at any cost. Despite Tamaki's threats, Ganta refuses to cooperate with Tamaki, and Tamaki quickly straps Ganta into an experimental apparatus.

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

I was hoping that Ganta would put up a fight against the crazy doctor and her forces, but he just willingly got captured. With his Super Ganta Gun, Ganta had a chance of beating the doctor's forces, but I supposed he didn't want the bad guys to find Azami. Ganta getting captured wasn't a bad development though, since it led to the dinner meeting with Tamaki. Tamaki confirms what most of us have guessed already about the connections between Ganta, DW, and the Wretched Egg, but it's interesting that he is trying to kill the Wretched Egg. I doubt Tamaki is planning this out of the goodness in his heart though. To Tamaki, the Wretched Egg is a dangerous being that he cannot fully control, and that's probably why he wants to eliminate it. If Tamaki can make a controllable Deadman strong enough to beat the Wretched Egg, then he can probably take over the world or at least make a lot of money.

In the meantime, Ganta is being experimented upon, but he will probably hold up long enough for rescuers to show up. Shiro and Azami will be the first, but some of the other Deadmen may follow, and so could Makina and her buddies. This could potentially build into a big free-for-all battle if all the characters I've mentioned decide to go after Ganta. Hopefully it won't be too long until the next chapter.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 44

Al chats with Hohenheim in Lior; Bido runs into the new Greed; and Ed and chimeras escape from pursuing soldiers.

Finally, some Winry fanservice.

Awkward moment alert!

Summary:
Al's group bumps into Hohenheim in Lior. Al and Hohenheim initially don't know what to say to each other, so instead the father and son, along with the chimeras and Yoki start helping with the reconstruction. Meanwhile, Winry chats with Rose in Rose's apartment, and Rose recalls how Ed and Al overthrew Father Cornello. Even though Lior went through a period of unrest, Rose is still thankful that Ed and Al had came through the city to expose Cornello. Back outside, Al and Hohenheim finally start talking. Hohenheim reveals his past to Al and is impressed by what Ed an Al has found out so far about Father's plans. Al wants to destroy the giant transmutation underneath the country, but Hohenheim states that it's no use since Pride is guarding the tunnels. Hohenheim then tells Al to look towards the sun god statue and states that Father is waiting for a certain special date.

1 of the 100 reasons why an automail arm is awesome.

What happened to Heinkel's (actual) guns?

In a northern city, Darius uses Ed's pocket watch to take out some cash from Ed's bank account. Ed and the chimeras are hiding in an old doctor couple's clinic, and the cash is to pay for the medical treatment and to keep the old couple's mouths shut. Unfortunately, Darius' bank visit alerts the soldiers to Ed's whereabouts. The soldiers barge into the doctors' clinic but only finds Darius and Heinkel. As the soldiers question Darius and Heinkel, Ed returns with food and groceries and he proceeds to knock out all the soldiers. Ed and his chimera buddies leave the clinic but is confronted by more soldiers. Since the soldiers don't recognize Ed, Darius and Heinkel pretends to kidnap Ed in order to get out of the building. Once outside, Ed and the chimeras engage in a car chase with the soldiers, but Ed manages to throw off the pursuers by transmuting the car into another model. After driving out of the city, Ed and the chimeras stop to plan out what to do next. Realizing that he needs information, Ed then wonders where Al would had to.

Ed's Awesome-mobile is ready to roll.

Olivier: Can't you make these things prettier? They're kind of ugly.

In Central, Bido somehow stumbles into the secret room with the puppet soldiers, but he is forced to hide when Olivier and the Central officer arrives. Olivier inspects the puppet soldiers and wonders where Central will get the souls to power them, and the officer explains that the souls will come from Armestris' enemies. Meanwhile, Bido scrambles his way into one of the underground tunnels but runs into the new Greed. Greed, in charge of guarding the tunnel underneath Central, chases Bido around and finally corners the chimera. Bido recognizes Greed's powers but wonders why Greed looks different, while the new Greed states that he doesn't remember who Bido is. Greed eventually kills Bido, but suddenly he starts remembering things from Dublith. Ling's soul joins in and encourages Greed to remember his past, and Greed is overwhelmed by the flood of memories from his old self.

There goes the last of Greed's old buddies.

In the Fuhrer's residence, King Bradley, Mrs. Bradley and Selim are going about their usual business when Greed suddenly barges in. Greed charges at Bradley who blocks Greed off with his sword.

Payback time.

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

This was one of those transitional episodes, but there were plenty of interesting developments and a bit of comedic action to boot. First of all, Ed is finally back after almost dying three episodes ago, and he looks like he is almost healed and ready for action. His sense of style is still as amusing as ever as seem by the purple Triceratop-mobile. Darius and Heinkel are officially Ed's buddies now, and they are quite amusing as well, having the wits to hold Ed hostage in order to leave the buildings.

Moving to Lior, Al reconnects with Hohenheim and learns a few things. Unlike Ed, Al isn't really hostile towards Hohenheim since he probably doesn't remember Hohenheim that well. There were still some awkward moments between Al and Hohenheim, but father and son managed to talk when they got down to the serious business of saving the country. Apparently the reason why Hohenheim is hanging around Lior and not doing much is because he knows Father is waiting for a special date, but wouldn't it be better to work on stopping Father before that special date arrives? Not according to shounen logic lol. The final showdown has to happen, and we can't have the good guys stopping it in advance. However, Hohenheim still seems too relaxed for a situation where the fate of the country is hanging in the balance.

The final big development is the reawakening of Greed who regains the memories of his previous life. This is probably the biggest development in this episode, because this means Greed is no longer in Father's camp. Consequently, Greed will also be more inclined to listen to Ling, and Ling will get his chances to retake the body. As expected, the first person Greed goes after is Wrath. Last time Greed was beaten badly because he wasn't ready for Wrath, but this time is different. We'll see how far this confrontation will go.

On a somewhat off-topic note, FMA:B has finally reached the point in the story (chapter 82) where I first started writing summaries for the manga. I was hoping that I could copy and paste my old summaries, but this episode jammed several chapters into one, so no copy-pasta just yet.