To Aru Majutsu no Index II 16

Touma and company try to stop Bishop Biagio and save Agnese.

Major ice golem FAIL.

Summary:
Angelene is hurt by the falling ice but isn't in mortal danger. Lucia and the Amakusa stay to hold off the battle nuns, and this allows Touma, Index and Orsola to board the flag ship using the Amakusa's bridge spell. The flag ship doesn't have any battle nuns, but Touma's trio are quickly confronted by ice golems. Touma and the girls run into the ship and split up with Touma drawing off the golems. After losing the golems in the chase, Touma is confronted by Biagio himself who uses the magical crosses on his necklaces to attack. After a brief battle, Biagio buries Touma under a pile a large crosses.

Is it that hard to hold your right hand up to catch the second cross?

Meanwhile, Index and Orsola make their way to the entrance to the central chamber where they are confronted by more ice golems. Index draws away the golems, and Orsola enters the chamber to find Agnese standing beside the spherical magical apparatus related to the Queen of the Adriatic spell. Orsola tells Agnese to escape with her, but Agnese decides it's time to do the "why save me? I'm better off dead" act which allows Biagio to get back to the chamber. Biagio then proceeds to explain that the Queen of the Adriatic spell can be used to destroy any city, and he is going to use it on Academy City. After Biagio attacks Orsola, Agnese seems ready to fight and picks up her staff (which Orsola was carrying), but Biagio easily restrains her and Orsola with his gravity spell.

First with the right hand...

...then surprise: Touma can actually punch with his left hand.

At this moment, Touma shows up and punches Biagio in the face. Touma then proceeds to talk about how to destroy the magical device, but Biagio activates the chamber's self destruct which puts Agnese in a lot of pain. Orsola carries Agnese away, and Touma stays behind for one final battle with Biagio. Biagio launches crosses big and small at Touma, but Touma manages to deflect/destroy most of them and punches Biagio in the chest which destroys Biagio's remaining crosses along with the self destruct explosion. However, the flagship itself is damaged and sinks into the sea, but Touma is rescued and taken to a local hospital. At the hospital, Index hands Touma his phone with Heaven Canceler on the line, and the frog faced doctor orders Touma to return to Academy City since it'd bad if another hospital examined his body. Heaven Canceler also tells Touma that Mikoto wanted to remind him of his "punishment" which prompts Touma to scream that he doesn't want to go back.

Right in the sternum... actually that would hurt pretty bad.

Some time later in England, Kaori is in her room on the phone talking to Motoharu, and Motoharu once again teases Kaori about owing Touma another favor and suggests that Kaori dress up as fallen angel maid to pay Touma back. Kaori hangs up on Motoharu, but she entertains Motoharu's suggestion by standing in front of her reflection on a fish tank and holding a plate above her head to visualize. Kaori's fantasizing is interrupted when Orsola returns with Agnese in tow.

Oh Kaori, why are you listening to Motoharu?

Somewhere within the Vatican, a person from God's Right Seat orders the Pope to sign a document authorizing the investigation of Touma Kamijo and his assassination if need be.

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Not a bad finale to the story arc, but it wasn't particularly good either. Nothing major to complain about, but plenty of small issues. There was plenty of action, but the ice golems were laughable (the first getting stuck at the entrance and then stabbed by the next golem was hilarious), and Biagio's cross tossing wasn't exactly visually impressive. He had some attacked that worked, but Touma was able to punch him out without too much difficulty at the end. Touma was pretty dumb during the first battle though. He could have easily just held out his right hand to stop the falling crosses, but instead he tries to swing at the crosses and ends up getting hit. And of course, Touma still never checks whether if the enemy is actually knocked out; as long as the enemy falls down, Touma and all his friends will ignore the enemy until the enemy regains footing.

Animation quality seemed to have taken a major dip in the latter part of the episode especially when it came to character faces. Touma just didn't look right during the second half battle against Biagio, and then Kaori looked weird in the ending scene. Kaori was cute though at the end when she was fantasizing about repaying Touma with Motoharu's suggestion.

Being the focus of this arc, Agnese was pretty disappointing this episode. I don't get why she was stalling on Orsola and then suddenly decided to stand up and fight after Biagio attacked Orsola, but what was worse was that Agnese was defeated so easily without even launching a single attack. I guess the task of beating up the bad guy has to be left to Touma. They also didn't explain how Touma was able to destroy wall and floor panels on the flagship but not able to do anything on the other ships, but perhaps explaining it might be even worse.

So in the end, this arc was about another kooky Roman Catholic magician trying and failing to destroy Academy City. Given the last scene in the Vatican, these Roman Catholic related story arcs are building up to something bigger and hopefully better.

Fractale 03

Clain and Nessa are taken a town where people do not use or actively oppose the Fractale system.

It might be a kidnapping, but Clain is in heaven.

Summary:
Enri and goons drop Clain and Nessa off at seaside village of Granitz, which is located inside and around an abandoned city. Enri tries to remind Nessa and Clain that they are hostages, but Clain (who loves old technology) and Nessa are too taking in the sights to listen. Clain is eventually bought in front of the young man that Enri looks up to for a chat, while Nessa decides to pester Enri and uses her digital nature to follow Enri everywhere (including the bathroom).

One of the reasons why you shouldn't have a network connected visual device in your washroom

At the young man's house, Clain learns that Granitz is a large branch of Lost Millennium, an organization of people who oppose the Fractale System. People in the village do not have nanomachines in their bodies, and so they must wear special glasses to see doppels (Nessa included). Clain wonders what the young man wants with Phryne or Nessa, and the young man explains that it's all part of his plan to bring down the Fractale system.

What kind of cake has a sneaky, wiggly taste?

Clain and Nessa spend the rest of the day hanging out in the village. At night Clain has old fashioned cooked food for the first time in his life, and later at night Nessa convinces Clain to describe the taste to her by dancing (since she can't eat). The next day, Clain and Nessa wake up to find the young leader, Enri and company ready to head out on the village's giant airship. The leader explains that his group is going to stop a prayer to the stars (what people under the Fractale system does every once in a while) and drags Clain along. Nessa is intentionally left behind, but she easily gets aboard the ship anyways.

Nobody in this day and age seems to know how to use cover in a fire fight.

Clain and company get off the airship near the site and sneak in for a closer look, and the young leader hands Clain a pair of special glasses that makes him unaffected by the prayer. At the site, old priestesses from the church along with a hooded young girl onto the site platform and begin the ceremony. The civilians who have gathered are instructed to look up, and three "stars" in the sky starts flashing and everyone seem to be hypnotized by the lights. From behind cover, the young leader explains to Clain that the purpose of the prayers are for the church to reprogram people's nanomachines so that people do not doubt the Fractale system, and this is all ploy to keep people under control. The Lost Millennium forces then spring out from cover and start shooting at the priestesses and guards with their old style guns, while the priestesses return fire by firing energy bolts from their staffs. Both sides take casualties, and many civilians are shot in the cross fire. During the battle the hooded young girl is revealed to look exactly like Nessa. Suddenly, Phryne appears which puts a stop to the fighting. Phryne walks up to the platform to the Nessa look-alike and surviving priestesses, and the Nessa look-alike greets Phryne as her big sister.

A familiar yet strange face.

Look who's back in the picture.

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This is one of those pivotal episodes where things get really interesting and not to mention more serious. Most of the episode was laid-back and cutesy like the previous episodes, but things suddenly kicked into high gear near the end. Gunfights, people getting shot... I guess Phryne was shot at in the first episode, but the violence at the end of the episode still felt a little surprising. Adding to that, there were the Nessa look-alike and Phryne's surprise return, and all of that combined together into quite the ending for the episode.

So according to the Lost Millennium, the Fractale System is a system that allows the church (or the organization that the priestesses work for, whatever the name is) to brainwash and control people, and in exchange for the brainwash ordinary people can use doppels. It's terrible deal, especially considering how most people have terrible looking doppels. For whatever reason, the Fractale System appears to be falling apart and the balloons that maintain the system are falling the earth, and this is probably what Clain had meant last episode about stuff falling from the skies.

The last few minutes of the episode explained a lot, but it also raised a lot more questions regarding Phryne, Nessa, and the girl that looks identical to Nessa (or rather, Nessa is made identical to her). Perhaps most importantly, what will Clain do now that he has learned the truth about the Fractale System? Clain does like old technology and living in a house which puts him closer to Lost Millennium's camp, but he doesn't seem like the type who would grab guns and start shooting at people. I'm looking forward to how things will turn out next episode.

Gantz 332

More people join the Tokyo Team, while Kurono #1 and hostage Fra journey towards the city ship's exit.

Kaze: Man, do I look that old?

Summary:
At the Gantz apartment, an older man is transmitted into the room, and Gantz reports that there are only two more people coming. Another person is transmitted into the room and Kato recognizes him as the nerdy kid from the Osaka team.

Meanwhile inside the city ship, Kurono #1 has forced Fra to don the mechanized armor of one of the dead soldiers, and all the human escapees are carried in bags around Fra's waist. Another soldier appears and asks Fra what's in the bags, and Fra gets away by saying that the bags are rations for other soldiers. Fra then continues walking towards the exit.

In the alien apartment, the alien girl put Tae back in the tank but she doesn't notice that Shun is sick. Shun is on the ground shaking and saying that he feel cold, and Tae tries to use her own body to warm Shun.

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I had a feeling that the nerdy kid from the Osaka team would show up. If he managed to survive, there is no way he wouldn't come a see Kato. We'll have to see if the nerdy kid managed to revive the single mom that Kato liked (she was killed at the end of the Nura alien mission). Maybe she'll be the last Gantzer to answer the call.

There is not much progress inside the city ship. Kurono #1 is still trying to find the way out, while Shun is still sick and untreated. Tae is now trying to warm Shun with her body, but I don't know if that's the best idea since whatever Shun has may be contagious. Or worse, Shun could be trying to trick her for sex. I still don't see where Tae and Shun's little drama will lead, but the author seems to be bent on making something out the situation.

Naruto 525

More zombies lead to more upcoming battles.

For amusement, Kabuto could leave the 2nd Mizukage and Tsuchikage alone and let them go at each other.

Summary:
Realizing the 2nd Tsuchikage Mu has been detected by Gaara's forces, Kabuto makes the Tsuchikage summon the zombies of the 2nd Mizukage, the 4th Kazekage (Gaara's dad), and the 3rd Raikage (the current Raikage's dad). Meanwhile, Darui's forces near the coast are faced with thousands of Zetsu clones, resurrected Leaf ninjas, Kakuzu, and two powerful ninjas from the Cloud known as the Kin and Gin Brothers. At the Shinobi Army command center, A (the current Raikage) gets news of the attacking forces from the sensors and wants to join the fray, but Shikaku advises him against it. Shikaku then formulates a complex plan to respond to the zombies and Zetsu clones and talks A into agreeing with the plan, but Onoki (the current Tsuchikage) adds that he has to go stop Mu because Mu has the ability beyond a bloodline limit called a "bloodline expansion".

Back in the rocky area, the four Kage zombies are chatting, and Gaara's dad senses that Gaara is spying on them. Meanwhile, Black Zetsu makes his way to the buildings where the feudal lords are staying.

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Instead of getting a fight between Gaara and Mu, we get a chapter that introduces a whole lot of other zombies and sets up for a bunch of more battles. Gaara will probably be fighting his father instead and Onoki will handle Mu, but we don't know who is going to handle the other two Kages or the other zombies quite yet. The good guys have held up so far, but with Kage-class enemies popping up and Black Zetsu getting to the feudal lords, things probably won't go quite as smoothly as Shikaku and the current Kages had planned. Two things we do know for sure are 1) things will probably get much worse for the good guys before they get better and 2) it'll probably be a long time before we see Naruto in action. Hopefully the next round of battles will be more fun than what has been shown thus far.

One Piece 612

King Neptune leads Luffy and friends back to his palace.

Soft and bouncy coral... does such a thing exist?

Summary:
A few hours earlier, three mermaids investigate the barrel that washed ashore with the Straw Hat and they release Caribou. Caribou then uses his Devil Fruit powers to capture the mermaids into his body with plans to sell them in the slave market. Back to the present, some have pinned the disappearance of the three mermaids to the Straw Hat crew. Prince Fukaboshi has gotten word of this and Madam Shirley's grim prediction and decides that he has to deal with Straw Hat crew.

Meanwhile, King Neptune leads Luffy and friends toward his palace. It turns out that the shark (named Megalo) that's with the King is the mermaid princess' pet, and the king want to thank the Straw Hats for saving Megalo from being bullied by the kraken. Luffy and friends also learn that Zoro is already drinking at the palace, while Nami reveals that Franky and Robin headed off on their own businesses. Nami then wonders why it's so bright at Fishman Island, and King Neptune explains that a colossal tree name "Sunlight Tree Eve" brings light and and air from the surface down to the depth.

The group finally arrive at King Neptune's impressive palace, but the king himself is immediately scolded by his ministers. While the king is talking to his minsters (about a message from Fukaboshi), Luffy follows the smell of delicious food and wanders to a giant door that appears to have weathered a lot of attack. Luffy walks into the dark room and sees food in the distance, but his progress is impeded by something soft and bouncy. Suddenly, the light comes on and Luffy's tossed to the floor, and Luffy discovers that he was walking on the breasts of Princess Shiraboshi who is a giant of a mermaid. Shiraboshi thinks Luffy is an assassin and starts crying and screaming, and Luffy is not sure what to do.

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One Piece is taking its time to build up this story arc. So Luffy and crew saved the shark from the kraken. For some reason I thought the shark was controlling the kraken since it appeared just as the kraken was defeated and then the kraken turned nice afterwards, but what's presented in the chapter makes more sense. Because of this, Luffy and friends are invited to the royal palace, but trouble is brewing on multiple fronts. Other than the New Fishman Pirates, Caribou is on the loose and causing trouble again. People are pinning Caribou's crimes on the Straw Hats and it sounds like King Neptune will be in on the news. Meanwhile, Luffy is getting in trouble with the giant mermaid princess who people are trying to kill for some reason. Given all the false accusation and grim predictions surrounding the Straw Hats, I won't be surprised if King Neptune tosses Luffy and friends in jail in the next few chapters.

Another note from the chapter is that it sounds like all of the Straw Hats are okay despite the rough entry into Fishman Island. I'm surprised that none of them ended up in the bad side of town or in some other kind of trouble, but I suppose Luffy and friends are already caught in enough trouble.

Bleach 434

Ichigo begins his training to regain his shinigami powers.

Just because it sounds ridiculous doesn't mean it won't be effective.

Summary:
At the Kurosaki home, Yuzu and Karin are worried about Ichigo's recent weird behavior and not being home at night. Ichigo returns home and the two sisters immediately rush to talk to their brother, but Ichigo just tells them to go to sleep and the sisters are happy with that.

Some time later, Ichigo joins Ginjou and gang at their apartment to begin training. Riruka shows up late with a dollhouse in her hands and she is immediately teased by fellow group member Yukio. Riruka quickly gets angry and has to restrained by Jackie, another member of Xcution. After calming down, Riruka explains to Ichigo that the dollhouse is Ichigo's first training ground and she has the power to insert Ichigo into the dollhouse. Using her Fullbring, Riruka gives Ichigo a heart-shaped "pass", and Ichigo is shrunk and sucked into the dollhouse. Ichigo gets up and finds himself facing a giant stuffed animal, and Riruka explains that the goal is to defeat the stuffed animal.

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And so the training chapters begin, and Ichigo's first task is defeat a giant stuffed animal. The stuffed animal does look a bit dangerous, but it's still hard to take the task seriously given that it is a giant stuffed animal. I suppose in the process of trying to reboot itself, Bleach is trying some new things, so we probably should give this a fair chance. I wonder how Ichigo is supposed to use Fullbring?

Training chapters are fine, but hopefully the series will remember its other ongoing threads such as who attacked Uryuu. We did see Yuzu and Karin this week, but it was mostly to show that the sisters are still in the series. I wanted to see if there's any development about Karin's dealings with Urahara, but it didn't happen.

Sekirei 110

So apparently there was a real Sekirei chapter this month, or I read the special late. Anyways, in this chapter Miya reveals what she really is.

The two main waifus get the first hug.

Summary:
In front of the Izumo Inn, Miya questions if Minato has the courage to stop disaster from happening, and Minato realizes that he is afraid of losing more companions (Sekireis) in the upcoming battles. At this moment, Musubi, Tsukiumi, Matsu and Kusano return from their successful mission. Minato is so happy that everyone made it back safely that he immediately hugs Musubi and Tsukiumi. The returning four learn that Uzume was taken out by one of Higa's Sekirei. Kusano wonders if Uzume is dead, and Minato holds Kusano in his arms and tearfully answers that Uzume won't die. At this moment, Miya decides to reveal that she is Sekirei no. 1, although technically she is neither Sekirei nor human. Miya then promises to reveal the bloody history of the Sekirei Plan.

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Looks like we are going to be treated to story time once again, and this time we'll get Miya's version of the whole thing. Since Miya was the first one to exist, she probably knows more than most of the other Sekireis, and Miya revealing the secrets also means that Matsu, Kazehana and Homura's gag orders will be lifted. As for the chapter itself, not much happens other than Miya revealing her true identity, and of course that identity is only secret to Minato and some of the younger Sekireis. This still leaves the mystery of who is the no. 00 pictured in some of the previous chapters. I'm guessing it's probably Miya but in a different state, but we'll see.

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 15

Touma and Orsola escape from the ice fleet with some help.

Touma gets a taste of his own medicine.

Note to all girls with magical garments: never shake hands with Touma

Summary:
Inside the ice ship, Agnese's first reaction upon seeing Touma is to punch in the face and gut for some payback. Agnese then states that she is supposed to be looking for intruders, but she is forced to work for the fleet due to her earlier failures. Agnese then proceed to explain that the fleet of ice ships is used by the Roman Catholics to perform/guard a powerful magical ritual known as the Queen of the Adriatic Sea. In exchange for helping Touma and Orsola escape, Agnese wants the two to rescue Lucia and Angelene who have escaped before but were recaptured and awaiting punishment. Agnese herself will head to the flagship to draw away attention. Touma and Agnese decide to shake on the agreement, but Touma's right hand causes Agnese's magical robe to disintegrate.

Orsola demonstrates the art of bluffing.

Touma and Orsola follow Agnese's direction to the room where Lucia and Angelene are being held. Touma and Orsola are confronted by a large ice armor but Touma easily destroys it with his right hand. Orsola then uses a piece of the ice armor to bluff the three human guards so they can free Lucia and Angelene without a fight. Lucia and Angelene can use a spell to make holes in the ice ship, but the two are hindered by restraining spells in their robes, but Touma can't dispel the restraints without shredding their robes. After learning that Agnese is staying behind, Lucia and Angelene become worried as Agnese is needed to perform the ritual and the ritual will damage Agnese's mind. Suddenly, the ship is attacked by the other ships in the fleet. The commander of the fleet, Bishop Biagio Busoni, had learned of the intruders and ordered the other ships to attack, and the target ship is sunk taking Touma and company along with it.

Interesting design, but the leaving the top completely flat seems like a waste of space.

If Itsuwa had wanted closer contact with Touma, this could be interpreted as success.

Touma wakes up and finds himself inside the submersible ship of the Amakusa. Index had called for the Amakusa's help and the Amakusa managed to rescue Touma, Orsola, Lucia, Angelene and the three guards from a watery grave. The group return to the city for some food, and during that time Touma, Lucia and Angelene declare that they are going to rescue Agnese no matter what. Saiji (the Amakusa leader) had prepared for this and the group head out against the ice ship fleet. Using small exploding boats as distraction, Touma and company board one of the ice ships and head for the flagship. On the way, the group is confronted by some battle nuns formerly under Agnese's command while other ice ships fire upon the ship that they are on, and in the heat of the battle Angelene is knocked unconscious by falling debris.

Apparently this is a common way to get attention among battle nuns. Can't argue with its effectiveness though.

Our first "good" casualty...

...

She's probably fine since she wouldn't look like this if the ice block had crushed her.

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I was expecting the expositions to storm back with a vengeance after the lack of it in the previous episode, but this episode wasn't too bad in that regard. I don't think I understood everything, but the point is some kooky Catholic bishop is trying to do something crazy and needs Agnese for the ritual, and thus Touma and company have the stop the ritual and save Agnese. Those crazy Catholics, they just don't know when to stop. They are the villains for most of episodes so far this season.

The episode was a bit of action, a bit of chatter, and a bit of comedy mixed in together and the result wasn't bad. I liked how Orsola handled things this episode, bluffing out the three guards and then stopping Touma from shredding Lucia and Angelene's robes (after which Lucia would probably have murdered Touma). Orsola is definitely a worthy candidate for Touma's harem lol. Meanwhile, Itsuwa continues the moist towel battle plan but to little effect, unless of course you count getting bowled over by Touma and Index a result. She needs to step up her game and do it fast, although I suppose Itsuwa is just following the Amakusa mantra of being subtle and sneaky.

So as expected, Agnese is not the villain but rather more like the damsel in distress this time, and Touma will finally get to punch a male main villain in the face again after punching three female main villains out in a row.

Fractale 02

Clain shows the girl avatar Nessa around town.

Nessa would make a good intersection traffic cop.

Summary:
At a giant palace/church, nuns are worrying over Phryne going missing, but their leader isn't worried and states that Phryne has nowhere to go. The leader also declares that for stealing "the World Key", Phryne will be punished when she gets back.

Back by the seaside house, Clain learns that the cheerful energetic girl that appeared out of his computer is named Nessa, that she is not Phryne's doppel, and unlike most doppels Nessa can be touched. After greeting Clain, Nessa goes downstairs and greets the doppels of Clain's parents and dogs, and Clain is surprised that Nessa can also "touch" other doppels. Clain's parents tell Clain to return Nessa to Phryne or give her to the police.

With Phryne long gone, Clain decides to bring Nessa into town by riding his bike. Inside the town, Nessa goes into explorer mode and wanders all over the place, forcing Clain to catch up with her. When questioned by Nessa about the lack of people in town, Clain explains that most people live in motor homes outside of town so they are not bound to any location and can escape when stuff falls out of the skies. Nessa then decides to visit a group of motor homes just outside of town, and her touch appears to make electronic and mechanical devices go wild, causing the motor homes to crash into each other and fritzing out electronics.

They don't have fireworks in the future, but they do have flying umbrellas.

After escaping from the angry residents, Clain wants to take Nessa to the police station. Nessa states that her home is where Clain is, but after finding out Clain can't touch her anymore she agrees to go the police station. After leaving Nessa and Phryne's brooch at the police station, Clain returns to find his bike dismantled by the young blond girl and her two goons. The girl, named Enri, and the goons then kidnap Clain and carry him into a basement to see a young man in a military-style uniform. The young man asks Clain where Phryne is, and Clain answers that he doesn't know. The man decides to let Clain go, but Clain realizes that Enri and the goons are following him.

These three aren't exactly the masters of disguise.

It must be nice having the ability to shut up nagging parents with the wave of the hand.

Clain goes back home to do research on doppels that can be touched, but the only doppels that somewhat matched the description are used for sexual purposes and needs the users to take in special nanomachines into their bodies. Clain is then called down by his parents' doppels for a talking. Clain's parents are worried about Clain's behavior lately, but Clain isn't in the mood for a lecture and dismisses the doppels. Clain then spends the next while running blindly outside to vent his frustrations, and after stopping Clain realizes that he doesn't want to be alone and wishes Nessa and Phryne would come back. To Clain's surprise, Nessa appears on the nearby field and runs into his arms, and Clain can touch Nessa again. Clain then notices Enri and the goons nearby, but Nessa doesn't notice and drags herself and Clain right into Enri's pot hole trap. Enri and goons then fly off in their airship with Nessa and Clain in tow trapped inside a net.

Talk about falling into an obvious trap.

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Out of the new shows that I'm following this season, this will be the only one I'll blog episodically. Anyways, Fractale is still going at a relaxed pace. Most of this episode was Nessa acting cute and causing trouble for Clain, and also more activity from Annie and her goons. There are some small revelations about the world but we are probably far from the core mysteries of the series. We are still at the beginning stages of the series, and we don't really know who is working for whom and what their goals are. The only things we know so far are that people are after Phryne because she possesses something, and Nessa has an important role in the mystery. Phryne seems to be out of the picture of the most part, and Nessa has taken over as the primary female character. I like Nessa so far. She is cute without being "too" cute or annoying, and has that genuine carefree curiosity and cheerfulness. Her origins and abilities are quite mysterious though, and perhaps Nessa might be the "World Key" that the worship leader was talking about. It seems that Clain can only touch Nessa when he is not apprehensive towards her.

One of the answers (or partial answer) from this episode was why people use doppels instead of actually living in houses or towns. It turns out most people live in motor homes, and the reasons given were that they didn't want to be tied down and that they can avoid stuff that falls out the skies. I'm thinking that the latter may be the more pertinent reason, although Clain's parents have pretty strong views about how it's better to not live at a fixed location. Of course, this is probably not the complete reason since we don't know what falls out the sky yet.

Overall, the story is unfolding at a slow and easy pace, and I'm not expecting things to move any faster. Hopefully Fractale will have a genuinely interesting story behind all the cuteness since the cutesy stuff can't carry the entire show. It looks like Clain and Nessa's real adventure is about to begin though, so things are looking fine at this point.

Naruto 524

Kakashi continues to battle Zabuza and Haku.

Wouldn't be a zombie fight without some body parts flying.

Summary:
With Kakashi's arm stuck in Haku, Zabuza turns around to cut down both Haku and Kakashi. Haku is cut in half, and Kakashi receives a cut on his front side. Haku is caught by the shadow jutsu, and Kakashi moves to deal with Zabuza while thinking back to a conversation with Naruto just after the battle against Zabuza and Haku. During the conversation, Naruto repeated Haku's words that people become strong when they have something to protect and stated that he liked Zabuza and Haku despite those two being enemies. Realizing that Haku and Zabuza are no more than mindless killing machines, Kakashi moves in and stabs Zabuza through the chest with Lightning Blade. Zabuza is then caught by the shadow jutsu and Maki arrives to bind both Zabuza and Haku. The fog lifts Zabuza and Haku are restrained, and Kakashi tells Sai to prepare the "Root" sealing techniques (even though Sai states that he doesn't know such things) and states that he is going to go on a rampage.

Elsewhere, Kitsuchi's forces are struggling against the resilient white Zetsus while thousands of White Zetsus move past underground. Meanwhile, in a rocky area, Gaara's sensor sands detect the otherwise invisible zombie of Muu, the second Tsuchikage.

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I'm glad that the battle against Zabuza and Haku ended quickly, since it'd be pointless to drag it on. It looks that even though Kabuto's special control gives him absolute control of the zombies, it doesn't make them any stronger than before. Kakashi was able to beat Zabuza at the beginning of the series, and being even stronger now Kakashi didn't have much trouble beating zombie Zabuza. Kakashi seems pissed now, and we'll see if that'll help against the remaining zombie swordsmen. For now though, it seems that the story is switching to another front, with Gaara taking the stage and presumably fighting against more zombies and/or Zetsus. I guess all the "important" characters need their share of the spotlight before Naruto can see any action.

One Piece 611

The New Fishman Pirates destroy some hapless human pirates, while Luffy and company get an invitation from royalty.

This would go along nicely with some Jaws music.

Summary:
At "Noah", a pirate crew from the South Sea that was forced to pledge allegiance to the New Fishman Pirates try to escape, but the fishman pirates know what's going on. The captain of the New Fishman Pirates Hodi Jones decides to go after the escapees himself and eats a mouthful of special pills before leaving.

Meanwhile, Pappug leads Luffy and friends to his mansion/store, and inside the store they find Nami doing some hardcore bargaining. Pappug agrees to let Nami have whatever she wants, and Nami takes full advantage of the offer. The group's attention is suddenly drawn to the commotion outside. On the streets, people are shocked the ruler of the kingdom King Neptune descends on his trusty whale. King Neptune stops before Luffy and company and confers with a shark, and Nami notices that the shark is the one they saw earlier (after Luffy KOed the kraken). King Neptune then invites Luffy and company to the royal palace.

Somewhere outside of Fishman Island, the pirates from the South Sea are trying to escape, but they are cut off by Jones who is wearing cuffs to show that he isn't going to use his hands. Jones then proceeds to dismantle the pirate ship and kill most of the human pirate crew using his body and mouth (he is a Great White Shark fishman) and in the process explains that each pill he takes doubles his strength at the cost of his lifespan. Jones and subordinates put what's left of the human pirates in a bubble to be sent to the New World to send a message. Jones' ultimate goal is take control of Fishman Island from King Neptune and show humans that fishman are the superior race.

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Both King Neptune and the upper command of the New Fishman Pirates showed their faces this week. Jones has shown that his group has a deep hatred for humans, and thus they are definitely bad guys, but it's hard to say if they are the central villains of this arc given Van Der Decker and one of the four emperors are also around. The fishman pirates don't really have abilities like those of Devil Fruit users, but they have a big advantage in water and the pills give them a lot more strength, so they are a dangerous bunch. As for King Neptune, his intentions haven't been revealed yet, but from the earlier chapters it's hinted that he and his family has connections to Jimbei, so perhaps they will be allies to the Straw Hats.

Lastly, the Straw Hats regained another member. Both Brook and Nami ended up in the nice parts of town, but I doubt that's the case for the remaining missing crew members.

Deadman Wonderland 41

Makina and company recruit the Deadmen for one last battle against the Wretched Egg and Sakigami Toto.

Gotta brush up on those interview skills.

Summary:
In a meeting room, Makina and some government officials watch the video that was transmitted by the government investigation team before they were wiped out by Sakigami and the Wretched Egg. Later in the day, Makina learns that the government officials have given her the responsibility of taking down Sakigami and the Wretched Egg. Makina calls someone to recruit help and concludes they must gain control of the Mother Goose system.

Meanwhile, the Deadmean are trying to adjust to their new lives outside of DW whether be it in a regular prison or back in society, but many of them including Ganta and Senji have trouble adjusting. The Deadmen are then all visited Karako who is helping Makina recruit people for one last battle against Sakigami and the Wretched Egg. Karako visits Ganta last. The two chat in a park and Ganta has trouble giving an answer because he feels conflicted about Shiro. Ganta asks what Karako felt when she saw Nagi going crazy, and Karako states that she was shocked but she didn't avert her eyes away from the truth. Karako then leaves Ganta alone and lets Ganta decide whether or not he wants to come to the organizational meeting to join the cause.

Deep inside DW, Sakigami is trying to deactivate the Mother Goose system by giving it a Branch of Sin but it doesn't work. Sakigami thinks that the Mother Goose system is still holding back the Wretched Egg and plans to shut it down somehow.

Ganta is letting the rain get him down.

Back in the park, Ganta still struggles to come to terms with Shiro being the Red Man as it starts raining. Somewhere in DW, Shiro has a nightmare where the evil version of herself attacks her and states that she'll destroy everything. Later in the day, Ganta and the other Deadmen attend the meeting held by Makina and Karako and Karako rallies the group to go back to DW for one last battle.

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This is the true beginning of the end for Deadman Wonderland. I was a bit surprised that the last battle involving Tamaki and Ganta seeing Shiro's true identity wasn't the final battle, but after two chapters of relative calm things are about to pick up again. It's good to see Karako back in the mix again. I almost forgot about her after the Scar Chain chapters. It's a bit weird that the government passing the buck to Makina for taking care of the mess. The Wretched Egg has done more than enough damage to warrant some military action, and maybe that will come somewhere down the lin. For now though the final battle is Shiro/Wretched Egg, Sakigami (and his twin helpers) vs. Ganta, all the other Deadmen, and Makina's forces. The good guys will probably be facing overwhelming odds and a couple (if not most) of them will die, but Ganta will probably power up and at least get rid of Sakigami somehow. The climax of the entire series will likely be the final confrontation between Ganta and Shiro, and how that'll end is the big question at this point. I'm guessing the series will end before the end of this year, and let's see what sort of ending it can come up with.

Sekirei Natsuo-Karasuba Special

The author decided to be skimp out again this issue, and thus instead of a regular chapter we are treated six page special about how Natsuo met Karasuba.

The story of an unlikely pairing.

Summary:
At the Disciplinary Squad's office, Benitsubasa wonders why Natsuo winged Karasuba even though Karasuba doesn't really seem to love him. Natsuo starts recalling how he met Karasuba for the first time. On that day, Natsuo was sitting on the top balcony railings of the MBI building when he is approached by Karasuba. The two started chatting and Natuso revealed that his lover, a doctor, volunteered to serve in a war zone and was killed. Natsuo stated that he didn't really know what he should be angry at and perhaps he was angry at the world that took his love away. Natsuo's story reminded Karasuba of her relationship with Yume, and Karasuba offers to join forces with Natsuo so they can "destroy" the world that they hate.

Back to the present, Benitsubasa presses Natsuo for more details, but Natsuo decides to stop the story.

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Really really short special, but better than nothing. The details of how Natsuo winged Karasuba is somewhat interesting trivia, although I doubt it'll play too much of a role later in the story. I guess this chapter implies that Karasuba actually liked Yume to some degree, or at least was pretty pissed that Yume got herself killed/sealed inside Musubi before Karasuba could beat her. Does that mean Karasuba is like Natsuo and prefers company from the same sex? Lol speculations aside, there wasn't too much else going on this issue. Time to wait another half month or more for the next actual chapter of Sekirei.

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 14

Touma and Index travel to Italy where they run into Orsola.

Good ol' Kuroko is there to give Touma a piece of her mind and set things right.

With so many giant safety pins, Index is a flight hazard.

Summary:
Despite some recent unlucky events involving the women in his life, Touma lucks out and wins a five night trip to northern Italy (somewhere near Venice) and takes Index along. In Italy, Touma and Index can't find their tour guide, but they run into Orsola instead. Orsola used to live at the town when she was a member of the Catholic Church and she is here along with some of the Amakusa to move her stuff to England. Orsola treats Touma and Index to food, and in return Touma and Index help Orsola pack up and clean up her old place.

For Index, true happiness lies in good food and a full stomach.

You know you can knock or ask if someone is behind either of these doors.

Orsola's mind is surprisingly impure.

At night after all of Orsola's stuff is packed, Touma and Index say goodbye to Orsola and get ready to head to their hotel, but suddenly the three of them are attacked by men wearing robes similar to Orsola's. Touma manages to knock out one of the assassins while Index stifles the efforts of a sniper with spell intercept, but suddenly a giant ship made of ice appears out of the nearby canal and Touma and Orsola are tossed onboard. The ship quickly sails out to the sea, and Touma and Orsola are forced to hide in a room while robed men search for them. In the room, Touma and Orsola look out the window and they see many other similar ice ships rising out of the water. Touma tries to call Index with his cellphone for help, but at this moment someone tries to open the door to the room. Touma hides Orsola under a sheet and goes to check the door, and to his surprise he finds Agnese standing outside dressed in a strange-looking robe.

Hey, you mean I get to punch someone in the first episode of the arc? Alright!!!!

Did we mention that your vacation includes a cruise into the Adriatic Sea on a giant magical ice ship?

When Touma knocked Agnese out, he also must have knocked loose her fashion sense.

There is a new ED sequence and song, but the OP is still the same as before.

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The new arc begins with a change in setting but with familiar faces. Orsola, the Amakusa, and Agnese from the Orsola arc are back again for another adventure which probably has something to with churches again. I'm guessing this time Agnese is not the villain anymore since if history is any indication, the people who get punched out by Touma usually learn the evils their ways and reformed... at least that's what has happened so far.

Anyways, this was an okay introductory episode. First half was the usual "normal life" stuff with Touma complaining how unlucky he is, Index wanting food, and a bit of fan service in the form of naked (but skillfully covered) Index and Orsola. I'm not sure how Touma concluded that it's impossible for both doors to lead to girls taking baths, but on the other hand Orsola did lead him astray as Touma was searching for more newspaper. When it was time to get into the actual magic/action part of the story, the episode moved very quickly, bringing out the giant ice ship in the middle of the city and throwing Touma and Orsola on board. Overall not too much to complain about yet, and it's good that Touma already punched out a guy and kept his mouth shut during the action. Let's see if things get better when more of the Amakusa and Agnese's companions show up.

Fractale 01 - First Impressions

Probably my last "first impressions" post of the season, here are my thoughts on the first episode of Fractale, a show that may or may not have to do with fractals.

It is kind of depressing how all of these people chose terrible-looking avatars.

An iPod with a SD slot... would be nice but you know it'll never happen in our world.

Summary of the first episode:
In the future, a young boy named Clain lives in a house near the sea more or less by himself. Under the current Fractale system, Clain's parents along with many other people represent themselves using weird looking avatars called "doppels" which can be made to disappear by real people, and these days Clain sees more doppels than real people.

How is it aerodynamically possible for that twin-blimp thing to catch up to a sleek plane-bike?

Clain is such a gentleman, even going out of his way to break the girl's fall.

While out looking for some antique electronics, Clain spots a girl in a small plane being chased by a weird airship. The girl spots Clain and jumps off her plane and seemingly falls into the sea. After the airship leaves, Clain climbs down the seaside cliffs and finds the girl injured, and Clain leads the girl back home to get her patched up despite never having seen a real girl before. After learning that the girl's name is Phryne, Clain wonders why she was being chased by decides to let Phryne take her time. At this moment, the people chasing Phryne, a young girl and two men, barge into the house to look for Phryne, but Phryne manages to elude them and sabotages their airship so the the girl and her two cronies fly off uncontrollably into the sky.

Smile!!!

The girl and her cronies might not be the brightest trio around, but Clain ain't all that smart either by answering the door so many times.

Afterwards, Clain leads Phryne up to his favorite spot which is the ruins of a church, but he falls asleep while Phryne is talking about the moon. The next day, Clain wakes up and discovers that Phryne is gone but she had left her brooch on him. Back home, Clain realizes that the brooch is some sort of data storage device and tries to access it, and to his surprise a red-haired young girl materializes on his computer desk.

Once you see one girl, girls just can't stop appearing.

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An interesting first episode. The episode mostly took things easy, but it did a nice job introducing a world that looks utopian on surface but has some problems and mysteries underneath. I'm not sure why people choose to represent themselves using weird avatars instead of... say a hologram of themselves, but it's one of the things that define the world. The character art is simple, but the overall visual effect is very nice and is reminiscent of Studio Ghibli movies. Everything looks (for the lack of a better word) "cute", including all important characters introduced so far. They just seem like a cheerful and likable bunch.

Overall I thought the premiere of Fractale was kind of refreshing, and I'm not really sure why. It might because it's been a while since I've watched anything without a lot of violence and/or fan service, but I'm not sure if that's even true. Anyways, I liked the debut of Fractale more than those of Infinite Stratos (second episode was better, but still not that good) and Freezing. I'll see if I have the time to episode-blog any of these shows though.

Naruto 523

Kakashi's forces battle the zombies of the previous generation of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

Good plan, but you forgot one little detail: there are other zombies around!

Summary:
The Seven Swordsmen zombies are assembled and they proceed to take apart Kakashi's forces. While his forces are buying time, Kakashi and a couple of subordinate concoct a plan to immobilize the zombies that involve using body switching with a sensor. Kakashi's plan is to get Zabuza first and he manages to sneak up on Zabuza through the fog with the help of the sensor. However, Haku throws himself in Kakashi's way to take the blow, and this leaves Kakashi open to Zabuza's counterattack.

Meanwhile, Juugo is following Suigetsu around and Suigetsu explains that he wants to become the next leader of the Severn Swordsmen.

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A predictable chapter after the introduction of the Seven Zombies. Suigetsu gives his voice-over to introduce all the swordsmen zombies, and the zombies spend most of the time cutting up some hapless nameless grunts. Since nobody on the team knows how to seal a soul, Kakashi has to resort to tying up the zombies which is of course easier said than done. Very predictable, and not all that exciting. The Seven Swordsmen sound cool, but I don't really s really foresee too much out of the ordinary (as far as indestructible zombies go) unless of course Kakashi gets killed. Let see if the manga will prove me wrong.