One Piece 619

Chaos at Ryuuguu palace, while Luffy and Shiraboshi arrive at the Sea Forest.

Regardless of One Piece's name for this, this is a Kamehameha Wave.

Summary:
Zoro knocks Hodi out with the slash but then has to go up for breath. With the room continuing to flood and pirates starting to take their pills, King Neptune realizes he has to get his troops and the Straw Hats out of the palace and blasts open a path with a water Kamehameha. Neptune's troops swim out through the path, but Neptune hurt his back using the attack and thus he and the three Straw Hats are still stuck inside. Neptune's whale arrive and tries to tow its master to safety, but King Neptune is held back by Hodi who recovered and popped a pill. And thus, King Neptune along with Zoro, Usopp and Brook are captured by the New Fishman Pirates.

At the sea forest, Luffy and Shiraboshi talk to Jinbe who is shocked that Shiraboshi is out and also that Hachi has returned, and in the middle of chat Luffy knocks down a flying axe from Decken. While Shiraboshi prays in front of her mother's grave, Nami and Keimi arrive. Jinbe then start to talk about the history of the Arlong Pirates and states that he is the one who set Arlong free into the East Blue.

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The Zoro vs. Hodi fight ended rather quickly once Zoro, but I was expecting this to be a teaser fight anyways. Zoro probably could have beaten Hodi for good... until he ran out of air, and now his group and King Neptune have been captured by the bad guys. The situation is becoming urgent for the Straw Hats and King Neptune's forces, but it looks like we might get some history lessons from Jinbe before Luffy and company can mount a rescue. Maybe the Straw Hats have to determine how all the hate started before they can find a solution, but I have a feeling Luffy and crew will have to start knocking people out anyways. That's not to say Jinbe's story is not important though. It should be some interesting trivia at the very least.

Naruto 533

Choji tries to find the resolve to fight zombie Asuma.

Time for the student to spread some wings and fly.

Summary:
Choji can't bring himself to fight Asuma even when Asuma calls him a fat ass. Therefore, Ino has to switch into Choji's body in order to save Choji from getting himself killed, and Chouza has to tag out of fighting Dan in order to block some attacks from Asuma. After a lot of inspiring words from Chouza, Shikamaru and Ino and some key flashbacks, Choji finally mans up and calls up his Butterfly Bullet Bombing technique without using the special pills.

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The entire chapter was focused on Choji trying to find the resolve to take on his former teacher. It's what you'd expect to happen after seeing how the last chapter ended, but it still wasn't too exciting or moving. I'd probably care more if it was Shikamaru who needed to man up because he is a more prominent character, but of course lets blame it all on the fat kid lol. I was expecting drama from this fight, but having most of the drama come only from Choji so far wasn't that good. I want to see Shikamaru and Ino getting emotional too. Anyways, Choji did finally man up though, and so we can move on to the actual battle now which probably won't last very long unless Kabuto starts interfering.

Bleach 442

Ichigo continues his training, while other groups continue their plotting.

Ya, I allow my opponents to draw their weapons first because I am that damned good and that damned cool.

Summary:
Ichigo faces off against Jackie inside the fish tank. Jackie summons her Fullbring "Dirty Boots" which causes her to change into a funky dance outfit complete with cap and thigh high boots. Jackie tries to kick Ichigo from behind, but Ichigo scrambles away and the battle begins.

Meanwhile, Orihime and Chad are having a phone conversation and Orihime tells Chad what really happened that day in front of her apartment. Orihime tells Chad that Tsukishima might have done something to her memories and advises Chad to be careful. Orihime also tells Chad the names of her two assailants.

Elsewhere, Tsukishima and Sushigawara are plotting their next move. Tsukishima states that Orihime is taken care of, and their next target is either Chad or Ichigo.

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So things continue to move along... slowly. Ichigo start off his second Fullbring training fight against Jackie. The fight should be less ridiculous than the first session, and hopefully Ichigo will get a decent power-up out of it. The spinning stamp thing he currently has is a bit underwhelming.

Moving away from Ichigo, we have Chad and Orihime sharing secrets behind Ichigo's back. Orihime's mind might be bugged so somewhere down the line she might not be trustworthy anymore, but other than that it's unclear what she and Chad will do to combat Tsukishima. As for Tsukishima, his highlight was that he got sneezed on while eating... and he'll probably go after Chad or Ichigo, but we know that already.

I wonder when shinigamis will finally show up again? More on Isshin and Urahara would be nice too.

Deadman Wonderland 43

Ganta and fellow Deadmen venture back into Deadman Wonderland to stop Shiro and Sakigami.

If there is one thing computers are good for, it's pissing people off.

Summary:
At the dock, Shiro quickly regenerate from her injuries and tells Ganta she'll be waiting for him inside the prison before leaving. Ganta and fellow Deadmen decide to continue with their operation and venture into Deadman Wonderland once again. Before the operation, Makina had explained the DW was built to contain the Wretched Egg and this is done by the Mother Goose system, and even now the Wretched Egg's power is still being restrained. The goal of the operation is to gain control of the Mother Goose system and turn it up to maximum volume in order to put Shiro/the Wretched Egg to sleep, and to do that the task force must first locate the speaker boxes known as chorus blocks which contain clues to the "key" of Mother Goose. During the briefing, Minatsuki asked who was behind the whole Wretched Egg experiment, and Makina had answered that it was Hagire Rinichirou.

And so the Deadmen task force splits into three groups, and Ganta is with Senji and a girl named Yosuga. During a walk, Yosuga tells Ganta that they are alike and she used like Toto Sakigami before he went nuts. Meanwhile deep inside DW, Sakigami still can't figure out how to shut down the Mother Goose system, so he gives up for the moment and goes to check on Shiro. Shiro tells Sakigami that Ganta only uses his usual Ganta gun on her and not the strange Branch of Sin that he used before. Sakigami then tries to use Ganta's second ability but finds himself unable to do it, and this gives Sakigami an idea.

Elsewhere in the prison, Karako's group locates a chorus box. Meanwhile, Minatsuki and Masaru's group also locates a chorus box. Masaru then spots a grand piano in a room and tries to play it, but one of the keys doesn't work. Minatsuki checks the piano and discovers there is journal lodged inside, and it is the journal of Sorae Igarashi.

Back in the submarine, Kasuga asks why Makina didn't tell the truth that Sorae Igarashi was the one behind the Wretched Egg experiment.

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So Shiro/the Wretched Egg's appearance last chapter was just a tease, and the real final showdown is still some ways away. There wasn't anything too much out of the ordinary in the rest of the chapter and currently Ganta and his buddies are allowed to proceed with their plan without any opposition. For whatever reason, Sakigami cannot just the smash the Mother Goose system apart to deactivate it, so the door is left open to the good guys.

As for new developments, we learned that Ganta's usual attack and his super-blast are two different abilities, but that's not too surprising either. Ganta's super attack is probably the "key" to the Mother Goose system, and that means Sakigami will be coming after him soon. We also learned that the new character Yosuga joined the task force because she cares for Sakigami. This might mean Sakigami may have a good side to him, but I think the chances of him turning back to the light is slim... at least slimmer than the chance of Shiro helping the good guys at the end. It would be interesting to see how Sakigami ended up in his current state though.

Finally, as we all know already, Ganta's mother was the one who experimented on Shiro/the Wretched Egg, and so Ganta is in for another shock. It's probably no worse than finding out Shiro is the Wretched Egg though.

Sekirei 113

The Sekirei history lesson continues.

Comparing this past version to the present, you can see Tsukiumi has really upped her power level over the generations.

Summary:
Minato continues seeing the vision of the Sekireis and Ashikabis in the past. In the vision, the "Minato" of the past and fellow villagers see several meteors crashing into the ground nearby. "Minato" is drawn to the site of the impact by voices, and near the crater he finds the young "Miya" and eight Sekireis. The young "Miya" explains that there are eight "arks" (spaceships) in total and each carry 107 Sekireis and one pillar (Miya). This Miya's ship exploded and only she and 8 Sekireis survived, and she asks if "Minato" will wing the eight Sekireis and also take the jinki in her possession.

The present Minato is confused by what he is seeing, and so Miya explains that the Miya, Musubi and other Sekireis he is seeing were from a different ark and everything happened a long time ago. The current Miya explains that her ark landed in the ocean and remained dormant until it was discovered by Minaka and Takami. Although the Sekireis from different arks are a bit different, they share many similarities as well and that's why some of the Sekireis in the vision look familiar.

Back to the vision, the Musubi of the past returns from her secret outing with Minato to be scolded by Miya and Tsukiumi while Homura, Kazehana, Matsu and Kusano watch in amusement. Although Musubi has returned, Minato is still nowhere to be found. Elsehwere, Minato is at a watch tower with Uzume and Akitsu.

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The history lesson continues, and so does my confusion. The way this flashback is being told is just not very easy to grasp. Hopefully this will improve or else it'll become one heck of a confusing mess. I make no guarantees that the above summary is what actually happens in the chapter, and I'll probably read English translation when it comes out to make sure I understood things correctly. So based on what I can understand, the Miya and Sekireis in the vision are from one of eight arks. This raises many questions such as what happened to all the Miyas and Sekireis of the other six arks, but it may explain why there are eight jinkis. If each ark did possess one jinki, then how did Minaka gather all eight of them?

So in the past, Minato's Sekireis included versions of the current Minato's Sekireis along with Akitsu and Uzume. That might explain why the present Uzume had strong reactions to Minato. As for Akitsu, she became a scrap number so she probably can't feel Ashikabi influences very well. If she kept her number maybe she would have ended up with Minato as well.

Fractale 10

Clain and Sundas venture into the temple's sky base to find Phryne as the battle rages on outside the base.

Dias' decision to invest in weapons pays off.

Summary:
As Lost Millennium and the temple's ship wage a fierce battle outside of the sky base, Clain and Nessa fly into the battlefield on Enri's airship and is retrieved by the Danan. Sundas is surprised to see Clain and Nessa, but after learning that Phryne has gone back to the temple Sundas decides to go rescue Phryne with Clain. This conversation is somehow overheard by Dias' group, and Dias offers to provide a diversion so Clain and Sundas can sneak into the base. With Dias' help, Sundas and Clain manage to sneak past the defenses and into the sky base.

Fake tear or real tear?

Inside the base, Barrot takes Phryne to see the head priestess who dismisses Barrot from the room. Phryne tells the head priestess to stop the attack on Lost Millennium, but the head priestess isn't about to change her mind. Phryne takes out a knife and threatens to commit suicide, but she drops the knife after the head priestess states that the world would be worse off without Fractale. The priestess then shows Phryne the surveillance feed showing Sundas and Clain running inside the base. Phryne decides to change tactic and appeals to the head priestess as her older sister. Phryne states that she and all her fellow clones have suffered too much for the Fractale system and it's time to end this suffering. The head priestess appears to be moved and asks Phryne to come closer to her, but suddenly she starts choking Phryne. The head priestess states that she hates the world because she wasn't chosen as the key while Phryne was. In order to get revenge on the world, the head priestess will do anything to keep the Fractale system running so that the world will be dragged into oblivion by its dependence on Fractale.

Outside the base, the battle continues to rage. Enri and the Danan suddenly receive a message from Dias' crew that the temple's bay doors will open and suggest that the Danan take advantage of the opportunity to charge into the base. Nessa (who is starting to fizzle in and out for some reason) mentions the promise between her, Clain and Phryne to live together and this convinces Enri to take up Dias' offer.

You are going to bow before me whether you want to or not.

Inside the base, Clain and Sundas are confronted by a column of armed guards, but suddenly the guards are blown away by one of Lost Millennium ships that flew into the base. Back in the throne room, the head priestess receives the report that the bay doors have been hacked, and Phryne uses the distraction to get away. Meanwhile, Clain and Sundas continue down the hallway and find a group of guards have apprehended Enri and are trying to contain Nessa with the help of a priestess. Seeing Nessa in trouble, Clain charges in blindly firing his rifle, but he is bailed out by Dias' group who mow down the guards with their guns. Dias had used a special doppel to hack the temple's system. Dias encourages Nessa and Clain to go find Phryne, but afterwards he orders his forces to follow the two and kill Phryne once she is located. Sundas is pissed that Dias is trying to kill Phryne and punches Dias in the face before running off after Clain and Nessa. In another hallway, Phryne is confronted by some of Dias' forces, but several priestesses sacrifice themselves to allow Phryne to escape.

If you want to go Rambo, you need to work on your aim first.

Back in the throne room, priestesses arrive to inform the head priestess that her escape ship is ready, but the head priestess wants to start the prayer ceremony instead. Meanwhile, Nessa and Phryne have no idea where Phryne is, but Nessa gets the idea to sing the "Wish upon a star" song. The idea works and Phryne and Clain find themselves on opposite side of a transparent wall. Nessa stands in between Clain and Phryne and holds their hands to the two can talk to each other. Clain wants Phryne to go back with him and Nessa so the three of them can live together like promised, but Phryne tells Clain and Nessa to go back and cherish their pure memories together. Suddenly, Barrot appears on Phryne's side of the wall and plans to tell Clain about the "love" between himself and Phryne.

Why is there a random transparent wall inside the temple?

Pedo alert. Yuck...

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It's the second-to-last episode, and Fractale is doing an okay job building up to the conclusion. The action sequences weren't too bad, although it's not the best that Fractale has shown. I found it interesting that Lost Millennium and the temple fought it out only using large ships, and there are no fighter-class aircrafts flying about other than Enri's airship. You'd think small, agile aircrafts with enough firepower would do well against the big and slow moving ships.

I still don't understand what Phryne really had in mind when she decided to go back to the temple, but then again she is somewhat naive and doesn't always think about the consequences of her actions. Also, the series had to find some reason to gather up all the important characters for the finale, so having Phryne return the temple was the most straight-forward way although not necessarily the way that makes the most sense.

In this episode, we learned that the head priestess is one of those characters who wants to get revenge on the world for her own misfortunes. You can't blame her for turning out this way since being a Phryne clone isn't exactly a great job. Although she is a little crazy, there is still a chance that the head priestess may have a change of heart since she isn't evil like Barrot, so it'll be interesting to see what she tries to do next episode.

We also learned that Dias is helping Clain and Sundas out so he can find and kill Phryne to stop the Fractale system from rebooting. It's not too surprising of a plot, and I actually thought Dias would go further and use the opportunity to perhaps take over the world or something. Maybe that's what he'll do in the finale. Dias' brand of Lost Millennium is certainly the most ruthless one, so I'd expect him to try something a bit more diabolical.

And finally, it looks like we'll finally learn the history of "love" between Phryne and Barrot. The previous episodes already had many not-so-subtle hints about the relationship, and it'll probably to be at least a little bit disturbing. I don't know how far Fractale is going to go with the sexual abuse angle because it might make the show a little too adult. I hope Phryne will show some "balls" and kick Barrot in the balls for all he has done to her though. People like Barrot deserve a "proper" sendoff.

So the series will conclude next episode, and there are still several ways the series can end. I think Nessa and Phryne will probably merge (at least temporarily) to become the "key", but it's hard to say what happens after that. I also wonder why Nessa is starting to fizzle out this episode. Let's all hope for a satisfying conclusion.

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 23

The aftermath Vento's attack, and Accelerator gets recruited into an underground group.

One more thing... how much longer do I have to carry her around like this?

Summary:
After Acqua leaves with Vento, Touma runs down into the crater to check on Hyoka. Hyoka regains her senses and returns to normal, but she is saddened by the destruction around her and asks Touma to end her existence. However, Touma states Hyoka that she did her best to protect people and tells Hyoka to go find Index. Back in Amata's office, Index runs off to find a doctor for Accelerator. After Index leaves, Accelerator is approached by a group of people in mechanized suits and the group demands that Accelerator joins their organization. Accelerator is initially defiant but decides to join in order to find out who ordered the operation to capture Last Order. Elsewhere in the city, Acqua calls his comrades in God's Right Seat and decide to retreat from the city for now. Meanwhile, Heaven Canceler calls Aleister to tell Aleister to stop messing around, but Aleister doesn't give a damn.

Looks like Aisa learned a thing or two from Seiri.

For Index, this is heaven.

The next day, Academy City is still at a heightened state of security and there is word of an impending war, but Touma and classmates are still fooling around at school as usual. Touma ends up getting punched by Aisa and the entire glass decides to go for hotpot dinner. Afterwards, Motoharu talks with Touma to ask if Touma has the resolve to protect the city, but Touma's train of thought leads him to conclude that he should learn English which leads Motoharu to smack Touma in the head.

Learning English will help me communicate better with potential allies and therefore help save the world... why can't you understand?

In a shooting gallery somewhere in the city, Accelerator is trying out several handguns but is not impressed with any of them. Now a member of the underground organization GROUP, Accelerator is briefed by fellow GROUP member "Mitsuki Unabara" (the magician in disguise that Touma beat up before). GROUP is loyal to the city, and thus Accelerator is ordered to take out Skills Out leader Ritoku Komaba who's been causing trouble. Some time later, Accelerator arrives on location and learns that Awaki is also on the job. Accelerator then gets a call from fellow member Motoharu who tells Accelerator to think about how to destroy GROUP from within. Meanwhile, Awaki has started fighting the Skill-Outs. After warding off several attacks, Awaki comes face to face with Ritoku who turns out to be a giant of a man.

Didn't know Academy City housed 8-foot-tall giants.

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There was a lot of variety in this episode, but it wasn't necessarily a good thing. The episodes starts with the aftermath of Vento's attack/Hyoka's summon but then suddenly transitions into random comedy before leading into the Accelerator's next adventure. I heard from somewhere that this episode covered the end of one novel and then started another one, and that probably explains that abrupt change in tones between parts of the episode. The first and last third of the episode were okay, but the random comedy felt a bit bizarre especially when the segment was sandwiched by two non-comical segments and that things are supposed to get "serious" from now on.

It was a little disappointing that we didn't see Hyoka meet up with Index after the battles. You'd think Index would go check on Hyoka, but she just disappeared from Amata's office which opened the door for the GROUP people to walk in and convince Accelerator to join them. If I understood correctly, Accelerator decided to join because he wanted to find the culprit who ordered the operation to capture Last Order, but given that person is Aleister, I don't think Accelerator is going to get anywhere soon. It looks like this season of Index will end with Accelerator and Awaki's campaign against the Skill-Outs. This is slightly anti-climatic given the prior storyline, but just covering up to end of Vento/Hyoka arc probably didn't have enough material to make it to 24 episodes.

Fractale 09

Lost Millennium prepares an all-out attack against the temple.

Not much of a cliffhanger ending.

Summary:
Clain, Phryne, and Nessa survive the explosion at the temple's research facility by hiding in a reinforced vault and they are picked up by Enri. Barrot also somehow survived and is back at the temple's base in the sky with the head priestess, and the head priestess is revealed to be an older version of Phryne. The head priestess decides to broadcast a message all over the world calling for the destruction of Lost Millennium. Enri and her bodyguard Takami are shopping in a village when the message is broadcast and they quickly run back to their ship Danan parked just outside the village. Inside the Danan, Sundas also learns of the announcement.

Good to know that Phryne will grow up to be good looking.

Elsewhere on the ship, Clain and Phryne are tending to Nessa who still has a "fever". After Nessa falls asleep, Clain and Phryne talk outside the room and Phryne starts talking about her connection to Nessa. Phryne states that Nessa is the first girl to have the same look as her (ex the first "Phryne"). The first girl is the so called "goddess", and Nessa in her current form is the "soul" of the girl. Phryne states that she is supposed to be the "body" for this soul, and supposedly the key to Fractale is made if "body" and "soul" are united once again. Clain wonders what would happen if Phryne unites with Nessa, and Phryne states that she doesn't know, but things would be different from before. Suddenly, there is commotion from Nessa's room, and Clain and Phryne discover a distressed Nessa sitting on the floor. Nessa had a nightmare/vision of the Phryne clones being dissolved, but Clain manages to calm her down and together with Phryne cheers Nessa up again. Enri is peeking at the happy scene from outside the door when Takami informs her that the villagers have come to confront the crew.

Frankenstein must be inside the ship.

The villagers surround the ship and demand that Sundas' group leave immediately. Enri tries to argue but to no avail, and Sundas heeds to the demands and the Danan takes off. Sundas knows that the temple is trying to get Phryne and Nessa by airing the announcement, but Sundas promises he won't hand them over without a fight. Sundas then gets news that his home village was attacked by the temple.

The Danan returns to the hospital site where all the surviving villagers are receiving treatment. Sundas at the bridge of ship having a teleconference with other Lost Millennium leaders. Several leaders blame Sundas for causing the current situation and suggest that the group lay low, but Dias disagrees and suggests that this is the opportunity to strike at the heart of the temple. Dias' suggestion wins over the group and it's decided that all the branches will unite and attack the temple's base in the sky.

Probably the last time this group will be together.

Quite a nice country-side retreat.

On the departure day for the attack, Clain asks Sundas if he should go with the ship to the battle, but Sundas tell Clain to stay behind and keep Nessa and Phryne safe. Clain then helps to take a group photo of Danan's crew before Sundas and his crew depart for the attack. Clain, Phryne and Nessa are sent to suite by a field of golden grass and the three have a fun day together and promise to stay together forever. However at night, Phryne sneaks away and leaves a letter stating that she is going back to the temple to convince Barrot and the head priestess to change their ways. Clain and Nessa find the letter the next day, and the two decide to go after Phryne using Enri's airship (which she left behind). Meanwhile, the Lost Millennium ships begin their attack on the temple's home base.

Ha, I'm an escape artist. If you want me to stay you should have tied me to the bed.

Curious how most of the Lost Millennium ships have the same style.

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This episode was mostly to set the stage for the big battle and flurry in the final two episodes. As such, the pacing is a bit slower and a lot of time was spent of Clain, Phryne, and Nessa hanging out together and being happy with each other. One of the big mysteries of the series is finally revealed in that Phryne and all the other "Phryne" clones (including the head priestess) are actually vessels designed to house Nessa so that the key to Fractale can be made. However, questions still remain as to Nessa's origins and how did she get such powers over the Fractale system. I don't know if we'll ever get a clear answer to that though especially if Nessa is regarded as a mythical figure (referred to as goddess by Phryne and probably the head priestess as well).

So the stage is set for the final showdown with Lost Millennium banding together to attack the temple's home base and Clain and Nessa going after Phryne. Phryne is a rather troublesome individual; she causes troubles for both the temple and Clain and friends. I doubt the head priestess and especially Barrot can be convinced to change their minds about anything, but Phryne just seems to like sneaking away from people. I was expecting Barrot to survive, although I do wonder how he managed to get to safety when we saw him being crushed by falling debris last episode. The temple is trying to get their hands on the key, but it's unclear if they have any other contingency plan. There are a lot of ways this series can end, and let's see if Fractale can come up with something memorable and meaningful.

Last thing I wanted to mention was the animation seems a bit different in this episode from previous episodes, especially when it came to Phryne and Clain. Just a curious note though.

Gantz 336

Kurono #1 gets some thanks for getting the captives back on the ground.

The answer is NO, you skank.

Summary:
While Kurono #2's team is working to shut down the slaughterhouse on the city ship, Kurono #1 has led his group of survivors back to the ground. Natsu tries to put the moves on Kurono, but Kurono doesn't care and states that he's going to go find Tae. The argument draws the attention of the other survivors who begin to insult Kurono until a sensible girl reminds everyone that Kurono already saved their butts. The survivors then start to thank Kurono.

Back inside the city ship, the adult alien is about to toss Tae off of the balcony but sees that Tae has fainted. The alien then goes downstairs and tosses Tae onto a bush. When the alien leaves, Tae opens her eyes and runs off.

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Once again, there wasn't anything too interesting. The author spent half the chapter showing how two young siblings are trying to avoid being swept away by the currents in the slaughterhouse, but it's a waste since we know Kurono #2's team is on the job. On another front, Tae survives as expected, and later on she'll probably bump into either Kurono #1 or Kurono #2's group by sheer luck.

Moving on to Kurono #1, I'm not surprised that he rejected Natsu, especially since she was being a bitch trying to make Kurono forget about Tae and feel guilty. The way that the other people acted also wasn't surprising. Those people are in fear and are looking out for their survival, and so they should be concerned that Kurono has decided to ditch them. Unfortunately, the situation is not that interesting though, unless Fra suddenly opens fire on the survivors and kills them, and then Kurono kills her and vows to go on a rampage through the alien city ship... now that would be fun.

Naruto 532

Mifune vs. Hanzo continued, and Ino-Shika-Cho vs. Azuma.

Stop dragging down the team, Choji.

Summary:
After slicing through Hanzo, Mifune reminds Hanzo about how their last fight ended. In the last fight, Hanzo broke Mifune's blade and sliced the samurai in the head with his poisoned scythe, but Hanzo decided to spare Mifune's life because Mifune never gave up on his faith and tried to protect his comrades even near death. In the process, Hanzo also explains that he implanted the venom sac of a poisonous salamander within himself and that he wears the gas mask to protect himself and others around him from the poison. Back to the present, Hanzo finally remembers and decides slice open his venom sac. Kabuto notices this from his control station and tries to override, but Hanzo has sliced open the sac and is paralyzed by the poison, allowing himself to be tied up and sealed.

Back at the rocky shores, Ino-Shika-Cho are having trouble against Azuma mostly because Choji can't bring himself to hit zombie Azuma.

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Mifune vs. Hanzo was pretty boring, but at least it's over. So Hanzo used to be a somewhat honorable guy... good to know I suppose, but he hasn't had enough coverage in the series for us to really care. Had to hand it to Hanzo for paralyzing himself to disobey Kabuto, but otherwise it was an uninteresting fight between two unimportant characters.

With Mifune vs. Hanzo out of the way, we are moving to Ino-Shika-Cho vs. Azuma which should be better at least from the emotional and drama standpoints. As expected, Choji is the one dragging the team down, so the fight will probably end when Choji finally sucks it up and helps Shikamaru and Ino tie Azuma down, and Azuma will likely pass on because he's proud of his students.

Bleach 441

Ichigo start the next phase of his training.

Why doesn't Ichigo just quit, and why doesn't Ikumi just fire Ichigo's behind?

Summary:
Ichigo visits Ikumi's shop and asks Ikumi for more time off. Ikumi senses something is not right and tells Ichigo it's okay to rely on adults for help, but Ichigo leaves without revealing much. While walking on the streets, Ichigo thinks back to what Ginjou said. Ginjou explained the Tsukishima used to be their leader and came up with the plan for people with Fullbrings to transfer their powers to a shinigami representative. Tsukishima managed to find a representative shinigami and several people transferred their powers to the representative, but Tsukishima suddenly killed representative and all the people who transferred their powers. Ginjou stated that he doesn't know what Tsukishima is after, but it's clear that he is trying to get Ichigo's attention by going after Ichigo's friends.

Ichigo walks into an alley and spots his dad standing in front. Ichigo hides and sees that Isshin is meeting with Urahara. Isshin senses something and decides to change location, and the two men disappears. Ichigo is becoming more suspicious of Urahara, and he decides his best course of action is to work on getting his power back sooner. Some time later, Ichigo is back in Xcution's apartment and is sent into a fish tank by Riruka. Inside the fish tank, Jackie Tristan is waiting for Ichigo, and Ichigo immediately brings up his Fullbring.

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Hey, Ikumi showed up again! I almost forgot she existed in the story, and right now there is not much of a point to the character. I'm not sure what was the point of Ichigo having this job when he rarely ever goes to work.

Back to the more important bits of the story, we learn of Tsukishima's past with Xcution (at least Ginjou's version of it) and also how Ginjou has a representative badge in his possession. It was a pretty standard story, and we'll have to see where all this will lead to. More interestingly, Isshin finally showed up and is in talks with Urahara. Ichigo is really suspicious of Urahara these days and is much more trusting towards Ginjou's group which is a little funny but not that strange. Picking between Ginjou and Urahara, Ginjou seems less trustworthy to me, but it would be quite the outrageous twist if Urahara did turn out to be a villain (and Aizen was actually trying to save the world LOLOL). I'm still leaning towards the theory that Ichigo is being tricked into working for the bad guys.

Next chapter is another dose of training time. Hopefully it'll be better than training with Mr. Pork Chop, although the first session was kind of entertaining because of the ridiculousness.

One Piece 618

Van Der Decken catches up to Shiraboshi.

So a filthy, creepy, murderous, and not to mention ugly pirate is not her type. What's so strange about that?

Summary:
At the beach at Coral Hill, the residents are surprised when Shiraboshi emerges from Megalo's mouth and they automatically blame Luffy for kidnapping her. Despite Chopper's warnings, Sanji turns around and becomes petrified after seeing Shiraboshi. While Luffy is busy checking on Hachi and Chopper is busy with Sanji, the residents quickly tie up the pirates. Suddenly, Van Der Decken arrives on his flying coral to ask for marriage, but Shiraboshi tells him that he's not her type. Decken is angered by the rejection and pulls out his axes, but Luffy (still tied up) grabs Decken with his legs and slams the fishman to the ground. With Decken incapacitated for the moment, Shiraboshi unties Luffy and the two along with Chopper, Sanji and Hachi climb aboard Megalo to head to the Sea Forest. Wadatsumi (Decken's giant nyuudu crew member) appears to head off Luffy's group, but Luffy's group fly by after Luffy punches Wadatsumi in the teeth.

Outside Ryuuguu palace, Nami has sneaked out and met up with Keimi. Choosing to leave the fighting to Zoro, Nami wants to learn more about the history of the Fishman Pirates and thus tells Keimi to take her to the Sea Forest to meet Jinbei. Meanwhile inside the palace, Zoro catches Hodi with a powerful slash.

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Not a lot of big things happening, but some notable developments nonetheless. I was a little surprised that Sanji didn't explode into a cloud of bloody mist after seeing Shiraboshi, but apparently Oda now has a new and slightly less lethal gag for the him. I'm also a little surprised that Chopper and Luffy allowed themselves to be tied up by the residents of Coral Hill. Given that it's unlikely Luffy and Chopper would willingly let themselves be tied up, I can only conclude that the residents are at the very least very speedy with tying people up. Maybe they could have handled Van Der Decken too lol. Van Der Decken wasn't that strong which wasn't unexpected, but things will turn in his favor a little if he can use his powers on Luffy.

Speaking of "not that strong", it looked like Zoro might have KOed Hodi in the last page. It'll be curious to see if Hodi is actually that weak or if he'll pop pills and turn the tide in his favor. Nami did mention that Hachi said there were stronger people than Hodi, so maybe Hodi isn't the central villain (not sure about this since it might have been a translation error in the scans I've read). As for Nami, I thought she would be trying to get her comrades out of the jam, but she just went off on her own. On the other hand, maybe leaving the fighting to Zoro isn't such a bad idea, and maybe Nami is trying to dive into the core issue and find a solution.

Fractale 08

Phryne and Clain are captured and taken to the temple's underground base.

It's hard to deal with a kid on a temper tantrum, especially one that can disappear at will and make electronics explode.

Summary:
Enri and her bodyguard return their mothership and tells Sundas about what happened. Enri managed to bring Nessa back, but Phryne and Clain were taken away by the temple. Enri mentions that Phryne has a GPS tracker on her and demands that Sundas mount a rescue, but Sundas explain that they simply don't have enough firepower. A little while later, Nessa emerges and throws a fit about wanting to find Clain before disappearing from the ship. Realizing that Nessa probably went to look for Clain, Sundas has no choice but to order an attack on the temple base. Sundas looks to other branches of Lost Millennium for support. Most of the other branches give Sundas the cold shoulder, but Dias agree to help Sundas out.

Pedo alert!

Fractale also has a Sisters project.

Meanwhile, Phryne and Clain have been taken back to the temple's underground base. While Clain is sent to the infirmary, Barrot is hugging Phryne with an indecent look on his face. Barrot then states that they need to check Phryne to make sure she is still eligible to be the "key" and tells Phryne to listen to his commands if she wants Clain to get the medical treatments. Elsewhere in the base, Clain wakes up and finds his gunshot wound has been patched, and he also finds a Nessa look-alike in the room. Clain questions the girl about her connection to Nessa and Phryne, and the girl states that she is also Phryne. Clain states that he is looking for another Phryne, and "Phryne" leads Clain to a room full of her clones housed inside tubes. Clain then remembers the talk about the "key" and asks "Phyrne" about it, and "Phryne" states that sometimes she and the other Phrynes are referred to as such. After leaving the clone chamber, Clain starts feeling woozy and causes himself and "Phyrne" to fall. Clain notices that "Phryne" hurt her hand during the fall and patches her up with a bandage. "Phyrne" then tells Clain to leave through a passage that usually don't have many guards.

Nessa has an electrifying temper.

Uh, peekaboo?

Elsewhere, Barrot takes Phryne to a doctor to be examined, and the exam requires Phryne to spread her legs. Before the exam can begin, an angry Nessa walks into the room and causes all the equipment to short circuit and explode. Barrot and the doctor are knocked out, and Phryne agrees to lead Nessa to Clain. By chance, the two girls bump into Clain and the three escape down the hallways together. Phryne knows some of the hallways because she grew up in the base, but she gets a little lost and leads Clain and Nessa in to a large chamber with a circular conveyor belt. On the belt are Nessa/Phryne clones in tanks, and to Clain and Nessa's shock the clones are dissolved. The traumatic images causes Nessa to fizzle out and go into hiding, and Phryne explains all these girls are younger versions of herself and those that have outlived their usefulness are disposed of in this manner. Clain then notices the Phryne he met before (referred to as bandaged-Phryne from now on) being shipped into the room in a tank and tries to stop the tank from moving, but at this moment Barrot and guards arrive. The guards take Phryne and kick Clain aside.

Dias' crew loves to blow things up.

Outside the base, Sundas' and Dias' ships come under heavy fire from the base's defenses, and Enri has trouble launching in her airship. Back inside the base, Clain refuses to give up and follows Barrot's group into the hallway, and suddenly the whole base is rocked by an explosion. In the chaos, Clain grabs Phryne and runs away, while Barrot and his guards are crushed by falling debris. The explosion also destroys the disposal compound, and bandaged-Phryne wakes up after falling off the conveyor belt. Outside, the Lost Millennium ships notice that the base is not firing at them anymore, and Dias' ship takes the opportunity to charge right into the base's port despite Sundas' protests. At the port, Dias' ship blasts a way into the hallways and then fire a big barrage of scattering missiles into the base. Inside the base, Phryne and Clain find their way out is blocked, but they see bandaged-Phryne beyond some fire and wreckage and bandaged-Phryne points them towards another exit. At this moment, Dias' missiles find their targets and the whole base is destroyed by one giant explosion.

Now that's an explosion.

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

More violence, seriousness, and darker plot lines along with the second cliffhanger ending in a row. Fractale is definitely not the light and kiddie type show that its first two episodes had indicated. This episode revealed quite a bit about the connection between Phryne and the "Nessa/Phyrne" clones, but in typical Fractale fashion the revelation raises even more questions. I never thought the clones are actually Phryne at a younger age mostly because of the different hair color, but they do have the same eye color. Now the question becomes why does the temple need so many copies of Phryne, and why do they still need the original Phryne and Nessa?

Another fact that was revealed was that Phryne's status as "the key" requires her to have her virginity intact. Despite this rule, it's obvious that Phryne has suffered abuse at the hands of Barrot, and those prior experience may have caused Phryne to become submissive when she was attacked by Gale last week. And also, the explosion near the end of the episode seems to be caused by Phryne seeing Clain getting kicked in the face. Phryne's past and pretty much everything else about her are still mysteries in the series. I'm a little surprised that Barrot seems to have died in this episode. Barrot is one of the clear villains of the series, and he also has an important role in Phryne's back story so it'd be a bit surprising if this was his last appearance. Those falling debris got him pretty good though, and even if he survived that there was Dias' missile barrage.

Despite the big explosion, I'm sure Phryne, Clain and Nessa are still alive. The underground base may be destroyed, but the temple probably still has forces in the sky. Sundas' group also may have deal with Dias' group in a battle as well and of course there is all the questions surrounding the main characters and the Fractale system. In other words, the last three episodes should have no shortage of things to cover. The build-up has been decent so far, so let's see if the series stay on track for a big finale.

Sekirei 112

Miya begins to tell the tale of Sekireis, Ashikabis and Jinkis.

Uh... what's going on??

Summary:
Miya gets down to business and first starts talking about the jinkis. Like others have said before, Miya also states that the eight jinkis collected together has the power to deactivate all Sekireis by cutting off their energy source/life force. However, the jinkis are only part of the larger picture, but Miya has to start at the beginning for Minato and others to understand the implications. Miya then tells Minato to look at the jinkis and Minato starts seeing a vision. In the vision, several (of Minato's) Sekireis are looking for two persons in a field of tall grasses. Those two persons turn out to be the Ashikabi and a complete naked Musubi (or someone who looks exactly like her). After the other Sekireis leave the area, Musubi kisses the Ashikabi, causing wings to spread out from her Sekirei mark. Musubi then promises the Ashikabi that she'll protect him forever.

In a house somewhere, a girl who looks like a younger Miya sees an ominous vision about her kind.

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Short chapter as usual, and also confusing. The main problem was that there was no clear context as to what the vision was referring to. Does it mean that Minato and his Sekireis were together in a previous life time, or something else? The part at the end with little Miya will hopefully make sense of things, but too bad the chapter ends right then and there. Just come out with the history lesson and stop dragging it out darn it. Ugh.

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 22

Touma vs. Vento and Accelerator vs. Amata.

Vento takes Touma out for a spin, literally.

Nice dodge there.

Summary:
Touma and Vento start fighting inside the crater where Hyoka is. Vento tosses Touma out of the crater with a whirlwind and the two continue fighting. The fighting pauses for a bit when Hyoka causes shiny glitter to fall from the skies in order to protect the unconscious people nearby. Vento's attacks are faster and more powerful than before, but Touma cancels or dodges the attack and Vento becomes weaker and weaker as she continues to use her magical attacks. Out of nowhere, Vento reveals that she wants to destroy science because her brother was kill in an amusement ride accident. Both Vento and her brother were badly hurt by the accident and there wasn't enough in the hospital to save both, and so her brother told the doctors to save Vento. Vento blames her brother's death on science, but Touma responds by saying that Vento is wasting the life that her brother gave her. Vento is pissed and unleashes an attack but she is too injured and drops her mace, and this allows Touma to run right in and knock her out with a hard right. Afterwards, Vento's comrade Acqua of the Back shows up to retrieve Vento. Acqua explains that since Vento's tongue chain and cross was broken by Touma, all the people who have fallen unconscious will return to normal. Acqua then warns Touma against picking a fight before disappearing.

Touma's female knockout count increases to 4.

Hair/skin pulling is a surprisingly effective technique.

While this was going on, Accelerator is fighting Amata in Amata's office. Accelerator tries to run in and touch Amata but Amata easily punches him away. Accelerator's battery then runs out, causing him to drop the ground, but Accelerator then gets back up on sheer will and manages to rip off a piece of Amata's face. Amata eventually regains his composure and punches and kicks Accelerator to the ground. At this moment, Index enters the room having determined that Last Order is the source of the angel summon. Amata wonders what Index is up to, but Accelerator grabs him and this causes Amata to focus all his attention on beating up Accelerator and thereby completely ignoring Index. Index looks over Last Order and notices similarities to the magical angel summon, and she calls Mikoto (who is still fighting the Hound Dogs) for some scientific help. After talking with Mikoto, Index decides that the best way to solve the problem is to perform a prayer. While Index is busy with her prayer, Accelerator gets up again and manages to punch Amata in the jaw, but Amata decks Accelerator once again and tosses a grenade onto his face. The grenades explodes, but Accelerator is unhurt and gets up again, and the smoke around him is gathered into a pair of black wings on his back. Amata wonders how Accelerator is getting his power back, and Accelerator grabs Kihara and sends Kihara flying into the stratosphere.

Amata is having way too much fun kicking Accelerator to care about Index.

It's finally time for some payback.

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

The episode delivered the two big fights of the arc, and they were both... kind of bad, especially the Accelerator fight. The Touma vs. Vento fight was much better in comparison but still wasn't that great. The animation of the Touma fight was decent enough, and Vento upped the power, speed and variety of her attacks, but she was handicapped too much by Aleister's dastardly AIM field, and furthermore both Vento and Touma kept on taking timeouts so they can make their speeches. Having watched Index for so long, I now have some tolerance to have battles broken up by speeches (that usually make little sense), so overall the Touma vs. Vento fight wasn't good, but it wasn't terrible either.

On the other hand, Accelerator vs. Amata was just bad, and it became laughably bad once Index walked in. Just like their first confrontation at the start of the arc, Accelerator keeps pressing for melee attack and receives the same result in the form of knuckle sandwiches from Amata. Is it impossible for Accelerator to toss an object now? I remember he tossed a whole building last episode, but maybe Amata would cancel it out with some device. The worst and funniest part of the fight though was when Index walked in. Amata paid attention to Index for about a second, but then he went back to beating up Accelerator and more or less ignored Index afterwards, and Index was able to make her phone call and start her prayer without any interference. I guess we could commend Amata for his focus on that task at hand lol, but he was so focused that someone could have come in the room, take Last Order away, and repaint the entire room and Amata probably would still be kicking at Accelerator with glee. The same goes for Index, who completely ignored Amata and Accelerator after Amata started ignoring her. Maybe Index decided that since she can't do much about the crazy guy with the Mike Tyson tattoo she'll just go on with her own business and hope Accelerator provides enough of a distraction.

The ending of the Accelerator fight also left something to be desired. I don't have a problem with Accelerator's sudden power-up, but Amata's death was disappointing. The character was built up to be such an evil asshole, and he just gets sent off into space as a streak of light? I was expecting Accelerator to rip his entire face off or something along the gruesome lines. At the very least, they should have let us see Amata on fire. Someone as antagonistic as Amata deserves at least that much.

So I didn't like the episode much, and the fact that Hyoka did nothing (other than the glittering snow) also didn't help. Didn't Aleister had her summoned so she can fight Vento? I was expecting her to do more than just staying still with that creepy expression on her face. At this point, Vento and Amata are defeated, but Hyoka is still around, but I suppose Index will solve that problem somehow. Hopefully whatever builds up from this point on will lead to some better climatic showdowns.

Amanchu! 21

It's been three months again, and that means a new chapter of Amanchu! is out. As summer vacation begins, Hikari, Futaba and Ai go out together for a day of shopping and fun.

You should let your hair down more often, Big Sister Ai.

Summary:
Ai wakes up in the morning on a hot summer day and is feeling frustrated because she can't decide what to do during summer vacation. Ai then hears some familiar voice coming from outside the outside, and to her surprise she finds Hikari and Futaba standing in front of the house. Hikari and Futaba came by to invite Ai and Makoto out to hang out, but since Makoto decides to sleep in it's just the three girls. Ai, Futaba and Hikari first go to a shop so the two younger girls can pick out diving journals. The store has a big selection of journals and notebooks and Ai thinks it'll take the two younger girls a while to make up their minds, but Hikari and Futaba quickly pick out a pair of journals with matching designs.

I'd be more surprised if these two didn't pick matching designs.

The girls' next destination is a bikini store, and while looking over the selection Ai reveals that she usually wears two bikini tops at once because she's afraid one might have a wardrobe malfunction. All three girls end up buying stuff at the store, and Hikari suggest that they all go to ocean together to try out their new purchases. And so Hikari leads Ai and Futaba to her grandma's diving shop to change, and the three girls play in the water by the shore. During a break, Ai comments that it's all thanks to Hikari's spontaneous decisions that they had so much fun today, and she comments it must be nice not having to mull over decisions. Hikari responds by saying that she can get frustrated over decisions too, but she sees the making decisions as way of making things better and more fun. Ai understands what Hikari and means, and the two girls promise to make this summer vacation the best one ever.

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

Summer vacation begins in the world of Amanchu! with the female student members of the diving club going out together for a day of fun. It's again a fairly typical slice-of-life chapter sans the diving, but there were a couple of fun notes in this chapter:

1) Ai has a President Aria merchandise (could be a poster or a plush toy, hard to tell) in her bedroom. Aqua/Aria is the Amano-sensei's most successful series to date, and she'll probably keep dropping objects related to the series in Amanchu!.

2) I have to say, Ai looks great with her hair down. I think the long flowing hair looks better than the hairstyle Ai usually uses, but then again I have a preference for long flowing hair.

3) Makoto's room is a bit of a dump, but I guess that's not too surprising.

4) Hikari and Futaba picked matching designs for their diving journals which is no surprise whatsoever given their very close relationship lol. Let's see what other matching accessories will these two lovebirds buy.

5) Unless I understood incorrectly, Ai said she has trouble buying swimsuits and clothes because of her figure will cause bikini tops to fall out and shirts to unbutton?! Ai certainly has a curvier figure than Hikari or Futaba, but she's not exactly voluptuous. Maybe it has more to do with the style of the clothes she likes rather than the size of her measurements.


That's all for my comments on this chapter. It'll be another three months before the next chapter is released. By that time, it'll actually be summer (or close to it) in the real world too.

Naruto 531

Mifune battles Hanzo.

Mifune: You really do need to get a better blade, and I mean literally.

Summary:
As Ino-Shika-Cho face off against zombie Azuma near the beach, back in the forest Mifune's samurais arrive just in time to back up Kankuro's squad. The samurais have gas masks so they are immune to Hanzo's poison gas, and Mifune declares he'll handle Hanzo by himself. Meanwhile, Chiyo (who still controls her own mouth and has fought Hanzo before) decide to tell Kankuro the antidote to the posion gas and Kimimaro charges into the samurais. Hanzo wants to shut Chiyo up but he has his hands full with Mifune. Despite using only his sword, Mifune holds his own against Hanzo's scythe and chain and is fast enough to prevent Hanzo from using ninjutsu. The two combatants talk about each other's philosophies regarding war and peace. Mifune reveals that had fought Hanzo once before and Hanzo had broken his sword and cut him in the head, but it won't happen this time because Hanzo has lost his mojo. Hanzo thinks back to his death at the hand of Pain and Pain had said something similar. Hanzo doesn't get it and calls his salamander to swallow Mifune, but Mifune slices his way out and charges and Hanzo in a situation similar to their previous fight years before. This time however it is Mifune who breaks Hanzo's scythe and slices through Hanzo as well. Mifune then explains that by abandoning his ideals and going only for self preservation, Hanzo has lost his edge.

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

In the first few pages, you all thought you are finally getting the emotional match-up between zombie Azuma and his former students right? Not this week, says Mr. Kishimoto. Instead, we are getting Mifune vs. Hanzo, both of whom are well-known warriors of Naruto's world, but they are not really prominent characters in the story. Hanzo is supposedly very bad-ass given that he once had Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru against the ropes, but he certainly wasn't very impressive against Mifune. Mifune is supposed to be a master swordsmen, but wasn't Hanzo supposed to be one of the most formidable ninjas in history. Mifune probably has a point when he said Hanzo had lost his edge, or maybe Hanzo was overhyped to begin with. We finally saw how Pain killed Hanzo, but there wasn't anything too interesting there. While Mifune has shown he can cut Hanzo, that doesn't do much good given Hanzo is a zombie that can keep on regenerating. Maybe Kankuro has more puppets to trap the zombies with.

Bleach 440

Ichigo and Chad run to Orihime, and they find...

Oh...

Summary:
Chad tries to track down Orihime's location by her reiatsu. Ichigo follows and wants to call Orihime, but Chad advises against it as Orihime may be in danger. Chad can't pinpoint Orihime's location, but based on the direction Ichigo concludes that Orihime is at her apartment.

In front of her apartment, Orihime confronts Tsukishima, but Tsukishima doesn't appear intimidated or interested either. While Orihime is pondering what to do, Tsukishima suddenly turns around and looks as if he's walking away. Orihime tries to summon her powers, but somehow Tsukishima ends up behind her and stabs his sword through her back. A little while later, Ichigo and Chad arrive to find Orihime sitting on the floor looking shaken but otherwise uninjured. The guys ask Orihime what happened, but Orihime decides she can't tell Ichigo anything and lies that she was with a friend and that her stomach hurt. After the guys leave, Orihime wonders why she thought of Tsukishima as a friend and wonders what did Tsukishima do to her. Meanwhile, Chad knows the Orihime is trying to hide something from Ichigo and thus he decides to not say too much to Ichigo.

Back at Xcution's bar, Ginjou is gulping down the booze when Ichigo arrives demanding answers. Ginjou then states that the person who attacked Orihime and Ishida was probably Tsukishima, a Fullbring user and a former ally of the group.

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

Hmmm... so despite the page of Tsukishima stabbing Orihime, Kubo actually balked at having anything dramatic happen to Orihime. No Orihime getting a miraculous power-up, no serious injury or death, not even a kidnapping. Instead, Bleach went with the mores subtle route and had Tsukishima implant a thought into Orihime using his Fullbring. It'll probably become important later down the line, but if you were hoping that Orihime would do something significant in this chapter then you are out of luck.

It's no surprise that Ginjou and company knows Tsukishima, but I'm still not convinced that Tsukishima is a "former" ally at least when Ginjou is concerned. For Ginjou, it's guilty until proven innocent lol. Now that I thought about it, shouldn't Ichigo have asked the question about Uryu's attacker before he left with Chad? Wasn't finding the attacker one of the main reasons why Ichigo joined Xcution? At least he finally asked this week, and the knowledge on how Tsukishima's Fullbring works will come in handy when it comes to dealing with Tsukishima and Orihime (who might become brainwashed/mind-controlled).

One Piece 617

Zoro's group face off against Hodi's forces at the palace, while Luffy meets up with Sanji and Chopper.

Wouldn't sharks be more sensitive to bad odor due to their enhanced sense of smell?

Summary:
After Decken flies off to find Shiraboshi, Hodi explains his mission to rise against the humans and cites Arlong as his inspiration. After hearing this and seeing Hodi's Arlong tattoo, Nami secretly slips away. Hodi proceeds to demonstrate his strength by destroying the arch of the front gate, causing, the gate to collapse and seawater to flood in. Hodi then whips the water at very high speeds towards King Neptune's soldiers who are helpless and get knocked out. King Neptune throws himself in front of his troops and is injured as well. Having seen enough, Zoro steps in and attacks Hodi, but Hodi blocks Zoro's strike with one of his own underlings. Zoro orders Usopp and Brook to untie King Neptune's forces since he couldn't keep his promise of not letting the hostages get hurt. Usopp releases a stinky flower to keep the fishman pirates at bay, and the three Straw Hats quickly untie King Neptune and his troops. Zoro asks King Neptune to take Usopp and Brook out of the castle while he will stay behind to fight Hodi. Zoro then takes a deep breath and faces off against Hodi in the water.

At Coral Hill beach, Chopper is tending to Hachi while Sanji is arguing with the residents. Luffy and Megalo pass over the area and Luffy jumps down to meet up with Sanji and Chopper. As the residents watch with apprehension and curiosity, Megalo can't hold it in anymore and barfs out Shiraboshi, and now Chopper is afraid that Sanji will nosebleed to death.

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

At this rate, the misunderstanding between Straw Hats and the people of the kingdom isn't going to be cleared up any time soon. King Neptune might be in bad shape, but the princes are still around and they might come after Luffy once they hear the news. I thought Luffy would have made it to the Sea Forest, but I should have expected things to not go smoothly. Everything that could have gone wrong so far already did. The situation is turning into a big mess, and we would expect no less.

So Hodi's first real fight will be against Zoro, the Straw Hat's #2 fighter. On land, I'd give Zoro a decent chance of winning, but this is an underwater fight which gives Hodi a considerable advantage. Zoro can probably hold his own until Hodi starts popping pills, but after that Zoro might have to find a way to retreat or will probably end up beaten.

I wonder where Nami sneaked off to. Obviously she is no fan of anything Arlong. Let's hope she is plotting an escape for her comrades or a way to take down Hodi.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA 03

A new episode of Gundam Unicorn. Just like in the second episode four months ago, our protagonist Banagher is still caught in the struggle for the mysterious item known as Laplace's Box.

Nice try, but no cigar.

Summary:
The London Bell task force launch their attack on Palau. ECOAS commandos have sneaked ahead and planted bombs which severed the support between Palau and an adjacent asteroid, and the Nahel Argama fires it Hyper Mega-Particle Cannon to push the asteroid into Palau and in the process destroy several enemy ships and mobile suits. While fighting erupts outside the space colony, Banagher slips away from the Sleeves and follows the instructions on the map to the 14th Space Gate where he finds the Unicorn parked and unguarded. Banagher decides that the battle while end if he takes the Unicorn back to London Bell and thus climbs into the Gundam once again.

Apparently you need to install device drivers for mobile suit weapons. Not fun when you are in the middle of a fight waiting for your weapon to fire.

Meanwhile on the Nahel Argama, Riddhe takes Audrey towards the launch bay for their trip back to Earth, but they are spotted by Micott. Micott initially threatens to report Riddhe and Audrey to the higher-ups but lets the two go after Audrey explains that she is trying to stop the conflict from escalating further. Riddhe and Audrey then board the new Delta Plus and launch into the war zone. After disabling a few Neo Zeon mobile suits, Riddhe and Audrey spots Banagher in the Unicorn. After learning about Audrey and Riddhe's intentions, Banagher asks Riddhe to take care of Audrey. The two mobile suits part ways and Riddhe steers the Delta Plus towards the enemy space port in order to steal a booster to cut down on the trip time back to Earth.

Banagher and the Unicorn fly towards the Nahel Argama and Banagher notices that most of the Neo Zeons are retreating. However, Banagher is quickly confronted by Marida in her Kshatriya. Marida manages to grab hold of the Unicorn and she and Banagher start arguing. When Marida refuses to listen, Banagher activates Destroy Mode on the Unicorn. Not far away, Full Frontal is watching the battle from his command bridge along with Suberoas. Full Frontal explains that a "psychoframe monitor" has been installed on the Unicorn to help decipher the Laplace System. In order to make this plan work, Full Frontal planned to let Banagher take the Unicorn back and get into a 1 on 1 battle with Marida so Marida can trigger the Unicorn's full capabilities. Back in space, Marida uses her funnels to destroy the Unicorn's beam gatling, but the Unicorn suddenly emits a signals and takes over all of the funnels. As the Unicorn starts to tear the Kshatriya apart, Full Frontal explains that the Unicorn's true system NT-D (NewType Destroyer) has been activated. Once the enemy has been identified as a Newtype, NT-D will activate and take control, turning the Gundam and its pilot into a single-minded killing machine.

Wouldn't be a Gundam series without characters projecting their naked selves onto the screen.

After ripping out bits and pieces from the Kshatriya and knocking Marida unconscious, Banagher goes for the finishing stab to the cockpit, but suddenly Marida's memories start to flood into him through the psychoframe. Banagher learns of Marida's tragic history as the clone of Elpo Ple and a sex slave. Marida's memories is enough for Banagher to regain control, and Banagher decides to take Marida and the Kshatriya back to the Nahel Argama. On board the ship, Captain Midas and his officers also learn of Marida's identity as a clone, and through medication examination they also know that Marida has lost the ability to bear children from prior trauma. In the infirmary, Banagher chats with Marida, and Marida states that there is something inside of Banagher that allowed him to overcome the NT-D system and perhaps Banagher can uncover an even deeper part of the Laplace System. Suddenly, Marida's condition worsens and Banagher is told to leave. Banagher then goes to talk with Micott and Takuya. Micott wonders if Riddhe and Audrey have made it to Earth, but Banagher is sure that Riddhe would keep his word. Meanwhile, Riddhe's Delta Plus successfully enters Earth's atmosphere, and shortly after Riddhe's father Ronan is notified of his son and Audrey/Mineva's arrival.

Unbeknownst to the London Bell task force, Full Frontal's forces have been following them and Full Frontal concludes that the Nahel Argama is going to rendezvous with a civilian shuttle in Earth's orbit and also the Unicorn will be taken to specified location inside the wrecked Laplace colony to unlock another part of the Laplace system. Back in the Nahel Argama, Daguza is trying to talk Banagher into helping with the mission. Banagher initially refuses, but is eventually talked into it by Captain Midas. Also on the ship, Alberto Vist calls his aunt Martha. Alberto is starting to feel sorry for crew of Nahel Argama, but Martha reminds Alberto that the Laplace's Box is key to their wealth and tells Alberto to do everything to make sure that the box stays with the family. Martha also tells Alberto to bring Marida to a facility to Earth so they can do their own enhanced pilot research. Alberto then goes to bid Nahel Argama's bridge crew goodbye, and Captain Midas and his first officer can sense that something is up.

Love how the mobile suits imitate humans and look side to side when passing on secret messages.

Banagher launches in the Unicorn with Daguza also in the cockpit. The Unicorn along with several escorts then fly to the wreckage of the Laplace colony. The Unicorn flies inside to the specified location and initially nothing happens, but suddenly the Unicorn starts broadcasting Ricardo Marcenas' speech from UC 0001 and Destroy Mode almost activates. At the this moment, the Nahel Argama detect Neo Zeons approaching and recalls the expedition group, but Banagher steers the Unicorn right towards the enemy. Banagher battles three mobile suits from the Garancieres, one of which is piloted by Mr. Girpo (the father of the family that hosted Banagher last episode... not sure about the name though) who tells Banagher to back off. Girpo explains that they are only here to rescue Marida and will not destroy the Nahel Argama before flying off, but soon the Unicorn is confronted by Full Frontal's Sinanju along with Angelo and another escort, and Full Frontal's goal is to make the Unicorn go into NT-D. Concerned about activating NT-D with Daguza onboard and also other reasons, Banagher retreats back into the wrecked colony. Once inside the colony, Daguza tells Banagher to let him out so Banagher can concentrate on the battle. Daguza had noticed that the Unicorn almost went into NT-D when Ricardo's speech was being aired, and Daguza encourages Banagher to continue on to uncover the true purpose of the Laplace program. Daguza then tells Banagher to head deeper into the colony and wait for his signal before leaving the cockpit.

Back on the Nahel Argama, Alberto and the crew sent to pick him up are transported Marida to the shuttle, but Marida breaks from her restraints. A second later, the wall nearby is blown open and sucks some of Alberto's men into space, but Marida hangs on to a pipe and also grabs onto Alberto. Outside, the mobile suits from the expedition team has returned, and this forces Suberoa's team to retreat. Seeing that the situation is not in their favor, Suberoa tells his team to go reinforce Full Frontal's team.

Surprised that shoulder mounted weapons actually can damage a high quality mobile suit.

How many pieces do you want?

Meanwhile, Banagher lures Full Frontal into the colony where Daguza has placed explosive charges. Full Frontal evades most of the explosions but Daguza hits the Sinanju in the head with his bazooka. In retaliation, Full Frontal kills Daguza with Sinanju's beam shield, and seeing Daguza's death enables Banagher to activate NT-D. Banagher chases Full Frontal out of the colony and is met by Angelo and the other escorts, but Banagher quickly disables both enemies. Banagher then chases Full Frontal near the Earth's atmosphere. Banagher is set on shooting Full Frontal down and has the Sinanju lined up for the shot, but Girpo flies in and is hit instead. Banagher is stunned that he kill Girpo and allows the Unicorn to be pulled down by Earth's gravity while Full Frontal manages to escape. Nearby, the civilian shuttle undocks from the Nahel Argama and flies off, and from the bridge Captain Midas sees that the Garancieres is entering the atmosphere. Down on Earth, Audrey arrives at Ronan Marcena's mansion.

I have a Gundam which is virtually indestructible, and therefore if crappier mobile suits can survive re-entry then so can mine.

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A pretty good episode once again. The action was very nice as usual, and there was also some small developments about the nature of the Laplace's Box, but most of the characters along with us the audience are still just guessing at the purpose. At the surface, Destroy Mode just seems like an enhanced psychoframe system. Dig a little deeper, and the Unicorn's system can take over the pilot and become a single minded killing machine specially designed to defeat Newtype opponents, but there is another aspect of the system even deeper than that. While it wasn't an eight month gap like between the first two episodes, a four month break is more than enough for me to forget some of the details, and so I'm not sure how both the Neo Zeons and London Bell knew that the Unicorn should be taken to wreckage of Laplace to unlock the system. Did they get the information from the Unicorn itself, or from Alberto and Cardeas? I don't remember at all. Something obviously happened inside the wreckage and may have caused the Unicorn and Banagher to become even more formidable, but we'll have to wait until next episode to see what was really unlocked.

With no other Gundams in sight, the Unicorn was the most dominant mobile suit in the series so far and even had the Sinanju on the ropes near the end of this episode. However, it was funny that earlier in the episode, the Unicorn needed 20 seconds to reprogram for its new beam gatling, and during that time Banagher couldn't fire and had a bit of trouble against the Dreissen. I guess Full Frontal didn't want to make it "too easy" for Banagher to escape and didn't get anyone to program in the new weapon beforehand. 20 seconds is still quite slow though.

Moving on to characters, Audrey and Riddhe didn't do too much as they were focused on getting back to Earth. As for Banagher, it's amusing that the guy just can't stay at one place or with one group of people for very long. After boarding the Nahel Argama and being captured by the Sleeves in the last two episode, Banagher and the Unicorn managed to find their way back to Nahel Argama and then now fall into Earth. Banagher continues to grow as a pilot for the Unicorn continues to develop and he is learning to take responsibility a little better, but he still has that habit of arguing against violence, even when he is in the middle of a battle against dangerous opponents. Banagher isn't angsty enough to be really annoying, but he nags at people and nobody really listens to what his philosophies. Daguza was one of the few soldiers that can actually get through to Banagher, but too bad he's dead now and he died in a somewhat disappointing manner. Daguza basically died so that Bangher can activate NT-D against Full Frontal, and I didn't really feel that it was really necessary.

So the third episode leaves us with Banagher and the Unicorn falling down to Earth. The Nahel Argama seems to be stuck in orbit for now, but the Garancieres has entered the atmosphere presumably to go rescue Marida (that's presuming she was taken onto the shuttle). I wonder where Banagher will end up now he's on his own. I also wonder what Alberto and his aunt Martha are up to, and if Full Frontal's plan of collecting data on the Unicorn will amount to anything. Despite the developments in this episode, the whole situation with Laplace's Box hasn't changed that much. All the parties involved still don't know what's inside Laplace's Box or what it is exactly, but they are all working feverishly to take possession of the box because someone said it was important. I doubt the box contains anything overwhelming awesome to the audience, so as long as there are some new mobile weapons and action in the rest of the OVAs then I'll be satisfied.