XBlade 38

It's been about 10 months since my last post on XBlade, and finally I've found a "new" chapter that I haven't read. XBlade is just one of those not-popular-enough series that's notoriously hard to find, so I'm glad there is some new releases. Anyways in this chapter, Haru confronts Suou who has kidnapped Kaya.

If I were you, I wouldn't smile or make any facial expression that shows teeth (or the lack thereof).

Summary:
The bandits led by Kamburagi attack the school-fortress. Being allied with Yamata, Kamburagi's gang has devices which allow them to control the monsters which plague the district. However, even with the monsters, Kamuragi's gang is quickly defeated by Haru, Konoe, and Ruru. The bandits also lose control of the monsters and the monsters start killing the bandits, which leaves Haru and company to clean up the monsters. After the battle, Haru and Ruru decide to find Suou and Fujimaru, but Haru tells Konoe to stay to help protect the fortress and also to tell Hyakume what happened in case he returns.

In front of the assembly hall, Suou has badly wounded Fujimaru and knocked out his guardian blade Kaname. Suou moves in to finish Fujimaru, but Haru and Ruru arrive on the scene. Hizumi appears and challenges Ruru to finish the fight they started before. Ruru utters some incantations which allows her to move almost faster than the eye can see, but Suou is somehow able to kick her into a wall. Ruru is hurt badly by the kick but she isn't about to give up and turns her attention to Hizumi.

Haru and Suou also start fighting. Fujimaru thinks Haru can't match up to Suou's skills, but Haru holds his own and Mana even gets in a headbutt against Suou's guardian blade Kanna (both in spirit form). Kanna is pissed and tells Suou to finish the battle, but Suou wants to have a bit more fun and see Haru's true abilities.

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The chapter mostly went in the expected direction as Haru goes off to fight Suou and save Kaya and Fujimaru. I was a bit surprised though that Suou's bandit allies were beaten so quickly at the start. The previous chapters gave the impression that the bandits might actually do some damage to the fortress with Yamata's assistance, but they attacked too quickly and thus Haru and Ruru were still there. It'd be a lot more interesting if Kamuragi's gang attacked after Haru and Ruru left.

So as expected Haru (along with Ruru) race off to confront Suou, and of course Hizumi shows up to even up the numbers. The panels in this chapter showing Ruru doing her incantation moves were a little hard to follow. It took me a moment there to figure out what happened, and it was kind of sad that Ruru's surprise first move backfired on her. Ruru's second incantation was quite abrupt too, and not to mention a bit creepy. Hopefully Ruru will have a good battle against Hizumi.

The Haru vs. Suou fight was decent but again nothing out of the ordinary. Haru managed to hold his own against Suou for now, but will probably have his back against the ropes when Suou gets serious. I'm sure Hyakume will show up and probably save Haru at some point, but ultimately I think Haru will be the one who'll defeat Suou for good. If Suou gets beaten by Hyakume two times in a row and even with the improved guardian blade then that'd be pretty pathetic for Suou.

Let's hope the next chapter won't take several months to a year to come out. I know the 10th volume has already been on sale months ago, so maybe we'll see a translation for chapter 39 soon.

Rosario + Vampire II 41

Touhou Fuhai and Kurumu try to stop Ghoul Tsukune.

Tsukune has really fallen... now he's beating up seniors.

Summary:
Kurumu looks at the transformed Tsukune and wonders what went wrong. Tsukune tries to attack Kurumu, but Touhou had erected a barrier to keep Tsukune in and that saves Kurumu. Touhou explains that Tsukune has turned into his Ghoul form and thus has lost his humanity. Kurumu tries to intervene but she is kept outside by the barrier. Kurumu begs Touhou to save Tsukune, and after thinking for a bit Touhou decides he should put the final needle into Tsukune's heart to complete the technique and that should knock Tsukune out for the moment. Touhou goes about his plan, but Tsukune is much faster than expected and hammers Touhou into the ground with a big punch. The impact of Touhou hitting the ground is heard all over the mirror world, which alerts the others that something is wrong.

With Touhou down for the moment, Tsukune walks up to Kurumu again but just stands there. Touhou gets back up and tells Kurumu to get away from Tsukune. Touhou recognizes that through Moka, Tsukune now has the some of Alucard's blood and must be stopped, and thus Touhou powers up and plans to kill Tsukune with his Dimensional Sword technique. Unwilling to let Tsukune be killed, Kurumu tries to force her way through the barrier despite Touhou's warnings. Kurumu states that Tsukune is the most important thing to her and that Tsukune hasn't completely lost his humanity just yet. Kurumu actually breaks through the barrier and kisses Tsukune on the lips before falling unconscious, and Touhou uses the distraction to put the final needle into Tsukune's heart. Tsukune instantly reverts back to his human form and falls down to the ground. Knowing that the needle alone would not bring Tsukune back to human form, Touhou concludes that Kurumu must have done something to bring Tsukune back and admits that Kurumu has outdone him this time.

You go girl!

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A resolution through The Power of Love... but sometimes the Power of Love is awesome. It looks like any speculation of a harem breakup was premature as Kurumu still appears to be firmly implanted in Tsukune's camp. Harem ending is still on track! Kurumu really showed her mettle this chapter, and what's more she actually got Tsukune's first kiss (at least the first one I remember between Tsukune and any of his girls). I wonder if Kurumu will ever mention the fact to the other girls, as it'd be fun to see their (especially Moka's) reactions. Hopefully this will bring Kurumu out of the slump she has been in for the last two chapters.

Tsukune appears to be back to human form for the moment and is probably powered-up now through Touhou's needle technique, but his vampire/ghoul powers are more dangerous than ever to himself and everyone nearby. As some people had already figured, Tsukune has some of Alucard's blood through Moka, and down the line this may mean that if the bad guys want to wake Alucard up they may be able to use Tsukune instead of Moka. If the bad guys ever learn about Tsukune's blood then it'll be bad news for the good guys. That's probably what will happen though.

Deadman Wonderland 02

Ganta performs in front of a crowd at Deadman Wonderland by competing in a race filled with deadly obstacles.

Wanna hang out?

Summary:
After surviving the falling debris, Ganta is taken to the infirmary where the doctor tells Ganta to make sure he eats his "candy". At the infirmary Ganta meets Yo Takami (the guy who got sliced by Chief Makina last episode). Yo informs Ganta of Deadman Wonderland (DW)'s currency Cast Points which can be used to buy food, merchandise and even shorten sentences, and Yo suggests that Ganta enter the Dog Race event in the afternoon for a reward of 100000 cast points. Shiro suddenly appears and after that learning that participants get a free bean paste bun both Ganta and Shiro decide to enter the race. Later, Yo informs Assistant Warden Tamaki about Ganta entering the race.

Ganta, Shiro and the other participants are preparing in a locker room when a big guy and his cronies show up to bully people. The big guy is a former martial arts champion and tells everyone else to forfeit the race or else his group would beat them up, and both Ganta and Yo are kicked around. Shiro walks in unaware of the situation and the big guy is about to punch Shiro, but Makina shows up which forces the big guy and his gang to back off. Afterwards, Ganta reads the DW rules book and learns that "candy" is the antidote to the poison in the collar and must be consumed every three days. Failure to do so will lead to death. Since Ganta doesn't have any candy (or lost his first portion), he realizes he must win the race and use the reward to buy candy.

Hi there Mr. Blurry Censor Light.

Human shields are one way to survive arrow barrages.

Before the start of the Dog Race, Tamaki tells the ring master to make the obstacles as lethal as possible but just explain to the outside audience that it's all an act. The race begin and Ganta quickly finds out that people are really getting killed on the course, but the crowd thinks it's all an elaborate show. Shiro is also in the race and bumps into Ganta from time to time, but both manage to survive to the last obstacle along with the big guy. The winner of the race is determined by who can hold on to a ball while floor panels fell out and gave way to spikes underneath. Ganta catches the ball first but is eventually cornered by the big guy. The big guy tells Ganta to give up, but Ganta musters up the courage and throws the ball into the big guy's face, and the ball is then caught by Shiro. The big guy tries to go after Ganta but the floors fall out and the big guy is killed by the spikes. With the big guy out of the way, Ganta goes to get Shiro who is hanging off the side of a floor panel. Upon seeing all the bruises on Shiro, Ganta realizes Shiro has been protecting through the race. The panel Shiro is hanging onto gives away and Shiro tries to pass the ball to Ganta, but Ganta grabs Shiro's arm instead. The ball falls onto a spike and is deflated, and thus the race has no winner. Ganta is glad that he saved Shiro, but now without the cast points and tomorrow being his third day, Ganta is in desperate need of some "candy".

If you wanted the ball so bad, then you shouldn't have tried to catch it with your face.

By this angle, I'm not sure how it's possible for Ganta to grab Shiro's arm, but whatever.

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The introductory stuff continues this week, and Ganta gets a quick lesson on how the prison economy works, and more lessons on why prisons (in particular Deadman Wonderland) are shitty places. The episode did a decent job explaining about "candy" and cast points without dragging the show down, although that's maybe because I read the manga and already know the details. The obstacle course was of course ridiculously violent for a public spectator show, but it's not that ridiculous compared to Ganta's imprisonment and death sentence. The animation looked good for the most part, although sometimes the faces look a little weird, and that might also be because I read the manga version and is more used to those designs. The blood and deaths are noticeably blurred/darkened out during the Dog Race. This hasn't bothered me too much yet, but we'll see what happens once the action really picks up.

Overall another decent introductory episode, but of course the show hasn't gotten into the "real" story yet. This episode didn't mention the Red Man and Ganta's special powers very much, but of course there should be more focus on that strange destructive power in the future.

We finally saw the OP sequence this week, but it was nothing special.

Gantz 338

The Tokyo Team battle the aliens at the processing plant.

Humanity triumphs over the ugly aliens... as it should be.

Summary:
A two-headed monster and three aliens wearing sunglasses and special-ops uniforms lumber into the processing plant and they start attacking the naked humans. Kurono #2 and Takeda try to use their H-guns but couldn't because there are too many people around, but other Gantzers including Kaze use their swords and Gantz suit muscles to slice and rip the monster and aliens apart, and the battle is quickly over.

Meanwhile, Tae is surrounded by alien children on a street and the children are about to start abusing her, but two armed men show up and force the children to run away by shooting at the aliens with their assault rifles. The men then ask if Tae want to go with them.

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I was hoping the two headed monster would have some sort of special ability to make it challenging for the Tokyo team, but it turns out that the monster was just big, ugly and dumb, which meant once Mr. Muscle Rider Kaze and Gantz swords got involved it was all over. The battle was short, but the alien slicing and flesh-ripping was pretty cool though. The aliens who accompanied the monster also sucked since they only had the finger lightning weapon and no armor. Kurono #2 had a minor fail during the chapter (declaring he would handle things and then losing his H-gun), but at least the others picked up the slack. Looks like the aliens had better send some more capable monsters or special troopers to deal with the Gantzers, because regular troopers and anything below are rather easy for the Gantzers to take down.

While the battle at the processing plant was quickly over, Tae's saga continues with no end in sight. Falling into the hands of alien kids would be a terrible fate, but once again Tae manages to survive because of two human soldiers that showed up. It looks like at least a part of the human civilization has made a deal with the aliens, and that would explained why armed humans other than Gantzers are running around inside the city ship. Tae's ordeal probably won't be over though until she meets up with Kurono #1 again though.

To Love-Ru Darkness 07

Nana tries to cheer up Mea, who is feeling down because she feels she doesn't understand Yami.

On this episode of "When Good Pets Go Bad"...

Summary:
Nana and Momo's class is having swimming lessons. While Nana is showing off her swimming skills, Mea is sitting on the side thinking about a prior talk with Yami in the library. Mea had asked why Yami didn't fight back against Azenda, and Yami answers that she was wrong in relying just on herself and now learned to rely on friends. Yami suggests that Mea interact more with others to see what it feels like to have friends, but Mea doesn't understand. Back to the present, Nana notices Mea is feeling down and tries to start a conversation, but Mea isn't in the mood to chat and only tells Nana that she had an argument with her sister. On the other side of the pool, Yami is watching Mea and Nana when she's approached by Momo. Yami had told Momo and Rito about Mea's true identity and also her desire for Mea to learn the value of friendship. Momo states that she understands Yami's intents, but for now she must regard Mea as a dangerous adversary.

Later in the school day, Nana asks Rito for advice on how to cheer Mea up. Rito brings up that years ago when Mikan was feeling down, Rito would make funny faces and dance around to cheer Mikan up. Rito suggests to Nana that she just do something to make Mea smile, and Nana seems to understand and runs off. After Nana leaves, Lala appears and thanks Rito for giving advice to Nana as Mea is Nana's first friend (outside of the family) and thus Mea is very important to Nana.

After school, Nana leads Mea to a river bank where Mea meets Haruna's dog Malon. Nana had asked Haruna to bring Malon and also promised Malon some jerky in exchange for cheering Mea up, and the plan appears to be working as Mea thinks Malon is quite cute. Haruna, Rito and Momo are watching nearby, and Momo encourages Rito to make a move on Haruna. Meanwhile, Nana uses her teleporter cellphone to bring out more of her pets. Fired up by the "competition", Malon goes nuts and starts licking Mea all over the place, and this in term causes all of Nana's pets to start licking Nana. Rito and Haruna run closer in an attempt to help, but Nana's giant squid and octopus pets appear and they start groping Haruna and dangle Haruna and Rito in naughty positions which gives Momo a feast for the eyes. Nana finally manages to shake off her other pets but finds that a little monkey had taken her teleporter. Nana chases and catches the monkey, but she ends up in the middle of the road in front of an oncoming truck. Mea dashes in and is about to blast the truck with her beam cannon but a voice in her head tells her to stop, and instead Lala and Yami show up to stop the truck from running Mea and Nana over.

Having big sisters can be really nice sometimes.

After the near accident, Nana apologizes to Rito, Haruna and Mea for causing trouble, but Mea states that she actually had a lot of fun. Lala takes the moment to reveal that Nana planned to whole thing to make Mea smile, and Mea starts getting that warm and fuzzy feeling inside. While Nana is chatting with Mea, Rito whispers to Momo that Mea appears to be good-natured, and Momo jokes that Rito should add Mea to the harem. However, Momo is not really joking because it's troublesome to have Mea as an enemy, and converting Mea over will force Mea's master to make a move. Unbeknownst to Rito and company, Mea's master is watching them from the shadows.

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After the serious action chapter last month, Darkness moves back to something more light-hearted. There was lots and lots and fan service this month, starting with school swim suits and moving onto naughty licking and tentacle groping. Very typical To Love-Ru stuff, but of course much more explicit than the original weekly series.

If we strip away the fan service, this chapter was mainly about Mea, her relationship with Nana and Yami, and the beginning of her understanding of what a "normal" life with friends. Mea is starting to turn towards to good side if this chapter is any indication, but she probably still has some ways to go (just like it took Yami for a while to get used to life on Earth), and I'm sure Mea's master Nemesis won't let Mea turn so easily.

It seems that pretty much all young female characters in To Love are a possible harem candidate for Rito, and Mea appears to be no exception especially if Momo has her way. Mea actually seems quite fond of Rito; she is definitely not the tsundere type like Yui and Nana. Momo has an advantage over Mea now because Momo now knows Mea's identity, but Mea doesn't know that Momo knows. However, it's Nemesis who is the mastermind of the whole plan to turn Yami back into a cold-blooded killer, so Momo and friends still have a ways to go before Mea can be converted.

Naruto 536

Naruto and Killer Bee break out, prompting Madara to join the fray.

Looks like nobody thought Killer Bee would help Naruto break out. Nobody?

Summary:
Iruka is still standing in front of the waterfall entrance to the training room when Killer Bee walks out. Iruka asks Killer Bee to protect Naruto, and Killer Bee agrees and gives Iruka a fist bump before running off. Because Iruka's group failed to stop Naruto, it's now up to the barrier team to contain Naruto. Naruto is standing at the edge of the barriers wondering what to do when Killer Bee arrives and blasts a hole in the barriers with his tailed beast bomb. Killer Bee then tells Naruto to push the tailed beast bomb through the barriers and the two of them together break free from the barriers.

Meanwhile, Black Zetsu has located the real feudal lords but he is confronted by Mizukage's group. Before the fight can begin, Black Zetsu senses Naruto and Killer Bee are out and get White Zetsu to inform Madara. Madara decides to join the battle to "steal a substitute" and he tells Black Zetsu to continue the guerrilla tactics.

At the beach, the Shinobi Army forces have taken down all the White Zetsu clones along with Kakuzu, but suddenly Madara appears and summons the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

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Looks like Kishimoto may have gotten tired of the secondary character battles, or at least the battle happening on the beach. I kind of wanted to see what Chouji was going to do with his super butterfly technique. Kakuzu was shown to be beaten, but what happened to Dan?

So as expected, both Killer Bee and Naruto escaped out into the open, and that prompted Madara to enter the battle to finish his mission of collecting all the tailed beasts. The leaders didn't think things through when they put Killer Bee in charge of keeping Naruto from leaving given how Killer Bee is buddies with Naruto and does pretty much what ever he wants. I don't think anyone at the beach will be able to stop Madara and his statue, and so Madara will probably get his "substitute", whatever that may be. Beyond that though I'm still looking forward to Kabuto trying to backstab Madara and mess up Madara's plan at a key moment. Of course, Madara would logically get into a fight against Killer Bee and Naruto, but it's hard to say how quickly that'll happen.

Sekirei 114

Miya reveals more about the jinkis and history of Sekireis and Ashikabis.

It sucks to be the soldiers in the rigid black armor, but at least they get to be beaten up by bishojo/bishounen Sekireis.

Summary:
Minato and Miya continue watching the vision of Sekireis from long ago. The past Minato and his Sekireis have to defend their village against an army which also has several Sekireis, one of them being the analog of Karasuba. The current Miya explains to to the current Minato that the Sekireis who survived the battle lived together with their Ashikabi and had children together, and all present day Ashikabis are descended from these Sekireis and thus carry Sekirei genes. Miya also states that it was she who revealed the existence of the jinkis to MBI (specifically to Takehito) and she can't believe Minaka would hand them out as prizes. After hearing Miya's explanation, Minato suddenly realizes something. Miya then confirms Minato's suspicions and states that since all Ashikabi have Sekirei genes, they also have the spiritual energy that Sekireis have and thus they can also be "deactivated" by someone who has all the jinkis.

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Sounds like story time is almost over. A pretty important reveal at the end of the chapter, although it took me a few read-throughs to understand what Miya was saying (mostly due to my deteriorating language skills). The fact that some people including Minato can be "deactivated" by the jinkis means that it's even more essential for Minato's crew to make sure they are the ones who gather the jinkis. The group who possess all the jinkis have the fate of Sekireis, Ashikabis, and even other humans in their hands, but is this what Minaka is referring to when he said that the last Sekirei standing and his/her Ashikabi will ascend to a higher place, or does Minaka mean something else? And if Minaka has all the jinkis to begin with, what exactly is he trying to do by starting the Sekirei Plan? We probably won't know the answers until the end.

With regards to the flashback, where did the enemy Sekireis come from? I thought the past Minato's Sekireis and loli-Miya were the only ones who survived the crash? Maybe other Sekireis from the same ship survived as well, or the enemy Sekiries were from another ship? Hmm...

In other interesting news, the chapter confirms that Sekireis and humans can procreate, so if everything goes right for the current Minato then he can end up like the Minato in the flashback and have lots of kids lol.

Bleach 445

Ichigo battles Tsukishima.

No Chad. Ichigo's true self is that he must be cloaked in a cool outfit when fighting.

Summary:
Tsukishima cuts open the fish tank, and Ichigo appears with his Fullbring forming a robe and blade on his body (while Jackie is tossed in the ground somewhere). Tsukishima and Ichigo clash blades, and Ichigo wonders who Tsukishima is. Tsukishima is about to give his self intro but Chad cuts him off and blasts a back hole in the wall with his right arm. Chad and Ginjou jump outside on to the roof where Ginjou argues that it's time to tell Ichigo about Tsukishima, but Chad states that they don't know if Ichigo is strong enough. However, Ichigo hears the discussion and goes after Tsukishima. After some exchanges, Tsukishim and Ichigo both leap high into the air, but Tsukishima states that Ichigo's Fullbring isn't fully developed yet and kicks Ichigo back down onto the roof. Tsukishima tries to finish Ichigo off, but Ginjou brings out his sword and blocks the attack.

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A decent action chapter, and Ichigo's sucky spinners has been replaced by a more familiar shinigami shikai-like form. I wonder if the spinners will be back in a better form, or will it be put out to pasture for good? Given Kubo's penchant for putting stuff in cold storage (especially certain characters), maybe we won't see the spinners back in a long time which is fine with me. Back to the fight, as expected Ichigo is more powerful now but still not really ready to fight Tsukishima just yet, so Ginjou has to tag in. It would be silly if Ichigo is suddenly powerful enough to beat down the main villain Tsukishima after two training sessions, and it'd be interesting to see what Ginjou can do with his Fullbring. It seems like Tsukishima and Ginjou are probably not in the same camp, but I think Ginjou is still hiding something.

Claymore 114

Miria leads a revolt against the Organization.

The Abyss Feeders getting their last hurrah.

Summary:
At Organization HQ, all of the present and numbered Claymores except for no. 10 Raftela have joined Miria's revolt, and even the trainees (led by the new twins) are breaking out. The Organization's handlers retreat into the their main meeting room where Rimuto is questioning Raftela. Raftela is trained to target other warriors and thus she did not join the revolt outright, but even she had a a role in Miria's return as she did not tell any of the handlers that Miria was still alive even though she can sense Miria's presence. When asked by Rimuto about why she kept the fact secret, Raftela states that she and the other warriors are still human at heart and were swayed by by Miria's strength and ideals. Raftela is then stabbed by many spears and falls down to the ground, and Rimuto notes that more research has to be done on breaking and controlling the warriors' minds. Rimuto asks the other handlers about Dae's progress, but Dae still needs a few hours to complete his project. To buy time for Dae, Rimuto orders all of the Abyss Feeders be released upon the revolting Claymores and tells his subordinates to stay in the room if they don't want to be eaten as well.

Outside, Miria and the Claymores are confronted by the Abyss Feeders which start chowing down on some of the weaker warriors. Miria tells the lower numbers to fall back, but the Abyss Feeders prove to be a difficult match even for Miria and the higher number Claymores.

Elsewhere in the HQ, Raki is in his holding cell wondering what's going on outside when suddenly one of the new twins break down the wall to his cell.

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I'm glad Miria is alive and leading a revolt against the Organization, but the fact that all the warriors and even trainees decided to betray the Organization because of Miria's ill-advised lone-wolf expedition was completely nonsense even for Claymore. The series is taking the "understanding through fighting" trick a little too far. I understand if some of the warriors whom Miria spared are moved, but all of them plus even the new twins and Raftela betraying the Organization is just too much.

Oh well, it's not like my complaining is going to change anything, and hopefully we'll get some good and slightly more logical developments in the near future. Miria and the current Claymores may be a bit short-handed against the Abyss Feeders since none of the current generation warriors are super strong (Miria beat all of them by herself), but Deneve's group is on their way and they should be strong enough to make the save if it comes down to it. However, the biggest threat down the road for Miria and allies is probably Dae's project of raising zombie #1s, and we'll hopefully see the new foes once all the Abyss Feeders have been defeated. Would be awesome if Dae brings back a zombie Teresa.

The other notable development this chapter was of course Raki meeting the new twins and the escaping trainees. Looks like Raki might not become the Organization's latest and greatest weapons project after all, but I'm sure he'll develop some superhuman powers now that he has been hit by Rafaela/Luciela's spikes and then injected with Priscilla's yoki.

One Piece 622

The history of the Sun Pirates continued.

These nice gentlemen will take you back to your home... well maybe not exactly gentlemen... or nice for that matter.

Summary:
News of Fisher Tiger and also of his Sun Pirates' exploits have spread all over the world including Fishmen Island. Many Fishmen Island residents including the young Hodi and his friends support Fisher Tiger and are decidedly against opening up to the human world, but Queen Otohime doesn't give up and continues her signature campaign for Reverie. Meanwhile, Fisher Tiger and his crew continues to battle and win against Marines and other pirates, although Fisher Tiger prohibits his crew from killing any of their enemies much to Arlong's displeasure. One day three years after Fisher Tiger's attack on the holy city, a group of people ask for the Sun Pirate's help to take a human kid back to his hometown, and the boy's name is Koala and he was a slave that Fisher Tiger had freed. Koala boards the Sun Pirate's ship and the crew notice that the boy has been conditioned so much as a slave that he always has a forced smile on his face. Fisher Tiger eventually had enough and burns a mark onto Koala before telling the boy that it's okay to cry. Fisher Tiger then promises to take Koala back home, and Koala starts crying.

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The history lesson continues, and this chapter was a quick overview of the first three years after Fisher Tiger's attack on the Holy City. The first 3/4 was all background information and wasn't focused on any particular event. However, the last part of the chapter with the journey to take Koala back home may be the start of an important event that will be covered in detail... at least that's what I'm hoping. There has to be at least one significant event covered in detailed to make a flashback worthwhile. Having a human boy on the Sun Pirates' ship is bound to cause some drama especially given Arlong's hate for humans, and the Sun Pirates will probably run into stronger enemies (Vice-Admiral or Admiral class Marines) along the way. Hopefully we'll see more development into Fisher Tiger, Jinbe and Arlong's characters in the story.

Hidan no Aria 01 - First Impressions

My super late first impressions post on Hidan no Aria (aka Aria the Scarlet Ammo), a JC Staff show starring a tsundere loli voiced by Rie Kugimiya.

I want one of those remote-controlled, Uzi-rigged Segways.

I don't think this went exactly as planned, but Kinji is better off because of it.

You don't have to wait around, Ignorable Volunteer Maid Girl, because Macindows takes ages to boot up.

Summary:
Kinji Tohyama is enrolled in the Tokyo Butei School which trains "Buteis" (armed detectives) to catch criminals, but Kinji wants to live a normal live and plans to transfer out of the school. One morning Kinji misses the school bus and has to ride his bike to school, but he discovers that he is the target of someone who is copying a recently-caught Butei killer. Kinji's bike is planted with a bomb which will blow up if Kinji slows down, and Kinji is being monitored/chased by a remote-controlled Segway rigged with a speaker, camera, and Uzi. Kinji rides around not knowing what to do and is running out of options when suddenly a pink-haired girl wearing the Butei school uniform jumps off a nearby building, deploys a parachute and shoots out the Uzi-Segway with her pistols. The girl then steers her parachute around and tackle Kinji off of his bike to save Kinji from the bomb. The bike explodes soon after and Kinji and girl and sent rolling into a building.

Second faceful of the episode.

Awesome Loli-lover Mode activated.

Kinji wakes up and finds the girl unconscious in front of him with her shirt lifted up. Kinji reads off the girl's bra and learns that the girl is Aria H. Kanzaki. Aria wakes up and thinks Kinji was trying to do bad things to her while she was unconscious, but soon the two come under fire from seven more Uzi-Segways. Aria returns fire with her pistols to force the Uzi-Segways to retreat behind a wall. During the firefight Aria inadvertently presses her chest into Kinji's face, and this causes Kinji to undergo and dramatic personality change where he starts acting all cool and calling Aria "princess". Kinji then walks out and takes out Uzi-Segways by putting bullet into the barrel of each of the Uzis. Afterwards, Kinji unwittingly teases Aria about being an elementary student when in reality she is a second year high-schooler. Aria wants to rip Kinji a new one, but Kinji takes away Aria's pistol magazine and makes Aria slip on her own bullets before leaving.

A real sharpshooter.

Later, Kinji makes it to school and reverts to his usual personality. It turns out under special circumstances, Kinji will go into "Hysteria Mode" which greatly enhances his fighting ability but also changes his personality at the same time. In class, Kinji discovers that Aria just transferred into his class. The other students tease Kinji and Aria, but Aria fires her pistols to shut everyone up. After school, Kinji goes back to his apartment and sulks about how unlucky he is. The doorbell rings, and Kinji discovers Aria standing in front of his door with some luggage. Aria barges into Kinji's apartment and then tells Kinji to become her "slave".

You are a man right? Well it's time to man up and take responsibility.

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A decent first episode. Good production quality and action customary of JC Staff, and of course there was a sizable dose of fan service and the tsundere loli voiced by Rie Kumigiya. Kugimiya's voice seems to be especially high-pitched this time around (or I haven't heard her voice in a leading role for some time), but perhaps it's only fitting for Aria's overly tsundere character. Still, it might take a little time to get used to the high-pitched screaming if it happens every single episode. While Aria is predictably tsundere and quick-tempered, the male lead Kinji isn't quite as well defined. Kinji's sudden personality change due to loli-chest-in-face was amusing, but his normal personality didn't show any other special traits so far.

It's too early to say much about the story and settings, but as long as the Butei School setup brings us more action and comical interactions between the important characters then there won't be much to complain about. I'm expecting this show to survive mostly on action, fan service, our twin-tailed gun-wielding lead and Kinji's alter personality. I'll follow the show, but I won't blog about it weekly. Hopefully Hidan no Aria will deliver a decent balance of action and comedy every week, especially since Maria Holic Alive didn't managed to be that funny in its first two episodes.

Deadman Wonderland 01

In the first episode of Deadman Wonderland, our protagonist Ganta is tossed in jail for a mass murder that he did not commit.

An awful way to start the school day.

Summary:
At school, Ganta is chatting with his friends at the beginning of the day when suddenly everyone notices a strange masked man in red hovering outside the window. The Red Man attacks with an unknown power and destroys the classroom. Ganta wakes up to find all of his classmates dead, and the Red Man embeds a red crystal into Ganta's chest and Ganta faints once again.

A joke of a court. Too bad the joke is on Ganta.

Ganta wakes up in the hospital and learns that he has been charged with murdering all of his classmates. Due to a fake video made by his sleazy lawyer Tsunenaga Tamaki, Ganta is convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. Ganta is sent to Deadman Wonderland, Japan's first commercialized prison/amusement park which happens to be run by Tamaki. In Deadman Wonderland, the inmates must work in the amusement park to entertain guests. All prisoners are fitting with a collar that releases poison into the prisoner, and the only way to stay alive is earn temporary antidotes (known as "candy") by competing/working in the amusement park.

Welcome to Deadman Wonderland.

At the prison, Ganta and the other new arrivals are briefed by prison chief Makina of the rules. During the briefing, a guy pushes a cart of cargo into Ganta, causing Ganta to drop his bag of provisions. The guy hands Ganta back his bag, but Makina knows the guy lifted something out of Ganta's bag and slices the guy with her sword. Makina then tells Ganta and the new arrivals that this is the reality they have to live in.

When you can't stick up for yourself, having a somersaulting girl stick up for you isn't a bad option.

Ganta is sent to work in a construction site within the prison. Thinking about the awful circumstances that he is in, Ganta thinks that he is better off dead. Suddenly, a girl with long white hair appears and starts swinging a steel rod at Ganta in order to help Ganta die. When Ganta dodges, the girl states that Ganta still wants to live in his heart. The girl calls herself Shiro and seems to know Ganta, but Ganta doesn't recognize her. The two are then approached by the other prisoners on the site who are here to bully Ganta. Shiro kicks one of the guys around but she is knocked out by a shovel to the back of her head. The other prisoners then start stomping away at Ganta but suddenly explosions sends the top of a nearby building falling down. In desperation, Ganta activates the crystal embedded in his chest and uses his own blood to form a projectile to blast through the falling debris. Ganta and Shiro survives, but all the nearby prisoners are killed.

One of the only times where something didn't go badly for Ganta.

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

An okay debut episode. The production quality looked decent so far. I read and cover the Deadman Wonderland manga on this blog, so I already know the major developments. However, there are some details that I don't remember very well, so I went back to skim the first chapter of the manga, and it turns out there were some changes compared to the manga version. The most notable was Ganta's courtroom scene which was just glossed over in a page in the manga. The courtroom scene helps to add some more background to Ganta's misfortunes, but I feel it wasn't really necessary since Ganta's conviction is just so utterly ridiculous.

There are other small changes, but this episode mostly followed the first chapter of the manga. This intro episode did a decent job staring Ganta off on his journey into the hellhole known as Deadman Wonderland, and you gotta feel a little sorry for the guy. I was interested to see how the anime would handle the violence and gore of the source material, and not surprisingly the anime dimmed the lights during the introductory scene where the Red Man slaughtered Ganta's classmates. I expect the violence and gore will be toned down, but hopefully it won't be cut down too much. The action is one of the better aspects of the series.

Let's see if Manglobe will do a decent job adapting the rest of the series. The Deadman Wonderland manga isn't "great", but I like it and it's a decent action manga with a not-bad story and an extra dose of gore. Deadman Wonderland will probably be the only anime I'll blog episodically this season. I still have a month until the end the current semester, and so there a couple of finals and course projects to worry about. I'm also becoming lazier and lazier about blogging, and that's probably not a good sign lol.

One Piece 621

Some history about Queen Otohime and the Sun Pirates.

Slapping sense back into senseless people since becoming queen.

Summary:
16 years ago, Queen Otohime went around Ryuuguu Kingdom slapping misguided people, advocating peace with humans and a plan to migrate to the surface. At the same time, Jinbe was serving in Neptune's Army and didn't care much for Otohime's proposals, while Arlong went around being a pirate and Fisher Tiger was off on another adventure. One day, Arlong was bullying a soldier collecting signatures for the Queen's plan to migrate to the surface which led into a confrontation with Jinbe, but suddenly Fisher Tiger returns reporting that he had attacked the Celestial Dragons. And thus Arlong, Jinbe and all the other slaves Fisher Tiger had rescues left the kingdom with Fisher Tiger and formed the Sun Pirates.

Back to the flashback from last chapter, the Sun Pirates annihilated the Marine forces that were sent to take them down.

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

A flashback chapter that mostly laid out the background info for the history segment. We finally saw Queen Otohime and she was a bit more... eccentric than I imagined. I though Shiraboshi's mom would be someone who is elegant but strong-willed, and I suppose Otohime qualifies somewhat but the slapping thing is kind of ridiculous. I guess it's all in the spirit of One Piece, especially with some of the crying and snot during the slapping scenes. Other than the introduction of Otohime and her goals, this chapter a little bit on the origins of Jinbe and Arlong, but not much on the famous Fisher Tiger himself. The real story leading up to Otohime and Fisher Tiger's deaths is still to come though.

Naruto 535

Naruto breaks out of the training chamber.

Naruto: I know I'm not the smartest guy around, but you are insulting my intelligence with such a lame cover story.

Summary:
Inside the dark temple, Naruto is confronted by a group of Konoha ninjas including Iruka. After learning that Naruto had sensed Kyuubi's chakra, Iruka makes up a bad story about there is a creature with the Kyuubi's chakra outside and will react if Naruto gets near it. Naruto of course doesn't buy the dumb story and charges outside using Sage Mode, losing his headband in the process. Naruto is caught by a shadow mimic, and at this point Iruka decides to tell the truth about the war outside and Madara's intentions to capture Naruto and Killer Bee. Naruto states that he'll go out and end the war. Iruka argues with Naruto but then states that Naruto is like a little brother to him and hands Naruto back his headband. Iruka uses the opportunity to put a barrier around Naruto, but Naruto goes into Fox Mode and escapes. While running away from his pursuers, Naruto notices that Iruka left a letter in the headband, and in the letter Iruka states that he hopes Naruto will come back alive in case Iruka fails to stop Naruto from joining the fight. Naruto feels encouraged after reading the letter and puts his headband back on.

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

Naruto breaks out and learns the truth as expected, but I'm pretty disappointed at the guard squad that was supposed to keep Naruto inside the training room. If Naruto is that important, then shouldn't the guards already have agreed to a story (or stories) to tell Naruto in case Naruto gets inquisitive. Having Iruka trying make something up from the spot was poor planning. It was interesting that Naruto used Sage Mode and Fox Mode at different points of the chapter, and Naruto also didn't seem to need to collect Sage chakra beforehand for Sage Mode. From this it looks like Sage Mode still has a role in Naruto's arsenal and won't just be replaced by Fox Mode. The only thing missing in Naruto's move set now is the Tailed Beast Bomb which Naruto hasn't figured out yet, but he'll probably be able to do it during a desperation situation later in the story.

I wonder what happened to Killer Bee during this chapter. Why didn't he come out to help when Naruto was about to bolt?

Bleach 444

Something goes wrong with Ichigo's Fullbring, and at the same time Xcution gets an unwelcome visitor.

Sharp swords are good door-openers, especially if you don't want to keep the door.

Summary:
Ichigo's Fullbring goes berserk and engulfs his arm in black energy. Jackie states that training is over and calls for Riruka to let them out, but Ichigo attacks Jackie and insists he can continue. Meanwhile, Chad is asking Ginjou about Tsukishima's Fullbring and its ability to alter people's memories, but Ginjou states that Tsukishima's Fullbring is just a very sharp sword and nothing more. Instead, Ginjou states that if Orihime feels that memories were manipulated, then maybe the person who attacked her wasn't the real Tsukishima. On cue, Tsukishima slices open the door of the apartment and walks in. Chad, Ginjou and the others present appear to be too scared to do anything, and thus Tsukishima walks right in and slices open the fish tank holding Ichigo, and Ichigo reappears wearing what looks like his shinigami robes.

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

A chapter with some meaningful development. Finally we see Ichigo back in that familiar getup, Chad and Ginjou have a somewhat interesting discussion, and then Tsukishima crashing the party. I thought Ichigo was just going to get a much-needed upgrade to his weak-sauce spinner attack, but this is potentially much better. The training sessions so far haven't exactly been awe-inspiring... or even good for that matter, so maybe Kubo finally decided to scratch all that and skip to the inevitable conclusion. At this point though, I'm not sure the shinigami robes is just a tease, but given Ichigo's penchant for random power-ups maybe the robes are back for good. It's too early to judge if Ichigo getting back his robes is a good or bad development; that'll depend on what happens in the next few chapters and let's hope Bleach doesn't screw it up.

Regarding Ginjou and Chad's talk, I still think Ginjou is lying or at least hiding something, although his theory about another person pretending to be Tsukishima and attacking people was kind of interesting. Tsukishima did show up and refute the theory, but is he the real Tsukishima... lol, maybe this is not really worth thinking about.

Maria Holic Alive 01 - First Impressions

Time to start watching some spring 2011 anime series, and I'll start by looking at Maria Holic Alive. In the season premiere, Kanako and friends decide to challenge the (in)famous booby-trapped Dorm Building #1.

Well, if you were a girl...

Kanako actually has impressive knifing skills.

I wonder what other questionable habits does Sachi have.

Short summary:
Kanako gets the idea of visiting the magnolia tree behind Dorm Building #1 because that's where her parents met. Dorm Building #1 was built near the boundary to a boy's school and to prevent peepers and panty thieves the building has a lot of booby traps. However, the traps became so bad that the building was deemed unsafe to live in and cordoned off. Kanako and friends decide to take the challenge and go through all of the building's traps and games which is all set up by the dorm supervisor. After braving the challenges (mostly shouldered by Kanako), the group finally reach the back courtyard with the beautiful magnolia tree, but it turns out everyone except Kanako knew there was a backdoor to the courtyard. Mariya appears to offer some encouraging words to Kanako but then tells Kanako to exit through the way she came to complete the challenge.

It's true letting Kanako get hit by the rubber-tipped arrows would have done less damage, but you have to remember that Ryuuken's coolness trumps Kanako's well-being.

I guess the answer is Yes then.

In the dorms, Dorm-sensei is God.

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Judging from this episode, it certainly looks like Maria Holic Alive will be very similar to the first season with all the randomness and stuff that makes no sense. Kanako's delusions and nose-bleeding were present, and so was Mariya's random costume change and mostly insulting but sometimes supportive remarks. And of course Matsurika and all of Kanako's pals are still around each with their own quirky personalities. This wasn't a good premiere episode though, mainly because it just wasn't that funny. Nobody expects Maria Holic to make much sense or be conventional, but this was just one of those episodes where the characters did random stuff but didn't generate much laughs. There were these kind of episodes from the first season, so I'm not too surprised or disappointed. My expectations are not high for this series (hence I won't be blogging about it weekly), and so I'll be satisfied if the show can generate a few hilarious moments over the season.

One thing I was looking forward to was the OP sequence, since Maid Guitar/Paint Splash from the first season certainly stood out among the crowd (the OP sequence was arguably the best part of the show). Unfortunately it looks like the real OP is not done yet, and for this episode we were treated to a montage of scenes from the first season coupled with a joke song about Kanako's adventures in the girl's academy. Let's see if Shaft can come out with something nice... and not take an unreasonably long time to do it lol.

One Piece 620

Jinbe starts to tell the story of the Sun Pirates.

So this is the infamous Fisher Tiger.

Summary:
The two ministers and King Neptune's guard escape from the palace and their first task is to get Fukaboshi back. Meanwhile all over the kingdom, the New Fishman Pirates are terrorizing citizens, beating up humans, and forcing people to step on the picture of the late queen. One of the fishman pirate groups run into Fukaboshi who punches the squad leader Dosun in response. Meanwhile, Caribou is still hanging around the island and plans to kidnap Shiraboshi in order to make big bucks selling her in the slave market.

Back in the Sea Forest, Sanji mentions that Nami suffered a lot under Arlong. Nami states that she'll never forgive Arlong, but she now has an idea of why he hates humans so much and Nami wants to hear Jinbe's story. Hachi starts off by stating the Ryuuguu Kingdom became an official nation 200 years ago, but humans and fishmen still didn't like each other. Fishmen Island was ravaged by human pirates under Whitebeard showed up to put an order to things, but that didn't ease the hate between mankind and fishmen either. At this time, two influential persons rose up in the kingdom to try to change things. One was Shiraboshi's mother Queen Otohime who wanted fishmen and humans to get along. The other was Fisher Tiger who famously attacked the Holy City to free his fellow fishmen from slavery. Afterwards, Fisher Tiger formed the Sun Pirates with the fishmen he'd freed, and Jinbe, Arlong, and Hachi were members of the Sun Pirates. Jinbe then starts recalling an event that happened while the Sun Pirates still existed.

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

The New Fishman Pirates start their anti-human campaign by going around terrorizing people, but in doing so they already alerted Fukaboshi that something is wrong. Meanwhile, Luffy and company are still listening to Jinbe and Hachi's story, and that'll probably take a while which means the Straw Hats are unlikely to do much about the developing situation at least in the next one or two chapters. Nami is keeping her head level at the moment, but let's see if she and Sanji can keep calm as Jinbe's story goes on. Overall, no major developments this chapter, but the situation is steadily becoming worse for the good guys. I was somewhat amused that Caribou is still around and even plans to kidnap Shiraboshi. Caribou is definitely evil, but until he actually pulls off the kidnapping he is still a joke character in my books, and I'd be surprised if Caribou plays a significant role in this arc.

Naruto 534

Choji powers up to take on Asuma, while Naruto figures something is up.

Killer Bee probably can't guard a chair, let alone Naruto

Summary:
Choji powers up with the Butterfly technique and concentrates the chakra into his right hand. Ino and Shikamaru then use two white Zetsus to force Asuma into Choji's path, and Choji (now having turned giant), smashes Asuma into the cliff side with his right hand. Shikamaru then immobilizes Asuma with a variant of his Shadow Mimic and the sealing squad arrives to wrap Asuma up. After Asuma is taken care of, Choji powers up with more of the butterfly chakra and plans to end the battle.

Meanwhile, back inside the training room inside the giant turtle, Naruto is tired from training but during training he also sensed the nine-tails chakra from outside. Killer Bee is supposed to keep Naruto in the room, but he lets Naruto out on a bathroom break despite the eight-tails warning him about it again and again. Naruto walks outside and quickly runs into a group of guards who advises Naruto to go back inside the room. Naruto wonders what's going on, and Iruka appears from the group of guards to talk to Naruto.

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

The Asuma vs. Ino-Shika-Cho drama is finally over... for now. Choji finally mans up, and the team makes quick work of Asuma. I was expecting Asuma to pass on after seeing Ino-Shika-Cho perform so well together, but maybe he needs to see his kid before he's willing to leave the living world for good. As for Choji trying to end the battle with his Butterfly technique... well if he is that powerful, why didn't he do this sooner? It would certainly saved the lives of many nameless shinobi grunts, but then again nobody cares about the nameless shinobi grunts.

After all the jumping around from battle to battle between secondary... more like tertiary characters, we finally get a look at Naruto who finally figures out something is amiss. If someone more diligent than Killer Bee was looking after Naruto then Naruto might still be in the room, but it is Killer Bee and so Naruto manages to sneak out with the easy "bathroom time" excuse. It was funny seeing the eight-tails trying to be the responsible one and remind Killer Bee of his duties. I wonder what Iruka is going to tell Naruto to keep him from going outside. Now that Naruto has figured out that something is wrong, it won't be easy to convince him to stay indoors, and I hope Naruto actually does go outside and starts getting involved with the war. It wouldn't be Naruto without Naruto.

Bleach 443

Ichigo continues his training session with Jackie.

Lame spinners are no match for thigh-high boots.

Summary:
As Ichigo and Jackie continue to train inside the fish tank, Chad arrives at the Xcution apartment and asks Ginjou about Tsukishima's abilities. Back inside the fish tank, Ichigo is getting kicked around a bit as Jackie either dodges or shatters the spinners Ichigo launches. In the process, Jackie reveals that her kicks become stronger as her boots become dirtier, hence the name "Dirty Boots". Jackie isn't impressed with Ichigo's efforts and continues to attack, but Ichigo was actually taking hits to lull Jackie in for a counter-kick. After kicking Jackie, Ichigo states that he has a ton of street fighting experience to go along with his shinigami fighting experience. Suddenly, something strange starts happening to Ichigo.

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

Not much going on this week once again with almost the entire chapter devoted to Ichigo's training fight against Jackie, and unfortunately the fight wasn't all that entertaining. Jackie gets her boots dirty and kicks... that's about it. No real development on any of the other fronts whatsoever. This chapter confirms that Ichigo's current spinner attack sucks, but he seems to be learning how to move really fast (something to do with Bringer Light). Something else is also happening to Ichigo at the end of the chapter, and hopefully it'll lead to an upgrade to Ichigo's powers. It's kind of sad to see Ichigo with his sucky spinner attack right now.

Queen's Blade Utsukushiki Toushi-tachi OVA 06 (Finale)

In the last episode of the OVA series, Tomoe takes Aldra to Hinomoto (Japan) to search for Aldra's sister.

A giant octopus with tentacles... I think you all know what'll happen next.

Summary:
In a dark palace somewhere in Hinomoto, a group of women sacrifice themselves to bring back an evil entity while several corrupt officials watch from nearby.

Out on the sea, Tomoe and Aldra are sailing towards Hinomoto. While alone, Tomoe suddenly sees a vision of an evil lady reaching into her head. Soon afterwards the ship is rocked by an explosion and Tomoe and Aldra are confronted by a group of ninjas led by the twin brother of the ninja that Shizuka defeated (in season 1). All ninjas except the leader fuse together to form a giant octopus. Tomoe fights for the monster but suddenly loses her strength, allowing the octopus to grab and grope her. The octopus also grabs Aldra and the ninja leader demands that Aldra come with him, but Aldra tosses a knife into the octopus' eye, freeing Tomoe. Tomoe then defeats the octopus with a tornado drill slash. The ship explodes, forcing the ninja leader to fly away while Tomoe and Aldra jump into the sea to escape.

Around and around we go.

Tomoe and Aldra are eventually washed ashore and are spotted by an old lady. The old lady agrees to provide room and board for Tomoe and Aldra in exchange for "helping out at the shop", but it turns out the old lady ran a brothel, and Tomoe and Aldra make a quick exit after learning the fact. Tomoe and Aldra continue traveling towards the capital while asking around for Aldra's sister, but nobody has seen anyone who looks like Aldra before. Frustrated by the lack of progress, Aldra eventually throws a fit and runs off, and she is then captured by the ninjas. Tomoe arrives at the scene later only to find Aldra's tattered nun robes and a message telling her to go to the dark palace.

Grown-up Aldra doesn't look too bad in her old costume.

Inside the palace, Aldra wakes up and finds herself naked in bondage in front of the corrupt officials. The officials explain that they think the current emperor is weak and plans to use Aldra as a replacement, and to do that they have resurrected Delmore the fallen angel. Later, Tomoe arrives at the palace and is confronted by the ninja leader and then Aldra who is once again possessed by Delmore and has her old costume. Aldra unleashes her signature moves including the "Evil Eye" petrifying gaze, but Tomoe manages to fend them off. The ninja leader however happens to be standing at the wrong place at the wrong time and is enclosed in yellow ice. Tomoe tries to counterattack but suddenly she loses her strength again which causes her to lose her pants to Aldra's "Secret Cleaver" attack. Delmore notes that Tomoe has been cursed by the Swamp Witch and bids Aldra to finish Tomoe off. Aldra tries to resist but Delmore proves to be more powerful. However, at this moment Shizuka's spirit appears to help Tomoe, and Shizuka distracts Delmore long enough for Tomoe to power a slash attack to separate Delmore from Aldra and put away Delmore for good.

This is what you get for being too stupid to stay out of the line of fire.

Kiss goodbye.

After the battle, Tomoe and Aldra walk towards the Imperial Palace and they view the cherry blossoms along the way.

Hand-holding huh? More yuri possibility is always good.

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

A decent (by the standards of Queen's Blade) episode to finish off the Utsukushiki Toushi-tachi OVA series. The story obviously isn't much to talk about, but there were some good fights in this episode and of course plenty of boobs and fan service. I'm impressed that Tomoe, even when handicapped by the Swamp Witch's curse, managed to fend off all of Aldra's signature moves. Makes you wonder what would happen if she was the one facing Aldra in the Queen's Blade tournament finals. I'm glad that Shizuka appeared in the episode as well. Event though Shizuka is the only warrior who is actually dead, at least she is still getting some screen time.

Now for the bad: I don't understand why the Swamp Witch would randomly go around and put a curse on Tomoe. Maybe Tomoe will become a big threat somewhere down the line, but at this moment shouldn't the Swamp Witch be more worried her home which was completely destroyed by Nanael last episode? It was also dumb that the ninja leader was taken out by Aldra because he was standing in the line of fire, but at least I got a good laugh out of that. As for Aldra, her "I came on the trip but I'm not too pleased about it" attitude is not exactly likable, but at least she is now a lot curvier than before. She's not quite as busty as Tomoe, but she is at least at Allean's level now.

Overall, this season 2.5 of Queen's Blade hasn't been too terrible. The first two episodes were alright. The next two episodes on Airi were a bit boring because they were neither decent or bad enough to be funny. The episode on Nanael was so ridiculous that it was probably the most entertaining episode out of the batch and this episode was decent (again, by Queen's Blade standards). I can't say that I'm looking forward to season 3 that much, but when it comes along I'll probably feel obligated to blog about it.

Gantz 337

The Tokyo Team continue their rescue mission, while the aliens spread some propaganda against the Gantzers.

I told you guys not to drink so much before the mission.

Summary:
The Tokyo Team rescues all the naked survivors in one of the processing plants, and afterwards most of the male team members decide to take a leak into the water channels.

Back down in the city, people are getting internet and TV back again, and the media reports that the aliens and humans have reached an accord, but the report also labels Gantzers as terrorists that threaten the peace.

Back in the city ship, Tae is running from a group of alien children but she is eventually surrounded by the children. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Team are working on another processing plant went suddenly a couple of aliens appear with a big ugly monster.

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

Interesting development with the alien propaganda. I'm guessing a lot of people who haven't captured will buy into it despite the fact that the aliens wrecked Tokyo and were clearly hostile from the very beginning. We'll see what happens once the word about the aliens' human-eating habits gets out, and also if the propaganda has any effect on Gantzer operations. I doubt it'll stop those Gantz ball hacking jerks or the Tokyo Team for that matter.

As for the rest of the chapter, Tae is still running all over the place and getting into trouble, but she'll probably survive at least long enough to see Kurono #1 again. As for Kurono #2 and the team, they finally ran into some opposition. The aliens are not that strong or hard to take down, but we'll see if the monster they brought has any special abilities.

Spring 2011 Anime

It's time once again to look at show of the upcoming anime season, and once again I'm seasonably late. Like always, this is just a list of shows I will/may blog and/or check out. If you are looking for real season previews, there is a list of them at the end of this post.

Shows I will blog:

Deadman Wonderland
Watching and blogging this show because I read and blog the manga. The manga is near the finishing stages, but probably won't end during the season. Add the fact that the anime is only 12 episodes means that so I don't expect the anime to cover all of the manga, but I'm hoping there will be continuation afterwards rather than some anime original ending. The DW manga has been decent thus far. It has an interesting setup and good (and sometimes very graphic) action. DW is a series that doesn't shy away from the sick and nasty, so we'll see how much the anime will tone down the violence. On the other hand, the storytelling isn't always the greatest, but there are some memorable moments. Let's see if Manglobe will do a good job with the adaptation.


Shows I will watch but won't blog:

Maria Holic Alive
Watching this out of obligation because I watched the first season. The first season of Maria Holic was a mix of good and bad. The show is capable of being hilarious, but sometimes it can become bizarre or even just plain boring. Still, it was one of the more unique shows in terms of the setting, and hopefully the show will be good for a few laughs. Lets see if Shaft can top the OP sequence from the first season.


These are my only two confirmed watches for the season. Due to real life commitments, I don't really have the time to watch and blog a lot of anime, especially given that it still takes me way too long to write a post. Still, I'll probably pick up one or two more shows, one of which I might blog. As for which shows, I'll probably check out Aria the Scarlet Ammo, but for the rest I'll probably read other people's first impressions before picking.

Finally, here is a list of season preview posts from the awesome blogs in my blogroll.

- bananaMuffin
- Bokutachi no Blog
- Kita ze Inbou!
- Metanorn
- Rabbit Poets
- Random Curiosity
- Sea Slugs!
- Star Crossed
- Tenka Seiha
- T.H.A.T.

Fractale 11 (Finale)

The battle continues at the temple's flying base.

Okay Barrot, you can shut up now.

Summary:
Inside the temple, Barrot makes the transparent wall transmit sound and starts telling the story about the Fractale System. In order to safeguard the system, the soul of the original Phryne was extracted as part of the key to reboot the system later down the road. However, after 400 years have passed the temple found that the key doesn't fit. In an effort to resurrect Phryne, the temple made many 10-yr-old clones of Phryne, but the soul would not combine with those bodies and a large number of clones were disposed. Eventually the task of resurrecting Phryne was given to Barrot who took in many Phryne clones, including the current Phryne. Barrot discovered that the original Phryne was actually 16 years old when her soul was extracted, but her soul reverted to a 10 year old state because of an event in the original Phryne's life. Elsewhere in the temple, Sundas splits up with Enri and Takumi to find Clain, Nessa, and Phryne.

Barrot states that the current Phryne has experienced a similar event that makes her suitable to be the key. Clain wonders what the event was, and Barrot states that Phryne has discovered "love". Barrot then grabs Phryne and states that only he and Phryne can save the world and thus Clain should go home. Barrot continues taunting Clain until suddenly Phryne stabs him, and Clain and Nessa can see that Phryne has a strange blank look in her eyes. Phryne returns to her senses and runs away after realizing what she has done. Clain isn't sure what to do, but Nessa chases after Phryne. Phryne runs outside and becomes a bit crazed after seeing Barrot's blood on her hands, but Nessa arrives to comfort her. Phryne realizes that Nessa is starting to fade and tells Nessa they'll stay together no matter what.

Meanwhile, Clain is running through a hallway aimlessly. Clain suddenly sees a vision of Barrot stating the Phryne is his and his only. Clain raises his rifle in response but it turns out that Enri and Takumi are in front of him. Elsewhere, Dias' forces are not fairing too well, and with no help on the way Dias tells his comrades to change battle plans and retreat to the Danan. Back in the hallways, Clain's group meets up with Sundas. Sundas tells Enri and Takumi to head back to the Danan as Dias probably plans to blow the whole temple up, and Sundas himself will help Clain locate Nessa and Phryne.

If I'm going to die a failure, might as well hug a good-looking woman first.

Sundas and Clain journey deeper into the base and they hear a song coming from near the top of base. At the top, Sundas and Clain enter a room to find Phryne and Nessa being attended to by the head priestess, two other priestesses and a contingent of guards. The head priestess call off the guards and state that since Phryne has decided to be the key, there is no reason for both sides to fight anymore. At this moment Dias walks in. Dias walks to the head priestess and explain that his group has been wiped out. Dias then hugs the head priestess and asks if she can die with him, and the head priestess responds that her life is worth little, but she'll never hand over the world. Dias then blows up himself and the head priestess, and Sundas and Clain use to opportunity to charge to front of the room where Phryne and Nessa are. Clain, Phryne and Nessa head into elevator, while Sundas is hit by fire from the guards and decide to stay behind to cover the escape of Clain's group. Outside the base, Enri along with the other Granitzes fly away on the Danan as the temple's base is torn apart by explosions. After escaping into the safe zone, Enri starts to cry in Grandpa's arms, and Grandpa tells Enri that Lost Millennium's true goal is not to destroy Fractale; the true goal is to introduce freedom back to the world.

Are those flowers real? How are they being watered?

The original Phryne and Nessa.

Clain, Nessa and Phryne ride the elevator up into space. Clain asks why Phryne agreed to serve as the key, and Phryne states that it's because Nessa is fading and won't last much longer, so joining together with Nessa is better than letting Nessa die. Clain understands the decision and tells Phryne that he likes her and he, Phryne, and Nessa will always be together. The trio arrive at the top which is a circular platform surrounded by flowers. The floor reacts to movements of the trio, and Phryne states that the memories of original Phryne will guide them. On cue, a screen appears and plays a recording of the original Phryne who looks like current Phryne but has Nessa' personality, and "Nessa" is actually the name of the original Phryne's favorite bunny plush toy. After the footage ends, Clain promises he'll bring Phryne and Nessa back home afterwards, and Phryne and Nessa proceed to combine into one and they are surrounded by whirling lights and sparkles.

What does Fractale has to do with Fractals? Another question unanswered.

A year after the Fractale System was rebooted, Enri and the Granitzes are living peacefully in their farming community. Meanwhile, Clain is living at home and looking after the combine Phryne/Nessa who remained asleep after the reboot. One morning, Phryne/Nessa suddenly wakes up and acts just like the original Phryne (Phryne's looks, Nessa's personality). Clain tries to act normal at first, but eventually breaks down into tears and hugs Phryne/Nessa.

Yes Clain, your girlfriend is still here.

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A decent finale to series. There is certainly room for improvement, but it could have been worse too. So in the end, Fractale doesn't answer or even attempt to answer all of the questions raised earlier in the series, but the finale does bring everything to an acceptable conclusion. As for the big questions left unanswered, the biggest one is that we still don't know why the Fractale System needed data and the soul of the original Phryne, but then again the series never went into the nitty gritty technical details of the system. Still, it would be good to know the reason why Nessa and Phryne so important other than "they are the key". On the other hand, we did learn why Nessa is named Nessa and also Phryne is suitable to be the host for Nessa because of Barrot. Barrot never elaborated on his deeds beyond saying "love" over and over again, but there were plenty of hints and we can all guess what Barrot did to Phryne. Barrot definitely deserved his death at Phryne's hands.

Moving on, I felt that Clain didn't really do much in this final episode. He received plenty of screen time, but he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do until the latter parts of the episode, and Phryne had already decided that she would serve as the key. The only important thing Clain did was that he told Phryne that he likes her. I was a bit disappointed by Dias' role too. Given the manipulative cunning that Dias showed in previous episodes, I thought Dias would have something better planned than suicide bombing the head priestess. Like Dias, Sundas also had a somewhat weak death, mostly because it was so obvious from the start that he was going with Clain so he can die to provide cover Clain and the girls. I guess you can say that the male contingent didn't do too well in this finale.

Overall, Fractale proved to be a decent show. The show started off well with its somewhat open premise, quirky characters, and engaging environment. While the first two episodes were "kid-friendly", Fractale quickly showed that it has a serious side with the violence, action, and Phryne's past treatment in Barrot's hands. As the show went on, the show didn't live up to everything that it promised in the beginning, but it never went downhill either and remained a decent watch. Not a great show, but an interesting distraction nonetheless.