Bleach 462

Tsukishima and the other Xcution members join the fight.

Take a good look at these guys while you can. Chances are they won't last all that long.

Summary:
Hitsugaya continues to explain to Ichigo that all the rules for substitute shinigamis were created because of Ginjou, and now Ichigo is tasked with taking care of the Ginjou problem. Meanwhile, Chad and Orihime are running around confused because they saw the shinigamis siding with Ichigo. Tsukishima messes around with them some more, but thankfully Isshin and Urahara knocks Chad and Orihime out before the two became too screwed up. The other Xcution members appear demanding that Ginjou give them some of Ichigo's powers, and Ginjou obliges.

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It looks like Tsukishima didn't make the smart decision to leave town and instead decided to stay and fight. Orihime and Chad are still confused, but at least they are out of the picture now, and Ichigo's other confounded friends are too weak to do anything in the battle.

It also looks like the other Xcution members were in on the plan to steal Ichigo's powers. Too bad for them, since that revelation gave them all one way tickets to getting their asses kicked. I guess with the shinigami contingent showing up, Kubo decided to even the numbers up a bit by bringing the Xcution members to boost the bad guy numbers. The Xcution member have some strange powers, but I can't really see them beating captain-class and high ranked officer shinigami. The shinigami would look really terrible if they lost to these guys. Hopefully the fighting doesn't drag on like when it was shinigami vs. arrancars in fake Karakura Town.

I'm not sure what would be a good way to conclude the battle. It'd be bad if Ginjou was beaten too easily, but for him to overpower Ichigo and friends would be too ridiculous. One decent scenario is for Ginjou to put up a decent fight before getting beat but ultimately escaping to fight another day, but maybe we just want to end the whole Fullbring thing and move on to something else. Bleach has dug itself into a deep hole, and it'll take a while before it can dig itself out.

One Piece 637

The giant ark Noah descends upon Fishman Island.

You won't win just because you have big muscles.

Summary:
Luffy beats on Hody some more, although Hody manages to get back up every time. Suddenly, everyone realizes that the giant ark Noah is above the island and pressing against the island's bubble. If the ark comes through it will burst the island's bubble and cause massive damage. Vander Decken's giant sea monk subordinate Wadatsumi falls from the sky and lands in the plaza after accidentally slipping off the ark. Wadatsumi begs Decken to retrieve him, but Decken says that he can't change the path of the ark. Decken declares that as long as he can kill Shirahoshi he doesn't care if Hody's group or the entire Fishman Island gets destroyed in the process. To everyone's surprise, Shirahoshi somehow ended up in the "sky" in front of the ark in order to lead the ark away and save the island. Decken throws a knife and hits Shiraboshi. Meanwhile, Hody recovers and climbs up towards Noah through some chains on the underside of the ark. In order to save Shirahoshi, Luffy gets Sanji to toss him up into the ark.

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The battle is going in the expected direction. Decken and the ark show up, and Shirahoshi now tries to lead the ark away and prevent it from crushing Fishman Island. Luffy of course has to go up and save Shirahoshi from Decken, and Hody is still in the mix as well. I'm not sure how Decken's crazy plan will help Hody accomplish his goals, but at least Decken now has everyone's attention which stopped Luffy from beating down Hody some more. Luffy has proven that he can beat Hody on dry land, but if Noah is leaky than Hody might gain an advantage. Hody's hasn't put up much of a fight so far, so if he is going to offer any sort of challenge it has to be on the ark.

We're still waiting for King Neptune to explain the prophecy about the ark, but I have a feeling that it involves Shirahoshi leading the ark to the surface.

Naruto 553

Naruto joins the battle in the desert.

A real stomach-churning experience.

Summary:
Naruto appears above Mu with the Rasengan, but Mu sense him and gets out of the way. Naruto however uses Gaara's sand to bounce back and uses the fox chakra arm to deliver the special Rasengan to Mu. Mu is then sealed up by Oonoki and Gaara. Gaara and Oonoki are surprised Naruto is out and about, and Shikaku fills in the details over the telepathic link.

The rest of Gaara's forces aren't doing too well against the old Mizukage and Raikage. Temari's squad are throwing everything they can at the Raikage but it doesn't slow the Raikage down. Meanwhile, Kabuto takes direct control of the Raikage to stall for time while he summons someone special. On the battlefield, a old ninja then reveals that the old Raikage is known for being able to take a lot of punishment and tells the squad they need some strong wind element users. Unfortunately, Temari is only half-decent wind element user in the squad, but this all changes when Naruto arrives on the scene.

Somewhere out in the wilderness, Sasuke summons his Susanoo with his new eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and kills the nearby White Zetsu.

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Hey, Sasuke has finally shown up again! Given that Madara is busy with how to capture Naruto, I guess Sasuke will just wander into the open and starts wrecking stuff because he is mad at the world. Should be interesting once Madara, Kabuto and Naruto realize that Sasuke is out and about, but it'll still be a little while before we get any Naruto vs. Sasuke action.

In the meantime, Naruto is out helping to seal zombies and comb out the White Zetsu fakes as expected. Naruto made pretty short work of Mu, although Mu did warn the good guys to be careful about him as he was being sealed. In any case, Naruto probably won't take too long dealing with the old Mizukage and Raikage, but the question is when Kabuto's trump card or Madara will show up.

Mid-season Anime Thoughts Summer 2011

We are 2-3 episodes past the half-way mark of the summer season, which means I should really write my mid season impressions post on the anime series that I follow but don't blog episodically. There are three such series to speak of this season, and below are some of my quick thoughts on the series.


Blood-C

The blood continues to flow.

A show about a girl who kills man-eating monsters with a samurai sword... sounds great when I put it that way, but surprisingly Blood-C has been kind of slow during its first few episodes. When there is action, it has been pretty good. Given the show's name, the fighting is really really bloody with no shortage of body parts flying. For the most part our heroine Saya is very good with killing monsters especially when her irises turn red, but on the other hand she is very bad at saving people from being attacked by the monsters.

While the action has been enjoyable, it only makes up part of the show, and our protagonist Saya spends the rest of her time in the first few episode going through some rather mundane and boring slice of life scenes that aren't going anywhere in a hurry. It was if I was watching two entirely different shows in the same half hour slot. In recent episodes though Saya's monster fighting finally collided with her normal everyday life, and that at least made the show more exciting as a whole. It's hard to say where the story is going though with the little talking dog and the stuff about wishes. From reading other blogs, it seems that the story may be heading down the typical "CLAMP" direction. I haven't read enough CLAMP manga to know whether that's a good thing or not, but as long as there is a lot of monster slaying and no more boring school life stuff then the show will be fine.


No. 6

Looking more like a couple by the weeks.

A show about two boys and their burgeoning love for each other... right? Oh, and of course there is also the story about the dark secrets behind a futuristic Utopian city and people being killed by parasitic wasps, but the potential BL between Sion and Neizumi seems to be making faster progress. We have gotten a mouth to mouth "goodnight" kiss out of the two male leads already, and who knows where this will end up?

Unfortunately, I watch the show as a sci-fi thriller show, and No. 6 has been a little slow on that front. The series started off well with Sion and Neizumi meeting when they were younger and then Sion forced to make a hasty exit from No. 6 with Neizumi's help, but after that the plot with the wasps and the secrets hasn't been moving very fast. Maybe I just don't have much patience these days, but it certainly doesn't help Sion spends most of his time washing dogs. When No. 6 had action scenes they were well animated as we'd expect from a Bones show, and maybe there will be more fights and intrigue now that Neizumi and Sion have finally decided to head back into the city.


Usagi Drop

Awwww... so cute...

As expected, I don't have much to say about this series, but my opinion of the show hasn't changed: Usagi Drop is still the same endearing, heartwarming show since episode 1. Rin is very lovable, and Daikichi is funny and believable as Rin's guardian. The show has lots of cute little moments, whether they'd be more on the comedic side or more on the dramatic/sentimental side. the show will likely keep chugging along like this, and that's perfectly with me.

Sacred Seven 09

Alma and Ruri have to protect the town from two attacking Ashis.

Some martial arts training is always beneficial, although I'm not sure how useful it'll be when going against giant monster Ashis.

Summary:
Alma has been training with Kagami and the maid corp in martial arts, and thus he forgets to do his math homework. Ruri tries to give Alma a copy of the completed homework to hand in but gets caught, so Alma is sent to remedial exams, but thankfully Kagami gives Alma review notes to help Alma pass. While all this is going on, the other members of the rock club note that the other students are seeing Alma as a tall goof instead of a crazy guy who beats up people.

If the toe choke doesn't put you out, the foot odor will.

Please stop! I do NOT want to see you shaking you butt like that!!

After passing the remedial math test the next day, Alma is chatting with Wakana when Ruri alerts him to an emergency. Two Ashis (in the form of giant lantern-bearing statues) have appeared simultaneously and are headed to the city. Alma is tasked to handle the skinny Ashi, while Ruri, Kagami and the maids battle the fat one. Alma is dropped via helicopter to the skinny Ashi's location. The skinny Ashi is super fast, and Alma gets kicked around. The helicopter tries to lend support but is knocked down by the Ashi. The Ashi then runs towards the city, and Alma grabs on and tries to hang on as the Ashi goes into super speed.

The awesome shoulder mounted laser... isn't so awesome after all.

Meanwhile, the fat Ashi is slowly advancing down a seaside road. Ruri has a giant energy weapon set up on the road but it's still charing. Kagami attacks the Ashi with his battle suit and missiles, but the Ashi rips it away with its tongue. The maids snipe with anti-materiel rifles but that doesn't work either. Kagami's mech is then handed the shoulder mounted laser (that he failed to use during the beach vacation episode) which slows down the Ashi, but the Ashi absorbs the laser blast with its mouth and return fire with an energy blast that destroys Kagami's laser. Ruri's energy weapon finally finishes charging and fires, but it misses the Ashi's core. The Ashi proceeds to gulp down the energy weapon, but Kagami manages to grab Ruri in time.

On the other front, Alma trips up the skinny Ashi but then gets stomped upon several times. Alma is borderline knocked out but the powers up because he can't afford to lose. Alma tosses the Ashi in the air with his scarf and then finishes the monster with a pistol punch through its core. After beating the first Ashi, Alma sees the smoke in the distance and realizes Ruri's group is in trouble, so he gets out the power boots and starts hopping towards Ruri's location.

There goes our super duper energy weapon... and the millions of dollars that were used to build it.

Back at the ocean side road, the fat Ashi has cleared out Ruri's maid army and Kagami and tries to eat Ruri with its foot, but Alma arrives in time to knock the Ashi into the water and destroy it with a pistol punch. Ruri and company thinks its all over, but the lanterns and heads of the two Ashis glow and join up in the sky into a rocket bound for the city. Alma goes off to chase after the rocket and flies into the sky as a blue streak. The Ashi rocket tries to shoot Alma down but to no avail, and Alma catches up and runs right through the Ashi. The pieces of the Ashi fall all over the city including onto Ruri's mansion.

Just light streaks? Come on Sunrise, you can do better than that. At least show us how Alma flying right up and through the Ashi's rear end.

The next morning at school, Wakana walks into the clubhouse and is surprised to find Alma there. Alma had put the pebble Wakana had given him into the cabinet, and Alma thanks Wakana for bringing him into the club. Wakana then calls a club outing in the afternoon to collect more pebbles in the river.

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Unlike the date episode last week, this week's show returns to the Ashi fighting action that most of use watch this series for. Instead of one monster Ashi, we have two at the same time, and thus all of the Aiba Foundation forces got a piece of the action. The maids were very active during the battle, and even Ruri was directly involved in the fight. We finally saw Kagami use that awesome-looking shoulder mounted laser cannon that he didn't use during the beach vacation episode, but it didn't quite work against this week's monsters, and neither did Ruri's even larger energy weapon for that matter. At the end of the day, the Aiba Foundation still needed Alma to save the day.

The fighting isn't as good as the battles between the human Ashis and Kenmi's power suits, but for the most part it was pretty good. For some reason, I enjoyed seeing the skinny Ashi apply the "toe choke" on Alma. Once again though, the finish was a bit weak, as Alma somehow just turned into a flying blue blob and created a blue explosion that sent blue glitter raining down on the city. The power up was also very cliche, but it's to be expected from this kind of show. On another note, I thought the Alma already had a flying power with his sky surfboard, but apparently he also has rocket boots.

Overall this was an enjoyable, action-packed episode, although I was hoping to see some progress with the main story. This episode was just beating up the monsters of the week. Looks like we'll get that wish next week through some good old flashbacks.

Mayo Chiki! 08

More fun at the beach with some yukata fan service.

The day Kinjirou is finally cured... 

one can dream right?

The shine from the uppercut is placed in such a convenient location.

Summary:
Kanade lets Nakuru, Usami and Kureha stay at the resort. At night, Nakuru cashes her in the "Get Subaru to perform one task" ticket (that she won during the school festival Subaru quiz bowl) and makes Subaru read her Kinjirou x Subaru x glasses BL story out loud, but Subaru chucks the story out the window. Later at night, Kinjirou goes to the men's bath but finds Subaru there as Subaru has returned to her butler persona for the night. Kinjirou is about to leave but Nagare (who is camping nearby) walks into the bath. Kinjirou manages to hide Subaru behind his back long enough for Nagare to leave. However, Nagare finds Subaru's panties in the changing room and returns to attack Kinjirou. Subaru is forced to KO Nagare with a mid-air upper cut and ends up giving Kinjirou a full frontal view of her body. This prompts Subaru to KO Kinjirou with a head kick. The next morning, neither Kinjirou nor Nagare remember what happened last night. For the rest of the day, Kanade and the girls except Subaru have fun on the beach at Kinjirou's expense. Subaru however seems to be uninterested and is thinking about something else.

That's a rather strange expression to have when giving someone a comforting hug.

At night, Kinjirou and the girls attend the town festival. Subaru is posing as the fake female cousin once again and she and all the other girls are in yukatas. Kanade drags Kinjirou away, but Usami catches up and the two girls have a competition at the air gun stand. Kureha and Nakuru also catch up, but Kinjirou wonders where Subaru went and Kanade points to a nearby hill. Kinjirou walks up to the hill and runs into Nagare. Nagare tells Kinjirou to go away, but Kinjirou refuses. Nagare then reveals that it's the anniversary of the passing of Subaru's mother, and Kanade had purposely come to this place for vacation because Subaru's mother's grave is nearby. Kanade shows up to shoo off Nagare and then encourages Kinjirou to go find Subaru. Kinjirou finds Subaru in front of her mother's grave. Subaru is emotional and on the verge of tears, and thus Kinjirou gives her a hug despite his gynophobia. Subaru decides to introduce Kinjirou to her mother, and Kinjirou remains conscious just long enough for Subaru to do so.

A paint ball battle is not a time to get frisky or watch two girls get frisky.

Kinjirou wakes up at the festival medical tent being watched over by Kureha. Kureha informs Kinjirou that the big paintball battle is about to start. The winner gets a giant sheep plushy, some prize money, and a kiss from Miss Yukata who happens to be Subaru. Kinjirou is motivated and starts the battle well by taking out one competitor. He then runs into Kureha and Usami, but the three of them are confronted by a drunk (from soda) and crazed Nakuru. Nakuru defeats Usami by stripping her naked and does the same to Kureha and tickles Kureha to sleep. Nakuru then sets her sights on Kinjirou, but Kanade appears and threatens to destroy Kinjirou's glasses. Kanade tosses a fake pair of glasses into a nearby pool and Nakuru dives after it, taking her out of the battle. Kanade informs Kinjirou that she and him are the only two left as Kanade has somehow taken out everyone else including Nagare. Kanade then hugs Kinjirou and gives him a bit of praise for trying so hard in the battle in order to impress Subaru, but Kanade states that she can't let Kinjirou win and shoots him with the paintball gun. Kanade ends up being the winner and gets a peck on the cheek from Subaru.

Kanade proves she is a born winner.

Kinjirou wakes up back at the resort with his head resting in Subaru's lap. Subaru informs Kinjirou that Nakuru went nuts after the battle and stripped everyone naked, and so Kanade had to go deal with the situation. The two chat for a bit and watch the fireworks. Kinjirou states he wants to be friends with Subaru forever, but Subaru states she doesn't want to be just normal friends with Kinjirou.

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That was a fairly fun episode. So it turned out that Kanade's beach resort retreat was just a front so that Subaru can visit her mother's grave. Obviously there was a bit of sentimental stuff with Subaru visiting the grave and Kinjirou giving her a much needed hug, but the segment was kept short and wasn't placed as the climax of the episode. The rest of the episode was a lot of random and pretty amusing comedy which I appreciate. Nakuru had a major role in this episode and did pretty well opening the show with the BL story segment and serving as the main antagonist during the paintball battle. There was also plenty of Subaru fan service this episode (naked plus yukata), and it's always fun to see Subaru use her "memory-erasing" technique on people. Add all that to Kanade's always mysterious ways and this episode ended up being more fun to watch then the last.

Despite Kinjirou still being weak to the female body and prone to fainting, it looks like at the end of this episode Subaru wants to take their relationship from "normal friend" to the next level. Given we still have a couple more episodes to go, the ending segment is more likely just a tease, but I'm looking forward to see how things will progress between the two. Lol how exactly are the two going to get intimate if Kinjirou is going to faint 2 minutes in?

Gantz 346

The Tokyo Team run into more trouble.

It won't be nearly as funny when the Gantzers come after you.

Summary:
The survivors are attacked by some of the bug creatures. One man gets pissed off and stomps some of the creatures and goes to have a fist fight with a big lizard creature, but the lizard eventually grabs the man and tears his head off. Yamasaki and the nerdy guy blast the lizard, and Yamasaki tells the nerdy guy to go get help.

Back in the alien city, Fra and Kurono are riding in a flying car towards Tae's location. Meanwhile, Tae wanders the streets and spots a group of aliens looking at a big screen which showing the survivors at the abandoned district fighting for their lives.

Elsewhere in the abandoned district, the Tokyo team is talking with the injured Gantzer. The man states that his group was trying to rescue survivors too, but they got cocky and were wiped out which explains the pile of human bodies. The Gantzer wants to leave, but Kurono #2 explain that his team was sent here against their will, which means that the Gantz Balls have been compromised. With a look of fear in his eyes, the injured Gantzers points to a few tall bug-like humanoids that have appeared along with the two little kid human survivors and the alien turkey creature.

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So the survivors and Gantzers were teleported to the location so they can serve as some sick form of entertainment for the aliens. Barring some miracle, it looks like the Tokyo Team will have to blast their way out of the arena, and there is probably no shortage of monsters for the Gantzers to blast. I guess the invading aliens deserve a bit more credit being able to hack the Gantzer balls and send captured humans and Gantzers to their deaths. Their regular soldiers aren't hard to take down by experienced Gantzers, but the aliens do have the technology to hack the Gantz Balls. Speak of Gantz ball hacking, what happened to the scumbag Gantzers that hacked their Gantz Balls. I guess we'll see them again eventually.

Anyways, this chapter affirms the fact that the aliens don't see humans as any more than insects, and thus when the humans do gain the advantage I hope they show no mercy... at least until the invaders are no longer a threat and surrender.

One Piece 636

The Straw Hats continue to battle Hody's forces.

One Piece is now a transforming robot series

Summary:
Seeing that things aren't going well, Hody's lieutenants spring into action. Daruma digs through the ground and sinks Chopper's tank. Franky drives his rhino bike down the same hole and tosses Chopper, Usopp and Nami out. The bike and tank then combine into a robot and Franky uses a bunch of funny moves to stomp the nearby enemies. Nami and Chopper also get in on the action, and Chopper transforms into Stag Point and pokes Daruma out of the ground.

Meanwhile, Hody tells the kraken to squeeze Shiraboshi or he'll go after the kraken's siblings in the north pole, but Luffy reassures that kraken that he won't let that happen. Gwah and Muhi go after Luffy but they are taken out by Zoro and Sanji, and Luffy jumps in and kicks Hody in the face.

Elsewhere, King Neptune and his sons can see the giant ark Noah crossing into Fishman Island.

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Hody and his buddies aren't looking too sharp in this battle. Luffy already kicked Hody twice, and Hody's helpers aren't doing much better. I hope Hody and company will pop more pills or somehow add water into the battlefield to put up a better fight, but they might not get a chance now that the giant ark is on the horizon. It sounds like the ark is part of some sort of prophecy, and it looks like that prophecy is about to happen soon. Maybe the residents of Fishman Island will ride the ark to the surface or something. The problem is though the ark is honed into the Shiraboshi and it's likely a little too big for the Straw Hats to destroy, so we'll have to see how our heroes solve this problem.

Naruto 552

Naruto and Bee part ways with Itachi.

Don't blame the zombie. Blame yourself for doing a bad job controlling the zombie.

Summary:
After learning that Itachi > Nagato, Kabuto decides it's time to use his trump card. Meanwhile, Itachi offers to stop Edo Tensei. Naruto states that he'll take care of everything, but Itachi tells Naruto not to make the same mistake as he did and rely on his allies. Itachi also destroys the justu crow because it won't activate in another 10 years and is useless to Naruto, but Itachi assures Naruto can battle Sasuke now because Shisui's "feelings" has been passed onto Naruto. Itachi leaves, and Naruto and Bee continue with their own business.

Back in the desert area, the shinobi army are throwing weapons at the old Mizukage but only hitting his mirages. Temari's squad is doing a better job against the old Raikage. Meanwhile, Gaara and Oonoki are battling Mu. Mu sneaks up on Oonoki and Oonoki suddenly gets back pain. As Muu powers up his dust attack, Gaara notices that someone has appeared behind Mu with a Raesangan in hand.

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So Itachi will be the one to stop Kabuto's zombie summons? It figures that Kabuto will get screwed over by Sharingans just like Orochimaru, but I thought it would be Sasuke or Madara who'll be the one to do it. I guess even though Itachi burned the jutsu crow, he is still under the effect of Shisui's jutsu and cannot be controlled by Kabuto, but I don't know if this means that Kabuto also can't pull the plug on zombie Itachi. Regardless, Kabuto is now forced to use his trump card, and it might be the zombie that he used to scare Madara into agreeing to join forces. Kabuto having to use his trump card might be good news for Madara, but we are still waiting for the backstabbing to happen. Madara is also taking his sweet time to get to Naruto too. I thought the guy was supposed to be able to teleport anywhere in a few seconds.

Since Naruto and Bee basically got owned by Nagato and needed Itachi to save their behinds, it's probably time for Naruto to redeem himself a bit by beating up some of the other zombies. Funny if the guy behind Mu turned out to be Konohamaru instead of Naruto though.

Bleach 461

The start of Ichigo vs. Ginjou.

Obviously we gave back your powers because we need you to take care of a problem.

Summary:
Ichigo unleashes the Getsuga Tenshou which just missed Ginjou and obliterates the top half of the abandoned mansion. Ginjou decides a retreat is in order, but Ichigo catches him and tosses him into the sky and blasts him with another Getsuga. While Ginjou is incapacitated for the moment, Ichigo chats with the shinigami gang and learns that it was Yamamoto who ordered Urahara to make ths word and the shinigamis to transfer their powers to Ichigo. Yamamoto ordered this because Gotei 13 owes Ichigo big time for saving the world and that they need Ginjou, a former representative shinigami who went rogue, taken care of. On cue, Ginjou reappears in Ichigo's Fullbring.

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They finally explained why Ginjou had a representative shinigami badge and also why the shinigamis decided to give Ichigo his powers back. So Ginjou was the first substitute and went rogue in the process, and Ichigo is Gotei 13's go-to guy for difficult problems. Ah ha, makes perfect sense... except maybe someone could have clued Ichigo in along the way so he didn't suffer through the whole ordeal and give Ginjou a portion of his powers. Maybe Gotei 13 didn't want Ginjou to disappear again or something.

Anyways, Ichigo looks good at the start of the fight, and despite Ginjou using Ichigo's ninja-power-ranger suit (more like a skeleton jacket on Ginjou) Ichigo will probably still be more powerful. Hopefully Ginjou puts up at least a respectable fight before being KOed or maybe escape to fight another day. One curious thing is that Tsukishima and all of Ichigo's friends and family that is under his spell are nowhere to be seen. Maybe Ichigo accidentally blasted them all when he destroyed the top half of the mansion lol. Or maybe Tsukishima decided to be smart and take the high road while Ichigo is busy fighting Ginjou and catching up with his old buddies at the same time.

Sacred Seven 08

Ruri and Alma go on a date to repair their awkward relationship.

If we are going to marry then I want a pre-nup.

Summary:
Ruri has Kagami investigate Kenmi's organization, but Kagami hasn't dug up anything useful and his contact warns him against probing into Kenmi's organization. Things are also not going too well between Ruri and Alma. The two feel awkward when near each other because Ruri isn't sure if Alma wants to help her fight Ashi because he wants to or because he has no other choice, and Alma has never been that good at expressing his thoughts. Things get even worse when Ruri tries to present Alma with a contract about fighting Ashis. To help patch things up, Onigawara tricks Alma and Ruri into going on a date by sending the two for a date to a city that Alma had lived in when he was younger. Alma and Ruri are tasked to retrieve a piece of stone from a tile similar to Onigawara, and supposedly if the two "use the power of love" (hold hands), the stone will glow and will allow Onigawara to be repaired.

Maybe giving her a little heads-up about the gate would be a good idea.

Fear the pinkie swear!!!

Ruri and Alma go on the date and things are awkward until lunch where Ruri finally works up to courage to ask Alma how he really feels, and Alma answers that he actually wants to help Ruri save the world from Ashis. After that's cleared up, Alma and Ruri visit places and finally get the piece of rock Onigawara had specified. Alma and Ruri try holding hands, but of course the rock doesn't glow, but Alma and Ruri like holding hands anyways. The two eventually return to Ruri's mansion to find that Onigawara is repaired and the setup was all a lie.

That's much better than just hand-holding.

A successful date... at least the maids think so.

Meanwhile, Kenmi has learned that the Aiba Foundation is probing for information.

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An episode with no action whatsoever... that's usually not a good episode for an action show without a deep story, and that certainly applies for Sacred Seven. The awkwardness between Alma and Ruri had to be dealt with, but they didn't need to devote an entire episode to it right? Even if the issue wasn't solved for Alma coming to Ruri's rescue last episode, at least have the relationship patched up in an episode where there is a battle. Without the crazy action, Sacred Seven just doesn't feel incomplete. It's also kind of sad (and funny) that Alma and Ruri needed relationship help from a slab of rock (Onigawara).

Anyways, I hope the series got its Alma X Ruri relationship stuff out of the way, or at least stop devoting entire episodes to this and focus on the crazy fast-paced battles that makes the show entertaining. Given this is supposedly an one season affair, I would think that the central story and the battles will build up from this point on.

Mayo Chiki! 07

Kanade gets Kinjirou to get to a beachfront retreat with her.

Isn't waking up next to a hot girl be a good thing?

Not sure how anyone can think Subaru is a guy now.

Summary:
In a hot summer day, Subaru drugs Kinjirou by handing him a spiked drink. Kinjirou wakes up a day later and discovers that he is in at a beachfront resort with Kanade. Kanade explains that she ran away from home because of an argument with her parents regarding where to go for summer vacation.

Sunscreen rubbing got a little too hot and sexy for a public beach.

Kanade gets Kinjirou to go the beach with her, and Subaru is also present and dressed in a bikini. Kanade teases Kinjirou by making him put sunscreen on her, and this raises the ire of Subaru which forces Kinjirou to dash into the beachfront cafe. To Kinjirou's surprise, Kureha, Usami, and Nakuru are working in the cafe. The three explain that they were out swimming with a senpai, but got separated because they were chased by a shark. The three somehow ended up at this beach and decide to earn some money at the cafe so they can go home. Subaru and Kanade arrive wondering what's taking Kinjirou so long. Kinjirou is worried that the other girls would figure out that Subaru is a girl, but Kanade and Subaru eventually join in on the chat regardless. Kanade manages to fool Kureha into thinking that Subaru the girl is really Subaru the butler's cousin, but Usami doesn't buy it.

Out-swimming a shark is an impressive feat.

Usami takes Kinjirou out back and wonders why Subaru is dressed as a girl, and Kinjirou is at least relieved that Usami still thinks Subaru is a guy. Kanade chimes in and states that she is engaged to Kinjirou, but Usami doesn't believe her. Usami then declares that Kinjirou is her friend and states that Kinjirou went to her house to taste her cooking and also accompanied her when she bought her first swimsuit. Subaru overhears this and runs away, and Kinjirou chases after her. Usami tries to follow but is stopped by Kanade, and Kanade wonders where Usami is staying tonight.

Looks like Usami and Kinjirou had a great time at Usami's apartment.

Kinjirou catches up to Subaru and explains that he and Usami are just friends, even though Kinjirou did go to to Usami's place to taste her cooking and afterwards Usami fell over him while dressed in a bikini (to cure his gynophobia. Subaru punches Kinjirou in the gut but then forgives him. The two return to the cafe to find Usami making a funny pose in front of Kanade. It turns out that Kanade told Usami that she can stay at the resort if she makes a cute enough pose, and Kureha and Nakuru are also welcome to stay (but they don't have to make the pose). Suddenly, Nagare shows up to retrieve Kanade and asks Subaru for help, but Subaru acts like she doesn't know Nagare and threatens to call the cops on Nagare, and this makes Nagare fall over.

Those words hurt more than any punch or kick from Subaru ever could.

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For an obligatory beach vacation episode, this wasn't too bad. The setup (especially in regards to how Usami, Nakuru and Kureha ended up in the episode) was pretty random, but at least there were some decent comedic moments such as Subaru's inviting Kinjirou to play games on the beach (while carrying a big spiked club and after digging a hole deep enough to bury Kinjirou in) and also Kanade's reaction to Subaru calling her Kana-oneechan. It was also kind of funny that Usami saw through Kanade's lie but still thinks Subaru as a guy despite Subaru's very female figure. Guys don't have boobs like that... right? Of course, the swimsuit fan service certainly wasn't bad, but it's just swimsuits and nothing really naughty.

There seems to be a back story of Kanade running away from home or something along those lines, but given it's Kanade it's hard to say if she is telling the truth or not. This episode mostly stayed away from this story except for the beginning and ending, but there'll probably be more on this in the next episode. I hope the series don't expend too much energy into building up some family/relationship issue with Kanade, since I'd rather see Mayo Chiki! trying to be funny than be sentimental.

I wonder what's with the blank look on Subaru's face at the end of the episode? I don't think that she was sad that she had to ignore her father. It looked more like she was spacing out.

Sekirei 119

Minato, Seo and Sanada join the fourth round of battles.

I smell a cat fight.

Summary:
Minato, Seo, and Sanada agree to form an alliance and they board the big cruise ship where the fourth round is taking place. Seo and Sanada bought all their Sekireis, but Minato only brings Kusano along. Beforehand, the group talked at Izumo Inn. Matsu posed a question of what happens if the battle is a free for all which would mean every Ashikabi for himself/herself. Musubi suggest that they can play dead, and Matsu actually thinks it's a feasible idea.

Onboard the ship, Seo, Sanada check out the competition and notice that Mikogami and Higa are missing. All the other teams are Ashikabi-Sekirei couples. Seo chat with Minato about the jinkis and reveals that Miya's husband Takehito died because of the jinkis.

Back at Izumo Inn, Miya wonders if she should start doing something, but Matsu is afraid that Miya on the move would attract Karasuba. Meanwhile, Musubi and Tsukiumi are standing on the roof ready for action.

On the cruise ship, Minaka announces that this is the last battle of the Third Stage of the Sekirei Plan and that the cruise ship will only return to port once the battle is over. On a corner of the ship, Yukari is feeling seasick. Yukari and Shiina are then approached another girl Ashikabi/ girly-boy Sekirei pair who want to take the title of Demon and Death from Yukari and Shiina.

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So this is the fourth battle, but still on the Third Stage of the Sekirei Plan... so confusing. Anyways, this chapter was a lot of chatter, especially with Seo talking to Minato about the jinki. Supposedly Higa and Mikogami did not join the battle because they already have jinkis so they are waiting until the next stage. Not sure how much sense that makes since one needs all the jinkis to do anything with them, but whatever. I guess in this round of battles we'll see some new Ashikabis and Sekireis making appearances. Yukari is already matched up with the other girl Ashikabi already, and the animosity is already growing. Yukari and Minato are probably going to run into each other in this round too.

While Minato is onboard the ship, the rest of his crew seem to be up to something. What exactly is Matsu trying to pull off now?

Naruto 551

Itachi comes back and saves Naruto and Bee from Nagato.

Let's settle this once and for all: Sharingan vs. Rinnegan, which is better?

Summary:
Nagato grabs Naruto and Naruto can't get free. Naruto asks Nagato for pointers for how to get free, but Nagato is completely under Kabuto's control and can't answer. Kabuto plans to kill Naruto and Bee and then used Nagato's Naraka Path to revive them later. Killer Bee jumps in, but Nagato grabs him as well. When Nagato is about to blast Bee in the face, Itachi shows up with his Susanoo and pulls Bee and Naruto out of Nagato's clutches (while blinding Nagato's summons with kunais). Nagato goes for the black hole technique, and since Naruto has no idea how to beat the technique, Itachi suggest that the three of them hit the black hole with their strongest ranged attacks. Bee, Itachi and Naruto all launch their attacks at the black hole and this creates a huge explosion, and Itachi uses the explosion as cover and stabs Nagato with the Sword of Totsuka to seal Nagato away for good. Before before sealed away, Nagato regains his senses and wishes Naruto good luck, and Naruto responds with a thumbs up.

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Well, Nagato is pretty haXX0r when at full power, but Itachi is even more haXX0r. That legendary sword is such a great item to use against Kabuto's zombies because it seals them for eternity. If Itachi can stick around then taking out the other zombies would be a really simple task, but I doubt things would be that easy. Naruto and Bee were made to look pretty useless in this battle, so I guess Naruto still needs a bit of improvement (tailed beast bomb?) or maybe he has to dig down a little deeper when it comes to fighting tough opponents. Naruto got surprised this time, but this kind of performance sure isn't going to cut it when going up against Madara or Sasuke.

Bleach 460

Ichigo chats with Rukia before trying to get some payback from Ginjou.

I didn't come back to help you; I came back to kick your ass for being such a stupid sissy!

Summary:
Ichigo transforms into a shinigami form reminiscent of his shikai but with a different cleaver and more accessories. Ichigo is trying to be cool, but Rukia berates him for being a crybaby earlier after Ginjou took away his Fullbring. Rukia swipes at Ichigo with the white sword and explains that Urahara made this sword so that she can transfer shinigami powers to Ichigo again. Ginjou eventually calms down and thinks that Ichigo is all looks and no substance, but Byakuya, Renji, Kenpachi, Ikkaku and Toushirou appear and state that they injected their powers into the sword too. Rukia states that Ginjou only took the top layer of Ichigo's powers away and tells Ichigo to go kick Ginjou's ass. Ichigo swings the sword and sends a reiatsu blast at Ginjou. Ginjou blocks it and thinks that was the Getsuga, but Ichigo states that the real Getsuga is coming up next and sends a much larger reiatsu blast at Ginjou.

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So the whole shinigami contingent showed up to cheer for Ichigo... or at least the popular male characters, and Rukia is still as sassy as ever. Good to know, and now we can get back to the battle. Ichigo getting his powers back isn't a surprise since we all knew it had to happen eventually, but what happens next determines whether this whole arc was somewhat worthwhile or a big waste of time. The way I see it, Ginjou and Tsukishima had better put up a respectable fight and/or preferably be able to escape, or at the very least reveal some other villain of higher power. If Ichigo crushes them right here and now, then that more or less constitutes Kubo waving the white flag and admitting that the arc was a big pointless piece of crap. Tsukishima does have Ichigo's human friends and family under the spell, so maybe the bad guys will try to leverage that somehow.

One Piece 635

The Straw Hats and Jinbe continue beating up Hody's forces.

Seeing that everyone is smashing pirates, the kraken gets in on the action too.

Summary:
Luffy's haki takes out 50,000 of Hody's 100,000 pirates, but the pirates continue to attack and set their sight on the giant target of Shiraboshi. However, the Straw Hats and Jinbe make sure none of the attempts get through, showing off some new moves and equipment in the process. Seeing that things aren't going too well, Hody orders the kraken to attack, but the kraken sees Luffy and decides that it's better to join Luffy's side, so the giant octopus start smashing Hody's army as well.

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A chapter mainly for the Straw Hats to show off some of their new moves and equipment, and Hody's pirates are unfortunate enough to be the demonstration subjects. It doesn't look like Hody's 100,000 is going to last very long at this rate, so either Hody and has lieutenants have to do something impressive or else we'll have to wait until the giant ark gets close to the plaza. Hody seems to be overmatched at this point, but hopefully he'll put up at least a bit of a fight so he doesn't become the most disappointing villain in One Piece history. Hody is getting pissed, so maybe he'll do a Hulk impression or something lol.

Sacred Seven 07

Alma tries to rescue Ruri from Knight and Fei.


Summary:
Near Alma's house, Kenmi takes the injured Arakune back to base in his helicopter, but he gives Kagami the tracking signal. Alma wants to help, but Kagami once again tells Alma to stay home because no one can control Alma if he transforms into an Ashi. However, Alma doesn't listen and follows Kagami's car in with his scooter. Kagami tracks the signal to a hill side area where the signal disappears briefly and then reappears. Kagami notes that Knight may have a hideout near the area and learns from maid support that there is some abandoned mine tunnels in the area. Kagami gets Alma to step out of hiding and tells Alma to go check out the mine and hands knight a box of gems for transformation. As for Kagami himself, he and Onigawara follow the tracking signal to a parking lot where the signal stops, and Kagami discovers that the tracking tag has been placed on a truck. Kagami tries to contact Alma, but Alma is too deep in the mine shaft and doesn't have reception. In the mine tunnel, Alma runs into Knight who tells Alma to come along with him so he can show Alma the truth.

Loli vs. loli match.

Ruri wakes up tied to a bed and notices that her blood is being drawn into a machine that's being manned by Fei. Fei is reluctant to talk to Ruri, but Ruri manages to trick Fei into untying her because she need to go to the little girl's room. After being untied, Ruri rushes Fei and pins her, but Fei tells Ruri that there is no way to exit without Knight's help. Ruri realizes that Fei has the same abilities as her, and Fei opens up and tells Ruri that Knight had saved her and her brother killed by Kenmi. Fei then suddenly falls over and becomes weak, and Ruri has to put her onto the bed.

I fight for my loli. Do you?

At this point, Knight arrives with Alma. Knight explains to Ruri and Alma that Kenmi has been lying to them all along. In reality, Kenmi has been conducting inhumane experiments on people with Sacred Seven powers, and thus Knight ran away with Fei the first chance they got. Knight states that he will kill Kenmi to gain his and Fei's freedom and tells Alma to stay out of the way.

That fire blast isn't all that strong if an opponent can just run through it.

Suddenly, the whole room is rocked by a big explosion and all the walls crumble. Ruri and Fei wake up and finds that Alma is using his back to stop a huge slab of rock from crushing them. The berserk, fire-breathing Unit 0 appears and charges at Alma and the girls, but Kenmi appears in his Cyclop armor and kicks it away. Knight transforms and battles Unit 0 but then realizes that Unit 0 is someone he knows. Knight gets away from Unit 0 but is comboed by Kenmi. Kenmi holds Knight up and whispers something that pissed Knight off, but then Knight is sent flying with a tail swipe from Unit 0. Seeing Knight in trouble, Fei runs out to try to inject Knight with the medicine, but Unit 0 stands in her way. Unit 0 is about to crush Fei but stops, and Fei realizes that the Ashi before her is the brother that she thought had been dead. Kenmi releases a shock attack that stuns Unit 0, and Knight flies away with Fei in his arms. Kenmi watches Knight escape, but that allows Unit 0 to toss him onto the slab of rock that's crushing Alma.

Finally decided to participate eh? Make sure you guys remember to pick up all gems later.

After watching the action unfold, Ruri finally retrieves a gem from the box that Alma was carrying and gets Alma to transform. Kenmi tells Alma that Unit 0 is beyond saving and that they must defeat it for good. Alma goes for the pistol punch but decides against at the last moment, and so he and Kenmi only punch Unit 0 through a wall and this allows the Ashi to escape.

How can you not trust this guy? Look at that wink!

Afterwards, Ruri and Alma questions Kenmi about what Knight and Fei had said, but Kenmi denies the inhumane experiments and states that he'll continue risking his life to help Ruri and Alma. However, Ruri is not entirely convinced and plans to investigate. Meanwhile on an ocean cliff, Fei cries after learning that her brother is still alive but turned into a monster. Besides her, Knight thinks to back during the battle, Kenmi had told him that he doesn't have the will to fight Fei's brother. Knight then holds Fei in his arms.

Back in his compound, Kenmi talks with his right hand man about the plan not going as well they hoped. Kenmi had released Unit 0 (who has been retrieved) on purpose to track down Fei and Knight so he can kill Fei and Knight before Ruri and Alma can come into contact with them. However, Kenmi still has another trump card up his sleeve.

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We are onto the second half of the show. To mark the occasion, the opening and ending songs have been switched and the animation sequences are new. We also get confirmation that Doctor Kenmi is the real scheming villain of the show. Kenmi is pretty good playing that two-face role since despite the suspicions he has been helping Alma and Ruri without fail so far. Anyways, Knemi seemed to have released Fei's brother on purpose to track down Fei and Knight, and that makes him the bad guy no matter what he says to Ruri and Alma. However, one thing that didn't make sense is that if that's Yuuji's purpose, why did he fight Unit 0 at the beginning of the last episode? It certainly wasn't a show for Ruri and Alma. Maybe Kenmi was trying to get Unit 0 to go track Fei instead of trying to kill him? Having this show make sense all the time is probably too tall an order haha.

Overall, a solid episode to start off the second half of the series. We have some plot development, and the action was pretty good. I think Arakune's fighting style is the most entertaining, but seeing Alma, Knight, Kenmi and Unit 0 going on a free for all 4 way fight certainly wasn't bad either. If the new OP sequence is any indication, we should see plenty of action from this point on. Now that Kenmi has drawn Ruri's suspicions, let see what Ruri and Alma will do now. Knight and Fei are probably continuing their plot to kill Kenmi, but they are probably thinking about saving Fei's brother as well. And finally, we don't know what Kenmi is really after trying to gain Ruri's trust, although it's probably something along the lines of taking over the world with Sacred Seven powers.

Mayo Chiki! 06

Kinjirou and Usami go on their pretend date at the school festival.

No need to show off, Kinjirou.

Summary:
It's the day of the school festival. Kinjirou and Usami go on their pretend date, but Subaru (dressed as girl because of the class' cross-dressing cosplay cafe) isn't going to let Kinjirou off so easily and decide to make it a company of three. The three of them head to the animal cosplay cafe run by Kureha's class, and Kureha seems to be quite friendly with Usami. While Subaru is handling Kureha, Usami states she is jealous of Kureha for living so freely and having a good brother and tells Kinjirou to join his sister and Subaru. Kinjirou leaves Usami but is shoved out of the room by a girl dressed in a sheep costume. The girl states that she is Nakuru Narumi, the president of the Subaru BL fan club which supports Subaru's relationship with Kinjirou. Nakuru warns Kinjirou that the BL club and S4 (which opposes Subaru x Kinjirou) are going to have a showdown during the festival and Kinjirou may be in danger. Nakuru knows that Usami is a S4 member and asks Kinjirou why he is hanging around with Usami, but Usami arrives and knocks Nakuru out with a kick. Kinjirou demands to know if what Nakuru said was true. Usami states that she lied and tries to kick Kinjirou, but Subaru arrives to block it and Usami runs off. Subaru then decides to get some answers from Nakuru.

This has potential for a josei boy love manga.

Being school celebs, you have to be ready for cameras all the time.

Nakuru sneaks Subaru and Kinjirou into the auditorium which the S4 and BL club showdown is taking place, and Kinjirou and Subaru are shocked that Kanade is a member of S4 and hosting the showdown. Kinjirou and Subaru are exposed, and the two decide to join the BL team for the showdown. The showdown turns out to be a quiz game with questions "related" to Subaru such as the name of the clerk she bought some stuff from on a certain day. With one question left, the BL team is down but can win if they get the last answer. The last question is who did Subaru give her first kiss to, and Kanade forces Subaru to answer by rigging Subaru's buzzer. To Kinjirou's surprise Subaru answers that it's him. The "kiss" happened when Subaru gave Kinjirou a little mouth to mouth after Kinjirou fainted at the water park, and Kanade even shows the video as proof. The BL club wins, but S4 is incensed and threatening Kinjirou with hell. To save his own behind, Kinjirou declares that he really likes Kanade instead. Kanade rejects Kinjirou and retreats out the back door and Kinjirou follows her to escape from the crowd.

Mouth. To. Mouth.

Kinjirou sold out on Subaru to save his own behind, but that's probably the smarter thing to do.

Outside, Kanade teases Kinjirou by hugging him and whispering that she likes him. Kinjirou asks about Usami, and Kanade informs him that Usami had quit S4. Kinjirou runs off looking for Usami and finds her on the rooftop holding a letter to withdraw from the school. Usami reveals that she was drawn to Subaru because Subaru used to be a loner like her, but now Subaru has made a friend. Usami states that she hates Kinjirou and Subaru now and tries to leave, but Kinjirou stops her and states that he wants to carry on the pretend date until the end of the festivities as promised before. At night near the bonfires, Kinjirou reveals his gynophobia and Usami laughs at him. The two are joined by Subaru and Kanade, and Kanade had explained the situation to Subaru and Subaru forgives Kinjirou. Usami tries to leave, but Kinjirou introduces her as a friend, and Subaru makes nice with Usami too.

Start of a beautiful friendship?

The next day on the school roof top, Usami tells Kinjirou that she'll help him cure his gynophobia.

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The whole thing about Usami and her motivations are rather unclear (other than that she should be attracted to our harem lead Kinjirou). She obviously has some family issues (likely lost her family), but I'm not really sure what she was trying to do in this episode. Even though Usami's little plot didn't turn out to be much, this episode didn't turn out too badly though because of the other characters. The segment involving Nakuru and Kinjirou was kind of fun with Nakuru trying unsuccessfully to pitch her boy love manga while dressed in a sheep costume.

The best part though was the showdown between the two fan clubs mostly due to the fact that Kanade was hosting the whole thing. I was surprised that Kanade was a member of S4 and is hosting the showdown, and it just adds to Kanade's reputation for mischief and going into complicated plans to mess with Kinjirou and Subaru. The show is obviously implying that Kanade may have some real feelings for Kinjirou, but I hope she keeps doing what she is currently doing and tease Kinjirou for amusement.

Three Years of Wasted Time

A Product of Wasted Time is officially three years old today, which means I have wasted yet another year of my life writing up posts that fewer and fewer people read. Maybe it's time to call it quits.

The three blog mascot power-ranger girls but in casual clothing. If you don't bring mascots out for special posts then there's no point having them.

I wanted to draw something nicer, but it ended up being just a roughly colored sketch, and as always the sketch took longer than you can imagine something this crummy would take. I had better coloring done but then PS decided to die on me and I forgot to save along the way. Oh well.

I kid of course, but maybe it's not as much as a joke as in the last two anniversary posts. Anyways, once again thank you to all the people who visited in the past 12 months, and special thanks to those who stuck around to comment once every so often. Thanks to you, this blog received its 1,000,000th unique visitor two weeks before this anniversary. 1 million was an unfathomable number when I started this blog, and this little blog has far exceeded any expectation I had for it.

Let's start the obligatory stats dump:

Stats courtesy of Statcounter

This is the 1256th post on this blog, which means I made 345 posts this year, which is a decrease in output compared to last year's 398.  As of right now, A Product of Wasted Time has had 1.01 million unique visits and around 1.7 million page views in total. That means the blog has draw approximately 510,000 visits and 865,000 page views in the past 12 months. Daily traffic has been fairly steady in the past year for the most part, averaging 2400 page views and 1400 unique visits. Recently traffic has been on the decline, but that probably in part reflects my declining effort especially in the area of covering anime series. There are around 6700 comments in total, which means that last year the blog received 1,900 comments in the past 12 months. This is actually a significant decrease compared last year's 3200 comments. I encourage readers to leave more comments, but on the other hand I understand summary posts (especially mine) aren't exactly comment-inspiring.

Here are some other interesting stats related facts:

• Most visited post in the last year: Tenjou Tenge 136 with over 17,500 page views. Tenjou Tenge was... unique for the lack of a better word, but it still had a good following and also didn't have good scanlation coverage, and thus my post on the final chapter drew quite a few readers. It is also the most commented post of last year and second most commented post on this blog with 72 comments at the time of writing. The comment thread turned into a bit of a flame war, but I chose just to let the fire burn itself out.
• Top (non-search engine) referrers: Random Curiosity (still the king of the hill), the MangaFox Forums (mostly spoiler threads that link to my Rosario + Vampire manga posts), and the trusty Anime Nano.
• Top three blog referrers: Random Curiosity, Sea Slugs! and Star Crossed, just like last year.
• Top commenter: Once again, it's Anonymous. Blogger did introduce a comment administration interface (thank goodness), but it's only rudimentary and nearly impossible to use to pick out the individual (named) visitor who made the most comments in the past year.

In the past year, A Product of Wasted Time received a makeover with a new base theme and some automatically switching graphics of the the blog's female mecha power ranger mascots. Currently there are only Red, Blue, and Yellow (click to switch theme), but I plan on adding Green and Pink and perhaps more... when I get around to designing them.

Now that we have the fun stuff out of the way, it's time to talk about the state of this blog. It's sad to say this, but I think A Product of Wasted Time is past its prime and on the decline. The blog has been around for three years, and in anime blog years this is getting to the tail-end of middle age and wading into "old blog" territory. I'm no longer one of the excited new kids on the block and actively trying to engage in the community as I did in the first year and a half. Instead, I'm more content to just sit back and wait for people to come to me, but that's obviously not a strategy for growth. Checking out new blogs and getting to know other bloggers are important parts to growing a blog, but I just don't have enough energy these days. It doesn't help that I'm a grad student now, which basically means that I'm a student with a half-time to full-time job doing research. Free time is harder to come by these days, and I'm not just as motivated as before.

So am I going to call it quits? No, at least not in the very near term. I still enjoy blogging anime and manga, and I'll try my best to keep the blog alive. Looking at the long term though, I doubt I'll be doing anime and manga summary posts any more once I get my PhD and get a real job, but that's still a couple of years off, so in the meantime I still get to indulge in my time-wasting blogging habit haha.

If you read up to this point, big props for bearing with me and thank you all again for the support. Hopefully I'll be writing another one of these posts the same time next year.

Rosario + Vampire II 44

Tsukune and friends battle Fairy Tale forces inside Fairy Tales' sky fortress.

Assault rifles are probably fairly effective even against yokais. Too bad these guys are terrible shots.

Summary:
Tsukune and friends work their way into the fortress and beat up group after group of Fairy Tale soldiers along the way. Despite the "progress", Hokuto suggests to abort the plan because he knows Gyokuro is tracking them with her yoki-sensing and sooner or later tougher opponents will show up. Ruby makes a speech about the importance of rescuing Moka and prevent a yokai-human war which convinces Tsukune and friends to head deeper into the fortress to rescue Moka, but Hokuto decides to ditch the plan and heads in the other direction.

In her command center, Gyokuro senses that one of the intruder had split but isn't too concerned. Gyokuro had called for her 1st Branch Leader Fujisaki, and Fujisaki correctly guesses that the intruders and Tsukune and his friends and Hokuto (a member of the 1st branch) has something to do with the intrusion. Gyokuro then states that she'll prepare a special welcome party for Tsukune involving the branch leaders of the six branches.

Meanwhile, Tsukune and friends head deeper into the fortress. In an empty tunnel, Tsukune suddenly gets a bad feeling and suddenly a youkai appears after a flash of lightning. The youkai named Raika is the 5th branch leader and uses electric attacks. Ruby steps up to the plate and gets knocked around and shocked by Raika, but to Raika's surprise Ruby is mostly unharmed and actually liked getting shocked because of her SM tendencies. Ruby then opens up her spell book to begin her counterattack.

The lightning master may have met his match.

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Now that a covert operation is off the table, it looks like the next few chapters will have Tsukune and friends battling through the Fairy Tale branch leaders in order to reach the chamber where Moka is held. If this chapter is an accurate indication, each of Tsukune's girls may be matched up with a branch leader like Ruby is matched up with the lightning guy. There are more bad guys than Tsukune's current group can match up with one on one, but Touhou Fuhai and the others may show up later to even up the numbers a bit. Right now it's also hard to think that each of the girls is strong enough to defeat a super-powerful leader-class opponent from a large organization like Fairy Tale, but it will probably happen. Maybe not all of the fights will be one-on-one, but Tsukune and friends will prevail somehow.

So in the first match-up, we have the shock-master vs. the girl who loves getting shocked (and abused in other manners). It doesn't sound like a great match-up for Fairy Tale lol, but the main questions are whether if Raika's offense can overcome Ruby's tolerance for getting shocked and if Ruby can mount enough offense to defeat her opponent.

Moving away from the battles, I wonder what Hokuto is going to do now that Gyokuro is onto him. Obviously Gyokuro and Fujisaki is not going to let Hokuto off the hook so easily, so lets see what Hokuto's backup plan is.