Bleach 475

Ichigo and Ginjou go bonkers... I mean bankai.

The "X" braces is new trend of the season.

Summary:
Rukia wakes up in Renji's arms and sees Kenpachi, Ikakku, Hitsugaya and Byakuya looking at the pocket dimension cube that holds Ichigo and Ginjou. Yukio explains again that he cannot deactivate the pocket dimension, but Rukia wonders why the others aren't trying to do something. Suddenly, the cube explodes and Ichigo emerges in his new bankai form. Ginjou and Uryu emerge from the smoke and Ginjou continues to try to pick at Ichigo through his words. Ichigo tells Ginjou and Uryu to shut up and states that he always suspected something was up with Ukitake giving him the badge, but he decides that Ukitake wanted him to find out about the truth and gave him the choice to gain power and fight to protect his comrades. Ichigo declares that he'll defeat Ginjou, and in response Ginjou goes bankai.

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Wait... so Ichigo trusts Ukitake's judgement because he thinks Ukitake is too smart to let him find out the truth? That makes a whole lot of sense. We'll have to wait until Ginjou vs. Ichigo to be over before the story moves any further with the Ukitake shinigami badge conspiracy. It looks like Kubo got tired of the whole pocket dimension stuff and just made the box explode because Ichigo's bankai is too awesome or something like that. Not too surprisingly, Ichigo's new bankai is along the same lines of his new shikai: the form looks like his old bankai but with some more frills and accessories. Meanwhile, Ginjou's bankai makes him look more like a hollow with the black eyes/white iris. It kind of makes sense since Fullbring is related to hollow powers and perhaps Ginjou stole some of Ichigo's hollow powers too. Since the fight is out in the open now though, I think someone (maybe Urahara) will interfere.

One Piece 648

The battle at Fishman Island concludes.

New definition for "blood brothers".

Summary:
The giant sea kings tell Shirahoshi that she is their queen that they've been waiting a long time for and that Noah was meant for them to pull. The sea kings then tell Shirahoshi to go catch Luffy who is falling back into Fishman Island. The sea kings tow Noah some distance away and drops it off, and the giant beasts wonder if they can fix the damage to the ark so that it'll be ready for "that promised time". Back at Ryuuguu Palace, the Minister of the Right and guards find the missing mermaids, but they also discover that the palace's treasure trove has been emptied. This clears the Straw Hats of the kidnapping charges. At the plaza, Jinbe detains all of the human pirates, and the princes return with Decken and Hody all tied up in chains. Shirahoshi then returns with Luffy who has lost a lot of blood. Luffy needs a blood transfusion, but the merfolk and fishfolk can't donate because of the law. However, Jinbe steps up and decides to give Luffy his blood which matches Luffy's blood type. Luffy eventually wakes up after the transfusion and asks Jinbe to join the crew.

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Looks like mystery surrounding Noah, the "promised day", and Shirahoshi's ability that "can destroy the world" will be saved for some later story arc. I guess Oda is saving those parts when something really, really big happens in the story. Anyways, Hody and Decken are defeated, the Straw Hats are the heroes, and Jinbe breaks down the species/racial barrier a bit by donating blood to save Luffy. All is good at least for now. I'm not surprised that Luffy is asking Jinbe to join the crew (I assume that is what "be my nakama" means) since Jinbe is an honorary member anyways. We'll see if Jinbe will say yes or no though. It could go either way since Fishman Island can certainly use Jinbe's help, but so can the Straw Hats.

On another note, it looks like Caribou made off with treasures of Ryuuguu Palace and thus ditched the mermaids. I guess the treasures must be worth more than the mermaids. Lets see if Caribou ever becomes a serious threat or remain a comedic villain like how Buggy was for the earlier parts of the story.

Naruto 565

Naruto and Bee battle fake Madara's Jinchuuriki puppets.

So much for Naruto's evil intent/sensing abilities.

Summary:
Bee tries to hit the Jinchuuriki puppets but finds the task almost impossible due to the shared field of vision among the puppets. Naruto, Bee and Hachibi take a huddle and decide they need to take out the puppets one at a time. Naruto remembers that these puppets probably have chakra transmitters on them just like Nagato's puppets, so he jumps out on his own. The lava guy Roshi attacks and Naruto catches the attack. Naruto then uses a fox arm to try to Raesangan Roshi's transmitter, but the big guy Han arrives to kick Naruto in the jaw. Bee catches Naruto and the two are sent flying back for a distance. Hachibi tells Bee that they are at a disadvantage in the forest, so Bee transforms into Hachibi to clear out the nearby trees.

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Naruto and Bee are off to a not-so-impressive start against fake Madara's puppets. Naruto handled Nagato's Six Paths of Pain pretty well during that battle, so it's a bit disappointing to see that Naruto doesn't have much of a game plan against fake Madara's version even though Naruto is in a more powerful form than before. Instead, it looks like it'll be up to Bee and Hachibi to carry the fight in the early goings. Bee and Hachibi working in tandem are a force to be reckoned with, but I don't see them beating fake Madara. More likely, Bee is probably going to take one for the team and at least lose Hachibi. Regardless of what happens, Naruto has to step up to the plate one way or another.

Gantz 353

Gantzers attack the alien city ship with giant mechs.

You aliens think that you are so much bigger than us humans. Well who is the puny one now?!

Summary:
After being transported, Kurono #1 finds himself in the pilot seat of a skyscraper-sized Gantz mech. The Gantz ball hackers have gathered a group of these giant mechs in the alien city ship and the plan is for the mechs to destroy a tower facility in the city ship. All of the mechs have been set to move to the tower, and thus the only thing the pilots can do is try to fend off attacks. Sakurai and various other unwilling participants have been transported to the site for the attack. The mechs start their approach, and Fra and Tae can see the mechs not so far away. Nishi and Takashi are also watching what's happening from the laptop they commandeered. As the Gantz mechs rumble through the alien city, swarms of alien gunships appear to defend their territory. Kurono's mech is hit, but Kurono vows that he will survive and see Tae again and he starts swatting the gunships.

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Whoa... that was a rather sudden development. Those bastard hackers who want to rule the world are back at it again. I thought the aliens had hacked the Gantz balls to mess up the teleport scheme, but maybe they only hacked the Tokyo Team's Gantz ball which is also the reason the rest of the Tokyo Team are not a part of this mission. Regardless, the bastard hackers still have control over some Gantz balls and also somehow gotten their hands on gigantic Gantz mechs. I was wondering how the Gantzers would counter the towering aliens mechs used in the initial invasion, and the Gantz mechs seen here are probably the answer. Hopefully some of those giant alien mechs will show up and we'll have some giant mech vs. giant mech battles. It looks like Kurono #1 is stuck piloting the mechs, but I'm sure he'll somehow survive and escape. My wild guess is that Sakurai will somehow be able to free himself due to his psychic powers, but who knows.

Deadman Wonderland 49-B

Ganta and Senji hits double team combo on Hagire/Toto.

Bleeding stub left for an arm?

Solution: form a giant bloody sword from the stub!!

Summary:
Senji's distraction allows Ganta to blast Hagire in the chest at point blank range. Hagire is sent flying by Ganta's attack towards Senji. Senji forms a giant blade of blood out of the wound where his right arm was cut off and slashes Hagire. The attack cuts off Hagire's right arm and leg and destroys the building underneath, and Hagire falls and is buried in the rubble. After the fight is finished, the other Deadmen arrive to find Senji and Ganta sitting safely on the roof of a nearby building, and Senji and Ganta give each other a fist bump for a job well done.

While Senji and Ganta go back to the sub with their comrades, Yosuga arrives at the scene and locates Hagire/Toto crushed underneath some rubble. Yosuga then points the pistol she brought at Hagire/Toto.

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Another one of those really short "B" chapters. I'm a little surprised that Senji and Ganta managed to beat Hagire given that Hagire is really the principal villain in the whole story. Not to take anything away from Senji's badassery (damn he was badass once again) and Ganta sticking up for himself, but I thought it would take something a little more... epic to take Hagire down. The other Deadmen didn't even need to be involved. Maybe Hagire will make a comeback somehow given how he can transfer to other bodies and has a whole lot of Branches of Sins absorbed into Toto's body. Eventually, I think the Mother Goose system will be deactivated somehow which will allow the Wretched Egg to run wild, and that will set up the final confrontation between Ganta and Shiro/Wretched Egg.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 08

Flit battles the heavily armored UEs with the Gundam's new Titus form.

Ooooo shiny.

Lariat-ed you in half!

Summary:
Flit returns to the Diva and gets the Gundam outfitted with the new Titus arms and legs before returning to the battlefield to save Largan from the UE Baqto. Flit uses the Titus' powerful arms to punch the Baqto some more before destroying the Baqto with a beam lariat. Flit then remembers that the Zalam and Euba are still fighting the UE and heads there to help. At the Zalam/Euba battle site, the two factions are both being beaten down by a single Gafran as the Gafran is faster and stronger and the Zalam/Euba weapons don't do any damage. Flit arrives and knocks the Gafran around while telling Don and Ract to put aside their pointless squabbling and work together to beat back the UE. Another Gafran arrive and Don and Ract knocks it down with a double team shoulder ram. Flit finishes the first Gafran with a punch to the chest beam cannon, and then he destroys the second Gafran with a beam knee strike.

Why do you even bother trying to fight me with that crummy sword?

Knee strike to the stomach... or is it groin?

Flit, Don and Ract have little time to celebrate as three Baqtos fly into the city. Flit has a pushing match with one Baqto and tells Don and Ract to help evacuate the trapped civilians to shelters. A second Baqto arrive to confront Don and Ract and Don and Ract's mobile suits are no match. Out of nowhere, Woolf appears in his new custom made G Exes and cuts the Baqto down with its high output beam sword. Woolf then takes to the roof tops of the skyscrapers to fight the third Baqto and destroys it with a X-slash with the G Exes' beam swords. Back down on the ground, the Baqto charges with its chest beam blades extended. Flit charges in with a beam shoulder tackle, and the Gundam's attack overwhelm the Baqto's and the Baqto is destroyed. Afterwards, Don and Ract agree to a temporary truce so they can work together to beat back the UE. A little later, Don meets with Grodek and reveals that the Zalam buy their mobile suits and weapons from an underground arms dealer named Yark Dore, and Yark Dore supposedly has blueprints to some powerful weapon designs.

My beam swords are better than your beam swords.

And my shoulder beam jets and better than your chest beam jets.

At the Madorna Mobile Suit Workshop (where Woolf got his G Exes made), the owner gets the message that Yark Dore is picking up an order. The factory has a variety of mobile suits in stock including Genoaces, Zalam mobile suits and even what looks like an UE unit.

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I find it amusing that they spend the first five minutes of the episode going back in time to show the step by step process of how the Gundam changed from Normal to Titus form. Including the transformation sequence is a top priority when you got toys and model kits to sell. Not too surprisingly, the primary purpose of this episode is for the Gundam Titus and also Woolf's new G Exe to show off how great they are against the UE Baqto heavy units, I think G Exe's approach of making a faster, nimble mobile suit with high output beam swords to defeat armor is a better solution than the powerful but somewhat slow Gundam Titus. I guess the AGE system don't necessary come up with the best solution, but it'll come up with a solution. That's not to say that the Titus pack wasn't impressive. The beam melee attacks (lariat, shoulder ram and knee strike) are all one hit kills even on the Baqtos, although Flit does like to use some normal strikes just to take up some time so he can make speeches. The Titus also seems more resilient to damage than the normal Gundam which somewhat makes up for the Titus' loss of agility. And of course, the different appearance of the Titus means that Bandai can sell separate model kits for the Titus and Normal Gundam haha.

The Zalam and Euba were mostly useless in the fight as expected, but at least they sort of agreed to a truce at the end and Grodek gets some important information from Don. It was funny that Don realized that the fighting between Zalam and Euba were like schoolyard scraps rather than a real war. I thought exactly the same thing last episode. I guess it was a good thing that the Zalam and Euba had underpowered weapons and mobile suits which limit the damage they can do to each other and the cities they fight in.

It looks like things will get more interesting next episode when the crew pays a visit to the mobile suit workshop. From the end of the episode, it seems that the workshop might be manufacturing UE units, and of course the mysterious masked guy Yark Dore has something to do with it. I always had the feeling that the UE weren't actually aliens but rather just some faction of humans who are after something by terrorizing space colonies. Let's see how all of this plays out.

Rosario + Vampire II 47

Fong Fong and Yukari team up to fight more Fairy Tale baddies.

Cute girl + chainsaw is a lethal combination.

Summary:
Ruby defeats Raika, and thus Tsukune's group can continue on. Suddenly, the whole flying fortress starts shaking, and Tsukune's group realizes that Alucard is starting to stir and thus they don't have much time. The group travels down the tunnels to a junction with multiple paths. Fong Fong drops some coins to do a fortune telling which points to one of the routes. The girls don't really believe in Fong Fong's prediction, but Tsukune decides to trust it. Fong Fong tells the group to go ahead and let him pick up his coins, but in reality he knew that an enemy was behind the group. Once Tsukune and the girls have left, Fong Fong forms a sword with his coins and calls out the enemy which turns out to be a knife-wielding youkai girl named Routier. Routier cuts Fong Fong on the shoulder and reveals that she is the leader of the 4th subdivision. Routier erects a noise canceling barrier in the room and brings out a chain saw to fight Fong Fong.

Meanwhile, Tsukune and the girls are complaining that Fong Fong had sent them down a trap-filled path, but everyone is still alive and not too injured. Tsukune then notices Fong Fong is missing and wants to go back to look for him, but Yukari tells the rest of the group to go on while she goes back to look for Fong Fong.

Back at the junction, Fong Fong gets beat up and then gets mounted by Routier, and Routier seems to be in ecstasy as she presses down with the chainsaw and cuts into Fong Fong's shoulder. Luckily for Fong Fong, Yukari arrives and forces Routier to get off with some flying cards. Routier leaps at Yukari with the chainsaw, but Fong Fong suddenly gets super fast and gets in front of Routier. Fong Fong blocks the chainsaw with his coin sword and then sends Routier flying with an elbow strike to the stomach. After Routier is knocked out, Fong Fong strikes a cool pose and he and Yukari thank each other, but suddenly they feel an intense malice coming from someone. A young man appears carrying Routier in his arms, and Fong Fong recognizes the man as the leader of the rival Miu family, Miu Sai-Lung.

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It took a while for this chapter to get translated, but I'm glad it's finally out. Anyways, Tsukune and friends continue to fight through Fairy Tale bosses on the way to rescue Moka and stop Alucard from awakening. Just as I had predicted, Fong Fong and Yukari are up this time against Routier and Sai-Lung. I guess Rosario + Vampire really is that predictable haha. I'm not too surprised that Fong Fong is going to fight the leader of the rival Miu family either. Even though she did a bit of damage to Fong Fong, Routier seems to be a bit weak for the subdivision leader if Fong Fong can knock her out in one shot, but there's a good chance she'll wake up so the fight is a two on two mixed gender tag team match. Would make more sense to me if Sai-Lung was the subdivision leader since he seems to be Routier's master. Anyways, we have another battle and lets see if Yukari and Fong Fong has any chemistry fighting as a team.

Sekirei 122 & Extra Chapter

The final round of the Third Stage continues on the cruise ship, and Minato's Sekirei talk about what they want to do if they become the last Sekirei standing.

It's all about the jinkis.

Chapter 122 summary:
At Izumo Inn, Musubi asks her fellow Sekireis what they want to do if they become the one to complete the Sekirei Plan with Minato. Kazehana states he wants to get lovey-dovey with Minato. Musubi declares that her wish is to live with Minato and all her friends happily ever after. Tsukiumi sort of has the same wish but she wants Minato for herself. Tsukiumi then turns the mike to Homura who then points his finger back at Tsukiumi and states that she had infected him into Minato's harem and it's okay as long as he gets to kill Minaka. Finally, Matsu has similar thoughts to Musubi but wants to experiment on Minato a little. Matsu's eyes turn back to the computer screen which alerts Matsu to incoming enemy Sekirei.

Back at the cruise ship, Amehane and Shiina are engaged in a fierce battle. On the upper decks, Seo beats up some Ashikabis and demands answers, and the Ashikabis confess that they were promised by Higa that if they took out Minato then Higa would help them leave Tokyo. Meanwhile, Minato and Kusano continue to hide in a vent. Minato receives a text from Matsu stating that there will be an attack just as they expected. Kusano and Minato then notice a glow coming from below, and they see that Sanada's Sekireis have discovered the first jinki.

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It's getting hot and steamy in here...

Extra chapter summary:
It's lunch time at the inn, and Seo shows up uninvited and get a rock in the face from Miya for his troubles. Seo accuses Miya of being ungrateful since he was the one who taught her how to cook and do chores. Miya admits it but she hates Seo anyways because back in the day when Takehito was still alive, Seo always arrived at just the right (or wrong) time to interrupt Miya and Takehito's romantic moments. However, Miya feels generous today and allows Seo to stay, and everyone has lunch together.

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The discussion with Musubi and the other Sekireis on what they want to do didn't really reveal anything new. It looks like most of Minato's Sekirei are back at home base because they are expecting an attack, likely coming from Higa's group. Higa is probably pissed that Minato's group rescued Chiho, but Matsu knew an attack was coming, so whoever attacks the inn will be facing Minato's strongest Sekireis as well as Miya. We still have to see what the Disciplinary Squad and Mikogami's group are up to though. On the ship, Seo and Sanada will probably take care of most of the fools that are following Higa's orders, and so Minato and Kusano only needs to hide out for a bit and perhaps just show up to help Yukari and Shiina defeat Itsuki and Amehane. As commenters have mentioned before, Minato already has two jinkis and don't need any more to continue to the next stage, and thus Sanada, Seo and Yukari can each get one to continue on. Sanada already got his, so we'll see if Seo and Yukari get jinkis.

As for the special chapter, now we know why Miya hates Seo with a passion even if he did teach her do cook and do chores. Nobody likes someone who consistently shows up to ruin romantic moments.

One Piece 647

The matter of stopping Noah from crushing Fishman Island...

That wasn't too difficult, was it?

Summary:
The Straw Hats and Jinbe defeat Hody's lieutenants inside the plaza, but however there's little time to celebrate as Noah's shadow is looming over head. The people begin to panic, but then they realize that Luffy is trying to stop the disaster by smashing away at the giant ark. Luffy is swinging away like mad, but suddenly he hears a voice telling him to stop. That voice came from Shirahoshi who gets in front of Luffy and alerts him to the fact that Noah has already been stopped by a group of gigantic Sea Kings. When asked by Shirahoshi, the Sea Kings explain that they arrived on their own and were drawn to Luffy's desire to help Shirahoshi and the island, and the Sea Kings are actually nice beasts who were glad to help out. With the fall of Noah stopped, Luffy falls unconscious (due to loss of blood from Hody's bite) and the denizens of Fishman Island dance in celebration.

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That's a rather quick and easy conclusion to the whole crisis, but on the hand we knew the giant Sea Kings were probably going to save the day anyways. Shirahoshi didn't actually the Sea Kings, but that little detail really doesn't matter much. All that matters is that the Sea Kings showed up and stopped Noah from crashing into Fishman Island and also saved Noah from destruction. This is probably the conclusion to whole mess created by Hody and Vander Decken. We'll see if we get a bunch of transitional chapters next to tie up some loose ends or if the crew will jump right into their next adventure (in case a strong enemy shows up or something). There is still the small matter of Caribou who has been on the loose and kidnapping mermaids, but unless he suddenly gets much more powerful he won't be too much of threat to the Straw Hats. Also, we'll see if Jinbe will join the crew or stay at Fishman Island to help out. I'm leaning towards the latter, but Jinbe is probably an honorary member anyways.

Naruto 564

Naruto and Killer Bee vs. fake Madara and his six former Jinchuuriki puppets.

We brought out our tails. Where is yours?

Summary:
Naruto and fake Madara butt heads and both are bounced back. Fake Madara's six former Jinchuuriki puppets attack with some signature moves, but Naruto and Bee manage to survive. Naruto declares that he is going to stop both Madaras, and fake Madara realizes that Kabuto had releases the real Madara zombie. The fake Madara then claims that he is Tobi or a nobody, but it doesn't matter because he'll complete his Moon's Eye plan. Naruto declares that he'll rip the mask off of fake Madara's face, and fake Madara responds by having all his Jinchurriki puppet grow beast tails.

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We get the expected start to the battle between Naruto/Bee and fake Madara. The former Jinchuuriki puppets used presumably their own moves, but we don't know if the fake Madara has Nagato's Six Paths of Pain or not. The former hosts having some of their beast powers would be troublesome in their own right though. Also as expected, fake Madara finds out through Naruto that Kabuto had let the real Madara zombie onto the battlefield, but right now the fake is focused on capturing the remaining tailed beasts from Naruto and Killer Bee and probably won't take any action towards Kabuto for now. I think fake Madara will capture the two remaining tailed beasts and revive the Juubi somehow, but that doesn't mean Naruto and Bee will lose the current battle. Naruto's fox mode hasn't really been that impressive especially against strong opponents, so we'll see if Naruto change that impression here against Madara. Naruto needs to be able to handle these eye magic freaks somehow sooner or later.

Bleach 474

Ginjou tells Ichigo "the truth".

Alright, it's time again to play the Transformation Game!!!

Summary:
Urahara and Isshin had brought Chad and Orihime back to Urahara's shop to lie down. Urahara then heads out again back to the battle. Isshin wants to join in so they can finish the battle quickly so Ichigo won't learn "the truth", but Urahara states that Ichigo will find out eventually and might as well get the message from Ginjou.

Back in the pocket dimension, Ichigo is apprehensive about what Ginjou is going to say but listens anyways. Ginjou goes on to state the the substitute shinigami program is all a sham; that the badges are a way for Gotei 13 to monitor and limit the power of substitute shinigamis and that it was Ukitake who came up with the whole thing. Ginjou states that Ichigo is being duped and every shinigami knows this but they kept this secret from Ichigo. Uryu senses that Ichigo is being affected by Ginjou's speech and tries to go on the attack, but Ichigo tells everyone to shut up and then goes bankai.

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So "the truth" is that Soul Society is using the substitute shinigami badges to keep tabs on certain people... I can't say I'm too surprised by the announcement given that I was expecting Ginjou to label the shinigamis as the bad guys. And of course this is Bleach which sometimes have ridiculous developments, and what Ginjou said so far isn't that outrageous. It kind of makes sense for Gotei 13 to be interested in monitoring humans that have a lot of spiritual power, and also at least Ginjou didn't declare Aizen to be the good guy, but it'd be hilarious if that happens hahahahaha. Given Urahara and Isshin's little conversation at the start, there is at least some truth to what Ginjou is saying and that can have some important implications to the story. It doesn't look like anyone from the shinigami camp is going to be able to interfere and shut Ginjou up for the moment, so lets see if the guy has more to say. Whatever Ginjou says, Ichigo is still going to lay a beat down on him because he deserves it. However, what happens after the battle could be interesting given that Ichigo's belief in Urahara and his own friends and family has already wavered due to Ginjou/Tsukishima. I can't really see Ichigo and all his shinigami friends turning on the other (unless Kubo goes out of his way to mess with us, and I mean go WAY out of his way), so the ultimate bad guy will end up to be someone else.

Anyways, Ichigo is taking the battle to the next level by going bankai? Does Ginjou also have a bankai?

Sekirei 121

The final round of the Third Stage continues on the cruise ship.

No respect whatsoever.

Summary:
Hikari and Hibiki knock out an enemy Sekirei with their lightning. The Ashikabi of the downed Sekirei gets mad and charges with a stick. Seo gets in the way and gets hit in the head, but that only makes Seo mad and he starts beating up any enemy Ashikabis he can get his hands on. Meanwhile, Minato and Kusano are sneaking around the ship following Matsu's instructions. Kusano gets the feeling that Shiina is nearby, while Minato is reminded by the location that Yukari gets seasick. Speaking of Yukari, she is about the hurl and largely ignores Itsuki and her Sekirei Amehane. Yukari's card (the one given for the round) falls out of her pocket, and Amehane stomps on the card, gets a nasty look on his face, calls his own Ashikabi a pig, and attacks Shiina.

Back at Izumo Inn, Musubi and Tsukiumi return from their outing. Musubi then gets an idea and asks her fellow Sekireis what each wants to do if he/she becomes the last Sekirei standing.

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I wonder when Sekirei scans will catch up to the manga again, since chapter 122 have been out in Japan for at least a week or two. I'm glad that someone at least translated this chapter though. So the current round of battles has started, and it'll probably go at the typical Sekirei pace. We are still not sure why Minato only brought Kusano along for the round, but I suppose we'll find out. Seo and Sanada probably won't have too much trouble handling most of the Ashikabis that are being controlled by Higa, but there might be some dangerous duos like Itsuki and Amehane. Amehane is the first Sekirei we've seen that is completely disrespectful towards his own Ashikabi. Maybe no. 13 really is the bad number, and Yukari and Shiina may have their work cut out for them. Minato and Kusano might jump in to assist though if they ever manage to stumble onto the fight.

While Minato and Kusano are busy at the cruise ship, the rest of Minato's Sekirei are back at the inn having a little discussion on what they want to do if they become the last Sekirei standing. I would rather see what Higa and Disciplinary Squad are up to first, but Musubi's little discussion idea could reveal some interesting details.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 07

Flit and the Gundam are detained by Zalam forces and taken to Don Boyage's mansion, but the mansion comes under attack by Euba and UE forces.

How can a Gundam be apprehended by such weak and slow grunt mobile suits?

Summary:
Flit and the Gundam are captured by the Zalam security forces (brown mobile suits) and bought to Don Boyage's mansion, and Flit is surprised to see Grodek at the mansion. After learning that Flit and Gundam are from Grodek's ship, Don suggest that Grodek trade the Gundam in exchange for the ships and supplies he needs, but Grodek refuses. Flit asks Don about the senseless fighting between the leftover Zalam and Euba loyalists, and Don answers that they are fighting for their pasts, just like Flit and Grodek are fighting the UE because they've lost their family to the UE (Don had looked up the files on Grodek and Flit). Don decides to hold Grodek and Flit at the mansion for a bit to see if Grodek will change his mind and to not look weak to the Euba. While being held at the mansion, Grodek explains to Flit his plan to attack the UE base. Grodek states that the Federation is corrupt and weak, and the only way he can get the necessary equipment is through dealing with people like Don.

Definitive proof that this is a kids show.

Meanwhile, Emily and Vargas return to Iwark's home. Emily insists on going after Flit, and Iwark offers up the use of his truck. Emily and Vargas drive towards Don Boyage's place but during the drive they find that Lilia had sneaked on board. They also happen to run into a group of Lilia's friends and all the kids want to go to Don Boyage's mansion to protest the constant battles, and thus they all load up onto the truck. Vargas, Emily and the kids arrive in front of the mansion and start yelling with a megaphone. By sheer coincidence, the Euba loyalists (the blue mobile suits) arrive to pick a fight, and Don Boyage and his cronies respond by getting into their mobile suits. With the mess outside, Grodek takes advantage and knocks out the guard to allow him and Flit to escape. Back outside, Vargas and the kids are caught in the middle of the battle. A grenade is about to hit the truck, but Flit arrives in the Gundam just in time to block the explosion. Grodek arrives and drives with Vargas, Emily and the kids and leaves Flit to sort out the Zalam and Euba forces.

Alright guys, stop acting like children. Unlike me, you are too old for this crap.

Come here, UE. This is where the party is at!

The Zalam and Euba loyalists are busying fighting each other, but Flit arrives to interrupt the battle and give his little speech questioning the senseless fighting. Suddenly, three UE mobile suits appear in the sky including the heavy type Baqto that Flit fought in the city. The Baqto spots Grodek's truck and veers off to chase the truck while the other two UEs head for the Zalam and Euba mobile suits. Don and Euba leader Ract Elfamel tells Flit to go do his own business while they take care of the two UEs heading their way. Flit uses booster-sprint on the Gundam to catch out to the truck and knock the Baqto off course. Flit has the Baqto's attention, but unfortunately the Dot Rifle doesn't work on the heavily armored UE. Flit tries to melee with beam sword but the Baqto is more powerful and damages the Gundam's shoulder. Flit and the Gundam gets knocked around a bit, but thankfully they are not too far from the docks and Largan comes out in his Genoace to buy some time for Flit to get back to the Diva and get new equipment from the AGE builder. Flit makes it back to base and equips the Gundam with the new Titus pack which gives the Gundam more power in its limbs. Flit goes back out to the battlefield just as the Baqto was to blast Largan's Genoace. Flit uses the newly equipped Gundam to send the Baqto flying with a punch, and the battle continues.

Among other things, Flit needs some work on swordfighting/melee skills.

Gundam went to the gym and bulked up!

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

So it turns out the Federation does turn a blind eye to the regular fighting between the Zalam and Euba factions, and thus people on Fardain like Iwark and Lilia sees mobile suits beating each other up on the streets everyday. What's more, the fighting between the two factions seem more like two gangs of kids trying to beat the other side up rather than any sort of organized war effort. Both sides even have their own funny chants, and the weapons used by both sides don't do that much damage to the mobile suits anyways. The whole thing is rather laughable even if Flit and Don tries to make it out to be serious business. This really is a kid's show which is punctuated in this episode when Vargas and Emily hurl a group of kids to Don's mansion to protest.

Moving on to the main threat of the UE, the default Gundam equipment doesn't do the job against the heavily armored Baqto, so the AGE system spits out some big wrestler-like limbs for the Gundam to increase its melee power. I guess Flit can always depend on the magic factory to make new equipment when the going gets tough, and we'll see how the new Titus form works out. Flit will probably end up saving the Zalam and Euba forces from the UE, and maybe out of gratitude Don will supply the weapons to Grodek. Grodek will obviously get what he wants, and Flit sure isn't leaving the Gundam, so that's probably the likely conclusion to the little incursion at Fardain. Of course, we can always get a large scale UE attack which would make things a lot more fun, but hard to say if that's going to happen.

Mid-season Anime Thoughts Fall 2011

We are 6-7 episodes into the fall 2011 anime season, so it's time again for my mid-season anime thoughts post. Here are thoughts at the season half-way mark for Guilty Crown, Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, Mirai Nikki and Mobile Suit Gundam AGE.


Guilty Crown

Would be an awesome show if Shu just did this and kept his mouth shut.

Guilty Crown is slick when it comes to the action and production quality, but on the downsides the plot doesn't make sense and the characters are not all that likable. The plot is about a resistance group (Undertaker) in Japan trying to overthrow the multi-national organization (called the GHQ) that currently governs Japan and this is perfectly fine. What doesn't make sense are a lot of the details, such as why Gai somehow let Shu keep the vial containing the special power if Gai himself had wanted the power. The best part of the show is of course the action scenes, especially when the normally meek and useless Shu pulls out some fancy weapon out of another person and starts wrecking enemy mechs. Except during the action scenes, Shu is generally not very likable because he doesn't seem to be committed to being a coward or being a hero. He kind of wants to be hero but likes to whine and is generally annoying when not destroying stuff with his super duper ability. Our female lead Inori lets her skimpy outfits speak and has no other personality traits to speak of, and "cool fearless resistance leader" Gai comes off as manipulative especially in episode 5. Gai was portrayed in a more sympathetic light in episode 6, but we don't know whether episode 5 was the swerve or episode 6 was the swerve.

Despite the strikes against it, Guilty Crown is certainly not a boring show, and that's good enough to keep watching in my books.



Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Did I mention there was a lot of groping involved?

Another pretty good looking action show with some slapstick comedy tossed in, but the show makes even less sense than Guilty Crown. At least with Guilty Crown I understand what the basic story is; I'm still not sure what Horizon is about, and that ranges from the background info to conflict that is steadily building up. All I know at this point is that there is going to be fighting between the different factions, and our protagonist Toori and his friends from class are going to rescue a robot maid that contains the soul of Toori's childhood love and also the princess of a nation, but before they can do anything they need to have a public debate to decide the course of action... I'm not even sure I got that part right. There are also way too many character names to remember, and thus it's probably a good thing I'm not blogging the show episodically because I'd have trouble matching up names with faces. My lack of understanding for the plot however doesn't stop me from enjoying the good elements of the show such as the action scenes and the slapstick components, and unlike Guilty Crown the cast of Horizon is generally likable or at least amusingly goofy.


Mirai Nikki

If I was Yuki, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep either knowing what Yuno is capable of.

Mirai Nikki is the probably the best series I'm following this season when it come to the story. The premise of strangers having to kill each other by using diaries that tell the future is enough of a hook to draw me into the show. The story isn't super intricate, but there is enough thrills, twists and turns and an interesting cast of characters to make things entertaining. Our protagonist Yuki is a loner and somewhat meek at times, but he is developing his survival instinct, and by that I mean Yuki realizes that he has to depend on the unstable but completely devoted Yuno. And Yuno... talk about yandere. I heard that Yuno is going to be crazy, and thus far she has fulfilled expectations. She could be a normal, shy, cute girl in one scene and turn into a crazy axe-murderer the next. I have a feeling that Yuno may even become crazier as the story goes on, and hopefully I'm right. The funny thing is though that despite how dangerous and unstable Yuno can be, Yuno is the primary reason why Yuki is still alive, and the relationship between Yuki and Yuno creates an intriguing dynamic. Overall, Mirai Nikki has been a pretty good show so far and lets hope it continues down the same path.


Mobile Suit Gundam AGE

This is a kids show.

The latest incarnation of the fabled Gundam moniker has been okay, but nothing in the show has really impressed me so far. The more "kid-oriented" design elements aren't too bad once I watched 2-3 episodes and got used to them, but some of the story elements feel childish too. I guess I'm not inside the target age group. The mechanical elements and the action is decent, but we've seen better from the Gundam franchise. What remains to be seen is how much the multi-generational story will add to the story, since the fact that the series will feature Flit, his son and his grandson is something that we haven't seen in Gundam (or at least as part of one continuous series).

Gantz 352

Kurono #1 reunites with Tae... but not for long.

When I'm lying on the ground seriously injured and bleeding to death, the one person I want to see is George Clooney...?!

Summary:
Kurono #1 and Tae share a tearful embrace, and Kurono promises that they'll be together forever and will go home. Kurono also mentions that Fra helped him located Tae. Kurono's attention is then turned to the big screen where the Tokyo team is fighting through waves of monsters with melee and Gantz swords. On the battleground, the George-Clooney look-alike tends to the the nerdy guy (who lost a foot) and George Clooney look-alike states that even though the odds are against them, the Tokyo Team has some "monsters" of their own and can still win this.

Back at the city ship, Kurono #1 asks Fra to help lead him and Tae back to Earth's surface, but suddenly Kurono starts being transmitted away.

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Gantz never stops messing with people, does it? Tae and Kurono #1 both go through a whole lot of trouble to reunite, but suddenly Kurono #1 is being transported away again. This leaves Tae to hang out with Fra. Fra seems to be a sympathetic character at this point, but what can she and Tae do? The bigger question of course is where Kurono #1 is being transported to. The aliens have hacked the Gantz balls, so maybe Kurono #1 will rejoin the Tokyo team in the sick game show, or he could be summoned by the scumbag hackers who are looking after their own ends. If it is the second case, maybe the Tokyo team will also be transported away? You can't really predict what happens in Gantz anyways.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA 04

Banagher end up with the crew of the Garencieres as Zeon remnants on Earth attack a Federation Base.

These old Zeon amphibious units might look bizarre, but they can take a beating.

Riddhe likes Minerva?? I must have not paid enough attention to the previous episode.

Summary:
Zeon Remnants on Earth attack the city of Dakar with a giant amphibious Shamblo mobile armor in a feint operation to cover for Garenciere's reentry. The attack causes much damage to the city and the Federation Senate complex. The London Bell flagship Ra Cailum commanded by Bright Noa is called to respond but arrive too late. Meanwhile, Riddhe has brought Minerva to his father Ronan's mansion and Minerva is basically held there under house arrest. Ronan gets a called by Martha Vist Carbine who asks Ronan to hand Minerva over. After the call, Ronan tells Riddhe about the truth of Marcenas family and the Vist Foundation in that their real purpose is to keep Laplace's Box in their possession or else destroy it. A frustrated Riddhe tells Minerva the truth and asks her to marry him so she won't be used as a pawn/hostage, but Minerva doesn't say yes. Riddhe goes off for a horseback ride to clear up his mind, while Minerva escapes from the mansion. Minerva ends up at a roadside diner and has a friendly with the elderly owner of the diner about the state of the world. Ronan's men eventually show up in helicopters to retrieve Minerva, and Minerva reveals her name and leaves a large tip to the diner owner before leaving with Ronan's men. Back at the mansion, Ronan meets with Bright. Ronan wants to get to the Laplace's Box before Martha and the Vist Foundation, and thus he tasks Bright's task force with finding the Garranciere and either retrieving or destroying the box. Ronan also transfers Riddhe and his Delta Plus to Bright's ship.

Should have been able to tell by the big hair that Minerva is someone important.

At Martha's compound, Martha uses the wreckage of a mass-produced Quebey to manipulate Marida and tasks Alberto with conditioning Marida for a special mission.

The Garencieres has crash landed in the Australian desert and the crew has captured Banagher and the Unicorn. Banagher is in a depressed state after unintentionally killing Gilboa in the last battle. The Garencieres is stuck in such a manner that it cannot launch or open its bay doors to let mobile suits out, so Captain Suberoas decides to trek through the desert to the nearest oasis to get help and he drags Banagher along for the long walk. Banagher moans, complains, and cries during the trek but eventually gets his spirits back and agrees to help unlock the secrets of Laplace's Box. Suberoas and Banagher eventually reach the Zeon Remnants led by Yonem Kirks and Loni Garvey who were responsible for the attack on Dakar. The Garencieres is pulled out of the sand and fixed up, and the Unicorn indicates that the next location to go to unlock Laplace's Box is the Federation's Torrington base. With Full Frontal's blessings, Loni calls for an all out assault on the base by Zeon remnant groups to cover the Garencieres.

Hey, it's Bright Noa!

I don't think using tow anchors on that giant arm is a very good idea.

Axe in the head, missiles to the side and not beam sword to the torso... talk about overkilled.

The big man is down! Didn't know Banagher had it in him.

Yonem and Loni call up the other Zeon resistance groups and they gather a sizable task force for the attack. The attack begins with the sinking of a Federation submarine by Loni's Shamblo, and Bright and the Ra Cailum is called to action. The Zeon remnants attack the Torrington base in full force and break through the base's outer defenses. Loni and her Shamblo make land fall in the city nearby. Loni lost her entire family to war and harbors a deep hatred for the Federation, and she goes crazy and starts destroying the city despite Yonem's order telling her not to attack. On the Garencieres, Banagher sees what's happening and comes to bridge to confront Suberoas about the senseless killing. Suberoas tells Banagher that this is a the reality of war, but Banagher is argumentative and wants to go out in the Unicorn so he can activate NT-D to complete the operation. Suberoas doesn't like that and tosses Banagher around, but Banagher downs Suberoas with a low blow and wins the argument by stomping on Suberoas' face a few times with Suberoa's bridge crew refusing to intervene. After the beating by Banagher, Suberoa's allows Banagher to go out in the Unicorn.

Fortunately for the Federation, they do have some mobile suits (like said Byarlant) that can kick ass.

Psychoframe face off.

Back at the base, a Byarlant Custom appears and starts taking out the Zeon mobile suits, and the base defenders are starting to beat back the Zeon attack. The Ra Cailum also arrives and the trio of Jestas from the ship destroy Yonem's Zaku Sniper. In the city, Banagher arrives in the Unicorn to convince Loni to stop attacking. Loni uses the Shamblo to grab the Unicorn, but Riddhe arrives in his Delta Plus to get Banagher out of trouble. Banagher still doesn't give up on the peaceful resolution and gets out of his cockpit. Loni is almost convinced, but then she senses that Yonem has been killed and goes back on the attack. Banagher activates NT-D and tries to stop Loni through the power of the Gundam's psychoframe, but Loni activates the Shamblo's psychoframe and pushes back. Riddhe has seen enough and grabs the Unicorn for an attack run to stop the Shamblo. Riddhe and his Delta Plus flies right at the Shamblo and gives Banagher a clear shot, but Loni seems to come to her senses and Banagher can't pull the trigger. Since Banagher won't shoot, Riddhe grabs the beam magnum and pulls the trigger himself, and the shot blasts through the Shamblo's cockpit and kills Loni. Since Zeon attack has been defeated, Suberoas orders his ship to leave the airspace.

If you ain't going to shoot, I will!

Time for the dark and wicked version to make its appearance.

After the battle, Banagher is distraught over Loni's death. Riddhe demands that Banagher leave the Unicorn so that it can be retrieved by the Ra Cailum, but suddenly a black Unicorn Gundam appears in the sky and drops down towards Riddhe and Banagher.

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It was fun watching the Unicorn OVA while I'm also following Gundam AGE. I prefer Unicorn because its superior production quality and more adult (or rather, less kiddie) story line, but it's fun to see two different Gundam series with different target audiences side by side.

Back on topic, this episode was pretty decent, but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be especially given that the main battle this episode involved a Zeon attack on Torrington Base. The main reason was that Banagher just wouldn't stop talking and complaining throughout the episode. You could say that Banagher is sticking to his philosophies and refusing to accept the injustices of the world and you have to give him some credit for not giving in, but sometimes I just wish he would shut up a bit and concentrate on fighting. Banagher was pretty unimpressive in the mobile suit fighting department this time around because he stuck to the peaceful methods when dealing with Loni. It's not that I don't find Banagher and Loni's confrontation to be not compelling (in fact it was pretty good), but... I want to see Gundams kick some ass. However, I did like the fact that Banagher beat up Suberoas who was a much bigger and stronger man. Sure, Banagher resulted to headbutts and low blows to get the big man down, but it still doesn't change the fact that he beat a much larger and stronger man.

I watch Gundam mainly for the mobile suit action, and this episode had plenty of it. Loni's Shamblo was a pretty impressive piece of machinery, and so were the newer Earth Federation mobile suits that fought in this episode. It was kind of fun seeing the parade of different old Zeon mobile suits being used. We got to see some underwater and ground battles this time, and understandably they are slower than aerial or space battles. From what I've seen, the normal Earth Federation grunt mobile suit units suck really bad. Even Zeon remnants piloting antiques were clearly better than the usual Federation mobile units. A lot of the Federation grunts just like to stand out in the open. They also seem to have really poor battlefield intelligence or sensors since Yonem spent a lot of the battle flying over head and taking people out. The lowlight for the Federations was when the two mobile suits on the carriers tried to restrain the Shamblo with their tow anchors. The Shamblo is 10-20x the size of a mobile suit and is ripping through the carrier, so using the tow anchors made no sense whatsoever. London Bell and the newer Federation mobile suits are a different story though, as the Jestas and the Byarlant Custom that showed up out of nowhere were clearly superior in performance than the older Zeon machines.

As for the story, Banagher continues what he started last episode is going from place to place marked by system and activating NT-D in an effort to unlock the secrets Laplace's Box. Nothing strange happened this episode when NT-D was activated in Torrington, but maybe something will happen next episode. I was a bit surprised that Banagher and the Unicorn were captured by the Garencieres at the beginning, and Banagher ended up allying with the Sleeves for a little bit. It looks like Banagher and his Gundam can't stay on one side for very long, but that's to be expected since everyone is after Laplace's Box. Neo Zeon, the Earth Federation, and Martha Vist Carbine all want the box, and it doesn't seem like any of them are particularly good choices. Just when it looks like Riddhe will recover the Unicorn for his father and the Federation, the Banshee (the black Unicorn) appears presumably to take back the Unicorn for Martha. Marida is probably piloting the Banshee, and we'll see what sort of things the Banshee is capable of. At the scene where Banagher almost convinces Loni to stop and leave the Shamblo, I was half expecting the Banshee would show up and kill Loni. Riddhe ended up being the one to pull the trigger instead, and now there will probably be a rivalry between Riddhe and Banagher in the remaining episodes, especially since now Riddhe also likes Minerva. I didn't exactly get the impression that Riddhe had a crush on Minerva from episode 3, but apparently it's the case. Last note on the episode was that it was good to see Bright Noa appearing in the series. Let's see if he can make a lasting impact on the series in the next two episodes.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. Banagher will probably continue following the points to unlock Laplace's Box, but the question is which side is supporting him for the moment. We still don't have too much idea of what the box really contains, but the characters are so obsessed with the box that I don't think it matters much to them what's inside anymore. Unfortunately, it'll probably be another 6 months until we see the next installment.

Bleach 473

All of the combatants are released from their pocket dimensions except for Ichigo, Uryu and Ginjou.

Hmmm... why do I want to kick your ass? 

Well, because you are a despicable asshole who tricked me. You were in cahoots with that jerk Tsukishima. You stole my abilities, and I just don't like you. Is that reason enough?

Summary:
Tsukishima lies on the ground dying and asks how Byakuya can attack him after being cut by his sword, and Byakuya states that it's because Tsukishima is not Ichigo's pal. All of the combatants except those in the Ichigo vs. Ginjou fight are then released back into the real world since Hitsugaya manage to scare Yukio into closing the pocket dimensions. The shinigami crew wonders what happened to Rukia and where Riruka had gone off to, but then they notice the Ichigo vs. Ginjou dimension hasn't been released. Yukio explains that the dimension cannot be released until Ginjou gives permission, so there's nothing he can do about it.

Back inside the dimension, Ichigo and Ginjou bang swords in a fierce battle. Ginjou asks Ichigo what he is fighting for and then mentions that Tsukishima is probably dying and if Tsukishima dies then all of his memory tricks will wear off. Ginjou then asks the same question, and when Ichigo gives no answer Ginjou states Ichigo ought to be fighting "the real enemy".

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Tsukishima should have became Ichigo's friend first instead being such a jerk hahaha. I was hoping Byakuya would destroy Tsukishima, but I'm at least glad that he is going to die real soon. With the side battles over and done with, the shinigami contingent is back in the real world as expected, but Ichigo and Ginjou are still battling it out because of course Yukio had to give Ginjou control over his own pocket dimension. The main event fight hasn't progressed much, but Ginjou is bringing up a potentially interesting topic. Ichigo has plenty of reasons to kick Ginjou's ass, but it'd fun to hear Ginjou spew off some crazy talk. Maybe Ginjou will tell Ichigo that the Soul King is the real enemy or something wild. Given how Bleach's plot has gone all over the place, a crazy conspiracy theory would fit in just fine.

One Piece 646

The Straw Hats down in the plaza finish their fights.

Hard to pick the page to put here out of seven finishers, but I'll go with the freaking laser beam.

Summary:
Brook, Chopper, Usopp, Franky, Zoro, Sanji and Jinbe hit finishers on their respective opponents. The end.

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I don't remember reading an One Piece chapter with so many double-page panels and so many finishing moves being performed. Seven finishers in one chapter must have broken a record. On the other hand, there wasn't much else beyond that. All this shows that every member of Hody's gang is woefully outclassed by the Straw Hats especially on land, and the main reason why there is still a crisis is because Vander Decken launched Noah at Shirahoshi. Now we just have to wait to see how Luffy and Shirahoshi is going to prevent Noah from crushing Fishman Island.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 06

Flit and Emily get caught in a conflict between factions on Fardain.

We are just going to stand there and shoot at each other with machineguns that do next to no damage. That's what fighting is all about!

Summary:
Flit is stilling thinking about how Decil is so much better than him at piloting the Gundam when Emily arrives. Emily presents Flit with tickets to the new place they are going to live, but Flit states that he has decided to join the military and use the Gundam to save the world. Emily throws a fit and runs off, and Flit has to go out into town to find her. Flit eventually finds Emily moping around on a screen corner and tries to convince her to go back to the ship. Suddenly, a team of brown mobile suits and a team of blue mobile suits appears on the streets and they start shooting each other. All of the people on the street disappear off to somewhere and all the buildings are sealed off with armored walls. Flit and Emily are trapped on the streets near the battle, but thankfully a large man appears from a hatch and leads the two to safety underground.

That is one impressive beard/mustache combo. It defies the laws of physics!

Meanwhile, Woolf visits a space station owned by his buddies who fix up and manufacture mobile suits. Woolf shows the leader Madona some pictures of the Gundam and then asks Madona to build an all white mobile suit that can match/exceed the Gundam's performance. Back in Fardain, Grodek visits a powerful arms dealer named Don to get supplies for his plan to attack the UE base. Grodek is willing to trade military weapon designs for the arms and supplies, and this gets Don interested and Don agrees to take Grodek back to his mansion.

Underground, the big man named Iwark leads Flit and Emily to the shantytown that he lives in. Iwark explains that only the rich live above ground and the poor are forgotten and live in the underground service tunnels. Iwark brings Flit and Emily to his house for coffee and they meet Iwark's adopted daughter Lilia. Flit asks about the mobile suit battles in the streets, and Iwark explains that the two factions are remnants from a long ago war. Iwark suddenly discovers that Lilia is missing and learns from neighbors that she has wandered up to the surface just as another battle is happening. Ewok jumps into his worker mobile suit and Flit and Emily goes along for the ride. Ewok and company arrive on the surface in the middle of a battle between Brown and Blue. Ewok quickly locates Lilia crying on the streets. A stray round explodes nearby, but thankfully Lilia is only knocked unconscious. Ewok tells Flit and Emily to take care of Lilia while he goes to attack the faction mobile suits that's making life miserable for him and others. Ewok downs one enemy mobile suit, but the Blues and Browns unite and start shooting at his mobile suit.

I'd be pretty pissed too (like Iwark in his yellow worker mobile suits) if the mobile suits battles were always this crappy.

LOL at the guy who got taken out by the ricochet.

Flit knows that Ewok will be in trouble and calls for Vargas to deliver the Gundam. Vargas arrives shortly with the Gundam in a truck. Flit uses the Gundam to shield Ewok's mobile suit so that Ewok can escape before his mobile suit explodes from damage. After Ewok runs to safety, Flit then hops around in the streets to distract the faction mobile suits because he doesn't want to damage buildings with his Dot Rifle. Suddenly, the faction mobile suits retreat and a new type of UE mobile suit appears. Flit shoots at the UE with the Dot Rifle, but the UE has shields on its arms and scatters the Dot Rifle blast to the blast walls protecting the buildings. Flit doesn't want to damage the buildings so he fights the UE with his beam sword, but the UE disappears just as quickly as it appeared. Soon afterwards, Flit finds himself surrounded a by a team of Brown mobile suits who are here to apprehend Flit for damaging the city and Flit screams in vain saying that he's only trying to protect the city.

Random UE appearance just so the Gundam can get some proper action.

Well, considering that your mobile suits have poor mobility and your guns do next to no damage, I'm not sure why I should listen to anything you say.

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I thought Fardain is just a stop so that Grodek can procure supplies for the mission, but apparently there is plenty more to the colony. On the subject of Grodek, the episode confirms that Grodek lost his wife and kid to an UE attack and thus he probably has a personal vendetta against the UE that leads him to pursue the attack on the UE base. To get what he wants, Grodek doesn't mind dealing with shady people and bending a few rules. I kind of like his character, but he might also lead Flit and the rest of the crew into a very bad situation, so we'll just have to see if Grodek's efforts will lead to success in pushing back the UE or end in disaster.

As for Flit and Emily, they are having their little couple's spat, but of course Flit will stay with the Diva and his Gundam and Emily will likely follow. The main focus this episode though was the two of them discovering the conflicts that go on in Fardain. Apparently the Earth Federation do have a presence on Fardain, but for some reason they just let the Blue and Brown teams fight each other on the streets. The solution of the colony is just to build some automatic barriers to protect the buildings and let the factions fight it out, and I found that to be hilarious because it's so implausible. The people just treat the mobile suit battles as some sort of inconvenience. It was also funny how Flit can just order Vargas to bring him the Gundam without authorization from Grodek or any of the officers on the Diva, and the scream at the end was icing on the cake. This is a Gundam series and thus we should expect a lot of things that doesn't make much sense, but that won't stop me from complaining or making fun of them.

So the episode ends with the Gundam surrounded by the Brown team. I'm sure Flit can just the Gundam spin around and knock over all the grunt mobile suits down and run for it, but it looks like Flit will still be in middle of the faction conflict in the next episode. From the preview, it seems that we'll see the Titus melee combat pack (the red upgrade pack) for the Gundam in the next episode, and that's one thing to look forward to.

Neon Genesis Evangelion 86 & 87

Shinji tries to fight off the mass produced EVAs while Gendo tries to proceed with his plan.

Power up time!!!!!???

Summary:
Shinji is outnumbered trying to fight off the mass produced EVAs and he is getting desperate. The synchro rate between Shinji and Unit 01 continues to rise and hits 250%, and suddenly Unit 01 spreads four wings out of its back and its core become exposed. The Spear of Longinus then falls from space and stops in front of Unit 01, freezing the EVA in place. The mass produced EVA stab Unit 01's hands to give it stigmata and then carry Unit 01 up into the sky. The mass produced EVAs then start their S2 engines and produce an anti-AT field. The staff of NERV HQ realize that the Third Impact may be near.

Deep within NERV HQ, Gendo and Rei stand in front Lilith. Gendo gets Rei to strip so he can complete his plan. Rei's left arm falls off and Gendo notes that there is not much time. Gendo reaches into Rei's stomach with his left hand that has Angel cells, but soon after Rei rejects the hand and Gendo's hand is left bleeding. Rei then ditches Gendo and joins with Lilith.

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It's hard to keep track of this manga due to very irregular releases. Looks like the Third Impact is on its way. Just like in the End of Evangelion, Unit 01 transforms and is being crucified by the mass produced EVAs to start the ritual, and Rei merges with Lilith. It always seemed weird to me that Shinji/Unit 01 seemingly gets a power-up-like transformation and then gets crucified, but Evangelion isn't a conventional story. The difference this time is that Unit 02 didn't get ripped to pieces like in the movie. It's a fairly significant difference, and we'll see how much that matters in upcoming chapters. The Gendo/Rei scene also seems to be a little different than the one in the movie (don't remember Gendo having the Angel hand), but I'm guessing things will still start in a similar fashion.

Bleach 472

Back to Byakuya vs. Tsukishima.

About time someone shut you up.

Summary:
Riruka disappears after hitting Rukia, and Rukia loses consciousness.

Meanwhile, Byakuya is having trouble against Tsukishima because Tsukishima knows his moves inside out. Byakuya goes bankai, but Tsukishima gets into the no hit zone. Byakuya however pulls his blades into the no hit zone to force Tsukishima back and explains that he only keeps the no hit zone to avoid injuring himself. However, Tsukishima is not worried and steps in and fights Byakuya up close. Tsukishima knows that Byakuya have trouble controlling the blades as they get faster and closer to his own body, and so Tsukishima messes up Byakuya's timing a little and Byakuya injures his left arm with his own blades. Tsukishima then proceeds to gloat, but Byakuya suddenly stabs through Tsukishima's chest with his blades. It turns out Byakuya had grabbed some of his own blades in the process and thus can pierce Tsukishima. As Tsukishima slumps to the ground, Byakuya states that he enjoyed the fight.

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Looks like we are not going find out what exactly happened with Riruka and Rukia for a little while which is a bit annoying, but Kubo loves to annoy. As for Byakuya beating Tsukishima... well Byakuya won and got the job done, but I wouldn't exactly call it an impressive victory. I was hoping the Byakuya would prove that Tsukishima can't beat him even if Tsukishima knows his moves just to mess with Tsukishima like Tsukishima had messed with other people, but instead Byakuya had to get down and dirty to get the win. We don't get any new moves with Byakuya either, although we didn't see new moves from any of the shinigamis for that matter. Neither Kuchikis performed that well in their fights, but Byakuya did a little better since he did decisively win, while who knows what's happening with Rukia.

With these two battles out of the way, it's probably time to focus on the main event of Ichigo (with Uryu) vs. Ginjou.