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A new trailer for the Lucky Star OVA just came out and guess what it’s using as the BGM…
Yup! It’s Ai wo Torimodose from Hokuto no Ken, also popularly known as the “YOU WA SHOCK!” song. Good to see KyoAni hasn’t lost their edge yet. I can’t wait for the OVA!
©2008 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.
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Takashi: I’ll press charges.
Well I must say the good folks at Brains Base (ブレインズ･ベース) have really raised the bar on this series. This week’s ep was every bit as entertaining as the last, but in a different, lulzy, furikuri sort of way. Takashi finally meets (or more like, “is molested by”) another person who possesses the same gift of sight that he does… only to discover that Shuuichi Natori is a capricious shotacon who won’t hesitate to stab a youkai in the eye if properly provoked. This encounter is just dripping with irony, and Takashi learns at length that even the most striking similarities in life experience cannot guarantee intimacy, empathy, relationship; solidarity. Whose side are you on now, Takashi?
Nyanko-sensei is starting to enjoy being a 'cat' a little too much. This time he scares the daylights out of some poor dog.
Looking more like Garfield today, Nyanko!
*RUMBLE**RUMBLE* Is that an earthquake!? (Diet time, Garfield.)
So Takashi has to take the fat-ass cat on a walk haha. Walking cats on a leash never seems to work, though!
Let’s play a game. I call this: “Let’s Count The Number Of Times Shuuichi *Grabs* Takashi.” I HAVE to rant and rave about Shuuichi in this post. Not because he dumps yaoi vibes on you in the first minute or so of screentime, but because he is a pushy bastard and needs to leave Takashi alone. (I have no problem with yaoi, but I DO have a problem with STALKERS.) As if the poor kid isn’t being harassed enough by Reiko’s victims! I’m certain Nyanko-sensei agrees with me.
“1“
“2“, because he didn’t need to maneuver himself *behind* Takashi. The game shall continue.
A brief summary of events is in order: Takashi accidentally trips over someone napping in the middle of a grassy field while walking his fat cat. That someone turns out to be mega-famous actor Shuuichi Natori (why the HELL are you napping in the middle of a shoot?), who promptly executes a physically-impossible Matrix move and stops Takashi’s fall in the most provocative way possible. Takashi notices a lizard-tattoo on his neck. They exchange pleasantries; Shuuichi returns to the set. The two will meet again shortly.
Ugh, it’s that hat again!
On his way home, Takashi spots a new masked youkai walking with a rope around her neck and bandages on her hand. He tries talking to her, but she rudely refuses his company. Nyanko-sensei remarks that he needs to NOT talk to youkai without thinking it over beforehand, reminding Takashi that he is not in a position to readily engage them (and with good reason — it will just be more trouble for Madara if he gets himself in a pickle again.) “Right,” he thinks to himself, “Why do I reach out to youkai so easily?” The episode jumps to a brief dream/flashback of people condemning Takashi for “making up creepy lies” and other bitter memories. He wakes with a start in the middle of the night.
*Sigh* You know, the Yuujin-chou would REALLY come in handy at times like this.
Takashi’s next encounter with Shuuichi has little to do with chance. Shuuichi has stalked Takashi home and sent one of his two youkai hench(wo)men after him in paper form to “test” his abilities. A vaguely anthropomorphic scrap of paper glides into his room, expands in size and chases Takashi out into the night, eventually wrapping itself tightly around his body and binding his movements.
Do I detect a similar taste in fashion? (I'm talking about the hat >_< !)</em>
Takashi rips free, and notices Shuuchi standing a few feet ahead of him. (NOTE: Now, how exactly did he figure out where Takashi lived? More than that, what would he have done if Takashi *hadn’t* broken free!?) Shuuichi confesses that he is interested in Takashi because (as he suspected) Takashi can also see youkai; the purpose of his “paper test” was to confirm this suspicion.
Here comes the interesting part: Shuuchi admits that he has another job in addition to being a star actor. He also works part-time as a youkai exorcist! And it just so happens that he is looking for an office bitch boyslave assistant to help him with his duties. Right. We believe you. (NOTE: If people with the ability to see youkai are so rare, to the point where Shuuichi might be the only one out there, how could he possibly be looking for another one? I smell a rat.) Takashi refuses the offer, but Shuuichi persists…
"3“, on a ‘date-by-force.’
End summary. So what has happened here? At last, Takashi has met the very person he has been longing to meet — another human who can share in his experiences, empathize with him, and possibly fill the periodically vacant role of ‘guardian’ in his life.
I cannot account for the character design in the manga, but the animators go to great lengths to draw (no pun intended) parallels between Takashi and Shuuichi. For starters, they look very similar, if not almost exactly the same. They both have strangely-colored eyes. They are both capable of seeing youkai and they both endured difficult childhoods because of this unusual sensitivity. They even both like to wear funny hats. So, amorous notions aside, why is he not a perfect match for Takashi?
"4“, because this youkai (one of Shuuichi’s cohorts) pisses me off. She reminds me of that hairy bastard from Basilisk.
Sensei doesn't approve of shotacons.
Bring the pain!
Ready for war!
Takashi concedes to a meeting, after much stress and distress.
A match made in heaven? Hardly. Unfortunately, a glaring, irreconcilable difference stands between them — their respective attitudes towards youkai. That’s right, the very thing that attracts them repels them. Shuuichi calls himself a youkai exorcist, but ‘exorcist’ is really a euphemism for ‘hunter’ as far as Takashi is concerned. Shuuichi kills youkai. He is willing to hurt them without remorse. This is something that Takashi simply cannot accept, as he prefers to ‘live and let live’, even putting himself in harm’s way to ensure that youkai do not become the victims of violence. He will again valiantly struggle for his ideals in this episode, this time to save the masked-youkai from Shuuichi, as she just so happens to his next target.
"5“
Youkai: NATSUME! NATSUMEEE! HAND OVER TEH BOOK OF FR~ *STAB* AUUUUUUGH!
ROFL! "Two can play this game." I think Shuuichi is enjoying it a bit too much, though -_-;
We can’t leave out the boss youkai-of-the-week, can we! Our blue behemoth snares roughly of ten seconds of screen time before he is stabbed in the eye and sent on his merry way. …No, it wasn’t cool. It is fun to watch the Natsumes throw blows with youkai, but Shuuichi’s stick action was mildly disturbing because Reiko may have been violent, even brash, but never cruel.
Shuuichi’s blow is the malicious, congealed expression of numerous difficult childhood experiences and negative impressions involving ayakashi. In that respect, Shuuichi kind of strikes me as a sci-fi duplicate of Takashi, sort of like an evil doppelgänger from a parallel dimension or perhaps the not-so-distant future. If Takashi had begun to hate youkai, he may well have developed similar streaks of spite. But Takashi is a gentle soul with a good heart. And now, a haiku:
Another masked one
Trapped in a maze of despair
Can he save her life?
The episode concludes without any indication that the two will ever be able to reconcile their differences. Yet they both learn an important lesson. According to Shuuichi: “Understanding others is a difficult thing. For everyone, you see.” Still feeling lonely, Takashi? Start back at square one, and try first to understand the people around you. Who knows, maybe you will be pleasantly surprised.
Next Episode:
Makoto Shishio comes back from Hell to play the koto?
From where we left off, Maka reached out her hand of friendship to Chrona, and Chrona had no idea how to react except to cry profusely but peacefully. Unfortunately, the peace doesn’t last long as chibi-Ragnorok pops out of Chrona’s shoulders and starts beating on Maka for putting Chrona back in control of her body, and Chrona tries to break it up with her best Shoruken uppercut to Ragnorok’s face, but the uppercut just agitates Ragnorok even more as he retaliates by pulling up Chrnoa’s skirt, which was Soul Eater’s and Maka’s sign to leave and continue on to catch up to Black Star and Kid.
Up ahead, Kid runs into and attacks wolf-form Free, who is unaffected by any attack that Kid dishes out with his guns. Realizing that his attacks won’t work, Kid tries to work another plan to get around Free, but his OCD mind gets caught up at the asymmetric ruins around him, and it takes a big nudge from the trailing Black Star to knock some sense back into him. Black Star then makes his attempt to attack Free, and during BS’s attacks, Kid finally realizes that he and BS have been attacking a hologram, and the two just continued on their way and left the hologram behind.
Way up ahead, Elka and the real Free manage to reach the entrance to the Demon God’s holding structure, and the two are beginning to have second thoughts about entering as they have a bad feeling about the aura surround the structure. As the pushed on and entered, the aura of the Demon God plays tricks with their minds as Elka imaged her face being pulled off, and Free saw the Demon God puncture his body before sucking off his face. Looks like reviving the Demon God will be as much of a task as stopping him…
The scenes closest to the Demon God were quite creepy to experience, but to be honest there wasn’t much progress in this episode unless you’re a fan of OCD Kid, which was sort of disappointing after the emotional last episode, but perhaps this is just a break for future awesome action to come.
©2008 Sea Slugs! Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.
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「お稲荷さま。だいえっとする」 (Oinari-sama. Daietto Suru)
"Oinari-sama. Goes on a Diet"
Summary:
Leon learns Macross Frontier can stand only about 3 months of fighting, but figures it will be enough if they can replace Ranka. Luckily, now that Sheryl’s V-type infection has reached her brain, she is able to produce faint waves that can be amplified with Fold Quartz to affect the Vajra. Meanwhile, the NUNS has been given new MDE warheads and the VF-171EX line. Leon makes a call to Richard Bilrer and the SMS is to be assimilated into NUNS. Leon then orders his boys to teamkill Grace because he hate women.
Ozma and Cathy make it back to SMS and along with 70% of the crew decide they don’t want to be part of NUNS. The crew pirates the Macross Quarter, and Alto, Luca, and the Fourth Squadron unsuccessfully give chase (while Klan Klein watches from afar). Ozma tells Alto to seek his own path, and Alto screams in frustration when he realizes that his VF-171EX is just a refurbished NUNS plane with new paint. At the end we see Grace alive and ready to pursue Brera, after letting Leon know what she thinks of Macross Frontier. It’s Protoculture time!
Reaction:
Wow, Vajra parts are more useful than bear gallbladders and tiger schlongs. The idea that Fold Quartz is dried Vajra “bodily fluids” makes me giggle, and how is Luca so sure that Ranka’s power doesn’t come from a Vajra STD? Anyway, it was awesome watching Alto get schooled (by Ozma, and not even by Brera this time), and it’s interesting that the SMS gang has been split up. There are so many parties in play at this point that it’s getting tough to keep track of goals and loyalties.
No doubt Grace knew that Ranka was gonna bail and let Brera accompany Ranka. I guess Leon was just her tool, and she played with him like she played with her jugs at the end (lolwut…). Did Grace need Ranka to lead her to the homeworld of the Vajra where the true Vajra Queen lives? Just how much Vajra bodily fluid awaits Grace on Treasure Island? I’m excited that the animation has jumped back up again and with so many plot threads and only a few episodes left, I’m hoping that Macross Frontier ends with a bang.
©2008 Sea Slugs! Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.
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And across the world, there was a great thump as the world of otaku collectively facepalmed.
Well, if last week was a drop into the silly bucket, this week was a rainstorm. At least last week I laughed through most of it. Unfortunately, I spent most of this episode rolling my eyes or finding minor amusement in quick character death. Maybe the cliffhanger would have gotten me if it hadn’t really been spoiled or if this wasn’t a Sunrise show, but alas my previous adage holds true.
I did find this part extremely amusing. I’m always up for the addition of meido to the cast, especially when it’s irritating and completely useless royal characters who get knocked down a few pegs. However, this does not make them good meido, just ones that are great to laugh at.
Most likely absolutely nothing for awhile, just like you’ve done for the past several episodes. The OotBK has been reduced to side characters in this show unfortunately. And although it was kind of neat that Lelouch is “freeing” Brittania, it’s not exactly for the most charitable of purposes.
Interesting to see these two working under Lelouch now, but I guess they like working with Suzaku, or really like the Lancelot. However, I don’t really see Lloyd and Cecile as just blind scientists following them around for kicks. Both of them (even Lloyd) display some pretty amazing insight and awareness of what’s going on around them and in the world.
So let me get this straight, the scientist who created the weapon is being chased all over, but everyone is cool with the guy who actually ordered its usage? Yeah that makes a lot of sense, everyone just loves Schniezel! I’m sure right after Hiroshima and Nagasaki the world chased after Oppenheimer right?! Ok maybe not, because this is Code Geass, where logic doesn’t matter.
What’s with this romantic music while these two guys are talking about their feelings after a nice horse ride? I’m headed more and more for Crusader’s camp, I’m really tired of all the blatant BL crap they put in this show. Add that to those really fruity looking uniforms they wear, who the hell designed this junk, a blind guy? And I suppose this “Requiem of Zero” is their final project to make the world a better place, but we really aren’t given much in the details.
The Knight of Four has been on the official website for a couple of weeks, but hadn’t really done anything in show. Amusingly enough she gets a couple of lines and is immediately annihilated by the Strike Freedom Lancelot Albion. I guess the black Rounds had to be the one who got the lowest amount of screen time and was first to die this week right?!
At least she had more speaking lines in more than one episode. In fact she’s garnered her own small following of fans as I’ve seen a bit of fanart pop up for her on 4chan and AS. As a parting gift to us viewers she gives us one emo facial contortion for the road. Sorry to see you go, but this cast is way too big.
I’m really not sure how to speculate on this one, some sort of relationship or rivalry between Bismarck and Marianne had been hinted at in episode 20 when Anya/Marianne was talking with C.C., but there isn’t much explanation. And with the death of both of the characters I doubt it will be discussed in the show, we’ll have to look for side materials. That being said, I’m going to ask a question here. How does sealing your eye shut prevent you from seeing the future? Can’t you just see it on the back of your eyelid? Oops, I shouldn’t be discussing plot holes in Geass…
Well, at least that’s three more members of the named cast who got eliminated this week. Cast inflation has been a huge problem during R2 so I’m glad it’s being reduced somewhat. I always thought the Rounds were somewhat superfluous anyways. It had been awhile since we had a real 1 on 1 KMF fight that was worth much of anything though, was happy for that at least.
A mecha pilot in a Sunrise show questioning his loyalties in a fit of emotional anguish?! Say it ain’t so! Ahhh Gino you are still a completely useless character. Be thankful Kira Suzaku decided to let you live because you were BFF before and to leave more openings for yaoi doujins.
Well, I’m going to hazard a guess that the person who departed was Anya. In the meeting watching Lelouch’s announcement there was Schniezel, Cornelia, Kanon, Diethard, and Anya. In the group shot at the end of the episode, Anya is no longer present among them. Not that this was the way in which I predicted Anya would defect over to Lelouch’s side, but it’s been a long time coming if it indeed works out that way.
Dear Viewers,
We at Sunrise don’t really intend to do any real character relationship development for anyone aside from Lelouch and Suzaku, and perhaps Lelouch and C.C. Thus, we decided to throw Kallen fans a bone and inserted this scene which we wrote in about 2 minutes just so you will leave us alone. Have a nice day, lulz.
-Sunrise Writing Staff
I found myself laughing more at the TL joke than the scene
He..he…he…MADE THE LOLI CRY?! That’s second degree loli abuse! Execute! Execute! The writers are definitely making an effort to make Lelouch look like an asshole who has thrown away all his morality, but I’m not buying it. They’ve pulled this kind of stuff before, and by the conversation he had with Suzaku, C.C., and Lloyd with the horses, he’s probably got some grand plan to make the world a better place. In one episode he wouldn’t just abandon his principles for no reason, he made them abundantly clear in his confrontation with mommy and daddy last episode.
Nina x Rivalz end?!?! I’m going to guess Lelouch wants her for some FLEIA of his own, or to combat Schniezel. I was quite amused at the fact he told his subordinates to basically throw Rivalz away. Lulz indeed.
They are also definitely doing their best to make Schniezel out to be an asshole here too, nuking the imperial capital and building some huge fortress stuffed with nukes. Yeah, and the whole Nunally thing doesn’t help his case either. Like I said last week, it seems like a very rushed final villain, I would have preferred the end to be Lelouch against Charles.
Sigh, now it’s just getting worse. I’ll once again reiterate that nobody is dead in a Sunrise show until you see the body. If it wasn’t so damn predictable even without the spoilers maybe I wouldn’t be so disappointed. It just seems like yet another episode cliffhanger involving Nunally, and this is what, the third one this season? It’s getting a bit stale. And really, it’s obvious she’s going to be manipulated by Schniezel and that he has no real intention of letting her rule over the world. Of course he’s going to be the puppet master pulling the strings, because he’s portrayed as an ambitious and power hungry guy.
Yeah, so this entry is a bit shorter than it has been in the past, but I just didn’t have much to fanboy about or bask in the entertainment. This show has always had plot holes and silliness, but usually there was so much entertainment in unintended humor or fabulousness or whatever to make that stuff not matter. However, this week I found that the entertainment was lacking, so I started to notice all of the stupidity. I mean I guess Sunrise has a slim chance of redeeming themselves in the end, and I don’t really want to judge the series as a whole before it’s done, but frankly, I’m not amused.
Next Episode:
Low quality extended preview of episode 23.
Schniezel looking evil, a blurry Gino (?) and Kallen hanging out near Mordred, Lelouch having a bout of emo and Suzaku slapping some sense into him, and Sayoko lives! From the extended preview, a large battle, C.C. approaching a very pink KMF and Nunally holding a…detonation device? Lordy, if she starts blowing people up with FREIA I’m going to flip.
Crusader’s Angry Drunken Rant
The Knight of Zero will kill all the women for a Pure and Yaoi world…
Victim #1 We hardly knew ye…
Victim #2, Twelve-san you will be missed…
Nina’s punishment will be to spend the rest of her life with Rivalz, it is a fate I think that is worse than death…
Such tragedy to have a lovely “Knight of the Rounds” killed off mere seconds after her introduction. Well Lulu and Suzaku have made it their mission to piss off every woman they ever knew, I guess that any heterosexual pairings will have to now exclude Suzaku and Lulu. Their new outfits certainly were fabulous, though in Suzaku’s case the pantyhose on his arms out fit really make me cringe. So yes not content to jumps shark once with the float packs they have now jumped shark on the shipping department with Lulu and Suzaku being much more than friends now. Such a pity that Cecile and Lloyd are going along with this, poor Kaguya now lost her husband for good. Lulu is now officially unforgivable for using Strike Freedom to threaten Tianzi.
Up in the morning to the rising sun. Gonna run all day ’til the running’s done. Suzaku is a son of bitch! Got the blue balls, crabs, and the seven year itch. I love working for Uncle Sam, let’s me know just who I am. Lulu and Suzaku were laying in bed. Lulu rolled over this what she said: a gimme some, PT, mmm good, mighty good. Good for you. Good for me. - excerpt from Britannian cadences
Strike Freedom is a GOOOOOOO!
Cornelia-sama :3
I love Cornelia-sama, she wants to put poor Nunnally on the throne.
Nina made a 180 and might suffer from pair the spares with Rivalz. As such I think we can forgive table humper Nina now, for the rest of her life she will have to live with Rivalz and that is certainly a fate worse than death. So ironic to see that now Schniezel is the good guy for trying to promote Empress Nunnally. I love how my Cornelia-hime wa willing to give the throne to Nunnaly for the sake of the people, Cornelia is just about the only reason I have left to soldier on through this ordeal of BL and mediocre mecha. I delighted in how both Suzaku and trembled at the sight of mecha Nunnally who will be opening a can of whup ass on both their BL hides. Do I care how Nunnally got out, not really considering how much bullshit this episode was. It was as if the yaoi clique made this one especially to troll the hetero people by killing off two lovely women, and destroying Lulu’s harem. Well mission accomplished. All HAIL BRITTANIA?
Next time the wheelchair of DOOM!
We have the technology…
Rolo lied, Lulu cried?
There is one more woman ypu must kill for LuluxSuzaku…
You can’t leave me for her, what about us?
In response to all the EVA-ness of Geass:
{!NovaJinx} and Suzaku and Lelouch are left to start a new mankind….holy shit that’s nasty
Oh god, DO NOT WANT!
(Man, when I start publishing stuff like this, I must be really, REALLY bored.)
©2008 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.
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