Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Omake Gif Anime - Yozakura Quartet Hana no Uta - Episode 13 - Happy New Year!

Yozakura Quartet Hana no Uta - Episode 13 - Happy New Year!

Omake Gif Anime - Yozakura Quartet Hana no Uta - Episode 13 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! May all your unfortunate accidents in the coming year be happy ones!


And if your accidents aren't so happy in 2014, here's hoping someone special comes to your aid.

10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 12

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 12

10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 12

Training camp! Handicaps that make no sense at first! Getting carsick! Smelling a good bike (I hope...)!


Now is the time in a sports club anime when we go to training camp! We've got your usual jokes about getting carsick, annoying sleeping habits, and insane training goals. Yowamushi Pedal is also an otaku gag show, so when Sugimoto ask-me-anything-kun suggests watching his Tour de France box set to get pysched up about their time at the cycling training center, Onoda has to pull out his inspirational material. Hime-hime! Hime! Suki suki daisuki Hime! (Princess, Princess! Princess! I love, love, love you very much, Princess!) Hmm, doesn't quite do it for me...

Before we get to the training center, though, Onoda gets carsick in the bus, and since they have a tight schedule to register and get checked in, Kinjou decides to let him get picked up by the equipment vehicle which is following a few minutes behind. Unfortunately, Onoda forgot his wallet and can't buy a drink from the vending machines. Enter Sangaku Manami, クライミングのいけ面 (climbing no ikemen - the climbing good-looking guy). He goes to school near there, but he's ditching PE to climb mountains. He hands Onoda his water bottle and immediately notices he is a cyclist too.

Not coming from the Japanese culture, I never know what little things they're going to obsess over, but apparently it is a very rare thing for the average person to know how to open a bidon and squeeze it. Okay. Onoda thinks Manami is a detective for knowing he's a cyclist without a bike nearby. Manami just says he's a cyclist too, and walks over to his bike, and this happens...

Monday, December 30, 2013

10 Second Anime - Freezing Vibration - Episode 12 [END]

Freezing Vibration - Episode 12 [END]

NSFW for animated boobies
10 Second Anime - Freezing Vibration - Episode 12 [END]

Chiffon, not of this earth, sacrifices herself and saves the day. Another good season of animated nudity and violence from the Freezing girls. Chiffon RIP (T_T)


Aw, Chiffon opens her pretty eyes for the first time, and it pretty much signals a suicide mission. She single handedly contains the Amelia Nova, showing 2 forms of anti-nova modes, supposedly only belonging to the original Pandora Maria Lancelot. The other Pandoras are basically fodder holding off the Maria clones, who suddenly form one huge transparent Nova when Chiffon discovers that Amelia can't shut down her Nova power because she can't control her rage. During the course of all these conversations, Chiffon reveals to Amelia that she's not human, and with the help of the Maria clones, takes the chain reacting explosion into another dimension. Everyone cries, the e-Pandoras return to their normal forms, even Amelia, and Dr. Aoi has to clean up Markus Spencer's mess. We leave the show with some of the girls back at the West Genetics Academy running into the class vice president looking pissed and copying Chiffon's hair style. Okay, waiting for Season 3 now...

What wasn't clear to me is whether Chiffon was never human and came from the where the Novas do, or she came to consider herself not human anymore because of her modifications from the stigmata. I'm leaning more toward the baby Nova adopted by humans origin story. As pieces of her drifted around the world after disappearing, she appears to her best friend and vice president Ticy Phenyl, saying goodbye and telling her she was always the strongest Pandora at West Genetics anyway. That lends credence to the never-was-human interpretation of Chiffon's words to Amelia.

Final Thoughts: Thankfully, being based in Alaska didn't mean we couldn't have a nice heated pool, spacious bath and spa, and a huge shower room. Laceration wounds and nudity is this show's bread and butter, so good job on figuring out how to deliver the nudity. Going to Bali with Satellizer wasn't a bad vehicle for those two things either. I did like seeing more of Kazuya's grandfather in action, instead of merely being referenced like in the first season. Also, Elizabeth was best girl. I'm not biased, but walking around naked almost all the time will affect my judgment.

One bad thing this season was just not enough Rana, but with so many new characters being introduced, including ones wearing scandalous gold monokinis, there just wasn't enough time. She had her moments, though. As for the plot... what plot? Heh, just kidding. Not much really to write about there, since it is standard magical girls fight mysterious invaders with a sci-fi overlay, but it does the job of getting us to all the different scenes of random violence and random nudity. Not complaining. I just hope we don't have to wait another 2 and a half years before the next installment. Maybe they'll actually show Rana and Satellizer getting better at all the Pandora moves instead of relying on stigmata activation. I'm hoping, anyway.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

10 Second Anime - Monogatari Series Second Season - Episode 25

Monogatari Series Second Season - Episode 25

Monogatari Series Second Season - Episode 25

"So Mr. Kaiki, you're going to deceive me too?"


Wow. I was not expecting that response from the ditzy mad god to Kaiki's outright lie. However, we can tease some foreshadowing from Hanekawa's conversation with him at the beginning of the episode.

First of all, Hanekawa does not believe that Nadeko actually loves Araragi, because she is so self-absorbed, she snubs or ignores others, and only pays attention to her own delusions. That gives me a shiver, because somehow Ougi was able to feed her enough information that she accepted to make her own delusions of a snake spirit, convincing her to eat the talisman that had the snake spirit that was taken from her earlier in the story. Hanekawa even knows about the locked closet, but Kaiki says to himself that whatever is in there is utter nonsense, frivolous even, and couldn't possibly help in his con of the ditzy mad god.

The other thing that Hanekawa asks about is whether Oshino has a niece. She is referring to Ougi, but Kaiki thinks she's only asking about Oshino's family in her attempts to find him. Kaiki says Oshino has no family. He was born alone, and has no one he's related to in this world. Uh oh. So we have three pieces of information related to the story.

First: Nadeko is self-absorbed and pays attention only to her own delusions. This could have major implications to the lies Kaiki will tell, and whether she believes it. From her reaction at the end of the episode, she's not buying them.

Second: Ougi is not who she says she is. She is deeply involved in this story, as she is the one who got Nadeko's delusions working to make her the new god of the Polar Snake Shrine. But as someone who has said that it's her job to punish liars and "bring to an end, things which must end," why would she turn a delusional girl into a god, into an aberration that is no longer doing what it must? I'll have some better thoughts on that after the next episode. All I can say is, maybe her target wasn't Nadeko at all.

Third: the hidden thing in the closet is frivolous nonsense, according to Kaiki, but somehow so non-frivolous that Nadeko's parents still haven't opened her closet months after her disappearance. When something couldn't possibly mean anything, nor help in a Monogatari story, well, of course it's just the opposite.

Meanwhile, during the month of January, Kaiki continues his visits to the shrine, paying his dues, playing with little kids' toys, and bring sake to the ditzy mad god. She really learned to like sake...

Omake Gif Anime - Non Non Biyori - Episode 12 - Youssei Power Up

Non Non Biyori - Episode 12 - Youssei Power Up


Renge-chon completes the renge flower fairy power up! It's funky!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Blogging Note - Christmas Schedule

Merry Christmas!

Anime blogging will be postponed until next week due to Christmas and traveling. Have yourself a safe and merry time!

10 Second Anime - Outbreak Company - Episode 12 [END]

Outbreak Company - Episode 12 [END]


The Last Otaku-kun is a shut-in to be reckoned with. A great end to a story leaving us with wanting more.


Shinichi survived two assassination attempts, but the second was a lot more clever than the first one, probably by design. The first one is obvious, and having an elf-meido personal security squad at the ready is Shinichi's first card to play with his own diplomatic power. Nice Matrix reference too with stopping bullets. I don't think the Japanese government expected this plan to work, but would have been fine if it had, but was put into motion to lull Shinichi's defenses. The second plan was much more effective.

By splitting the Eldant forces by simulating an attack at the castle by their closest enemy territory, luring Shinichi to the school to protect an out-of-print collectors' edition, and confining Minori to the Japanese base, the Japanese government could have plausibly blamed an alliance between the Bahailm and the traditionalist insurgents, even if everyone knew the truth. Minori was especially qualified for this mission, as Matoba reminds her, not only for her fujoshi knowledge, but that she is as socially inept as Shinichi in Japan, meaning she could be just as easily disappeared. "Not having a boyfriend once in her life," she explained it herself in the swimsuit episode. But Shinichi's core council are no slouches, with Minori escaping the camp, helping Elbia just in time, and rescuing Miusel and Shinichi before she ran out of shield magic.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Omake Gif Anime - Yuushibu - Episode 12 - Fino Dance

Yuushibu - Episode 12 - Fino Dance


I Didn't Become a New Demon Lord, so I Could Enthusiastically Keep My Sales Job.

Naruto Biimu!

Mecha Naruto Attacks!



10 Second Anime - Kill la Kill - Episode 12

Kill la Kill - Episode 12


Only a Mako Moment could stop a rampaging Ryuko. Satsuki thinks she's ready for the next phase of her plan.


The flashbacks make it clear that Harime the Tailor was responsible for stabbing Ryuko's father, and taking the other half of the life fiber cutting scissors. At least the elder Matoi gave almost as good as he got by taking her eye. The flashback of Ryuko's memory of finding her father near death show a different form running from the house though. It still looks like someone with straight hair carrying a straight blade. I'm guessing that figure was Satsuki who witnessed what happened, which is why she held that prize of knowing more about Dr. Matoi's death to Ryuko earlier in the season, but it could still be red herring.

But the star of the episode is Mako. After Senketsu had warned Ryuko about keeping calm, and not getting her blood boiling, we see what happens when someone loses control of their emotions while wearing a life-fiber suit. This is presumably what happened to Aikuro and Kinigase's colleague: literally turning into a monster. But neither Nudist Beach, nor Satsuki joining the fray could pierce Ryuko's rampaging fugue state. But a Mako Moment saves the day:

Thursday, December 19, 2013

10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 343

Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 343


Masked Madara revealed! And to put an exclamation point on it, the real Madara joins him in battle.


The Masked Madara, formerly Tobi, is Obito, Kakashi's late team member. Obito was supposed to have died after his right side was crushed by a boulder. He gave his recently awakened sharingan to Kakashi as a gift for passing the jounin exams, to replace the eye that Kakashi had just lost during their last mission to rescue Rin, their other team mate. But how did he survive? That will be answered next episode, along with his fateful meeting with the original Madara.

Good job with using the flashbacks to quickly tell Obito's and Kakashi's side story, and the unrequited love triangle which is very similar to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's own dynamic. Naruto's usual clever trickery with Kakashi's transportation technique broke Obito's mask, but only a superpowered monster would use a tailed-beast bomb as the feint to land a simple rasengan on it. That's so Naruto.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

10 Second Anime - Kyoukai no Kanata - Episode 12 [END]

Kyoukai no Kanata - Episode 12 [END]


This show was not unpleasant. The good guys win, but there were some ambiguous endings.


I wish they had taken three episodes to tell the story in the last two episodes. Some things were introduced right at the end, without any signs of foreshadowing, and some things were never explained.

What was done right was Mirai and Akihito fighting the One Beyond the Boundary. Even how Mirai disappeared after the youmu was reintegrated with Akihito was understandable, along with how she came back when a ring used to contain her blood magic disappeared. We didn't get any good explanations, but just knowing they were related to her blood magic is good enough.

What was bad was how Izumi's circumstances were told. First, we have a continuity error with Yayoi Kanbara, talking with Izumi after she had busted into that classroom in the last episode. After changing outfits and switching to a bunny rabbit cutesy mode of speech, we have Hiromi and Mitsuki barging into the room to find their older sister. In the last episode, they were already in that room talking to Kanbara, with Mitsuki complaining how her archaic mode of speech didn't fit her sexy devil outfit. I don't know how to reconcile that.

Then, when they finally confront agent-man, it turns out that he's taken that pink tentacle youmu into his body in some weird attempt to mimic Akihito and the One Beyond the Boundary. Then he proclaims that Izumi has already done something similar but hasn't told her siblings. After the Nase siblings defeat him, before they get a chance to confront Izumi about this youmu inside her, where we have no overt signs that it's true, she poofs out of the scene. What the hell was that? Was agent-man's motivation for this whole strange thing with the youmu eating weapon powering the One Beyond the Boundary just to goad Izumi into admitting she absorbed a youmu? I don't know. He gets killed while laughing maniacally, which I started to do because I was going crazy trying to resolve all the nonsense that got dumped in my lap.

What was nice was seeing Ayaka and Ai safe inside the separate dimension the One Beyond the Boundary created, and help defeat the collection of youmu it had gathered in trying to overcome Mirai. So again, all the parts of this last episode dealing with Mirai and Akihito were consistent enough, and hit the right notes emotionally too with their farewell and reunion. Their story was not unpleasant.

Final Thoughts: this show started out strong, but it looks like they spent a little too much time on the slice of life aspects of the story in the first half of the season, and left too little time to tell the back half of the main story. We could have done without the stink-bomb episode, left that to an extra episode for when the episode disks get sold, and re-timed the rest of the episodes to fill in that gap. From what I understand, the source material did not have Yui's little sister Sakura, so her time may have been filled in with some elements of Izumi dealing with her embedded youmu. Questionable choices in direction here in the middle part of the season left a rushed feeling at the end, with too many unresolved issues, untimely introduced issues, and just a bunch of resolution scenes poured out on top of us. It was a good show until agent-man started acting like a villain for no reason. How Akihito, Mirai, Mitsuki, and Hiromi interacted with each other made Beyond the Boundary enjoyable. The handling of the main story... 不愉快 です (fuyukai desu, it is unpleasant).

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Omake Gif Anime - Non Non Biyori - Episode 11 - Snow House

Non Non Biyori - Episode 11 - Snow House


So happy to roast rice pudding balls in a little snow house. Mochi, mochi, mochi!

10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 11

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 11



Sports club anime strategy. Rivals more alike than they want to admit. Competitors introduced.


If I could sit behind a big dude like Tadokoro, I wouldn't have to worry about working hard to stay in the Human Bullet Train. We're starting to see how famous the Big Three seniors from Sohoku high school really are. They use just 3 members at a qualifying race to hide how big their actual team will be, and to hide the strength of the new members from the scouts. That's just sports club anime strategy 101. Unfortunately for the seniors, the Big Three 2.0 in Imaizumi, Naruko, and Onoda are just as bike crazy as they are. Skipping school just to see them race, and also forming their own Human Bullet Train to carry Onoda who had only brought is mommy bike to school that day. I like those little reflections the storytellers throw in there.

Imaizumi and Naruko are also making a running gag by saying the same things at the same time, and making Onoda smile about it. That's some good camaraderie forming too. At the race, a normal 10 lap circuit criterium, the Big Three 2.0 see the Big Three unleashed. They got a taste of their power in practice the day before, but to see them working in actual race conditions gets them excited to practice harder.

After the race, Kinjou explains why they didn't tell the youngsters about the race: they have 2 months before the actual race, they only needed the three they brought to win the qualifier, and they wanted to hide the new guys from the scouts. I think Kinjou likes have three aces in his back pocket instead of just one or two. He also doesn't lack for confidence, like telling the other team when they passed them on the last lap, "you've got a well-organized team; I look forward to next year." Then, boom, gone.

Talking about the scouts is a good way of introducing the other teams our heroes will be facing. And it looks like the trick of using only their seniors is enough to fool them initially. But they've got two months, and there's only so many places around their prefecture that a cycling team can find good roads to train on, so there will be some discoveries made before the big race. Besides, Sohoku has to do their own scouting, so that's another avenue in getting to know the high school rivals.

Our cycling porn for this week has some bike brands and scenes from tent city:

Monday, December 16, 2013

10 Second Anime - Monogatari Series Second Season - Episode 24

Monogatari Series Second Season - Episode 24


"I don't know everything. I just know what I know."


Hanekawa finally showed up! My heart can rest easy now. And using her trademark kind look with her trademark phrase on Kaiki was the best.

Actually not a lot happened this episode, as if we're on a holding pattern to learn what Hanekawa knows about Nadeko. And the thing we wanted to learn most from last episode, what was in Nadeko's closet, will probably be revealed in hints through Kaiki's conversation with Hanekawa, and then made obvious during the actual heist phase against the Mad Ditzy God.

We learned a couple of things, though. One is that Gaen is not the only one telling Kaiki to back off. I'm guessing Ougi, or whoever is controlling her. And the second thing is that Hanekawa has been lying to Senjougahara about leaving the country to look for Oshino. She did this as a feint operation to spark some movement from the people who oppose their actions in stopping Nadeko from killing Araragi and Senjougahara. That it spurred Senjougahara into calling in Kaiki was a welcome surprise to Hanekawa. Hanekawa also got a warning from Gaen not to interfere with Nadeko, but she implies to Kaiki that there is more going on there. More pieces are showing up on the board, so this story is getting more complicated. Just like any good caper story should.

Nadeko is still a ditz, and doesn't even know what to do if she gets two 10,000 yen bills. "I'm not giving it back, you know," she tells Kaiki, if he had accidentally dropped another one in the collection box. I wonder what she does with the paper money. At least we know she'll drink the sake Kaiki brought. All gods like wine, apparently. Actually, I act like this too with a good bottle of liquor.

I got a very nostalgic feeling reading about the Trappists at Assumption Abbey.

Bell tolls changing times at Assumption Abbey, but the fruitcake is everlasting.

The monks talk about their work of making fruitcakes, but the way they brought out the old jokes, and the way they spoke of their brothers who've passed away already, felt exactly like talking to the older guys at my brother's monastery at the Abbey of New Clairvaux. Plus, that habit of not naming the cats that come around: exactly the same.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Omake Gif Anime - Gingitsune - Episode 11

Gingitsune - Episode 11

Complains it's the same Samurai stuff every week. Watches anyway.

Omake Gif Anime - Walkure Romanze - Episode 11 - Snort!

Walkure Romanze - Episode 11 - Snort!


"Hey Sakura! Why the long face?"
"Snort!"

10 Second Anime - Freezing Vibration - Episode 11

Freezing Vibration - Episode 11

NSFW for animated boobies

Amelia goes full Nova. Dr. Aoi arrests Spencer. And Chiffon gets doubly serious.

Remember what I said about characters who always have their eyes closed? Chiffon Fairchild has always had her eyes closed, until she sees this artificial Nova who absorbed all the Maria clones from Dr. O'Hara's lab. Plus, this episode built up the tension in those eyes, by teasing their golden color under her eyelashes when she thought she had to take out a rampaging Satellizer who was being driven crazy by the resonance with the Maria clones inside the Amelia Nova. Way to tease it out until the last scene.

Chiffon had not been taking the fight with Rana and Satellizer all that seriously either, because she was only manifesting one claw blade. She drew out the other when Satellizer went berserk, and almost opened her eyes. Thankfully, having Kazuya and Rana all being connected through Kazuya's sister's stigmata allowed them to calm her down and regain her sense of self.

As to the rest of action, the el Bridget family did contact Dr. Aoi, who arrives just as Spencer's operation is about to turn into a global catastrophe as the Amelia Nova starts moving toward the photon generator. Again, we don't have an explanation of what this cutting edge power source was doing there at a location supposedly doing genetic and nanotech engineering. Maybe to cover the heating for the indoor pool? It was Alaska, you know...

Having the first Pandora's clones in the artificial Nova causes an interesting side effect for the rest of the Pandoras. The higher the stigmata compatibility, the worse the delirium. The more experienced Pandoras seemed to know how to counteract the effects. With most of the Pandoras being taken out by Maria clones pouring out of the Amelia Nova, Chiffon knows what she must do. She activates her stigmata, calling it "anti-nova," and opens her eyes.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

10 Second Anime - Outbreak Company - Episode 11

Outbreak Company - Episode 11



Outbreak - sudden occurrence, usually of an illness or something dangerous. Shinichi learns the goal of his missionary operation, and devises a way to stop it. Matoba gets serious.


When a character goes through an entire season without opening his eyes, and then he opens his eyes, something big is about to happen. Watch out for Matoba's response to the Last Otaku's counterstrike.

So, 11 episodes in, and we finally get an explanation of the title. Minori explains to Shinichi that using otaku culture as an infectious disease to control an alien people was the goal of their entire operation. Their economies were too different, and they needed to gather information on their military power, which was magic-based anyway, so it's too dangerous to compete that way. But using otaku culture to influence a mainly illiterate population over the common language, and make everyone dependent on Japan to some degree was something Matoba's "higher-ups" wanted to try. And using a disposable shut-in who could be disappeared easily also mitigated the risk.

What they didn't count on was Shinichi's missionary zeal, and his own diplomatic skills. He has accrued personal power not dependent on the Japanese government. The Last Otaku is someone not to be trifled with either. How this all gets resolved in the last episode, in keeping with the tone of this series, will be funny, clever, with just a hint of danger. How will Matoba respond to Shinichi's gambit that the Eldant Empire create their own otaku media? It's going to be good, because he opened his eyes.

Omake Gif Anime - Log Horizon - Episode 11 - Akatsuki

Log Horizon - Episode 11 - Akatsuki


Akatsuki will follow her Lord, even if it means wearing a ball gown...

Friday, December 13, 2013

10 Second Anime - Kill la Kill - Episode 11

Kill la Kill - Episode 11


Ryuko dispenses with Jakuzure, but before she can get to Sanageyama, an interloper interferes with her match, and the larger world of Kill la Kill introduces itself.


After flying around, and throwing Jakuzure's missiles back at her, destroying her tank form, Jakuzure finally reveals the final transformation of her uniform. Ryuko and Senketsu learn a new shielding technique which takes in an enemy's attack, translates it to her own energy and returns it with more force. Boom, Jakuzure's defeated, and has to sit next to the other no-stars in a track suit. Mako wants to hear Gamagoori scolding her, but he refuses, and says girls are different.

Sanageyama and Ryuko prepare for their match, and Kinigase has joined Aikuro. Two pieces of information there: 1) Ripped clothes need to be taken off, and 2) Aikuro needs to take that sad sack look off already. Aikuro says he's in disguise, and parading around in his nude glory would draw too much attention to himself. Uh huh. Ryuko and Sanageyama finally start their match, but before they can strike each other, a frilly young woman steps between them. Aikuro and Kinigase recognize her, as does Satsuki: it's her mother's personal tailor Harime. She wants to fight Ryuko because she's wearing a full life fiber suit, pushes Sanageyama out of the match with just her pinky, by pulling one life fiber and unraveling his suit.

Satsuki doesn't appear to like Harime very much, which seems to be a clue to this wider world of life fiber guerillas like Nudist Beach. Ryuko doesn't see a real reason to fight Harime, but Senketsu senses something very bad about her. Then Harime gives Ryuko a reason: she pulls out a blue scissor half and says it's the one she pulled out of her father. She admits to being the one who killed Ryuko's father. Ryuko loses it and we have to wait until next episode to see what happens.

Now whether Harime actually killed Ryuko's father, I'm not so sure. These things are never as clear-cut as they seem in these kinds of shows. At the very least, we can believe she's holding the same scissor half, and she knows a lot more about the elder Matoi's final moments than Ryuko does. I'm beginning to sense that perhaps Satsuki doesn't like how her mother's handling of the company is affecting this world, and her actions in creating her current school may be some operation in opposition to the Revocs conglomerate. We're approaching the end of the first half of the season, so this is when all we've seen so far gets turned on its head and is just one little part of some huge, complicated, epic tale with spiral galaxies and universes colliding... oh, that was the other show this animation crew did. Here, we'll have 3 blinking stars, like the scars on Satsuki's mother's back.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 342

Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 342


Kakashi figures out how Masked Madara's Transportation Jutsu works, and it offers a clue of who he really is. Kurama the 9-tail fox finally admits he's Naruto's friend, and it gives him Sage Mode Beast Cloak.


Um, Guy with nunchakus? Talk about your overpowered beautiful blue-green beast. Well, compared to all the other overpowered beasts involved in this fight, that counts as a power-up.

With the masked Madara blocking Kakashi's kamui, his technique which sends things to an alternate dimension, he's beginning to suspect some impossible things about who this guy is. While the transportation technique is not unique to a Sharingan user, the dimension he sticks things in is, and the only one who can pull stuff out of that dimension is someone using the same eyes. Kakashi knows where he got his Sharingan from, his friend Obito, but where did the masked man get it? Even Guy knows what Kakashi is suspecting. We're coming to one of the greatest reveals in Naruto lore.

The other great thing about this episode is Kurama stops being tsun-tsun about Naruto (reluctant to be open about his close feelings), and with the admission, we see what a true partnership looks like with the 9-tail's chakra. Combined with Naruto's Sage power, we're seeing something very close to what the Sage of the Six Paths looked like. Naruto Shippuuden getting interesting again now that we're concentrating on Naruto? He's only the title character.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Omake Gif Anime - Yozakura Quartet Hana no Uta - Episode 9 - Whoa Nurse!

Yozakura Quartet Hana no Uta - Episode 9 - Whoa Nurse!


Whoa Nurse! Remind me not to get on Juri Frankenstein's bad side.

10 Second Anime - Kyoukai no Kanata - Episode 11

Kyoukai no Kanata - Episode 11


"Akki's mom has got it goin' on. Akki's mom has got it goin' on."


Akihito's mom in person is infinity percent better than a magical postcard. I've been waiting since the 2nd episode for her appearance, and she did not disappoint. She's there to point Akihito in the right direction, like always, but having her brand of crazy-sexy cosplay up close was a special treat.

Let's back up and tie up the confusing threads from last episode. The autumn Akihito wakes up in is indeed the real world, and he has been in a coma for 3 months. Mirai disappeared like the blood drop apparition said she did, but during this time the youmu and the spirit warriors' powers have been getting weaker. Mirai is still fighting the One Beyond the Boundary in an isolated dimension above the town, and the youmu has been drawing power from other youmu and Spirit Warriors to keep fighting. That the One Beyond the Boundary has been sucking up all this power means that Mirai has been slowly overcoming the stalemate. All this is according to agent-man.

The agent-man from the Society has been busy as well, feeding his weird weapon the Hollow Shadow energy, just so he can give the One Beyond the Boundary an extra dose of energy to overcome Mirai. He apparently wants the accumulation of all humanity's negative emotions to be unleashed on the world, but we still don't have a motivation for it, other than his own personal one, whatever that may be.

Akihito is absorbing all this information about Mirai from Izumi, about how she was manipulated into pulling the One Beyond the Boundary from him to kill it, hearing Mirai's words about him being angry when he found out what she did, "Serves you right," (様見ろ, zama miro, literally, "look at this mess," or "see what happens"). The timing of Mirai getting enough of an upper hand against the One Beyond the Boundary so that Akihito can hear their blows from the isolated dimension and Akihito waking up might be related, but it's a story, so we need to get from place to place somehow. Also, no mention of why agent-man chose that night to blow off his Hollow Shadow, and car battery, charged weapon at the isolated dimension, but again, all the drama needs to get focused on this moment in time.

But Akihito's mom (she's got it goin' on) always had impeccable timing. By seemingly randomly blowing paper in people's faces to come to the Literature Club's room, she makes her awesome entrance, and explains things. Mirai is not dead. The One Beyond the Boundary created an isolated dimension, and they've been fighting in it for 3 months. But Akihito can enter the isolated dimension because the little worthless youmu stone that was left over from the battle with the Hollow Shadow was actually a piece of the One Beyond the Boundary when Mirai pulled it out of Akihito and defeated the Hollow Shadow. "Could be significant," I said.

Akihito takes the little stone into himself, and dodging full youmu now that the One Beyond the Boundary received a power-up from agent-man, leaps into the isolated dimension, taking the place of the emotionless body Mirai had constructed to protect. After landing in a tangle from catching her in mid-fall, he throws her words back at her, "Serves you right."

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Omake Gif Anime - Yozakura Quartet Hana no Uta - Episode 4 - Hellooo Nurse


Hellooo Nurse!

Juri Frankenstein is obviously more than she seems. And she seems like a hawt nurse!

I have no idea why I didn't pick up this show earlier in the season, other than the previous version from 2008 made me not want to watch this reboot. I am very sorry for this oversight.

10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 10

Yowamushi Pedal - Episode 10


Actual club activities. Some introductions. Anime style skills and power-ups. Hot dudes talking to each other. Yup, it's a sports anime.


After the drama of the Welcome Race, we've got some actual slice of life high school comedy mixed in with sports anime activities. Fun! Naruko has to console himself with losing to Imaizumi by shouting at the ocean. Onoda is sore from head to toe. Ask-me-anything Sugimoto's head got a little bigger by finishing third in the race. Imaizumi and Naruko are training in secret because they saw just how close in talent the other is. Unfortunately, they apparently share a brain, because they've chosen the same route, distance, and time of day to get their training in before school. They're going to see each other eventually.

In this phase of a sports club anime, we need to see who the other club members are, their special abilities, and how our main characters need to improve before they can join the larger world of high school tournaments, or at least races, in this case. The ones with the most potential, our big three, get special attention from the seniors in their own specializations. Tadokoro wants to gauge Naruko, Kinjou checks out Imaizumi, and Makishima shepherds Onoda. We'll get a few episodes concentrating on each of these guys, but Onoda and Makishima will get the most attention, since otakus want to see other otakus in action. Needless to say, Makishima and Onoda don't really have much to talk about before they start the steep climb on their practice route, and that was some of the most awkward attempts at conversation I've seen in a while. Plus, with Onoda not being very sociable himself with strangers, it was good comedy.

Now that we're spending a little more time off the bike, I can see why the fujoshi are going crazy over this show. We get lines like, "Don't hold back," and masculine "leaning" into conversations, plus the hero poses the dudes like to show on their bikes. Successful media inspires many, er, kinds of imagination.

Cycling porn this week: more brands and crazy pedaling style.