Author: psgels

Simoun – 20 – Losses

by psgels, posted in Simoun



Simoun really continues its path of awesomeness. This episode was meant for the death of Mamiina to really sink in. It’s interesting to see the different reactions from the different Sybilla.

Rödoreamon tries to act strong. In the end, though, when she finds out that Mamiina cut her own braids, she breaks down. Aaeru can’t take it from the beginning, Neviriru gets to be the one to comfort her. Paraietta also breaks down even more, but surprisingly Aruti talks some sense back into her. Aruti herself seems to be planning to disappear from Kaimu, in order to make her smile again. For Furoe, this was the last drop, and she decided to go to the spring. I don’t know whether at the end of the episode, she still thinks like that, though. Neviriru keeps doubting even more, as she was one of the factors who killed Mamiina in the first place, though Aaeru’s crying makes her realize that she indeed has to survive. It really seems that everyone’s having trouble with this, though Yun, Morinasu and Kaimu seem to be the least affected.

One of the advisors also remained on the Arcus Prima, and he doesn’t really help to comfort the Sybilla. He keeps thinking of war and winning, not caring about Mamiina at all. Onashia also paid a visit to the Arcus Prima, in which she gave Yun Mamiina’s braid. I don’t know whether she had more purposes, though. In the end, a carrier is seen, transporting Mamiina’s coffin to the place she was born, before even a funeral was helt. At the end of the episode, one of the ancient Simoun comes, and shoots this carrier down. The last thing we see is Mamiina, lying in a field full of flowers.

Overall, this episode was nothing short of amazing, even though it was meant as an intermezzo. Simoun really is, apart from The Third, perhaps, the best series to have arrived in the Spring-Season.

Ergo Proxy – 15 – Q-QQ-Q!

by psgels, posted in Ergo Proxy



After seeing this episode, I knew. I totally knew. This anime’s crazy!

Finally, the subs of Ergo Proxy return. I think that the reason for this was a combination of Shinsen’s laziness (they only seem to be actively working on project which are subbed by other people. That’s why they’ve been churning out so many blood+ episodes right after Your-Mom started subbing that series) and the fact that this episode was supposed to be near-impossible to see. After watching the episode, I totally can understand that.

The case is this: we have a Proxy, who likes to kill his victims by using a fully fledged quiz show, complete with autoraves as the audience and he even broadcasts his show. The goal of the quiz is to accumulate 1000000 points, within 30 minutes. If the contestant manages to do this, the host, aka the Proxy, dies. If this goal isn’t reached, the contestant dies. By doing this, the Proxy has already managed to kill 24 other Proxies. It isn’t surprising that he plans to make Vincent as his 25th victim.

The first round: a fixed set of questions about general knowledge. We really get thrown into the episode, without any information about this at all. That only makes the confusion better, with some great effects.
– Question one: Which Philosopher said “Man is a reed, the weakest of nature, but he is a thinking reed”? Honestly, I have no idea what a reed means, but apparently, Pascal was the one who said that. Vincent doesn’t know this either.
– Question two: Which ancient Greek mathematician formulated the theorem that determines the length f the sides of a right triangle. That’s a simple one, Pythagoras. Vincent, however, doesn’t know about this. Things like these make you start wondering about what kind of education Vincent followed in his youth.
– Question three: According to the English author Lytton, “the pen is mightier than” what? Another easy one, and Vincent indeed knows the answer: “Sword”.
– Question four: What is the phenomenon that describes the pitch of a sound becoming higher as the source approaches, and lower as it departs? Another physics question. I’m ashamed to admit that I couldn’t think of Doppler at that moment. Neither did Vincent.
– Question five: At how many degrees centigrade is water’s density the greatest? Of course it’s 4, though again, I couldn’t think of the answer. Vincent also had t wrong.
– Question six is a peculiar one…: Which question is this? The sixth, of course. 😛
– Question seven: Who invited dynamite? The answer is Nobel, of course, though Vincent’s answer is quite funny: “Mr. Dynamite”.
– Question eight: In astronomy, the distance between which two celestial bodies is considered when defining an “astronomical unit”? Apparently, that’s the earth and the sun. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t know about it. Vincent also remains silent.
– Question nine is a brilliant one: What is the name of this song? Then the OP rolls.
It’s interesting. All of these questions are just basic knowledge, though this does show that time pressure can be powerful at times.

The introduction. It’s strange for a quiz-show to have one round first, and only after that round giving the explanation. Still, we already knew that this Proxy was rather eccentric. Apparently, the show is named Q-QQ-Q, and the Proxy introduces himself as MCQ. Then the explanation of the game follows, and I was startled a bit when I found out that MCQ would be dying as soon as the 1000000 points were reached. What follows was quite an amusing parody on a lot of different quiz-shows and then Vincent gets introduced to the audience. MCQ has a bit of a slow chat with the shy Vincent. Apparently, Vincent has accumulated 90000 points up till now. This means that, with probably 30000 per question answered correctly, Vincent does know the name of the OP. Quite interesting. ^^ Then, Real and Pino’s whereabouts are revealed. They seem to be in the supporters’ box, otherwise known as an unbreakable glass, soundproof tube. Both look quite pissed. ^^;

The second round: Who is this? We’re looking for a person. Every ten seconds, one hint is dropped. The more hints which are dropped, the less points you get.
– Hint one: He likes to wear black.
– Hint two: He’s got scary eyes.
– Hint three: He looks young. At this point, Vincent gives his first try: Real Mayer. She indeed likes to wear black, she looks young, and she certainly has scary eyes, especially in Vincent’s perspective. But she’s not a he, which means the answer is wrong, and I don’t think that Real liked it too much that Vincent saw her as someone with scary eyes. ^^;
– Hint four: He likes the cold.
– Hint five: He’s shy.
– Hint six: He thinks about Vincent a lot. This severely limits the possibilities. Vincent answers Pino, though that’s wrong again. She likes to dress in a bunny-suit, not black. Pino’s making some funny faces at that moment. ^^
– Hint seven: He’s quiet by nature.
– Hint eight: He’s tearful.
– Hint nine: He may be a two-timer.
– Hint ten: He always wins. This, indeed, has to be Ergo Proxy.
– Hint eleven: He’s naked beneath the blue sky. I’m suspecting that this is some kind of analogy.
– Hint twelve: A silhouette of Vincent, in Proxy-mode.
At the twelfth hint, Vincent also sees that the person is Ergo Proxy, and he answers. Very surprisingly, this episode suddenly turns from a strange filler to an episode dedicated to explain a few things about the background of this show. Vincent’s answer appears to be actually wrong. The right answer is Proxy One. This really is yet another one of Vincent’s aliases.

Round three: Mosaic Quiz. A distorted image is shown, and Vincent has to guess what it is. It seems like some sort of life cells, bearing a suspicious resemblance to the ones we saw in episode seven. Before we get to see the answer, MCQ gives a moment to the sponsors of the show, which appears to be the eye-catch. We never get to know the real answer afterwards, as we switch to Raoul. Apparently, he’s picked up the Proxy’s signal, and now knows exactly where Vincent is at that moment. This brings him back in the story. On the background, we hear Announcer-chan giving an explanation about something, though I don’t get it at all. The “Awakening” seems to have set a plan in motion, in order to attempt to preserve and transmit important data in the event the creator of something dies. In the land this takes place, there isn’t a need for a system to combat the planet’s environment, suggesting that there is some kind of place which isn’t poisoned and polluted like the rest of the world. For some reason, it seems that that’s the cause that the original bodies of some civilizations predecessors couldn’t be replicated so a new generation had to be constructed. Don’t ask me what kind of sense that’s supposed to make… In any case, this new generation was produced in a hurry, though they had nearly the same strength as the originals. In the end they weren’t strong enough for the project’s objectives, however. Still, despite these products being incomplete, he still embraced them. In return, these creations destroyed the world, so the creator failed to save the world that was.

Round four: Triple Chance. It’s the same as Round Three, but now Real and Pino have to guess as well. Real was quite funny when she got the chance to talk to Vincent again. What follows is a small history of the world, starting from the very beginning. Nothing new. Then, the distorted picture gets shown. It’s an unknown picture. Real doesn’t even bother playing along, and Pino pwns everyone once more by drawing a direct replica of the distorted picture. ^^ Vincent also has no idea.

And from this point, things really get interesting. The picture appeared to be a trump card, which was meant as a way for humans to escape the apparently fast-approaching Judgement Day. Apparently, at some point, humanity had gained the technology to migrate away from earth. It was created in a great hurry. The question remains: why was this technology never used? Or are we currently living in a world, abandoned by the humans who went to outer space? A world in which Humans have learned to survive after the Judgement Day? Quite an original setting for a sci-fi series, isn’t it?

Commercials: before the final round stars, a few commercials follow, and the stage for the final round is built up. The Proxy really stays in his role of host, even when the commercials have begun. Real and Pino are asked to leave, and it seems that commercials in the world of Ergo Proxy are exactly the opposite of what they are today: short.

The Final Round: More questions. A list of questions is asked, each correct one worth 30000 points. Vincent has to accumulate 910000 points, in order to win. Especially the first questions are very interesting, as they actually explain some valuable things about the world’s background yet again.
– Question one: What was the most important form of energy in the twenty-first century, formed by the compression of underground methane gas? Quite an impossible question for someone who isn’t into chemistry. The answer is methane hydrate.
– Question two: So, regarding that methane hydrate, a string of explosions in the reserves wiped out what percentage of the earth? It’s quite sudden, but it somehow does explain the current state of the world. At the twenty-first century, methane hydrate was the most important form of energy. This suggests that the substance is quite easily flammable, and that there were a huge amount of tanks, storing it. I’m suspecting that at one point, something went wrong, and one of these storage tanks exploded, causing a chain reaction in which a huge number of other storage tanks to explode as well. This wiped out 85% of the world population (the correct answer), turned the land into a wasteland and put the sky full of poisonous air. Still, there must’ve been a lot of methane hydrate in order to cause such a huge explosion.
– Question three: If you make an acronym out of the name f the plan to save humanity, you come up with double what? Another introduction for the next question. It appears to be Double P as the name of the plan to save humanity from these explosions. Vincent actually gets the answer, by trying things out.
– Question four is where the fun really starts: What is the biggest obstacle to the restoration of the human race? Proxy. Quite interesting. Especially when you compare it with the next question.
– Question five: How many Proxies were released as a result of the Double P, or Proxy Project? The PP was the plan to save humanity, though on the other hand, Proxies also are the biggest obstacle to the restoration of the human race. This definitely means that 300 Proxies (the right answer) were released, in order to stop the explosions, but this plan backfired horrifyingly. This, however, also means that Proxies were made by men. It also means that they were prepared. After all, you can’t just make them as if it’s nothing.
– Question six: What is the heartbeat of commencement? For some reason, it’s the end of the Proxy Project.
– Question seven: Cark Gustav Jung, a famous author on the subjects such as psychology and alchemy, revered which monarch? King of the Dead. I don’t know where this one fits in.
– Question eight: What was mankind’s other plan, which involved the creation of the Cogito virus? Boomerang Project. It’s got the same name as the rocket in the Triple Chance. Why are these two related? In fact, why was the Cogito virus released in the first place? In any case, it’s another plan of the humans which backfired.
Then, the questions stop informing about the background of the world, and show how Vincent keeps getting the answers right. This indeed shows that Vincent is special, even among the 300 other Proxies. There’s no way he’d be able to catch up this much in the final round, when twenty-four other Proxies have died before him. It seems that Ergo really wants to survive, no matter what. We’ve seen this before, though at that time, Vincent’s ability to survive was only compared to humans. Only now, it’s also being compared to the Proxies. I think the reason he’s special is because he’s Proxy One. This gives some clues that he was the first Proxy to be ever created/appear.

What follows is a small note about the Mistake Quiz. In which the audience has to find one mistake in the show. The previous show apparently showed some Koi Nobori, or huge fish flags, at which two scales missing. I have no idea where that came from, but ah well. I wonder if we’ll ever learn this week’s Mistake.

Then, MCQ says a final goodbye, in an interesting speech. Quite touching and original. Overall, I think this was a great episode. Not the best that Ergo Proxy has showed us, but it was definitely entertaining. I’m really loving these original methods the Proxies have for killing each other. Another thing I loved about the past two episodes was that you just get thrown into the scene, without knowing anything. And then at one point, you realize what’s going on.

xxxHolic – 18 – Spirits Have Interesting Rituals

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



Haha! This was yet another great example of a good xxxHolic episode. The theme of the episode once again was fascinating, the Vestal Sprite was very cute once more, but especially Watanuki was very interesting again. And funny. ^_^

This episode is about the Demon Parade, or the Hyakkiyakou. It’s a gathering of spirits, which happens once a year. This episode, xxxHolic gives its own version of the Hyakkiyakou. Yuuko seems to be a frequent visitor of this event, though now she lets Watanuki go instead. During the parade, each of the guests present has to carry a Demon Lantern, otherwise known as some flower from some tree which looks suspiciously like a paper lantern. The parade then goes to a huge, talking tree, which will provide nectar to every lantern. It seems that Yuuko loves this nectar. ^^

When Watanuki and Domeki arrive at the parade, it seems that none of the spirits has any bad intentions, as Watanuki doesn’t feel sick or nauseous. Only when Watanuki accidentally lets go of the lantern, the demons immediately notice him. It seems that humans in the spirit world are a big taboo, and the demons get extremely worried. They then decide to eat him.

I liked how this episode enjoyed to toy with predictability. The vestal sprites helped Watanuki escape by offering one of their flying boards, so the Vestal Sprite herself had to be near. When Watanuki falls from the sky, it’s indeed obvious that she’d save him, like she did before. She indeed wants to help Watanuki and Domeki escape, though when she grabs his hand, she gets scared, causing Watanuki to fall. After all, she’s extremely shy, and she’s in love with Watanuki. When he touches her hand like that, she’s bound to have such a reaction.

In any case, Keith and his gang get to be the ones to break Watanuki’s and Domeki (who fell along with him)’s fall, though in a very unorthodox way. The other spirits, however, still are after Watanuki. You’d expect that the Vestal Sprite would talk them out of it. She tries, indeed, though she’s way too shy to make any impression. The saviour also doesn’t get to be the Rain Sprite. It’s the child fox from episode four. He shows the monster the Haja arrow. This only shows how important such an item must be.

When they return, Yuuko seems to have waited for them. She then reveals that she loves drinking that nectar. She also tells Watanuki that there isn’t any alcohol, though I doubt that that’s true, as Watanuki seems to be getting drunk after he drinks it. It also seems that he’s very easy to get drunk, and he quickly sleeps in. Then, Domeki brings up something he’s been wondering: why did Yuuko meet up with the two of them once they returned? After all, Watanuki and Domeki’d just go to the shop and deliver the nectar to Yuuko. It seems that Domeki doesn’t need to enter the shop. Only people who have a need to enter the shop may enter it, and Domeki would disrupt this balance. Still, this is weird. I could have sworn that I saw Domeki at the shop numerous of times. At the end of the movie, for example.

On a side-note… am I the only one who noticed the magic rod from Sakura, from Card Captor Sakura between Yuuko’s stuff? It makes you wonder why Sakura needed to pay her a visit. In any case, it was very funny to see Akari and Yuuko have a pleasant conversation, right on top of Watanuki. He had more of these funny moments like this in the episode. ^_^

I also think that I’m beginning to understand how Yuuko’s planning to cure Watanuki: by making him well-known in the spirit-world. Akari already said that many spirits have heard of him. This episode only made him more famous. I think something’s bound to happen when enough spirits know/acknowledge him. I’m also getting more and more interested about Maru and Moro. They’re bodies without souls, though they still helped Mokona write the letter.

Wolf’s Rain Review – 62/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Wolf’s Rain is quite an interesting anime. It’s an action-adventure series, with an overall dark and grey mood. Some parts of the story are very creative and original. A world in which wolves are thought to have been extinct for 200 years. The wolves still being alive because they can take the appearance of a human. A religion which believe that humans have evolved from wolves. A quest for the wolves to paradise. Quite interesting, isn’t it? The anime also features some interesting-sounding side-stories, which seem really good on paper. However.

This could have become a good show, weren’t for the fact that the plot was so badly written, to the point it actually becomes laughable. The largest problem was that it seemed that the creators were trying to test the boundaries of coincidences. People conveniently run into each other for no reason at all, at exactly the right time. Twenty times. Per episode. It really becomes funny if this happens so many times in one anime.

That, however, isn’t the only thing wrong with the plot of this show. The creators seemed to have thrown in certain events which don’t make any friggin’ sense at all. For example, wolves who travel for about a month through harsh, snowy terrain, making several pitstops at towns as well make as much progress as a hypermodern spacecraft. piloted by the bad guy. People also get hit by gunshots, and just keep walking around like nothing happened and it’s also nowhere explained why the wolves are so incredibly strong other than give the main characters an excuse to stand out.

And I haven’t even started to talk about the predictability of some of the scenes yet. It was quite funny to see the show take a predictable turn each and every time. The creators’ attempts at romance also totally backfired, as these were the most predictable and hilarious of the entire show. Especially when two lovers were portrayed happily dancing and running in a field full of flowers, and were actually serious about it.

The main characters also were a collection of clichés: tough, impulsive silent guy, annoying brat, carefree dude and hardened streetpunk. Especially the main character likes to go into fights without a reason at all. And these characters are also stupid enough to take a flower girl who needs only sunlight and water to survive into a forest so thick that sunlight and water don’t come through. Still, I have to admit. The side-characters definitely were interesting, when they weren’t entangled by the show’s predictability.

This show really surpasses every other show at episode 15, when it comes with not one, not two, but actually four friggin’ recap episodes. All these episodes do is tell the exact same thing, compressed in four episodes. It was really annoying, trying to get through these episodes. Then the show continues again, with it’s mildly interesting pacing, like nothing ever happened.

Then, at episode 26, this anime actually takes a turn for the better, and the final five episodes actually were surprisingly good and well-written. That is, until you realize the kind of ending the creators were going for, after which the thing turns predictable again. Still, I have to admit. Especially the first half of these final five episodes was worth seeing. But perhaps that was because they focused more at the side-characters than the main characters… hmmm…. In any case, the ending itself was rather dull. Still, the final bad guy was quite interesting to see.

And yes, I have to admit. This show’s got a big budget, which means pretty graphics and music. There’s nothing wrong with the art, and especially near the end, the music really contributes to the series. The art, animation and sounds are one thing not messed up in this anime.

Overall, I still enjoyed watching this anime. This really is a good example of an anime which is so bad, that it actually becomes good. If you really like to mock anime, I definitely recommend this anime, as it’s got so many flaws up to the point that it becomes laughable. Still, if you combine this with the good points, the result ends up being quite entertaining.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 19 – And The Second Arc Is Solved

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Okay. So Rena has a machete, Mion has a gun, Keiichi has a bat, and Shion appears to have an electrifier. In any case, Shion really freaked out during this episode, it seems that the disease finally got to her. Still, this episode explained so many things about the second arc. I think that every problem which only appeared during that arc and that arc alone is solved this way. Except for one thing: Rika. How did she know what Shion was doing and why did she stab herself to death? In any case, I’ll talk about this later. First, the summary.

We start with where we left off during the previous episode. The phone rings, and Mion picks up, still holding Shion. The caller remains unknown, though he informs her about something. Mion then tells him to silence everyone and hangs up. Mion then tells Shion that Tomitake and Takano have died. Takano was found stuffed in a barrel somewhere in a far away mountain, apparently burned. Tomitake used his own hands to tear away his throat. Still, I still think that Takano killed him, and stuffed him away in her car. Then, she dumped him somewhere and somehow found the need to drive to a faraway mountain. In there, something happened to her in which she ended up in that barrel, burned.

Mion then blames Oyashiro-sama, in a very serious look. Then, Shion electrifies her, along with Obaba. Then the OP rolls, and we get to see the same scene we saw at the beginning of episode 16. Mion then gets stuffed in the underground prison. Shion then questions her a bit, and Mion starts acting like her normal self again. She’s obviously surprised at Shion’s actions.

Mion then tells Shion that she doesn’t know what happened to Tomitake and Takano. I’m not sure if she’s lying or not. Shion then asks whether the string of murders, otherwise known as Oyashiro’s curse, really had the purpose as the Distinction for the Dam War. Mion considers it a possibility, though she neither confirms nor denies. Still, I don’t think that that’s the reason. After all, why did Rika and her family have to die?

Mion also reveals an interesting fact. Despite the fact that she’s the next head, she doesn’t have any power at all. She only acts as a spokesperson for Obaba. Obaba still decides everything. Mion also believes that there’s another person than herself who’ll be inheriting her true position. This is quite an interesting piece of information. Mion isn’t as powerful as we thought she was.

Mion then really gets surprised when she finds out that Tomitake and Takano have violated the festival shrine. The way she reacted couldn’t have been a lie, I think. She also then considers it natural that because the two of them entered the shrine, they were bound to be killed. However, Mion does mention the fact that there were four people who snuck in. Nobody could’ve told her that. It’s either basic reasoning, or she could be hiding something as well.

Shion then gets upset when she finds out that Mion’s suggesting that Shion is going to disappear and heads for Obaba. She appears to have died, which is only logical. After all, old woman -> delicate body -> dies easily. Especially from such a shock. Shion, however, isn’t happy with it, and starts to edit Obaba’s face with a whip. In the usual badly animated way. It didn’t work really well. Shion then hears some footsteps, suggesting at the same presence she felt before, and the same presence Keiichi felt when he set off to kill Satoko’s uncle.

Shion then returns to Mion, to question her about the location of the infamous well from the second arc. It’s where the corpses are dropped when the torture has finished. She also shows Obaba’s dead body. Quite a shock for Mion. Mion then suspects that the reason for Shion’s acting is Satoshi, which is quite accurate. Shion then explains to her that it was the fact that Obaba lied to her about letting Satoshi go which made her act the way she did.

Later, Kimiyoshi, or the village elder, seems to give a phone call to the Sonozaki-residence. Shion picks up, pretending to be Mion. At five O’clock, there would be an emergency-meeting by the village council, and Obaba had to attend. Shion then tells him that Obaba isn’t feeling too well, and that she’ll be coming in her place. She hangs up. Kimiyoshi, meanwhile, heads for his proctologist for an unpleasant meeting.

Kasai then phones. Shion then tells Kasai about that she snuck in the shrine during the festival, along with Tomitake, Takano and Keiichi. Kasai then finds it very hard to stay on Shion’s side. It seems that entering the festival shrine seems to be a far worse crime than she thought. Then, Shion plans her next step. It seems that she wants to find out who Oyashiro-sama actually is, and she’s planning to use Keiichi as bait for this.

The next day, Shion decides to talk to Keiichi personally. It was amusing to see Keiichi’s attempts at lying from a third person. ^^

Shion gets pissed off when she finds out that Mion asked him the exact same thing during the night of the Watanagashi. We saw it during the second arc. Shion leaves, Rika jumps on Keiichi and Mion starts asking a couple of suspicious questions. In any case, Shion intended to do this in order to seed Keiichi with doubt and fear of his surroundings.

Shion then heads, still dressed up as Mion, for the festival shrine for the town council meeting. The village elder speaks first, with a looooong greeting. Then the subject of the Watanagashi-murders gets brought up, and the air gets a lot tenser. The village elder then asks Shion whether Obaba has mentioned anything, and then Shion shows that she can act at times. Still, she definitely gets nervous.

Shion talks about the fact that the curse occurred yet again because someone entered the festival shrine. Surprisingly, this is new to the town council. Of course, it isn’t sure that everyone of them didn’t know about it, as it’s very easy not to get noticed during this, but I’m believing for now that the entire town council didn’t know about it.

The reactions of the members of the town council are far worse than I imagined. It seems that it’s really a heavy taboo if you enter the festival shrine. Even the town elder screams to curse them. Shion then reasons that the person who connects Obaba with Oyashiro, and the one who’ll inherit Obaba’s position are present in the room. Still, I don’t get her arguments…

Then, when Shion starts to talk about Keiichi and herself as the ones who have violated the shrine, everyone suddenly turns emotionless. She then tells that Shion has already been taken care of, while Keiichi still runs free. Then we turn to the end of the meeting, where Shion invites the village elder to come to her house. Se tells him that Obaba wants to speak to him, concerning Shion.

The village elder then, however seems to show sympathy for Shion. Shion’s happy to learn that he’s on her side. That is, until he starts talking about Satoshi. As Satoshi’s parents tried to sold the village out, Satoshi didn’t deserve to be forgiven. Then he tells Shion something interesting. It seems that she never repented for Satoshi in the first place. It wasn’t as I predicted. The fact that guards had to cut off her third fingernail still was enough to repent for the third person, though that person isn’t Satoshi. It’s Shion herself. Satoshi never was mentioned in this.

As predictable, Shion then loses it, probably with the disease helping her a bit. She starts cursing the three houses, and she electrifies the village elder as well.

Okay, the second arc explained (at least, I hope. With a bit of help from Memento’s summaries):
The first episode basically covered Keiichi realizing that Mion and Shion were twins. In the beginning, he thought that Mion just was making things up, though he proved to be quite wrong (*interesting note: both Mion’s as Shion’s part time jobs were never mentioned again after this arc. Strange*). At first, I thought that both of them were in love with Keiichi, though I was wrong. Mion’s in love with Keiichi, and during episode 5, Shion was just teasing Mion, by making her moves on Keiichi. Keiichi only reminded Shion of Satoshi when he patted her on the head. Something he didn’t do during the second arc.

Then the second episode. During Rika’s performance, Shion takes Keiichi to the festival shrine. Takano had invited her to come along, and she thought that she might get some clues about why Satoshi went missing. She was too scared to go alone, though she figured that when she was with Keiichi, she’d be okay.

After the visit, Tomitake and Takano head for the river shore, Shion leaves after she wonders what the banging sound was. Now it seems that it’s the one she’s searching for. Quite possibly, it’s all happening in her head, because of the disease. Rena, Mion, Satoko and Rika run into Keiichi. Mion then decides to take Keiichi to the riverbank, while the others head for other directions. When the two are alone, Mion gets creepy and asks if he met Shion that night. If Mion really didn’t know that the two of them have entered the shrine, then I think that she saw Shion take Keiichi and leave. She didn’t decide to go after them. As she’s in love with Keiichi, she probably thought that Keiichi and Shion were planning to do some naughty things deep in the forest. That’s why she turned so gloomy at that point. She couldn’t take that Keiichi didn’t have eyes for her.

The next day, Keiichi runs into Mion again. At least, that’s what he thinks. The night before, Shion went berserk, killed Obaba and locked Mion away. Then we get to see the scene we saw during this episode, in which Shion drops some suspicious hints regarding the festival shrine. This also explains why she suddenly knew that Keiichi entered the shrine: because she’s been there herself. This is probably the thing that triggers Keiichi’s disease.

Then we turn to that evening. Shion has just killed the village elder, and she decides to continue to use Keiichi as bait. Therefore, she makes him meet up with Oishi. Oishi then wonders if Shion is Shion or Mion, and Shion excuses herself. I think that, from Shion’s perspective, we’ll indeed see her get nervous like that during the next episode. In any case, Oishi tells Keiichi about the status of the Sonozaki-family.

That evening, Shion calls again, in an attempt to put even more fear into Keiichi. She tells him about the deaths of Tomitake and Takano, and the fact that two deaths require two people demoned away. Keiichi then really begins to lose it, and Mion has her mission accomplished. The way we saw it at the end of the sixth episode, it seemed like Shion had lost her hope in Keiichi, so she hang up. In reality, she was probably smirking with a satisfying smile.

Okay, next up is the third episode. In class, people are talking about the village elder. He left a meeting, being held in a shrine (the Furude-shrine) and disappeared afterwards. Now we know that Shion indeed killed the guy.

Then, the only unexplainable thing in this arc happens: Rika. I like how everything is kept mysterious about her. I also realize that I left out one very important detail about this conversation: when Keiichi saw Rika, she looked beaten up, and she was crying. For some reason, Rika knows about Keiichi who entered the Shrine, and she starts her cryptic conversation.

I do have a theory, though. The fact remains that Shion hates the three main families, for their hate towards Satoshi. I’m positive that she’s planning to dispose of them. That’s the reason she wanted to kill Rika, but not Satoko or Rena: because Rika’s a member of one of the three main houses.

Now, what if Shion, dressed up as Mion paid Rika a little visit, right before Keiichi saw her? What if Shion hit Rika on the ground, and told her about Keiichi? What if that was meant as some kind of warning? Not only would this be extremely sad, this would fit perfectly in the story. Shion has already proved to be quite dangerous, so I really can see her attack the poor Rika. Afterwards, Rika decided to give Keiichi a couple of cryptic hints, after which she went to Shion, and stabbed herself to death. I really can’t think of any way why she would do such a thing.

Okay, next up: Shion calls again. She tries to bring more and more fear into Keiichi, by mentioning the village elder. She puts up an act, in which she tells Keiichi that she told the guy that she snuck into the shrine, while in fact, she killed the guy at that time. This makes Keiichi suddenly get worried about Rika. I think that this was all planned by Shion. She actually went to Rika, in order to warn her, so that she’d talk to Keiichi. Then, al she had to do was kill Rika and make Keiichi believe it was because of the curse.

In any case, Keiichi calls Rena, who begins to play for detective. Shion then steps in her Mion-role and the three head for Rika’s house. Shion then finds a ladder, and Rena goes to the main house of the Furude-family in order to get somebody with a key. Meanwhile, the topic of conversation gets brought to Satoshi again and, not surprisingly, Shion loses it again and lets the disease take over again like she always does when the guy gets mentioned.

Then Rena arrives with the key, and they head inside the house. Shion then plays even more with Keiichi’s mind, when she tells him that Rika disappeared because of Oyashiro-sama. It’s quite effective, though Rena comforts Keiichi.

Then we turn to the next morning, with Keiichi and Rena again. Rena mentions the fact that Mion had troubles waking up, though I think Shion was on the verge of losing it when Rena contacted her, so she decided not to respond, and make it seem like she disappeared. Then, Rena comes with her surprisingly accurate theory. Another reason why I’m really wanting this arc to end. I’m really looking forward to see Rena in the spotlights again. She’s got a really interesting character.

Anyway, Oishi then runs into the two of them. He wants to have a little talk to Keiichi, so Rena leaves. Oishi then tells him about the village elder, who went to visit a proctology clinic and got involved in a traffic accident afterwards. Keiichi then realizes that Shion was the one who killed the guy. I never EVER thought, at that point, that Keiichi could actually be RIGHT in his reasoning…

Oishi also mentions that he knows that Keiichi, Shion, Tomitake and Takano have snuck into the festival storehouse, because of some rumours which have been floating around. That’s quite logical, as it was Shion herself who spread them. Oishi then reveals that Shion’s been missing. This too, is quite logical as Shion has been continuing to pretend to be Mion, in order to not get too suspicious. I guess, that in order to do that, she had to disappear herself. Oishi then tries to search to a nonexistent link between something that Tomitake, Takano and Shion did do, while Keiichi, the only survivor, didn’t. It seems that he’s on the wrong tracks on this one.

That evening, Shion decides to call again. At this point, I think that something happened, which made her quite unsure, and which was the reason for her to pretend to oversleep. She sounded quite desperate at that point, and most definitely not aware from the fact that Keiichi heard that she’s actually missing. I think that at this point, she’s really beginning to break down. This is only strengthened when Keiichi comes with the fact that he knows that she killed the village elder. That definitely was something she didn’t plan for. After all, she didn’t know about the village elder’s proctological problems. More proof that she went crazy follows as she starts calling in a really scary and maniacal way.

Finally, episode 4. It starts with Keiichi confessing to Rena. It seems that she also figured out about what went on. Her detective skills earlier indeed showed that she’s able to easily figure out such a thing. Especially if countless of rumours are floating around. The two of them decide to go to Mion. Then Oishi runs into them, and Rena finds out that Oishi plans to use Keiichi as bait, in order to get permission to search the Sonozaki residence. Keiichi’s often used as bait, isn’t he?

In any case, the two of them reach the house and Shion opens. Keiichi apologizes and Shion acts like she doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to blow her cover after all. Then, Rena mentions Rika’s death, and more especially, Satoko’s death. Like I said before, Shion wanted to kill Rika. She never wanted to do anything to Satoko, though she came along anyway. Satoko then found out about Shion’s complot (probably by seeing a dead body somewhere) so Shion was forced to kill her as well. Shion doesn’t like the fact that Rena found out about this, no doubt she feels very cornered. The then tells a bit about the history of Hinamizawa-village. Shion also mentions the three bikers from the fifth episode. When I first saw this, I thought that it was Mion who worked at the restaurant. In the end, it seems I was wrong.

Shion then mentions the demon carved in her body, and it actually seems that she was the one with the tattoo, not the other way around. You’d wonder how she got it. I’m suspecting that it’s something she got in her youth. Remember that she told about the harsh way she was treated in the sixteenth episode? Also, Shion believes that there’s a demon in her body, though I think that that’s just the disease. Remember, during episode 17 when Shion mentions that the demon inside her was born? It was just Shion who convinced herself that she was acting weird. She had to blame something, so she blamed the demon, not aware of the disease.

Shion then confesses that she was either directly, or indirectly involved with each of the Watanagshi-murders. This is just a lie. Shion answers how she thinks Mion would have answered. She thinks that Mion was involved with each of the murders, so it’s quite logically that she’d say such a thing.

Then, Shion asks Rena to have thirty minutes alone with Keiichi. Shion holds Keiichi’s hand a bit, and then tells him that she actually loved him. Probably because he reminded her of Satoshi. Keiichi then replies with the message that Mion will always one of his best friends, no matter what happens. Quite funny, if you consider that he’s talking to Shion.

Shion then takes Keiichi to Mion. It seems that she performed quite some gruesome tortures on Mion, which turned her insane. I guess that in the end, the only thing of Mion which remained was her love for Keiichi. That’s why she was so incredibly glad to see him, and freaked out when she saw Shion. What follows is Shion dropping a large stone on top of Keiichi’s head and tying him up on some kind of torturing device.

When Keiichi wakes up, Shion tells Keiichi the story that Mion was supposed to be freaking out after Keiichi gave the doll to Rena. That’s very nice. But it’s all a lie. Keiichi then asks three things of Shion: forgive Shion, give Mion’s body back and let him go. He adds the last one when Shion wonders why he doesn’t care for himself at all. It now becomes logical when Shin claims that she can’t forgive herself. And giving Mion’s body back also is a bit impossible, as it was never taken over in the first place. It’s also interesting that right before Shion tries to drive the first nail into Keiichi’s finger, she hesitates a bit. Keiichi still reminded her too much of Satoshi. (On a side-note: don’t you find it ironic that Shion chose the same torture that Satoshi had to endure for Keiichi?)

Then, Shion hears the police, and she’s forced to stop. She electrifies Keiichi as well, hides in the well and then kills herself. Probably because of the dead bodies. I guess we’ll know this reason in two episodes. The next day, Keiichi begins seeing things because of the disease, and then he stabs himself. Mion, meanwhile has really lost it and jumped from the top floor of the hospital.

While reading back at my older posts, it seems that I forgot one important detail, which got mentioned at the end of the eight episode, and which messes up everything: Takano actually died before the Watanagashi. This means that Takano either grabbed another body, and made it look like she was the one who died, someone pretended to be Takano, or something’s really messed up here… O_o

This means that Mion really didn’t commit any of the murders in the second arc. Still, I don’t think she’s totally innocent when it comes to the main story. After all, she did get into a fight with Oishi. She did freak out during the third episode of the first arc. She did get into a fight with the first Watanagashi-victim.

I also realized something, for the first time this episode. Shion may be actually on the trail of catching the real criminal. The real criminal may be the one who’ll really be the successor of Obaba. With a bit of luck, this person actually was the one to spread the disease, commit the Watanagashi-murders, get involved with Tomitake and Takano’s death, killed Rika, disposed of Oishi and let the volcanic gas escape. Okay, there may be different persons behind all of these events, but somehow I’m feeling that there’s only one person. I have no idea who it is, but the only things I know for sure is:
– The person is a member of one of the three great houses. Otherwise, this person wouldn’t have been able to succeed Obaba.
– The person is on good terms with Rika. I think that that’s the only way to explain the fourth arc.

I think that at one point, Shion’s going to give up on her mission of making Keiichi the victim, in order to lure out Keiichi. I think that at one point, she realizes that Oyashiro-sama’s curse is just a legend, brought to life because of some coincidences. Every year, one person went missing while one person died. During the fifth year, this had to be adjusted when two people died, in order to make the curse sound right again. Of course, the balance was bound to be disrupted when Shion went on and killed four other people.

Overall, whoa… this really is my largest post EVER, aside from the montly summaries, perhaps. The second arc suddenly became clear after this episode, though one fact remains. I hate Shion. She remains such an annoying character. Ah well, it only has me longing for the sixth arc more and more. And let’s hope for an additional OVA containing the final two arcs of Higurashi. ^_^

Ayatsuri Sakon – 08 – Sakon Really is a Different Person Without Ukon

by psgels, posted in Ayatsuri Sakon



I’m going to blog this arc a bit more systematic than I did with the previous ones. After all, this show deserves some kind of character analysis. This is an interesting arc, in which Sakon actually is without Ukon. To make things even better, Ukon’s actually missing, with a possibility of being in the fire. Of course, we know he isn’t really gone, as it would make for a bit of a crappy second half of the series, but still.

Sakon still remains the main character in this anime, but, like I said, this time, it’s with a few twists: he’s without Ukon, and he has personal interest in the murder. The first is the most interesting, as Sakon’s suddenly lost all of the confidence and level-headedness he used to have in the previous two arcs. He’s turned unsure, he doesn’t know when to speak and when to keep silent, he’s become inpatient, and you can actually read emotions off his face. Something he was quite cleverly hiding in the previous two arcs. This also is shown when Hayami’s building caught fire. If this would have been a normal case, he would have attempted to calm everyone, ask the elder about Ukon and then start to search for him. But because the bond between the two is too big, all he can do is sit in a corner in foetus-pose.

Ukon either was hidden in Hayami’s building, in a place the fire couldn’t reach, or he’s somewhere in the main building. The fact remains that nobody talked about his location, even when Sakon asked. This means that something must have happened, and that there are more things going on than the ones we got to see during this episode. I’m also starting to thing that the guy really has a soul, despite being a puppet. When Sakon was performing with him, at the beginning of the episode, he moved very slowly, almost unnatural, though then he actually felt pain when some of his parts weren’t connected smoothly. Then he fell out of his role and became the old Ukon again, acting very natural. It’s no wonder that Sakon has been considering him as a very good friend. I’m so much reminded of the persocon-dilemma.

Sayoko plays the role the woman played in the first arc, and the police officer played in the second arc: supporting character. (Another reason I’m doing these character analysises, it gives me a good overview of the different characters, and their names. The previous arcs learned me that the names of the different characters are impossible to remember, unless you write them down somehow) It’s interesting to see how the relationship between Sakon and the supporting character keep changing with every arc. In the first arc, he protected the woman. In the second arc, he helped the police officer with her investigations. In the third arc, Sayoko helps Sakon, and actually tries to comfort him. She’s quite a strong girl, having lost her parents at a young age and all that. So far, I like her character, though we know that she’ll be surviving in the end. Ah well. You can’t have everything.

Hayami is the first victim. He dies because someone let all of the gas escape from a small camping-cooking-thingy (how did you call those again?). All Hayami had to do is light a lighter, attempting to smoke a cigaret, and the building catches fire. I don’t think he would’ve survived that treatment. Hayami is a master in puppet-making, though he thinks too high of himself. Add that to the fact that he likes getting drunk, and that this he starts insulting people very easily when drunk, and you can come to the conclusion that he’s made lots of enemies. One of these enemies probably let the chamber get filled with gas. He also was the one who fixed Ukon up, so Sakon immediately believes that Ukon was in the building as well, as it set aflame.

Main suspect #1 is Kishikawa. He also makes puppets, but he’s far from as skilled as Hayami. Hayami, in his turn, likes to brag in front of Kishikawa about his achievements, and Kishikawa himself has a very short temper. Naturally, Kishikawa’s come to hate Hayami because of this. One explanation for the murder could be that Kishikawa couldn’t take the pressure anymore, let his anger go out of control and thought of a way to kill the guy, which in the end succeeded. Still, I don’t think that that’s what happened. If he were to kill because of that reason, if he really let his anger get out of control, he would rather grab a pointy object and stab the guy to death. Also, when he realized that Hayami was dead, he didn’t give the reaction you would expect from a killer. It was rather an event which conveniently removed a major pest from his life.

Main suspect #2 is Yoshida. He’s in love with a woman named Keiko. Keiko, however, seems to be in love with Hayami, and thinks Yoshida as some kind of freak. Hence the dilemma. He’s so much in love with her that he’s become obsessed with her. He could have thought that if Hayami would be dead, he would be able to win Keiko over him. obsessed people are able to do strange things. He also had a suspicious smile on his face when he saw Keiko’s reaction when she found out about Hayami’s death. Still, I don’t think he did it. Simply because it’s too damn obvious. I know that the creators aren’t that stupid to drop the most important clue right at the beginning of the arc. He does play a role, though. But he’s not the one who did it.

Keiko’s reasons for loving Hayami remain unknown. She seems like the servant of the puppet-makers, so she would have a lot of contact with both Hayami and Yoshida, so perhaps something in the past happened to make the two of them being attracted to each other. In any case, she was devastated when she saw Hayami killed. Yoshida and Kishikawa didn’t really help to comfort her.

Aoki is the guy who has his head wrapped up in bandages. Either he has a strange sense of fashon, or he got in a nasty accident a while ago. In any case, we don’t see too much of him, though he does get to be the host for the guests who arrive at their house, and he seems to have a strong sense of honor, when he tried to prevent Kishikawa from getting out of control in front of a guest at all cost. Overall, he seems like a nice guy, which makes me think that he actually was the one who did it. I hope that Ayatsuri Sakon isn’t beginning to get formulaic.

I’m suspecting that the old guy is Fukami, though it’s never directly said. In any case, he’s an old master of puppet craftsmanship, and he’s the head of the mansion. He seems like a nice old guy, but the fact that he never said anything about Ukon’s location disturbs me. When Sakon arrived, wouldn’t the first thing be to hand him the puppet, instead of having a small chat. Even after Sakon asks what happened to him?

Ririsu, while I doubt that she has anything to do with the murder, you can’t be too careful these days. She’s a cat Sayoko picked up from somewhere, and she seems to like to run away towards adventures. I’m suspecting that she proved quite the support for Sayoko regarding her parents.

Overall, it was a nice first episode. This arc definitely seems intriguing. Especially Sayoko comforting Sakon at the end of the episode was too cute.

Some quick first impressions: Night Head Genesis, FLAG and Mamotte Lollipop

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Thank goodness the overall quality of this batch is better than the previous ones, with major thanks to Night Head Genesis for this. It’s great to see that for each bad show, there also is a good show during this season.

Night Head Genesis

Despite the cheesy title, this definitely is one of the better series to air this season, aside from Otogi Juushi Akazukin perhaps. Especially the first episode is beautiful. Two young brothers, both paranormally gifted, are shunned by everyone throughout their entire life. One of them can make things blow up when he’s angry, while the other can read people’s minds if he touches them. When the oldest one was about ten years old and the youngest five years old, they got separated from their parents, as they became too dangerous. Especially the reaction of the oldest brother when he found out about this was just too sad to see. Another MAJOR plus of this anime is the terrific music it features. The tunes are extremely simple, but I think it’s because they’re so simple that they work perfectly. I’m really recommending this show.

FLAG

This show already is extremely popular, after only its first episode got subbed. I think, however, it’s still a bit too early to label this show as good or bad, as the first episode was just one big introduction to the anime. The background story got explained, the characters introduced, but nothing really happened. I think that that’s up for the second episode. In any case, this anime tries to be as realistic and believable as possible. The story features around a small country, in the middle of civil war. A young photographer makes a picture which later turns into the symbol of peace. When the peace negotiations are threatened to get interrupted by extremists, this photographer gets sent back to this country, in order to report for a local army, which plans to fight the ones who oppose the peace. I’m not sure whether it was a good idea for the creators to include mechas for this army, when the anime clearly focuses at photography. Still, a lot of thought was put in the design of this mecha. For once, things actually made a bit sense, as the creators tried to show how the mecha works from the inside. It’s better than the usual techno babble we see in most mecha-shows.

Mamotte Lollipop

Okay. This is just stupid. Not necessarily in a bad way, but unfortunately not in a good way either. It’s definitely the shoujo-series, from beginning to end. The story’s like this: our main character’s dreamguy is someone who protects her from anything bad coming her way. What does she get? Not one, but *gasp* two pretty bishounen who protect her from anything bad coming her way. All because she swallowed a magical pearl they need in order to succeed for their magical exams. If we ignore the very unorthodox final exam the magical world features, the anime’s decent. Some funny jokes are made, some of the characters are interesting, but overall, it doesn’t really add anything new. It seems that the entire show will be focused around these two guys, protecting the girl. I’m not planning to follow this one, as I doubt that I can endure more of the same for twelve more episodes. Still, the flying car was hilarious.

.Hack//Roots – 18 – Why Spoil Things In The ED?

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



Looking back at the beginning of the show, I realize again why I loved it so much. It just featured the Twillight Brigade searching for the Key of the Twilight, in which so much stuff happened during one episode at once. The characters were interesting, it was almost impossible to not have a character you liked. People talked with each other, especially the fact that we had lots of different, interesting characters resulted in many interesting conversations.

And the music! I remember that during the beginning of the show, some amazing tunes were played. The way they were used along with the flow of events really contributed to the series’ awesomeness. Why the heck did the creators decide to put less emphasis on this at the second half of the anime?! The background music has suddenly turned from one of the best ever to just plain mediocre!

I think that the creators chose the theme of this anime wrong. MMORPGs are not about fighting monsters, they’re about interacting. This indeed was what the first nine episodes were about, though starting from number ten, it seems that this theme has become a little lost. For some reason, I just can’t seem to sympathize with Haseo if I know that he’s just paranoid behind his computer, and that the Haseo we’re seeing is just an image, nothing more.

The cliff-hanger also didn’t really work this time. Why? Because the creators somehow found it a good idea to include the same transformed Haseo in the ED. We already knew for seventeen episodes that he’d turn out like this. That doesn’t really contribute to the shock it’s supposed to give, now does it?

Ah well, one advantage is that as the creators are showing all of this right now, it means that the final eight episodes can focus on other, more important things. Haseo finally looks like he’ll be getting interesting again. Tabby will most certainly not do nothing after seeing this, so with a bit of luck, the two major annoyances will be gone after the next episode.

I’m also a bit concerned about Taihaku. It just feels like he hasn’t been introduced properly. Right now, it seems that his only role is to show us what would happen if you behave politely to the red guy. If you act polite, you get a weapon which can do some interesting tricks. If you start yelling, you get zapped. Still, the fact remains that the reason why this event was created, just to give some guys some cool weapons remains very interesting.

In any case, there was one character I loved during this episode: Saburou. During the previous episode, she was sent to track down Haseo, and eventually ended up with Taihaku. Now it seems that she lost him, and everything keeping her from quitting is Pai, who orders her to go after Haseo. And then she finally retaliates, and does the things that she wants to do, instead of the things Pai wants her to do. Indeed the right thing to do in an MMORPG. I really like the objective way she looks at things. Her analogies also were very nice as well.

Saburou also makes a nice point about Pai. Her personality differs so much to Ender’s. This has to say that she’s quite a good actor, but you’d wonder about why she decided to change personalities as well. Is it because she would be too suspicious, or did she see it as a good opportunity to change herself? And which is her real personality? Ender, Pai or none of them? She must have some reason to act the way she does.

The conversation between Taihaku and the red guy also was one of the first times I really was reminded of .Hack//Sign. It looked so much like the conversation Tsukasa, Mimiru and Bear had with the digital version of the original creator of the game. I’m also heavily suspecting these guys to be the same person, with Aura as the daughter. It seems that she’s still alive in The World somewhere. The Key of the Twilight may have been lost, though there are many clues which point towards the fact that Shino and Ovan met Aura at some point.

Overall, I’m glad that the Forest of Despair-arc was finished. The three main characters, Haseo, Tabby and Phyllo, weren’t really exciting to watch. Nevertheless, I’m still curious about how this series will continue. The potential for amazingness still remains.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 07 – The Slide To Fandavale

by psgels, posted in Otogi Juushi Akazukin



Ah. In the end, it seems that this was just a two-episode arc, instead of letting Ringo get captured for a longer while. It also seems that we won’t be saying goodbye to her yet, as in the end, she ends up going to Fandavale as well. Still, I like the pacing of the show. The fact that we’re already at this stage, when only seven of 39 episodes have been shown has to say something, doesn’t it?

We start with a little recap of the previous episode. Satou then tries to call Ringo, though she doesn’t answer. This is logical, as she’s just been kidnapped. Gretel, meanwhile, begs her brother from one more chance. She gets it. Baru, meanwhile, has found Ringo’s cell phone and the food she dropped when Gretel took her. Gretel uses this as a chance to tell the two of them that Ringo has been kidnapped, in puppet style. ^_^

Akazukin then tells this to Shirayuki and Ibara. The plan is for the two of them and Baru to bring Souta to the playground, while Akazukin goes to save Ringo. Souta doesn’t have to know about what happened to her, and Akazukin feels that she needs to save Ringo, as she’s an important friend.

Souta, of course, gets his doubts, when Akazukin suddenly has to go away in order to take care of something. That, and Ringo not responding is still on his mind. Shirayuki tries to cover, though this time, she fails horribly in it. It’s interesting. At times, she’s a perfectly good actor, though for some reason, she can’t seem to lie to Souta. Ibara gets to be the one to stop him in the end. In a very amusing way. ^_^

Another very amusing scene occurs when Akazukin’s being followed by Hansel’s little spy. We see both of them disappear into a corner, after which we hear some very disturbing sound effects and the screen shakes a bit. In the end, Akazukin finds out about Ringo’s location. Shirayuki, Ibara, Baru and Souta meanwhile have reached the playground, after which Ibara and Shirayuki decide to go after Ringo as well, using some very shallow cover-ups. I’d love to see the subs, and find out what they were really trying to say. ^^;

Souta also finds out what happened to Ringo in a very creative way. It seems that Akazukin has stuffed Ringo’s phone in one of Baru’s pockets, so when Souta tries to call her, he surprisingly hears a cell phone go off near Baru. ^^; Gretel, meanwhile, gets angry when it seems that Souta isn’t around, and so she and Akazukin start fighting. Baru, meanwhile, tries to prevent Souta from going to Ringo. It takes a while, but in the end, he indeed sees that Souta wants to go to Ringo. Still, I appreciate the fact that this was neither too easy nor too hard for the both of them.

Randagio, meanwhile, seems to have joined in the fight between Akazukin and Gretel, and sent a couple of bloodthirsty giant rats. It seem that he as well is trying to please Hansel, as he’s been failing as well, after all. In the end, Baru gets to be the one to help Akazukin in this. It sgood to see him in action again, as he’s been a bit neglected in the last couple of episodes. I also loved the fact that he enters with the message that he’s not a dog, even if nobody has mentioned it yet. ^^

Gretel then uses her gravity-spell in order to make everything extra heavy. Randagio isn’t pleased to see that even his rats have become unable to move. Gretel then, lifts the spell on the two rats, and makes hem attack. Ibara then counters in a deus ex machina. I wonder why the two of them were so late, after all, Souta and Baru left later, but arrived earlier. I think I can imagine a couple of things they could have been doing. Especially in Ibara’s case. ^^;

In any case, the rats are no match for the three musketeers cooperating. In the end, Gretel also takes a few hits, though when she tries to crawl up again, Hansel appears. This time, however, he’s not here to protect his sister, but he finally actually does something himself. It seems that he’s becomes sick of both Randagio and Gretel, who keep failing him. The two of them look pretty hurt when they find out about this, each in his/her own way.

Hansel then summons his weapon, which looks a suspicious lot like an old broom, and summons a huge dragon. Ringo then, as a last resort, tries to use provoke Souta by threatening to hurt Ringo if he doesn’t come along with her. Ringo, however, shows that she isn’t just a damsel in distress when she escapes with her own power. Hansel, however, then pushes her off a significant height. Souta then saves her with the power of the key, without even knowing it. In the end, he blamed Shirayuki for this. The three musketeers probably decided it would be best to keep him ignorant of this.

In the end, it seems that the gate towards Fandavale actually was an ordinary slide. Quite an original concept. Of course, Ringo goes along as well. Then, a new character appears: Souta’s father. It seems that he’ll be playing a big role in the later episodes, as he didn’t find it strange at all when he saw Shirayuki, Ibara and Akazukin. He actually asked them, a couple of strangers, to take care of Souta. He most probably knows about Fandavale, and I’m wondering what his role is. In any case, he sees Souta and the others off as they literally slide towards the gate to Fandavale.

And so, the Erude-arc ends and the Fandavale-arc begins. New characters will probably be introduced as well, and perhaps even new villains. That, or Hansel will be participating into the action a lot more. With a bit of luck, we’ll also see Hansel’s master, as we’ve yet to catch a glimpse of her.

Baru was great during this episode. He actually was the one who stood in the spotlight, saving Ringo and trying to keep Souta from discovering about her and all. I was beginning to get a bit worried about him, as the past few episodes turned him into a sort-of side-character.

Ayatsuri Sakon – 07 – A Mother’s Love Goes Deep

by psgels, posted in Ayatsuri Sakon



Okay. Why did I ever decide to drop this show?! It’s awesome!

For the ones who see this show for the first time, this show is a typical murder mystery anime, carried out perfectly. The main character, Sakon, is an interesting case: he’s a puppetteer, and he always carries his favourite puppet, Ukon along with him. The awesome thing is that Sakon himself is a quiet, serious young man. Ukon, however, has a complete opposite personality. He’s impulsive, talkative and rather innocent.

The best thing about this anime is the fact that Sakon’s very good at solving murders, especially the really gruesome ones. he really shows this during the episode. It probably was one of the best episodes of Ayatsuri Sakon yet. In the end, it turned out to be a beautiful tale of a mother’s love to her daughter, and therefore taking the wrong pathway in order to protect her. So sad.

In any case, if you’re a fan of mystery-series, I seriously recommend you to check this anime out. I really have no idea why I stopped watching this show.