Saiunkoku Monogatari – 19 – Poor Ryuuki ;)

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This episode was much like the transition episode between arc 3 and arc 4. It’s mostly meant to introduce Shuurei’s next task, but also to strengthen the position of women in the imperial court, even if it does mean that Ryuuki had to abuse his powers a bit.

In the first arc, Shuurei was assigned as Ryuuki’s temporary wife, in the second arc, she was studying hard in order to become a government official. In the third arc, she had to prove herself as shinshi, by having to endure a number of challenging trials and in the fourth arc, she gets assigned as the co-governor of the Sa-province. As the ring is still gone, and all of the ones found are fake, the Sa-province is in desperate need of a governor. If, after a year of the previous governor’s death, nobody is found, people can create a new ring. Ryuuki wanted to prevent some random guy to rise as the governor, so he assigned Shuurei and Eigetsu as temporary governors. By giving them flower buds, it means that he has absolute trust in them. This would prevent people from creating a new ring, as that would be going against the emperor himself, which they want to prevent. Still, this does mean that Shuurei is going to have a tough time from now on. Same as Eigetsu. There will probably be a number of people who don’t like her there.

Still no Kourin. I think that she’ll be able to meet Shuurei in the next episode. Interesting note: Shuurei still doesn’t know the things Kourin did to her. Also, there seem to be some serious plans about making Shuurei as Kouyuu’s wife. Signs are pointing more and more to the direction where Shuurei and Ryuuki will never really be together. After all, if Shuurei would marry Ryuuki, she’d be a princess, which is not something she’s aiming for. Another interesting fact is that when Kurou mentioned that when Kouyuu marries Shuurei, he’ll be taking over the Kou clan. But what if Shuurei ends up taking over the Kou clan?

I think I now know what Ten meant by the fact that the next episodes will be focusing a lot on Seiran’s background. After all, his history with Ensei has been rather unexplained. I think that that’ll be a major focus in the next arc.

I’ve just been wondering, if Wontaek’s prediction is right, and the fifth book will end around episode 25, then will there be enough time for all of the ten books to be shown?

.Hack//Roots – 24 – Okay. Didn’t See That One Coming.

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Seriously, I never, NEVER thought I’d say this about .Hack//Roots, but OMG that was a great episode!

Only now, two episodes before everything ends we finally get to see the fruits of all these episodes in which Haseo just rampaged around the world, without basically anything happening. Everything has just been building up! Only now, when the end is near, the creators suddenly turned five gears higher, and they finally show us some action.

First of all, Ovan comes back. He tells Haseo that Tri-Edge is about to return. If I recall correctly, he was away for so long because of his fight with Ovan. I think he had to recover, according to one of the commenters. When he hears this, Haseo’s face turns into a big evil grin. Afterwards, when he’s in the church, his face actually turns normal again! (Seriously, I could barely recognize him at that time). Then, Tri-Edge appears and he gets data-drained! Talk about surprise!

What’s more, something tells me that Ovan has been wanting this to happen all along. After all, he told him that they’d together fight Tri-Edge, but Ovan just was nowhere to be found. I never thought that he would be the bad guy of this series.

Especially the reaction of those around Haseo was amazing. Not only Yata, Pai and Kuhn, but especially Saburou and Touta’s reaction was great to see. I wonder how Tabby will react.

Of course, I highly doubt that Haseo will disappear forever, as there’s still a .Hack//GU game which follows afterwards, but if the creators manage to keep the same level up for the final two episodes, things could promise to be very interesting. And after so many episodes of building up, it would almost be blasphemy if this series doesn’t end with a bang.

Simoun Review – 95/100


In my more recent reviews, I always tried to classify the anime I reviewed in some kind of genre. Strangely enough, I can’t seem to do this with Simoun. There is just not one typical category it fits in. It’s got some yuri-romance, it’s got action, it’s a character study, it deals with heavy themes, it’s got all of these tiny elements which somehow form this beautiful result.

I really mean it when I say that Simoun is an awesome anime. Probably one of the best who aired during the spring season. It’s mostly because of the characters. These characters are so incredibly fleshed out that as the anime progresses, it’s able to invoke their deepest emotions. The anime, however, starts out a bit fragile. The first episode is not necessarily a bad one, but it did turn many viewers away. After this first episode, the anime picks up in a steady pace, already giving the viewer small tastes of the awesomeness which is about to come.

The best of this series appears in episodes 14, 15 and 16. Seriously, at those episodes, this anime will have you clinging to the screen in order not to miss even a single millisecond. These scenes are just too good to be described. Afterwards, the series continues with an excellent average level, until another very good climax comes at episode nineteen and twenty.

From that point, the anime takes an incredibly original turn. It’s something only very few anime attempt. The overall theme suddenly gets shifted from the action and tension towards a more thought-provoking one: saying goodbye and living on. A great deal of time is spent on this, in comparison to other anime, and if I have to say so myself, the last episodes give Simoun a very fitting ending.

This anime shines because of its characters. Each and every single one of them is unique. Each has her own struggles, and when you combine these struggles, tensions can rise incredibly high. It’s also one of the very few anime who doesn’t mess up with the love-theme, and this makes the romance-aspect also one huge success, significantly contributing to the overall mood of the show.

The soundtrack which comes with this anime also is superb. There are certain tracks which will really help bring the best out of the scenes. In the graphical department, this series also shines. Especially with the character design. Each character looks absolutely gorgeous. The battles also are a very nice watch.

Still, like I said, the character-driven episodes are awesome. But they do make the story-driven episodes rather bland in comparison. That’s about the only down part of this anime. The characters are far more interesting that the general story behind all of this. That’s about the only bad point.

Simoun – 26 – Paraietta is a true artist

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And so, I’m afraid to say it, but Simoun has come to an end. And it certainly has been one of the most unique endings ever. It was nothing that could have blown me off my chair, but instead, this ending did leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling. I can happily say that this ending succeeded. Still, the ending was puzzling, and there are a small number of questions left unanswered.

Anyway, the episode takes place a few years in the future, in order to show what happened to each of the members of the chor tempest. Extra focus is put on Limone and we also see a flashback of what happened with Aaeru and Neviriru before they got to perform their Emerald Ri Maajon.

What happened to Aaeru and Neviriru afterwards wasn’t really spectacular. They headed off, a spokesman of the Highlands sends some Simoun to retrieve them, though the priestesses have no intention of capturing them. They perform the Emerald Ri Maajon, and disappear. It’s not the huge spectacle with Limone and Dominüra. Still, the fact that the only scenes we see of them is at the end of the episode, in which they’re dancing in the debris of the Arcus Prima does make you wonder what happened with them afterwards. It’s one of the few unanswered questions. I’m suspecting that they travelled a lot of different worlds.

Surprisingly, we never get to see Amuria. We never know what happened to her. Same with Mamiina’s body. She’s been shot down. What happened to it? Those are the only bad points of this episode.

Limone was awesome in this episode. She looks beautiful when she’s grown up, and it seems that her arrival triggered other people of her age to try flying with the Simoun as well. We never find out whether she’s in the future, or in the past. If I had to guess, it’s the future. Don’t know why. Dominüra hasn’t been willing to fly the Simoun ever since she arrived in this timezone. Limone, however, wants to fly again, though not if it means forcing her will onto Dominüra. She’s been bothered by quite an amitious Sybilla, who aims to be paired with Limone, but Limone refuses to fly with anyone other than her beloved pair. How cute. The last scene we see of them is Dominüra, who finally agrees to fly again. She and Limone happily walk off, while Limone casted off the same strange stuff Onashia did. Does this mean what I think it means?

Next up, the characters who remained in the current world. First up: Morinasu. She now works as a female employee under Wauf. She’s been married with Waporifu, and she’s pregnant of her second child now.

Wauf also got a little daughter. The identity of mother is never mentioned. But it does seem clear that he has a very strong bond with both Morinasu and his daughter. He was very cute to see. I also loved him as a minor character in the series.

Remember Eri? Well, of course, he had to end up somewhere as well. He renamed himself to Erifu, and works at the same place as Morinasu and Wauf. It seems that he pilots Simire, in order to transport goods from one place to another. He’s been exceptionally busy, as it seems that the highlands and the archipelago are going into war.

Next up, Paraietta. Talk about character growth. I think that she, along with Dominüra and Mamiina changed the most, out of all of the characters in the series. She’s just so laid back now. She has really learned not to worry so much. She also put her time into a very noble job: providing a home for children who have lost their parents. Surprisingly enough, she ended up along with Rodoreamon.

Rodoreamon seems to have decided to take the management of Paraietta’s orphan home. It seems that they’ve got some problems with the upcoming war. She’s a bit worried, but determined as well. Also a HUGE difference with the way she was before.

Kaimu and Aruti decided to live together after all. After they grew up, they just returned to their original home, in order to spend their days quietly. Cute, very cute. ^_^

Yun still is at the spring, though she did decide to choose her gender. In the end, she became a female. Right now, she’s still standing at the spring, devoting her entire life to changing genders. In a way, that’s really sad. But she did choose for it. I remember noting that Jun was a tough nut to crack, back when she was just 100% objectivity. Well, in the end, she definitely had her moment of glory.

Furoe changed the most in terms of appearance. But that’s only logical, as she had the most feminine looks of the entire cast, and she suddenly switched to being a male. He named himself Furoefu. He’s been working as a farmer, right next to the debris that was once the mighty Arcus Prima. I can imagine that it works quite nostalgic. He even visits it some times, on a Helios Motores-powered boat.

Vyura (or Vyurafu) looks so cool as a man. He’s got a really laid-back attitude. And it seems that he’ll be fighting on the side of the enemy. I think that’s one of the messages of this final episode. “Ah well, that’s life.”

Anubitufu and Guraghief look so totally badass, in their new outfits. ^^;

And of course, I knew it was coming when around the final moments of the episode, the creators decided to show a few last shot of the ruins of the Arcus Prima. It really had it coming, and indeed. It’s a perfect way for a finale. We first see Aaeru and Neviriru dancing a bit, symbolizing the journeys they made. Then we switch to one of the hallways, in which Paraietta was doodling on the walls, two episodes ago.

Really, she was more enthusiastic than I thought she was. She made an incredibly cute chibi-drawing of every single Simoun Sybilla. That was so cute to see. A fitting ending for such an awesome series.

The Third – 18 – The Return of a Certain Blue Mecha

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It seems that we’re dealing with probably a three-episode arc. This one probably set up preparations, so that the next one can finish with a bang. It was pretty amusing, as some rather comical elements have been thrown in. These worked really well. ^_^

Anyway, a quick rundown on the important things that happened:
– Rona Fauna is a member of The Third.
– It’s better to charge in fast than try to take out every guard at Rona Fauna’s place.
– Ikus is back.
– Blue Breaker is back.
– Honoka will be coming in with an airplane. Both the airplane (Honoka named her Juliet) and Blue Breaker have been proven not to be taken over.
– It seems that Rona Fauna relied too much on the fact that The Third wouldn’t attack her base because Joganki was in it.
– Someone erased the data of Rona Fauna from The Third’s main database. Only a representative of “the House of Commons” could have done it. No idea what that might be.
– Rona Fauna has two helpers. One with purple hair, and one with very light, violet hair. They could be the same person, though.
– For some strange reason, Rona Fauna has the same face and hair as her helper (the one with light violet hair).

The Third – 17 – An Excellent Episode Once More


Heh, I loved this episode. Even though it’s just the introduction of the next arc, The Third somehow makes these kinds of episodes always very interesting to watch, and this one’s no difference. I like how each arc selects a different number of main characters to focus on. The Gravestone arc featured Honoka, Paife and Ikus, the Desert Fairy Arc featured Honoka, Millie and Ikus, while the current arc will feature Honoka, Paife and Joganki. It’s very interesting, though I think that with this, I found a slight disadvantage of The Third. I’d just love to see some of the minor characters in more detail. For some reason, every single character in The Third is awesome, but some of them nearly don’t get the airtime they deserve. ^^;

Anyway, the case this time focuses at a crisis in The Third. Some thing took over Wormhole Driver, fired it at the surface, took over lots of other weaponry of The Third managed to kidnap Joganki when he came to investigate. The woman, who apparently is named Filla Marique, then chooses to resort to desperate measures: ask help from Honoka. It’s interesting. When the series started, I really saw her as a bad guy, but this show that she’s also just trying to keep the world going. Sometimes, it works in favour of Honoka, other times, it works against her.

In any case, it seems that we have two bad girls this time. Both are kept rather mysterious, so I haven’t been able to determine whether one of them is the woman on the ED. Based on the few flashes we saw of them, I think they’re other people, and if I had to take a guess, then I’d say that the creators are reserving that woman for the final arc. In any case, one of these women (Rona Fauna) keeps Joganki company and hacked into Wormhole Drive, while the other tried to kill Honoka with the automatic soldiers. The strange thing is, though, that Joganki seems to be on their side. Of course, he disagrees with some of the extreme measures Rona took, but judging by most of his reactions, it seems that he actually talked to them as if he had the same goals they have. Still, that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been tied up.

In any case, the different characters and their interactions this episode were awesome. Especially Honoka, Paife and Kevin worked perfectly with each other. Especially the scene in which Honoka mistakes Filla Marique for Joganki (Joganki + drag = ouch!) was very funny. But then again, The Third has always excelled in its rich and versatile characters.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 18 – Awesomeness


I’m so glad that Shadow managed to finish her translation of episode eighteen. For some reason, I felt that it wouldn’t be a good idea to let my sub-par Japanese loose on Saiunkoku Monogatari 18, and after seeing the episode, it seems I was right. There’s so much going on, not to mention that entire speeches are given, at which you do need to know what they mean.

Anyway, about the episode. It was awesome. I had such a great time watching this. Not only because of the very interesting political affairs which went on, but also because the creators threw in some very nice jokes. I especially loved all the fuzz around Kijin’s mask. XD

Basically, the episode consists out of a debate between the government officials and Ryuuki and Shuurei, trying to get to the court in time and in one piece. We start with the commotion about Reishin. Ryuuki reveals to the officials that he’s the head of the Kou-clan. Sai gets a bit uncomfortable because of this. We then turn to Shuurei, who’s ready to leave for the palace. Seiran then brings Shuurei the make-up kit she got from Kochou.

Back to Ryuuki, he starts accusing Sai of a number of things, including that he was one of the people who was completely against women being permitted to take the national exam. Sai then tries to blame this on Ro, though that backfires when it seems that Ro had no problems with women being permitted, and was rather on friendly terms with Reishin.

We then switch to a rather interesting conversation between Reishin and Ro. It seems that Ro has assigned Eigetsu and Shuurei to tasks such as cleaning the lavatories and polishing shoes in order to build their own confidence, and the confidence of the other officials in the two of them. Most people in the royal court have heard about the tasks they were ordered to do, and they’ve seen them work hard. This shows them that they’re capable of doing much greater things, which will be extremely beneficial in the future. It also seems that Reishin got the same treatment. His murderous look towards Ro at that time was hilarious. ^^

In the end, Reishin manages to “blackmail” Ro into accompanying him to the court. For some reason, he wanted the two of them to go together. Shuurei and Seiran, meanwhile, get hunted by some of Sai’s henchmen, trying to prevent them from attending the inquiry. Though they should know better than to think that this would be able to stop her. ^^

Meanwhile, in the palace, Kijin holds a little speech about the financial businesses regarding Sai. A lot of money went into useless causes. It also seems that Eigetsu’s money, which he sent to his home village and somehow disappeared seems to have turned up in Sai’s pocket. It seems that there were similar cases like this in the past, so Kijin had the carriers being observed in secret. Sai then starts coming up with some desperate attempts in order to defend himself, and he then claims that Kijin might be an impostor, wearing Kijin’s mask in order to not be discovered.

The situation takes a very strange turn when Kijin suggests to take it off and suddenly some officials start begging him not to, with fear of their lives. It seems that Reishin has spread some rumours that his face would cause flying ravens to fall down unconscious. Things get even weirder when Shou Taishi suggests Kijin to take off his mask, while everyone else is looking in another direction. Ryuuki wants to see too, though suddenly he’s forced away by some desperate officials.

Say, is this how all government officials spend their time? ^^;

Back to Shuurei, the number of thugs keeps increasing until she and Seiran eventually get cornered. They get rescued by Ryuushin and the other citizens. They also reveal their reason for ignoring her. Government officials are important people. Whenever they’re seen, talking to ordinary peasants, their reputation drops. And Ryuushin is an exceptionally good fighter for his age. That, or the thugs are just a bunch of whim’s. ^^

They then arrive at the palace, and get a bit of help from Hakumei and Ensei in order to move past the pesky, ignorant guards.

Back to Kijin, the reason he always wears a mask suddenly becomes clear. It’s indeed able to make ravens drop from the sky. Not because it’s so horribly ugly, but because it’s so horribly beautiful. It’s also clear why everyone had to turn away, as Sai immediately gets hypnotized by this, allowing Kijin to get a confession out of him.

At that time, Reishin arrives. He rather abuses his powers in order to finish Sai. It seems that Kouyuu was rather insulted at one time by him, and Reishin hasn’t quite forgiven him for it. To top things, he reveals that the long lost ring of the Sa-clan was hidden under Sai’s wig, of all places. You’d wonder how he found out in the first place. Still, Sai then starts talking about Shuurei, and starts accusing her of all kinds of things. But then, Shuurei arrives, the inquiry begins and Sai can probably kiss his status goodbye. The bastard. ^^;

In any case, I love how Saiunkoku Monogatari manages to effectively blend comedy with such a strong story. The combination of these two elements really works great.

Just one thing. What happened to Kourin?

The Third – 16 – Kanwei and the Desert Fairy


Another fine episode. Not as good as the previous two, but enjoyable nonetheless. During this episode, Honoka recovers again, tracks down Leon and defeats him. Kanwei, meanwhile, merges with the desert fairy and Millie learns a bit more about how to support Honoka.

Now that the Leon-arc ended, I wonder what’ll happen afterwards. We still have one character left to be introduced, so I suspect that the next arc will be focusing at this woman. But what will happen afterwards? Also, it doesn’t seem that Kanwei’s story has been fully explored yet, so I think we’ll see a bit more of him in the future. I wonder if we could say the same thing about Gravestone. Also, what role will Paife and Joey be playing in the end?

I really like the battles in The Third. It really tries to explain why characters act the way they do, instead of just some flashy graphics. The battles feel a lot more natural this way, contributing to the awesomeness. It’s something not a lot of anime are attempting.

Simoun – 25 – One More To Go!


Ooh, that was so exciting. After seeing this episode, it seems that the creators are planning to go all out for the final episode, while they used the last couple of episodes as preparations. I still have no idea what’s going to happen. Okay, Aaeru and Neviriru will be performing the Emerald Ri Maajon. But what will happen afterwards? Will they meet with Limone and Dominüra or Amuria? And what may have happened with Mamiina’s corpse which was blown out of the air a couple of episodes ago?

In any case, final episodes are always tricky to perform the right way. Many anime have trouble with this, and only a handful managed to do it in the end. I’m hoping that Simoun will be one of those. In any case, it won’t be one of those rushed endings, as it’s had enough time to prepare. Let’s hope that it’ll be able to deliver.

Anyway, about the episode. We start where we left off after the previous episode: Paraietta, Furoe, Aruti, Kaimu, Vyüra, Morinasu and Rödoreamon entering the spring. This is surprisingly painful for Yun, as we see her in agony once the ritual starts. (On a side-note: the background tune they used for this worked perfectly). The results are quite interesting.

Kaimu: Female
Vyüra: Male
Furoe: Male
Paraietta: Female
Aruti: Female
Rödoreamon: Female
Morinasu: Female

Especially Morinasu, Furoe and Paraietta are surprising. Both Furoe and Morinasu were seen, claiming to become the opposite of what they actually became. I think love had a lot to do with this. And Paraietta so seemed the type to become male. Everyone just assumed that she’d choose this. It’s also interesting if you realize that they aren’t priestesses any more. Especially when they saw a little kid, coming up to them and praying in front of them, just like nothing happened.

The second part of the episode basically features getting Aaeru and Neviriru in a Simoun. For some reason, the Plumbum officials are insisting that they go to the spring as soon as possible. In the end, with a bit of help from everyone, they manage to do this. Aaeru and Neviriru say goodbye and the episode ends.

.Hack//Roots – 23 – Surprise, an actually good episode


I can’t believe how incredibly strong the music worked in this episode. Finally .Hack//Roots understands how to use its music again. It played almost constantly through the entire episode, with some very intense and very fitting tunes. Especially at the times at which characters were feeling heavy emotions as well, it worked great. Finally we have another enjoyable episode of .Hack//Roots.

Basically, all of the PK-ers are planning to lure him into a trap and attack him head on, all at once. When they attempt to execute this plan, however, it seems that Haseo’s able to defeat them without any problems. The Meatball Brigade also has its own problems. Or the Paw Brigade, the Paw Squad, or however you may call it. Ah well, it doesn’t matter anyway, as they break up in the end and Tabby’s alone again. Especially the moment of break-up worked great with the music.

Saburou, meanwhile, spent the episode looking at Haseo’s killing fest, preventing some PK-ers to sneak off and buy revival items. She’s interested in Haseo, but what’s her objective? Phyllo, meanwhile, continues to worry about Haseo and has a very amusing interaction with his cat. One of the few signs that there actually is an outside world. He also sends Touta to find out who first got the idea of ganging up against Haseo, and it seems that it’s an overconfident bunch of PK-ers, who hope to kill Haseo after he slayed more than 100 PK-ers. They’ll be famous. Yata and Pai seem to be members of the “Ravens”. It’s probably some weird hacking cult. They’re somehow related to the .hackers, whoever they may be.

Seriously, there are two series, currently about to end and from which I’m so hoping for another sequel in order to wrap things up: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and .Hack//Roots. In both cases, it’s almost impossible to come with a decent finish, as both will end horribly unfinished as it is now.