Category: Otogi Juushi Akazukin

Lots of talking this episode, which made the overall story rather hard to understand. It’s an Ibara-episode. Souta and the others end spending the night in a village, in which a special flower grows. It’s called the Sennen Tsubomi. They meet up with a girl, who’s responsible for tending this flower. Still, something strange seems to be the deal with it. It doesn’t seem to bloom, and Souta gets a strange feeling out of it.

Shirayuki tries to bless the flower by pouring some holy water on it, though Ibara (who’s been goofing off for the entire episode) falls asleep on top of her, kindof destroying Shirayuki’s motivation to keep trying. Still, later she’s seen looking at the flower in a suspicious way.

I think the village is living in poverty. If I had to guess, Sennen Tsubomi is the only flower in the village. Perhaps it’s the first flower appearing for quite a long while. The girl, responsible for tending it also gives a lot of food to Souta and the others, as a form of hospitality, while the village itself has barely to eat. I think the villagers are seeing it as a symbol of fertility.

Later in the episode, Randagio pours some strange liquid on the flower. A rather funny scene occurs, in which Randagio ordereds the flower to find Erde’s key, after which Akazukin, Shirayuki, Ibara, Souta and Ringo appear to protect the flower. It’s a nice play with coincidence. ^^ In any case, Sennen Tsubomi gets a dark aura and transforms into a monster. It seems that Sennen Tsubomi appeared because of Cendrillion. Because of her grasp on the country, darkness has started to appear. I think it’s first form is in flowers like these. Randagio recognized this, and helped the flower evolve a bit. Afterwards, Ibara stopped the flower, and it sprouted in tons of other, white, blooming flowers. According to Ibara, these don’t seem to have any evil power.

It’s interesting that the evil starts to appear in the form of flowers like these. I’m wondering what the next stage will be: more flowers or animals.

Some random facts:
– Sweet Phones are called phones for a reason: they acually ARE phones. Shirayuki and Akazukin use them to communicate with each other in an attempt to wake up Ibara.
– Cendrillion seems to have another minion.
– The little girl seems to be speaking about a strange flashback, in which monsters attacked the village, surrounded by flames.

Random cute moments:
– Ibara, casting her spell half-asleep, in gibberish.
– Randagio, getting caught in the act by the girl. And correcting her when she calls him a cat.
– Afterwards, when Akazukin and the others appear, Ringo does hold Souta’s arm.
^^

Overall, it was a very nice episode, though I think this is one of those episodes at which I really need to see the subbed version. I bet that I’ll love it even more when I do. ^^;

A Shirayuki-episode. And a great one. The group runs into a boy, who offers them a free ride. He also seems to be running a restaurant, so the group decides to eat there. In the end, it turns out that they don’t have any money. Ringo then asks the boy (Hansu) to let them work for their meal. Especially Shirayuki doesn’t like this.

She keeps complaining that she’s one of the best graduates of the magic school, and that she’s not fit to do a job like this. She then start to use magic to do her chores, though Hansu begins to yell at her when she does that. In the end, it seems that Nightmarians once attacked his town, killing his parents with magic. Ever since he hates it. Shirayuki then tries to make it up by doing her chores by hand, including carrying a heavy bucket of water. She was SO cute at that moment. ^_^

Then, a couple of Nightmarians attack. This time, they’re a bunch of frogs. They easily die, and they make Hansu and Shirayuki on friendly terms. Furthermore, Fernando indeed was captured by Cendrillion and he let his pet, Kyupi, escape in order to find the three musketeers. The tale Souta was told by his mother also seems to be common knowledge for everyone, and at the end of the episode, Souta gets a strange card, which makes him glow. When it’s put on those strange devices of the Musketeers, it displays part of this story. I’m not sure why it happened, as I didn’t understand it too well.

An interesting scene happened when Kyupi was being chased and about to be caughed. Right before it happens, the screen switches and the creators decide to show a roasted chicken, Souta was about to feast on. Do you think that would be some sort of sign for Kyupi’s future? ^^

Shirayuki seems to be eager to fight with others if she’s given a reason. She’s already on bad terms with Ringo, and this episode showed the same behaviour with Hansu. Still, when she realizes her mistakes, she’s incredibly cute.

Randagio, meanwhile, got scolded by a scary-looking Hansel, while Gretel seems to have decided to stay out of the action for a while. Cendrillion seems to be excited that Erde’s Key has arrived. I think she’s actually glad that Kyupi’s leading Souta to her.

This episode was extremely cool. Fandavale turns out to be a very interesting world. The newly introduced characters really work well alongside the others.

I was also very surprised when I found out that Randagio isn’t Puss in Boots after all. He’s part of the Town Musicians of Bremen. This really teaches to look a bit further into backgrounds. ^^ These town musicians were a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, who head to Bremen to become musicians. Of course, these four animals don’t exactly produce operasounds. It’s more like a composition of yelling, barking, squeaking and screaming. Though a possible meaning of the original fairytale is to symbolize that Bremen in that time was a free trading city, in which there was a spot for every possible profession. I wonder whether the creators of Otogi Juushi Akazukin will be using this. Another strange thing is that the dog seems to have made way for a squirrel. I’ve got no idea why this is…

Anyway the episode featured a lot of talking, unfortunately. It made the episode awesome, though difficult to understand at the same time. Still, I do think that I managed to catch the most important details. I hope. In any case, we go to Fandavale, in which Souta and the others appear. The slide funnily enough continues in the sky of Fandavale. I think it’s named the “Otogi-Road”, or “Fairy Road”. This is what connects Erde and Fandavale.

In any case, the slide is quite rough. And long. However, this Fairy-Road seems to be breaking down. Shirayuki reckons that it’s because something happened to Fernando. It seems that he’s responsible for maintaining this road. Now that he’s gone, it breaks down. Unfortunately, Souta and the others are still on it when it does, so they fall from the sky. Shirayuki covers the ground with snow, in an attempt at a safe landing. She, however, makes the now a bit too fluffy, with hilarious results. ^^

We then see some bird-like creature (actually the rooster of the Town Musicians), in some kind of dungeon. One person is held captive. It seems that he’s refused to eat, or respond to anyone, in fact. The rooster teases him a bit, though he still remains as silent as ever. Then, it’s time for a flashback, explaining why he ended up the way he did.

The guy seems to be named Harmeru (I do hope I spelled that right). He’s a warrior in Fernando’s army. Quite an important one. The flashback shows him fight off some monsters who invaded. When he does, he runs off, and notices some suspiciously darkened grass. Probably a barrier. He then sees two Nightmarians attacking other soldiers, and he fends them off using some kind of magic horn, producing sound-magic. When the Nightmarians are gone, he notices the guy behind all this. Another new character: Datamarche (probably the worst way to spell it, but whatever). It seems that he once was a warrior for Fernando as well, though he changed sides to Cendrillion, Hansel’s master. Then, Datamarche seems to be attacked by his own Nightmarians, ironically enough.

We then switch to a meeting of Fernando and Harmeru. Fernando regrets that something happened to Datamarche. He also tells Harmeru that he’ll be leaving to do some tasks of high priority, which would explain his sudden disappearance. What kind of tasks these were, I couldn’t understand, unfortunately. Fernando then orders Harmeru something resembling having to wait for Erde’s key to return. In the end, he was captured by the enemy. They took over the castle, and locked Harmeru away.

Back to Akazukin&co, Shirayuki notices the same barrier from before, and they reach the castle. Nobody’s there at the moment, as either the soldiers seem to have left, been captured or they were all killed off. It’s indeed suspicious, so Souta and Ringo stay behind while Baru, Shirayuki, Ibara and Akazukin check things out.

Inside the castle, they hear weird singing come out from one of the room. They only can recognize the silhouettes of the creatures, so they think that they’re dealing with Nightmarians. The creatures also loudly sing about how they caught Harmeru. We then switch to Hansel and Cendrillion, having a talk. For some reason, Cendrillion is locked inside a huge mirror. Either she chose to do that herself, or she has been locked away or something. They seem to be planning… something. Didn’t understand that. Sorry.

Souta, meanwhile, is as happy as a cat in a fishstore with a sign “Cats Allowed”. Elementary, Fandavale contains lots of flowers an Souta really has a great time discovering this. He also discovers something else, nothing like flowers at all: a couple of tin cans. In the end, it seems that Randagio landed in the same place they did, and decided to take a little nap, leaving all of the canned food he took from Erde (see episode 2 ^^) for everyone to see. Ringo indeed wonders what something like that is doing in Fandavale, only to realize that Randagio has woken up. They then decide to hide themselves in his backpack, which inevitably becomes extremely heavy for Randagio to carry. ^^;

Back to the castle, in which Akazukin, Ibara, Shirayuki and Baru are about to attack the silhouettes who suspiciously look like Nightmarians. They’re quite surprised when they find a weirdly dressed rooster, squirrel and donkey instead. These three then prove their name by attacking with soundwaves. The rooster also puts up a talk, which made me suspect that they were never good at anything, though Cendrillion made them see their good points. He says this while being surrounded by a heavenly-looking light, which makes you suspect whether they really are evil. Shirayuki, meanwhile, creates a barrier, disturbing this strange monologue.

I especially like the squirrel and the donkey. They don’t say a lot, though they’ve got funny and interesting personalities. The rooster, meanwhile, heads for the basement, in which Harmeru is locked up. He then threatens to hurt Harmeru. Akazukin wonders why Harmeru managed to be locked up, as he’d easily have been able to escape.

The rooster also seems to have Harmeru’s horn, though Ibara attempts to steal it from him. This causes the horn to fly away, and hit Randagio in the head. Apparently, he just arrived, quite tired. ^^; Then, the four musicians introduce themselves: Randagio (the cat), Alekturne (the rooster), Anen (the squirrel, seriously, why a squirrel? It’s supposed to be a dog) and Ensel (donkey). Again, I hope that I managed to spell their names correctly. Katakana can be such a bitch at times.

They actually continue their introduction by singing a horribly corny and more importantly ugly song. Thank god Shirayuki ends this fast by dropping a block of ice on their head. Alekturne answers this by stepping on Randagio’s tail, making the poor guy scream, creating another attack with soundwaves even Shirayuki isn’t able to block. Then, when he sees that he actually did something good, he gets surrounded by the same heavenly light Alekturne was surrounded in earlier. Same cheesy monologue included.

Harmeru, meanwhile, has remained silent the entire time. Meanwhile, Souta starts speaking from Randagio’s backpack. Randagio’s look was priceless when he found out what he’d been carrying all this time. ^^; In any case, Souta’s presence makes Harmeru talk. He frees himself when he learns that Erde’s key has arrived. Alekturne grins, however, as he still has Harmeru’s horn. He gives it to Randagio, who attempts to blow it, though nothing happens. Then, Harmeru grabs a stray leaf, left on Souta, and produces sound-magic along with it. It seems that you indeed need to master the instrument before you can use it. That’s so much better than the ones who see a weapon and instantly master it without any training at all. The city musicians are experts on creating voice-sound magic. Harmeru, however, is an expert in sound magic using blowing-instruments (how did you call these again). (By the way, the leaf produces an interesting sound. You wouldn’t expect it from such a small thing).

In any case, the leaf makes the City Musicians fall asleep. We then return to the throne room, where the City Musicians are tied up and which Harmeru informs the others informs the others about Fernando. When that’s finished, it seems that the City Musicians have escaped. Later, Harmeru leaves the others in order to save Fernando. I’ve got no idea what Souta and the others are supposed to do, though.

I’m also not sure why Harmeru kept silent all this time, not responding to anything. Same thing with what happened to Fernando. In the end, it seems that he was captured by Cendrillion after all. Fernando told Harmeru afterwards to wait for Souta, though apparently, Harmeru took this a bit too literal, and did nothing but wait for Souta. There’s got to be a better explanation than this.

Overall, this episode was fun. Especially the City Musicians’ hopeless attempts at singing. It sounded rather cute in a way too. Apart from that, this episode also was surprisingly dark for a show with such a nature. There’s indeed an interesting plot being developed. Also, with episodes like this one, I really regret that I set the standard of just six screenshots per image. There are so many interesting scenes to show.

Just one thing… what happened to Gretel?

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.

Okay, that was a surprisingly dark episode! Especially at this stage of the anime, you wouldn’t expect it. If the creators were to make this into a main storyline, things would turn really awesome, though it seems like this is just a two-episode arc. Still, I really loved this episode. And Randagio comes in action!

As the episode was so serious, the downfall was that I had extra trouble trying to figure out what was being said. Still, I did get the overall picture. We start the episode with Shirayuki, walking to a children’s playground. She then tries to fire a blizzard at a random direction. That, or she tries to establish a connection with Fandavere. This, however, fails. She wonders why.

Ringo, meanwhile, is extremely happy because Summer Holidays started. Summer Holidays mean camp, and it seems that Ringo likes camps very much. Souta will probably go as well, though he’s got some unusual plans to do there. After all, he’s isolated, he has hobbies nobody else has. He really likes doing so, but he’s the only one in that, and he isn’t able to see it.

Souta then gets the feeling he’s being followed, which appears to be Hansel’s servant from the previous episode, spying on him, trying to figure out the location of the barrier. This doesn’t work the first time, though and it loses sight of Souta. Akazukin and Baru, meanwhile, try to wake up a sleeping Ibara. They indeed know how scary she can be when she wakes up. ^^

Shirayuki then returns, and tells them what happened. Something could have happened to Fernando. Shirayuki wonders about Souta’s safety, though he then enters the room. He also tells them about the fact that summer holidays have started, which means that he doesn’t have to go to school. His mother and father will be away, so he either has enough time to spend at home, or he plans to go to the camp. One of these two, no idea which is the right one.

Then, a discussion follows in which Shirayuki and Akazukin explain that they have to go to Fandavere, in order to check up on Fernando. Akazukin then suggests to take Souta along with them. After all, she’ll protect him if something happens. Ringo, however, is not happy with this. After all, she wanted to have fun with Souta and her friends at camp, and now she hears that he’s going to another world. She also really worries about his safety. I guess we can now safely say that she’s in love with him. I have no idea whether this will turn out to be good or not, though this episode definitely turned out in the right way.

Souta, however, plans to go, no matter what Ringo says. The fact does remain, indeed, that Souta’s mother might be there. I nearly forgot about it, but she indeed also has to have some kind of part in the story. Ringo then starts to ignore him. Souta gets a bit worried, and heads home. This gives Hansel the chance to find out the location of the barrier, and he grabs it, with success. He then sends Randagio to get them. Strangely enough, he doesn’t decide to invade Souta’s home. I guess he has to find more about the barrier in order to be able to do that.

In any case, he doesn’t send Gretel, as she has failed too much. Gretel, however, wants to be acknowledged by her brother, so she makes plans of her own. Randagio, meanwhile tries to find some suitable Nightmarians which could do the trick. I like him as a villain. ^^

The next day is the day of graduation, and Souta overslept. Ringo didn’t wake him up, and she continues to ignore him through the ceremony. Afterwards, she stares evilly at him. That night, Souta’s packing his stuff, while he has a call with his father. Surprisingly, he’s lying about his plans for the holidays. That, after he claimed that he doesn’t like lying in the previous episode.

Then the serious part of the episode really begins, when Souta is in his room, along with Akazukin and Shirayuki, who seem to have taken his bed. Akazukin actually talks with a concerned voice for the first time ever. She wonders if it’s really okay with Ringo, though Souta believes that it is. She’ll understand him soon. Akazukin then goes to sleep, while Souta attempts to finish the homework he got for the holidays in one night, so that he can use his full holiday time to go to Fandavere.

In the end, he succeeds, though I doubt that he got any sleep. The next morning, Ringo is working at a festival, serving some kind of stew. Her friends then come by, and notice that her cooking isn’t as good as usual. I guess that it’s because she didn’t make it for Souta. Ringo then makes it again, with the plan of offering some to Souta, and it tastes good again. Souta, meanwhile makes a video for Ringo, in order to apologize, while Shirayuki, Akazukin and Baru try to wake up Ibara.

That night, Ringo finally has time to go to Souta’s house, though it’s already empty. She then sees the tape, and plays it. It was very funny to see Ibara trying to strangle Akazukin and Baru on the background, while Souta was sincerely apologizing. Ringo actually cries when she finds out. It seems that Souta and the others have just left before Ringo arrived, as they’re still in Erude. Ringo then calls Souta, yelling certain things I couldn’t understand at him. Then some nightmarians cut Souta off.

Randagio then comes in action, after insulting Baru for a dog. The catch with this week’s Nightmarians is the fact that they’re like mutated moles, so they soon hide in the ground, digging many holes. In the end, they still proved no match for Ibara and her vines. Randagio then escapes through one of these tunnels. While this was light-hearted, the thing that follows absolutely was not.

Ringo, worried about Souta, rushes over, when Gretel appears, knocking her out and taking her as hostage. The episode ends. The next episode might actually be a very important one, as it’ll show how far the creators are willing to go. We’ve got three options:
– The simplest is that Ringo will be saved in the next episode, and go along with Souta and the others to Fandavere. I’m actually not hoping for this option to be chosen. Not because I dislike Ringo as a character, but the other two options provide so many possibilities.
– The second option is that Ringo will be saved, though she won’t go along with Souta. This means that she’ll get worried about him during her entire time in camp, while Souta has to learn to rely on someone else than Ringo. Either Akazukin, Shirayuki or himself.
– I’m actually hoping for the creators to go with the third way: The Three Musketeers attempt to save Ringo, but they fail, making her a hostage for Hansel. So many awesome things are possible with this. I know, this option will probably not get chosen, but it would be awesome if it was.

Memorable Moment: Akazukin and Baru trying to wake up Ibara.

The episode begins with Souta waking up again, while Baru, Akazukin and Shirayukihime still are sound asleep. Ringo then comes to him extra early. Shirayukihime and Akazukin, who meanwhile have woken up wonder why Souta and Ringo have to leave this early. Shirayukihime and Akazukin immediately want to go with them when they find out that the two of them have to go to a school trip to somewhere, though Ringo forbids them. Shirayukihime then tells Souta that if something should come up, he can call for them and they’ll come.

When Souta and Ringo left, it seems that Shirayukihime and Akazukin will be following them after all. I think they used the fact that Souta and Ringo forgot to bring lunches with them as an excuse. ^^ Meanwhile, back in the dimension full of mirrors, Hansel is willing to give Gretel one more chance in order to get Erude’s Key. Meanwhile, in the bus Ringo is talking to a couple of friends, while she sees Souta reading a book as usual. He really closes himself out from others like this.

You can also see this when they have arrived in the park, or whatever it is that they were supposed to go to. Souta is alone again, talking to flowers. Surprisingly enough, they talk back. But then, a couple of classmates see him, and he’s able to explain to them what he’s doing. They’re actually quite impressed, though they don’t really understand each other. Souta can’t see the fact that his classmates just want to hang out with him, while his classmates can’t see what’s so special about flowers. Ringo scolds him for this a bit.

Ringo then suggests to look around in a huge garden full of flowers. Of course, Souta can’t refuse this. Souta then notices the third Musketeer. Meanwhile, Shirayukihime, Akazukin and Baru have arrived at the same park. Baru pretends to be an ordinary dog, which doesn’t really work to well. ^^ Akazukin meanwhile discovered a crepe-stand, though before she gets to eat, she and Shirayukihime are mistaken for a bunch of cosplayers. ^^;

Meanwhile, a surprisingly catchy background tune sounds while Souta and Ringo try to guess what’s up with the third Musketeer, who appears to be sleeping in a flower bed. She then wakes up, and begins to summon a couple of angry-looking vines. Akazukin and Shirayukihime meanwhile have won a local cosplaying contest. It was so funny when it appeared that Akazukin didn’t even know the meaning of cosplaying. ^^

Meanwhile, as the vines from the third Musketeer look quite scary, Souta decides to remember what Shirayukihime said to him at the beginning of the episode, about how he should call her whenever he’s in trouble. He attempts, and it works. But before Shirayukihime and Akazukin can get to him, Gretel arrives. The third Musketeer holds her off for a while, though she still is incredibly sleepy. And cute. ^^

Meanwhile, Gretel attempts to use a Nightmarian in disguise in order to fool Souta and Ringo, though that doesn’t really work. It therefore decides to reveal its true form. This has given Akazukin and Shirayukihime enough time to reach Souta. Then the two of them see see the third musketeer and Gretel fighting, and they reveal her name: Ibawa-hime. I so hope that I spelled that one right. A quite amusing discussion follows between the three Musketeers afterwards. Ibawa-hime was just too cute. ^^

Souta, meanwhile, returns to the flower bed he was with before. The flowers then tell him to run away, only after being crushed by the Nightmarian, appearing from underneath it. Souta manages to save one of these flowers, after it’s been ripped out of the earth. Gretel meanwhile captures him, while Shirayukihime and Akazukin fight off the Nighmarian, and another newly arrived companion of it. Ibawa-hime, only yaws and acts sleepy.

Meanwhile, Souta loses the flower he was protecting, and it blows into Gretel’s face. She was already quite pissed, so she decides to relieve her anger upon the poor flower. Apparently, Ibawa-hime has a lot of affinity with flowers. This not only makes her fit perfectly with Souta and his love for them, but she also finally slips out of her sleepy mood, and gets serious. Her personality totally changes afterwards. ^^

Ibawa-hime seems to fight with whips, made out of vines, and a shield she wears on her arm. With this, she manages to beat Gretel. The latter gets startled when the former calls her pitiful. Gretel then decides to flee, after seeing that Shirayukihime and Akazukin have beaten the Nightmarians. Meanwhile, an exccentric camera appears.

Meanwhile, in the mirror-dimension, Gretel apologizes to her brother again. The latter first acts nice, though he then says he hates something of her. Probably a scratch she recieved from Ibawa-hime. He then leaves her, and Gretel desperately tries to apologize for this. Meanwhile, Gretel hasn’t exactly been neat with her Nightmarians in the park, as she left quite a mess. Ibawa-hime then reveals that she has the power to restore everything to its former state again, including Souta’s flower.

I was fearing a bit for Ibawa-hime’s personality to be a bit bland and boring, judging on her character art. Still, I’m very pleasantly surprised with this episode. Her split personality really works. Gretel also was quite interesting. During her previous scheme, she prepared a fully fledged plan, in order to get Erude’s key, though this time, she decided to try a more direct approach, bringing lots of firepower along with her.

Overall, this episode once more was just awesome. Thumbs up for Otogi Juushi Akazukin.

Memorable Moment: Akazukin and Shirayukihime in their cosplay-contest.

This episode turns more serious, as the antagonist reveals herself. It indeed turns out to be Hansel’s brother, Gretl (how else :P). Her character design is pretty interesting. Still, most of the minor trump cards seem to be played now. What will Hansel be trying next time?

We start with where we left off in the previous episode. Baru is sensing someone, not a Nightmarian at the school. Something stronger, so he and Shirayukihime decide to head for the school. Hansel meanwhile has a little talk with his sister. Meanwhile, Baru and Shirayukihime infiltrate the school, in which Akazukin’s still going “undercover”.

Shirayukihime found a more effective way: pretend to be teacher. She’s fairly good in it, though Akazukin wonders what she’s doing there. And makes a fool out of herself. ^^ Later, she meets up with Baru, and the two start to search for the source of the huge strength. They eventually manage to find a couple of lunch boxes. (^^;)

Gretl, meanwhile, tries to carry out her plans. She pretends to be sick, and Souta and Ringo go along with her. Gretl seems to look at a watch, suggesting that she’s waiting for something. In the corridor, when things were supposed to go off, nothing happens. It seems it had something to do with a couple of mirrors, which were deactivated by Shirayukihime. Gretl doesn’t really get happy with this when she finds out.

Gretl reveals her true form. Souta, however, still trusts her because of the things she said earlier. Whether this is a smart move, or utter foolishness remains a mystery. Gretl meanwhile places a barrier, hence why she was checking out everything in the previous episode. Something in the barrier turns everyone unconscious. Souta and Ringo only escape this fact because of a protection spell Shirayukihime put on them. Afterwards, Shirayukihime ends up outside of the barrier, while the former two end up inside of it.

Even Akazukin and Baru are under Gretl’s spell. When Gretl’s about to attack Souta, she appears, for some reason. That reason gets explained, though I have no idea what it is. Akazukin then decides to lure Gretl outside, as she has no room at all to fight inside a small corridor. Eventually, it seems that the weak point in Gretl’s barrier was the top of it. Akazukin breaks it, in order to let Shirayukihime in again.

Hansel, in the end, manages to prevent Shirayukihime and Akazukin from destroying Gretl by saving her. It seems his plans have failed again.

Another awesome episode. It wasn’t as fun as the previous one, though it still had plenty of entertaining moments. We learn a bit more about Shirayukihime and the fact that she’s always able to win debates in the magic-country. Until Ringo trumps her. ^^

It’s also nice to see that the creators have spent time in developing the world an the magic system for Otogi Juushi Akazukin, as Shirayukihime gives us a demonstration of how to set up a barrier. I also just loved the dream that Shota was having at the beginning of the episode. Finally we see some dreams which don’t have to be so grim or serious, but are just plain wacky, like normal dreams are.

This episode, Hansel sends a spy towards Souta, in the form of a transfer student. He distracts everyone by making a nightmarian appear. Still, it does show that Souta is incredibly naive, as he doesn’t question the fact that she knows about the fairy tale, or that she knows that Akazukin is a musketeer.

There’s one thing I’m wondering about, though that can also be a mistake by the fansubbers. The fact is that the musketeers got their name from their muskets. These are like, 18th century types of guns. I’m wondering what the literal meaning of Juushi means, as I’d like to know the explanation behind the fact why they’re called musketeers.

I’m also wondering about the direction in which this anime is going. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. The fact remains that it has 39 episodes to fill. If it became clear that the Nightmarians don’t work against Akazukin in the second episode, what will the creators have in mind for the later episodes? I hope that this means what I think it means. =)

Overall, another great episode. Some of the antics of the characters really were adorable.

Memorable Moment: Baru, finding out he has to stay at home.

I’m going to handle the series which I’ll be blogging for this season a bit different from the Spring Season. Back then, I started blogging every good series, but if I’ll do that again for this season, I’ll be overwhelmed. I therefore decided to pick up three series this season. The first will be Otogi Juushi Akazukin, and the last two will be the underdogs of the season. Much like Gintama of the Spring Season.

In any case, I’ve also decided to try out one series raw for each season. In this case, it’s Otogi Juushi Akazukin. And I have to say that I couldn’t have picked a better one. Everyone who wants to start with checking out raws really should start with this series. As it’s a children’s anime, a lot of simple language is used. I have to say that I was able to understand 80% of the episode globally, and I managed to figure out the meaning of 40% fo all the lines spoken.

In any case, this episode was great. It doesn’t follow the OVA anymore, so it finally has the opportunity to show its own storyline. And I have to say, Baru is awesome. The episode was mostly about introducing Akazukin to Erde’s technology and introducing the second musketeer: Princess Shirayuki (I so hope I spelled that right).

The episode starts with Souta waking up, realizing that all that happened was not a dream. Ringo then yells to him, from the corridor. As usual, she made breakfast for the two of them. Souta then gets scared about what might happen when Ringo finds out about Akazukin, so he tries to hide this. In the end, this doesn’t really work, with quite hilarious results. I’m amazed that this show also manages to include some very effective comedy. This only makes this show more enjoyable.

What follows is a very amusing conversation, in which Akazukin and Baru introduce themselves to Ringo. Akazukin also seems to have no idea that her mission’s supposed to be secret, so she blurts it out, before Baru gets the chance to remind her about her tasks. I just love how the dialogues are just so carefree. ^_^

It seems that those creatures from last episode were Nightmares, sent after Souta. We then switch to the little cat, who managed to get his hans on a tin can from a vending machine. Then Hansel pays him a visit, to check up on things, and the cat quickly hides the can behind him. Though this doesn’t really work in a room full of mirrors. ^^ It was great to see Hansel, actually checking out the vending machine, later in the episode. ^^

Akazukin, meanwhile, is amazed by the magic of the washing machine, fridge and the tv. As Ringo has yet to hear the full story, she gets more sceptical by the minute when Baru and Akazukin keep referring to “Mahou”. The TV inspires Akazukin and Baru meanwhile to go out to the town and try out some special food they saw in a commercial. This does mean that Baru has to be put on a leash. He didn’t really like that. ^^;

When Akazukin finds the food stand she was looking for, she attempts to pay with money from her own world. As Souta doesn’t have any money with him, Ringo ends up being the one who gets to pay. Ringo now gets so pissed that Akazukin has to tell her what’s going on. The two of them do have to promise to keep it a secret. Akazukin reveals that she and Baru indeed come from another world. It’s called Fandabere (“called”, not “spelled”. I still have to figure out how you spell that damned word). The world Souta lives in is called Erde. It seems that Cendrillion has escaped from her seal, and now wants to do something bad to Fandabere. I think it has something to do with conquering it. In any case, Souta is the key to reuiniting the magic from Fandabere with the technology from Erde. If she combines these, Cendrillion will probably gain huge strenght, just like the young man in the story in the first episode.

To Akazukin’s surprise, Souta doesn’t get shocked at all, he rather gets enthusiastic. What follows is an extremely hilarious scene, in which a couple of schoolgirls find Baru, and all get incredibly giddy over him. They all want to take his picture, and it doesn’t take long before he loses his temper and begins shouting. I laughed really hard when I saw how he tried to get himself out of that situation. ^_^

What follows is one of Hansel’s henchmen. This time, he comes in the form of a bat. He soon gets joined by another of his companions. Akazukin gets really annoyed when Shirayuki appears. She seems to have used the excuse that Erde was supposed to be a great shopping-opportunity to tranfer worlds. Akazukin and Shirayuki when work together to beat the two bats. (I also loved it when Akazuking declared Ringo as their personal cook on her own).

Overall, the characters in Otogi Juushi Akazukin surely are the elements that make this anime awesome. Especially each of the antics of the characters. Especially Akazukin and Baru are amazing.

Memorable moment: “…wan”