Simoun – 12 – Kaimu and Aruti

by psgels, posted in Simoun



This was another incredibly exciting episode. One of the best in Simoun so far. Dominüra gets the strange idea of messing up the pairs, in order to let Kaimu and Aruti work together. As she’s in love with Paraietta and hates Aruti, Kaimu doesn’t really like this.

The major part of the episode really illustrated this. Kaimu kept getting angrier and angrier. Simoun is great in portraying angry characters. The background music also really helps in this. It’s a really sad tune. Especially when Kaimu and Aruti make their first test flight, along with Aaeru and Neviriru, the scenes kept getting more amazing by the minute. It indeed seemed that they were sortof close once before they came to the Arcus Prima, though on the night before Kaimu’s first flight, one of them seduced the other, and well, you can guess the rest.

It isn’t clear who seduced who, but Kaimu clearly blames Aruti for this. Aruti, however, still remains nostalgic. Both of them are at fault this time, and both manage to learn a bit. Kaimu learned that she doesn’t need to get so angry with Aruti (still, I doubt whether these scars are totally gone). Aruti learned to stop living in the past, and stop depending on her sister to make her grow.

Aaeru meanwhile tries to get even closer to Neviriru, though that doesn’t really work. She also looked very cute with her hair loose.
Yun also displays a cute side when it seems that she doesn’t like onions. I’ve also noticed that she’s along with Limone the only one who likes to read books. She’s also the last one to go to sleep in the evening.
Furoe still doesn’t seem to have forgotten what happened at the previous episode. It’s a shame that we don’t get to see the two of them meating again. The soldiers seem to have left the Messis.

Overall, this was an awesome episode. The tension was just perfect. So far, we’ve had an episode dedicated to Neviriru, Paraietta, Limone, Furoe, Kaimu, Aruti, Mamiina and Rödoreamon. That only leaves Morinasu, Aaeru, Dominüra and Yun. I can’t wait for them. 🙂

Memorable moments: Seeing the Sybilla actually fixing the leaks on the Messis. Limone trying to comfort Rödoreamon.

Popolocrois 2003 – 01 – Couldn’t resist ^^

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois 2003



While waiting for the rest of Popolocrois Story 1998 to come in, I couldn’t resist to check out its 2003 version. A lot has changed. Pietoro has now grown up, and has taken the throne, along with Narcia as his wife. Hyuu seems to have been buggered off, and the two now have a son: Pinon. All of the adults from the 1998 series also have vanished into thin air, as there doesn’t seem to be a sign of Paolo, Hilda, Shirokishi and unfortunately, Gamigami.

The art also has changed a bit. It still bears the unique art of Popolocrois, but the overall color scheme looks a bit less bright. The character’s faces also are more blocked instead of curved and the eyes and mouth of each of the characters look a bit more evil. The music, however, is as good as ever. The CG, however, doesn’t seem to be living up to the 1998-version, which is strange, as you would expect a newer series to come with better graphics. Though the beam of light shown in the first episode of 1998 certainly was able to beat the beam of light in the first episode of 2003.

The great thing about such a sequel is that you really can compare the two of them. Pietoro has grown very different from his father, Paolo. Both of them are strong leaders, but they both do it in their own way. Paolo was very laid back. He had a huge amount of self-confidence and because of this, he was able to rule with a very laid-back attitude. Pietoro, however, wants to rule as good as possible, and he wants to do this as good as possible. He therefore actively concerns himself with things going on in Popolocrois and he’s also very strict on Pinon.

Because of this, Pinon was raised in a totally different way than Pietoro. Pietoro was son of Pablo, the great leader. Pinon is son of Pietoro, the great hero. This anime manages to show the huge difference between these two. Pietoro is great for what he has done. Pablo is great for what he’s doing. Both of them have their good points and bad points, and these are reflected in their children. As Pablo and Sania were rather carefree, Pietoro also grew up to be carefree. When Pietoro grows up, and gets to be strict to Pinon, Pinon grows to be a bit more rebellious.

Okay, maybe rebellious isn’t the right word. Both Pietoro as Pinon run around the castle. Though Pietoro does this because he wants to play. Pinon does this because he wants to run away. It was also interesting to see that Pinon didn’t consider Ulala as a friend. He’s been locking himself inside so much that he doesn’t even care to see the things in front of him. Still, he does have a kind heart, as he always stands up for others, willing to take their blame.

Ston and Sanda also seemed to have their roles as cute familiars (maybe “cute” isn’t the right word for them, but whatever) to Papu, a weird flying ferret. I liked Ston and Sanda’s designs more, for some reason. The OP and ED also seem to suggest that three more animals like Papu will appear. I so hope that their roles won’t be just “cute and mysterious”. After all, Ston and Sanda were great because of totally different reasons.

2003 also seems to be a lot darker. While 1998 had the wind-kind and Gamigami as the major enemies, 2003 seems to suggest for something actually evil to threaten Pinon. The robots from Gamigami also seem to have been replaced by actual monsters. Pinon, just like Pietoro beats them using his dragon powers. I hope that these also get lost somehow.

Overall, I liked the first episode of Popolocrois 1998 more. 2003 just doesn’t seem to have any awesome or memorable characters yet. There are actually annoying characters (the little boys, for example, they may have a good effect on Pietoro, they remain annoying as hell). Still, you can really see that just as 1998, 2003 is building up very carefully. After all, there are lots of characters appearing in the OP and ED who didn’t appear at all in the first episode, and Ulala, on her turn, doesn’t showu up in the OP and ED at all. There’s got to be some reason for that. And after all, 1998 was quite good when it actually came with a solid storyline, so I’ll keep my hopes up.

Popolocrois Story – 1998 – 20 – Let’s Hope the Final Episodes Arrive Soon

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois Story 1998



I finally managed to catch up with the fansubs. Now all that’s left is hope that they come out soon. Overall, the series was at its best at episodes 8-14. At that time, Gamigami played a huge role, though now he’s a bit too pityful. He doesn’t really work if he’s trying to be serious, although episode seventeen remained awesome. Though that did make me hope for the love-potion to wear off soon.

This episode, Hyuu tries to tempt Pietoro by promising to return his dragon powers, if he promises to stay with her forever. I feel that she tries a bit too much and too long. Though I don’t think that she has any better methods of convincing Pietoro, so we might see some change in this soon. The great element in this episode came from Ston and Sanda.

The two of them are just so incredibly indecisive. They were looking like crazy during the previous episode, but at the beginning of this one, Ston had already given up. Only to realize that the wind-kind will punish him if he doesn’t look after her. Later in the episode, they attempt to actually kidnap Pietoro, because he is the one who makes Hyuu not want to go back.

Overall, Gamigami was funny, though his brilliance lies in his countless inventions. He hasn’t been inventing much lately, unfortunately. Narcia was still extremely cute, though. The entire episode was focused on one decision Pietoro had to make. He chose the most ambitious option, though it’s indeed clear that Hyuu won’t continue as queen much longer. The last five episodes will probably focus on getting rid of the wind-kind.

Memorable moment: Ston and Sanda trying to kidnap Pietoro. And failing.

Nitaboh Review – 65/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews



Nitaboh is a historical movie. It plays in Japan, from 1865 till about 1875. Japan is gradually getting more and more american influences. The movie follows the rise of Nitaboh (hence the movie’s name). Nitaboh became blind when he was eight years old, due to an epidemic. Ever since, he’s been enjoying things that make sounds. When he, three years later, gets into contact with a shamisen (a three-stringed japanese guitar. Mostly played by blind people. Think Samurai Champloo 20 and 21), he decides to be a great shamisen-player. Because of his hard work, he manages this in the end.

This movie is ninety minutes long. After watching it, I had a good feeling about it. Some great and inspirational scenes are featured. Some of the tunes are surprisingly good. Both the shamisen-tunes as the regular background tunes. Seeing Nitaboh train hard, even when suffering works really inspirational. His friends also add up to this fact. The characters are really likeable. Still, there’s one big issue with this movie: it’s slow. Very slow. This makes most of the scenes in this movies very boring. But the few good scenes become great due to this effect.

The art looked a bit messy at times, though through the major part of the movie, it looked very crisp. Especially the very few action scenes it featured came out great. Still, when people played shamisen, their movements still didn’t look right. It’s something no anime has yet to accomplish: showing expert musicians playing their instruments. They always smuggle, making everything look unnatural. Nitaboh gives a good attempt, but the movements of the musicians’ hands is too fast and too unnatural.

Overall, this movie is good, but it didn’t feel like it was worth the time it took. If you’re really bored you could check this out, but most of the anime is just a bit too slow. But that’s the case with most historical anime.

Some quick first impressions: Coyote Ragtime Show, Tsuyokiss and Zero no Tsukaima

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

We now turn to the second batch of summer-anime. These were the shows which were the most hyped for the summer-season.

Coyote Ragtime Show

This is a science-fiction action series which just oozes with style. The first episode was more focused on the side-characters, instead of the main characters, which means that we haven’t seen too much of what this anime will really be like. We did get the chance to take a good look at the bad guys, though. It seems that they’re an army of twelve extremely dangerous cyborg-sisters with highly developed artificial intelligence. Only that was enough for me to keep following this series, though the best part of this anime is the action sequences it features. A lot of things happen at once, events succeed each other in a rapid pace and the music is awesome. It did have some boring parts, but overall, I liked this first episode.

Tsuyokiss

When I first heard about this show, I feared that it would probably become horrible, with each character as a tsundere. Still, it was better than I expected. Then again, my expectations weren’t what you’d call high. I’d describe this series as plain mediocre. It’s not nessecarily good, but not bad either. It wasn’t scared to throw all of the harem-cliche’s on one pile, the little brat, the silent girl, the annoying student council member and the big-breasted teacher. But the brat was okay, I guess. I also like the orange haired girl. Though my main problem with this series were the main characters. Both the male as the female one. Whenever the two of them were together, this series became predictable as hell, and not in a good way. Actually, I think that if Tsuyokiss would have been a yuri-anime, it would have stood a chance (the hug was about the only effective scene in this), but the male main character will probably ruin things. Still, I’m really recommending this to you if you have some sort of sleeping problem. Just watch the episode right before sleeping, and I’ll be a definite help.

Zero no Tsukaima

Now this is the real garbage of this season. What we have here is a pretty good concept, being handled by the guys who produced Shana. The result is a horrible mess. Everything that could have been messed up has been messed up. The backgrounds feature some fancy CG, but in exchange for that, they lack in so much detail. A room feels more like a cheap movie-stage now. The main characters aren’t any better, as they fit every stereotype in existance. The bishounen could have been so much funnier and half of the scenes just seem aimed to display as much fanservice as possible. The anime also shows that there hasn’t been any research put into the world, as the concepts just seem totally random and convenient. My advice is to not even touch this series with a ten-foot pole.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 02 – Akazukin = God

by psgels, posted in Otogi Juushi Akazukin



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”

.Hack//Roots – 14 – Rather Dull This Time

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



After what happened the previous episode, Haseo needs some time to be able to process what happened in the previous episode. He’s not very good in this, as he keeps getting gloomier as the episode progresses. His main support is Phyllo. The latter also goes to the place in which Shino and Ovan met for the first time, after which Tri-Edge ambushes him. For some strange reason, Phyllo is spared. You’d wonder why Tri-Edge took the time to visit him in the first place. In any case, when Haseo found out about this, he went berserk. He ran to the church and kept beating up the chains on the table. I think that he really snapped when he found out that each of Tri-Edge’s attacks have got something to do with Shino.

While that may have been too bad for Haseo, that part of the episode was just boring. Haseo was a bit too gloomy in my opinion. The good stuff came from the former TaN. It seems that Ender and Naobi not only swapped PC’s, they also swapped usernames. Naobi now is known as Yata, and Ender is Pai. A thing that really shocked me is that Ovan appears to be perfectly fine. After his arm exploded in episode twelve, he managed to escape, and now roams around The World. Either data-drained or just perfectly fine. Still, there has to be some kind of reason why he hasn’t contacted Haseo or Tabby yet.

In any case, Yata and Pai are up to something else, after their failure. They are probably busy analyzing what caused Ovan to escape. They’ve also run into some problems when they try to analyze the waterfall-field. It appears to be a dump for save-data. Much like the Net-Slum from .Hack//Sign. In any case, something is providing an error when they try to analyze it. It’s good to see that things aren’t going perfectly for Yata and Pai as well. I’m still wondering whether these hackers will be responsible for the greatest threat in the game.

Pai also talks about something called an SF. No idea what that means, though. Later in the episode, Pai makes contact with a new character, a former TaN-member: Savurou. It seems that the two of them knew each other, though it isn’t clear from where they do. In any case, she managed to swap PC’s as well. (On a side-note: I sortof like Pai’s character design. It’s a lot better than her Ender-version, in any case).

Overall, this episode was kindof boring. Haseo needs to accept that Shino’s gone. Still, TaN brought some nice material.

Some quick first impressions: Otogi Juushi Akazukin, Demashitaa! Power Puff Girls Z and Muteki Kanbanmusume

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Okay, and we now turn to the first batch of the summer-season. The first patch is very a very light-hearted one. The comedies work at certain times, though Akazukin is amazing.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin

First of all: OMG CUTE!!! Second of all: I really enjoyed the first episode. It’s got a very light feeling, and the character design is amazing. The story’s got a good base, though it remains incredibly simple. It’s a kid’s show, after all. I have to admit, though, the first episode of the OVA was better than the first episode of the anime. Overall, I certainly recommend this if you’re looking for a light-hearted fairy-tale story.

Demashitaa! Power Puff Girls Z

This show, is just stupid. It’s incredibly low-budget as well. Except for the transformation sequences, the major part of the budget seems to have been put in these transformation sequences. There have also been a lot of changes made to the original cartoon. The main characters weren’t made, they just were normal girls who were exposed to Chemical Z (a stronger version of Chemical X). Professor Utonium seems to have a son (who’s the mother?), and both he and his son have the ugliest character designs ever. His son also attempts to use the humour of repeated scenes, but he fails miserably. The major also isn’t the incredibly stupid guy he used to be before. The girl also seem to be 2-D stereotypes with just one personality. Still, there is one character which manages to save this show: Mojo Jojo. He actually was quite funny to watch and really brightens up the show.

Muteki Kanbanmusume

What we have here is a pure non-ecchi slapstick comedy. Characters try to act as outrageous as possible, mostly this goes along with lots of screaming. It was pretty funny at times, though I think this is missing something. This show feels like it’s Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, without its brilliance. It’s a fine attempt at comedy, but it could have been so much better.

Popolocrois story 1998 – 19 – Narcia vs Hyuu, take 2

by psgels, posted in Popolocrois Story 1998



Another Hyuu/Narcia episode. This time, it’s a bit different from the previous one. In the first one, Narcia wanted to check out Hyuu’s intentions. This time, the two of them just run into each other.

Narcia starts out incredibly naive. She believes that Hilda sent her out only to do a particular errand, while in fact, she should be looking for Pietoro. Hyuu also sees this and she can’t understand Narcia at this point. She begins yelling at her, and she calls her a witch who hides her own feelings deep inside of her. She even goes as far as lying to Narcia that Pietoro has confessed to her. Narcia’s a bit startled with this, though she is the one who wants to be with Hyuu.

Eventually, the two make up. Most of these thanks go to the wind-kind, who continues to try and kidnap Hyuu. The creators did a very good jop of putting tension in these scenes. Especially the climax was great. The two of them also got to experience what happens when you lose all of your powers (wind-kind’s work, again). It was really cute to se them like that.

Anyway, about the other characters. Gamigami still hasn’t found Hyuu, though his determination hasn’t faded yet. Ston, meanwhile, shows signs that he actually cares about Hyuu and it becomes clear that Pietoro likes to talk to himself.

The Wind-kind also will be interesting. He clearly has been sent to retrieve Hyuu, though she doesn’t want to go along with him. He can’t see that. He only wants Hyuu to come back, and he can’t see that she wants to stay. He also gets enraged when he finds out that Hyuu made friends with a human-kind. Hyuu also makes a nice statement. The Wind-kind always live alone. It’s the fate of every creature, even human-kinds, though teh human-kinds are too scared, so they flock together. If you combine this with what Hyuu said at the beginning of the series, in which she claimed that she wanted to search for other wind-kinds, it really becomes clear that she’s just plain lonely.

Overall, this has been a great episode. The tension it created was perfect, although Gamigami needed a bigger role.

Memorable moment: Pietoro getting surprised by the rain. Not nessecarily his reaction, but the way the rain introduced itself.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 13 – Sake, Anyone?

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari



The Eigetsu-arc is probably the best arc of Seiunkoku Monogatari yet. Not nessecarily because of Eigetsu, but all kinds of things are happening at once. The setting also is a very original one, and Shiurei continues to be awesome. Not to mention the original humor that the creators posess. ^^

I had a few troubles with the first arc of the show. After all, Shiurei only managed to get in the castle because of the high status of her father. If she would have been just a commoner, she would never have been able to accomplish that. She did show her strong character, but in the end she did end up as the damsel in distress, only to be saved by Ryuuki. Then the second arc started, and this element was immediately gone. Shiurei now advances because of her own hard work. Starting from the second arc, we really get to see what kind of an amazing person Shiurei is.

We start at Kougarou. Shiurei wonders what Ryuuki’s up to. He answers that he was here to see Eigetsu. Kouchou reveals that Shiuei was indeed the one who left her in the middle of the night and dropped Eigetsu off. Shiuei also is surprised when he sees Eigetsu with such a different personality. We then see a flashback of the previous night, in which Eigetsu beat up a couple of punks with a very evil look on his face. This suggests that the guy must have some kind of dual personality. In any case, Eigetsu doesn’t seem to remember what happened back then.

He also reveals that he lost his official wood token. Later in the episode, the importance of this token gets explained, and why Eigetsu was in such panic when he realized he lost it. Kouyuu and Ryuuki seemed to be shocked when they find out that the Seikintou have been collecting these official wood tokens.

Afterwards, Keichou seems to have arrived in Kougarou. When Shiurei finds out about the fac that he’s joined the Seikintou, she begins to yell at him. ^^; It seems he did it in order to be able to boast about something to the girl he loved. While Shiurei continues to unleash her anger upon him, Seiran reveals that Keichou used to often hit upon her when the two of them small. This even got so far that Keichou ended up in a river in the winter. ^^

Keichou then reveals that the Seigintou will be invading Kougarou that evening. What follows is a very enjoyable scene in which the Seigintou get ambushed by an army of crime-bosses. Kouchou happens to be the leader of the crime-bosses. ^^ Things start very nicely when the leader of the Seigintou gets bombarded with a giant ice-ball (nice haircut, by the way). Shiurei, Keichou, Seigintou and Kouyuu are hiding in a shack somewhere, as all of them can’t really fight. Eigetsu then decides to head out after all, as his token is very important to him. Kouyuu sends Shiurei along with him. Keichou follows them, though Kouyuu doesn’t really care about him.

The leader of the Seigintou meanwhile managed to escape the ambush, and he managed to invade the building of Kougarou. He then runs into Eigetsu, Shiurei and Keichou, searching unconcious bodies for the tags. He then manages to take Shiurei as hostage. Even though the two of them know they aren’t strong at all, they still try to attack the guy. Only to end up on the floor, knocked out in Keichou’s case, and in a barrel full of sake in Eigetsu’s case.

Then the mystery behind Eigetsu’s second personality becomes clear. It seems that whenever he drinks alcohol, he turns into Yougetsu, his total opposite: violent, strong, confident. Kouyuu meanwhile manages to free Shiurei by dropping a huge flower pot on the guy’s head. Shiurei also acts as a perfect hostage, as she just doesn’t want to stay still. the leader of the Seigintou has huge troubles to prevent her from checking whether Eigetsu is allright. Kouyuu managed to finish this in a nice anti-climax.

It seems that the creators were really enthusiastic in giving the leader of the Seigintou a couple of fun haircuts, as the guy now walks around with an afro full of flowers. ^^ Then, Yougetsu woke up, and kicks the guy’s ass. These fighting scenes looked very amazing. Shiurei also manages to find out the purpose of the wooden tags the Seigintou have been stealing. They’re indeed passes which permit a person to take the national exam. For a lot of people, these tags are worth more than their life, and so the Seigintou have found a nice way to blackmail persons.

At the same time, this explains the importance of Eigetsu in this story. Both Shiurei as Eigetsu will be taking the national exam. This means that they both will become government officials at the same time, they’ll be advancing together. Eigetsu will probably also end up living with Shiurei, Seiran and Shouka, so the two of them will be spending a lot of time together.

Eigetsu also seems to be the one youngest person to pass the local exams at the top of his year (therefore, beating Kouyuu). It also seems that his tag was not among the ones the Seigintou have been stealing. Then it appears that Yougetsu was responsible for the disappearing tag. He saw the danger of the ruckus he caused, so he gave his tag to a third party (Keichou’s father. Apparently, the two know each other). He also ordered a bottle of high-quality sake, which would explain Eigetsu’s empty pocket at that time.

Now that everything has been solved, the show still has enough time left to wrap up a couple of things. First of all, Shiurei’s last day. In the previous episode, Kochou promised Shiurei a surprise for her last day at work. It appears to be a make-up kit. (Shiurei looks beautiful with make-up, by the way) Kochou also reveals that both Shouka as Seiran knew about the fact that Shiurei was working at a brothel. They both came to her, begging to take care of Shiurei. It was quite funny that both of them said the exact same thing.

After that, we see Shiurei and Eigetsu heading to the palace, in order to take their national exams. In the palace, they run into a Ryuuren again, as weird as ever. (I loved it when he used his flute to talk ^^) The results are also announced afterwards. Eigetsu really is a genius, despite his shyness, when it seems that he managed to get the best results. Ryuuren managed to come in second and Shiurei third. Eigetsu and Shiurei will be working in the palace afterwards, though I think that Ryuuren will continue roaming around.

One more thing… what kind of “job” did Shiuei have to do at the beginning of the previous episode? He couldn’t have known about Eigetsu, could he? (*wink wink*)

Overall, this arc was great. Saiunkoku Monogatari really gets just better and better. I’d love to see the reactions of the ones who follow the subs. If they already thought that the first arc was awesome, I can’t wait till they find out about the second and the third arc. 🙂

Memorable moments: The leader of the Seigintou getting bombarded by a giant iceball, and Shiurei seeing herself with make-up for the first time.