Shikabane Hime – 20



Short Synopsis: Ouri vs. Boob-sama and Makina vs. the balloon… thing.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Seriously, this show keeps surprising me. I thought that the Boob-sama story would be plain annoying, and Ouri’s female classmate who appeared from out of nowhere and started acting completely different from her usual character only contributed to that fear, not to mention that she opened up her shirt for no good reason either. Still, this yet again was a really good episode.

Mostly, this was because of the balloon Shikabane. The shounen-roots of this series may have a few serious disadvantages, but this is one of the few shounen-series that so far has yet fallen into one of the pitfalls that killed most of the series of the genre. And this series also has the big strength of the good shounen series: they created some really interesting villains with very imaginative powers. The seven stars really are formidable opponents that are fun to watch, and the balloon thing is the best example of that when this episode reveals that it’s just a little girl with a bunch of balloons, who died together with her family on an amusement park. Nice! The theme-park fight-scene was quite awesome to watch.

It seems that the seven stars are indeed after the destruction of the Hougonshuu, and for some reason Hokuto’s big enemy is among them. Right now, I wonder what the creators have in store with these guys. My biggest fear right now is that Hokuto seems a bit too much like your overpowered evil overlord. The balloon shikabane was so much fun because she used mind games and all that stuff in order to win, though Hokuto seems much more like your typical power monster.

Also, the big question for the next episode: is Boob-sama going to return as a Shikabane Hime or not?

15 thoughts on “Shikabane Hime – 20

  1. You always try to talk trash about shonens in a subtle way , but you are always too obvious about it . You try to pass off your opinion like it is a fact , even though your opinions usually go against the vast majority .

    You say this and that about how something always ruins shonens of this genre , or how most shonens aren’t good . If most shonens were “ruined” , then shonens wouldn’t be the most popular by the landslide it is .

    I would almost pay to see your reactions after watching a series in subtitles . You rarely know what is actually going on in the series you blog , and that makes for extreme entertainment.I am guessing you don’t rewatch most of them , because you would probably have to rewrite almost the entire site because of inaccuracies.

    And as i have said before , for reasons unexplained i still keep coming back to this site . I finally have some thoughts on why you say the things that you do . You are most likely a huge shoujo fan , and you have inner resentment that shoujo’s aren’t, and never will be as popular as shonen/seinen .

  2. That rant was positively cute. Bashing the blogger *really* gets your point across. You’ve proven many points by your example.

  3. @ Mackreki

    I don’t know. I personally think the blogger himself is enjoying the series and is just having fun writing it that way. No. Actually, I think he loves anime in general. As for you, I am assuming you have quite a distaste for shoujo which is why when the blogger seemingly attacks the shonen/seinen genre, you get defensive. Don’t need to be defensive. We are all anime fans just like you and all have unique ways of poking fun at things that we like or dislike.

  4. I agree with the above posters. I enjoy this blog and comments made by blogger are generally enjoyable. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but the first post seemed inappropriate.

    Back to episode. Can’t wait to see if Ouri get’s himself another shikabane. Can you have multiple partners?

  5. Mackreki: a few things:

    – I hate the overly used shoujo tropes just as much as the shounen ones. It’s not exactly correct to say that I’m a huge shoujo fan, because both Shounen and Shoujo have had their gems and failures for me. That reference to “most shounen series” obviously was a reference to my personal experiences with shows as Naruto, Bleach, etc. Still, you can say that I’m a bit bitter to see some of my favourite series getting mostly ignored and underrated. Heck, it’s one of the big reasons why I started this blog. ^^;

    – The reason why I don’t rewatch episodes subbed is simple: laziness. I tried to do it once, but gave up pretty quickly due to the enormous repetition of it all, and most of the times it’d just mean that I missed one or two important sentences in an entire episode, which just wasn’t worth it.

  6. I really need to make a few things clear . I am in no way bashing this blogger . His/Her blog is awesome , even with all the “little” things that bother me .

    I just found it extremely funny that the blogger likes to sneak in a few negative shonen comments quite often .I am surprised the comments didn’t lead to other comments about how the Laws of Ueki did the genre right 🙂

    Lastly , to the person who guessed i dislike shoujo , you are correct and wrong at the same time . I do dislike most shoujo , but that is because most shoujo recycle the exact same story, (which shonen do alot too)and they have lower budgets than shonen and seinen by far . Take Vampire Knight for example . It is exactly the same as so many shonens , with the exception it has more male than female characters , and it has animation quality that compares to a fan made oav .

    If more shoujos with the quality of Peach Girl , Escaflowne , or Lovely Complex were made , then my opinion of shoujo would surely change for the better .

  7. @ denizen .

    You have to be pretty unintelligent to assume like that . I may have went a bit overboard with my first post , being that it probably sounded much harsher than what i intended it to. ( even though i wasn’t mad and had a giant smile on my face while posting)

    But yea , it must be because i LOVE Bleach and Naruto . In reality , both of those shows entertain me , but they are nowhere close to being favorites of mine .Even if i was a huge fan of them , i am smart enough not to let peoples negative comments about them bother me . Why would i be bothered that some people don’t like Bleach and Naruto ? If i was a huge fan i would be happy knowing that they are both in the 5 in worldwide anime popularity .

    If you really want to bash my favorite animes start from this list of favorites of mine .

    Berserk
    Toward the Terra
    Kenichi (only traditional shonen near my top 10
    RahXephon
    Romeo no Aoi Sora

    Those are some of my favorites so bash away if you want , instead of bringing up Naruto and Bleach . I also love the Gundam franchise , so bash that as well if needed .

  8. Mackreki: And yeah, I personally love a well done shounen series like the Law of Ueki as well, which is another reason why I’m so bitter with the genre, since hardly any of its series seems to live up to it. ^^;

  9. Gah, I was expecting a discussion about the episode (since I haven’t watched it yet) @_@

    While I may not agree with all the comments and opinions in the blog, I still enjoy coming here and reading. I accept that people have different views on stuff so getting upset about someone just for having a different point of view is silly in most cases.

    Anyway, I only watched the episode before this one. Did the large-breasted girl die already and was a Shikabane by the end of the last episode or did she like just get killed in this one?

    If Ouri suddenly got 2 Shikabane Hime, wouldn’t that turn this into a harem? o_O

  10. Funny how no one commented on the fact that Oori:
    A) Got a seemingly new power. (the blood eye thing)
    B) Discovered his parent was a Corpse (kinda big deal?)

  11. As for the “multiple himes per priest” we already have a good example – the teacher of most contracted priests known (don’t remember his name). On the other side… I don’t think Ouri would endure having his life force sucked out by two Himes at the same time. We know Makina sucks it already pretty quick.

    Yes, the Ouri being half(?)-corpse was not addressed by the blogger (is it one of the two missed lines per episode? ;)), still the title of the next episode suggests it might be about it too. I’m waiting for the subs, so I don’t know yet for sure.

    On a completely unrelated topic… I can’t believe Ouri just lets the cat drop a hint now and then instead of having a serious conversation with the sneaky critter.

  12. one note….didn’t Ouri’s female classmate was supposed to be yuri ?????
    She looked completely fell in for Makina in the first season,isn’t she??? How could she switch her love interest to Ouri???

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