Kurogane’s Anime Blog

Quite a cute episode about an episode 7 years back where Yuuna is kidnapped by a bunch of guys. Mamoru does question on why he has to protect her, but then, a childhood spent together really justifies it :).

Anyways, this episode is all about Yuuna’s cuteness and I just love how airheaded she is without being irritating. Knowing that she got kidnapped from the TV news really fits her :P.

Not much more to say, came down with a fever and semi-cold right now, might not be really blogging much this few days.

Gekko State launches a full scale attack to the island that’s holding Norbu. The operation progresses smoothly, with the only setback of Eureka not willing to fight as she senses that innocent people are on the base. Talho successfully infiltrates the base’s systems and locates Norbu’s whereabouts and relays the info to Holland who confronts his brother, Dewey.

With the help of Nirvash, after Renton calms Eureka down, they successfully rescue Norbu and escape from the island, leaving a little present in the form of a total blackout across the base, pissing Dewey off.

Not much plot here, but a lot of action was in this episode. I have to say though, that the fights are seemingly quite one-sided here, almost to the point of “Kira-ism” levels, with the military hardly giving them barely a scratch or two.

But anyways, the main point of Eureka Seven is in it’s story anyways, so I’ll ignore that for now. Norbu’s surprisingly not the usual stereotype of the priest, which is quite likable and unique :). As for now, with Norbu resuced it seems that the series is slinking back to slow pace judging from the preview.

The crew of the Gekko-Go discuss about Norbu, who’s being held at the military base of Shito and they prepare for a sub-orbital flight. After the meeting, Holland talks in private with Renton and Eureka about Norbu.

Apparently, they met during the battle in Del Cielo which was the fateful battle which lead the desertion of Holland and Eureka. He was the head priest of the Vodarek and one of Holland’s main objectives was to kill him. He manages to reach the temple that Norbu was in and tries to kill him but fails as somehow, he manages to manipulate the Compac Drive of Holland’s KLF to stop it.

Holland, witnessing his power, questions why he didn’t run away when he knew the military were after him. Bringing him to a cliff overlooking Del Cielo, where he enlightens Holland about the truth behind the Coralians, which have long been seen as monsters. The Coralians are apparently the dreams of the earth itself.

Holland dismisses that and Norbu starts to mention about Sakuya, a girl he met when he was young and was his first love. Holland gets angry until Norbu states that she wasn’t human and that she was the same as Eureka, a Coralian in human form, continuing on that Eureka now is like a blank piece of paper and that she will change based on what that influences her but Dewey and Holland are unable to change her and are now only using her as a tool for destruction.

Holland counters back saying that they’re only protecting the world, but Norbu reveals that they intend to start a second Summer of Love with her to destroy the world because they can’t understand the will of the Earth.Holland, still disbelieving, is surprised when Norbu suddenly slams his hand on the earth and clusters of tree-like formations surround him.

Norbu states that the will of the Earth responded to him and asks him that being a Reffer, why can he read the Trapar waves when they can’t be seen, stating that if they can understand the Trapar, why can’t they understand the will of the Earth as well.

Norbu shows more proof in the form of his powers and summons a Trapar current which runs up the twin towers marking Del Cielo and destroying them and collapses soon after. Holland rushes to him and turns him over, suprised at what greets him, prompting him to ask what he is. Instead of answering, he points to Eureka, who’s arrived on the scene with what-will-be Maurice, Linck and Maeter, asking him if he wants to see her true smile from her heart.

Their conversation is interrupted by the appearence of Norbu’s guards and Holland makes a hasty retreat with Eureka and back in base, he’s punched by Dewey. After that, only did Holland decide to desert the army. The alarm sounds and Holland leaves a piece of advice for them to believe in themselves as they’ve chosen each other, eliciting blushes from both Renton and Eureka.

Heading into sub-orbital flight, they discuss about the course of action to take. Talho is the point person for this plan and she’s needed to infiltrate Shito. This leaves them with a problem of who’s going to pilot the Gekko-Go, which Moondoggie nervously volunteers for as he has a Ship Operator’s license. Disbanding, Talho walks into Holland’s room and tells Holland that she’s pregnant, causing Holland to stop Talho from going, but she’s determined to see this through for the sake of her child and everyone else.

In Shito though, a big commotion is caused when Dewey takes out Norbu for a walk and shows him the things he has done with Orange(?), the Coralian summoning device. Norbu pleads him to stop, but it falls on deaf ears. Taking a walk in a garden on minature landmarks, Dewey questions him but Norbu doesn’t answer, instead taking off his robes to reveal a Compac Drive lodged in his chest, which was what that surprised Holland before and now Dewey as well.

Ah darn, this was a long entry, but this episode was a very important one in terms of backstory and explanations. Written this a bit too long, but it’s still not guranteed accurate :P. A lot of interesting plot lines have been arised with this, such as about Sakuya, the predeccessor of Eureka and possibly Anemone, the reason behind the Compac Drive in Norbu’s body and the Great Whirl(Wall?, Whorl?). Talho’s pregnancy also came as quite a shocker though, but then,well, this just adds to the drama later on :).

In the aftermath of the second Coralian attack, Eureka and Renton try to search for survivors among the ruins but none are in sight. Back in the Gekko-Go, Eureka retires to her room in sadness causing Renton to try and find a way to cheer her back. He accepts advice from the fat scientist (couldn’t catch his name, *gomen*) about making memories with her.

Meanwhile, Talho is looking back at some old pics with her and Holland and reminsces about the past. She finds Holland in the midst of a meeting but decides not to interrupt and heads for the lounge, bumping into Renton who’s even more confused. Talho gives him some advice, and when they pass over an area with good waves, she decides to help them out a little and “forces” the Gekko-Go to land, so they can enjoy some Reffing.

Taking Renton to a storage area, she lends him a long board for Reffing and tells him to use it with Eureka.While Renton does that, the rest of the crew are also enjoying a break, Talho and Holland included. Both of them have a chat that inevitably leads to Holland trying to Ref, but failing miserably thanks to his injuries, but Talho’s confession leads him to make a decision, while Eureka and Renton are enjoying themselves with the longboard.

Back inside the Gekko-Go, Holland announces that he’ll be disbanding Gekkostate, saying from now onwards, he’s heading to rescue and important person and it will most probably be very dangerous and those who want to leave, may do so. After the announcement, he heads back to the bridge, to find that noone’s deserted and Renton saying that they’ll follow him and they head off full speed to their destination.

A pretty laidback episode, and I was supposed to post flood this, but got delayed due to many matters _|-|0;;;;. The third arc of the series seems to be starting now, with them heading off to rescue an important figure that seems to be a Vodarekian priest, Norbu, that seems to hold the hope of uniting humans and Coralians in peace.

I went like “**WTF?!! Damn you bastard**” on Yuuichi this episode. Rika’s lying in bed, sick to death, and he gets pwned and seduced easily by a woman he just met?!! Where’s the justice in that?! He **does not** deserve Rika. He was really well on the borderline of “**Wimpy Male Lead**” the past few episodes and this really tips him, no… more like throws him right into the middle of the “**Wimpy Male Lead**” territory.

The funny thing with me this episode was that every time I saw Rika, the first damn thing that pops in my head is “**!shegonnadie**”, where if you’re a usual lurker at #nipponsei, you should know that it’s the trigger for the Hantsuki OPED, released not too long ago. I have to say, their sense of humour is getting really better by leaps and bounds recently.

Still, I can’t wait for the next episode. I greatly care for Rika and although they said in the end of this episode that she’s not in the best of times, I still pray that she’ll survive this series. I have to praise the production crew for the masterful stroke of genius of making the preview of the next episode or rather the review of the series, at the end. If she does survive and marries Yuuichi, she’d better keep a good lookout for him, that wimpy bastard, :P.

The next day begins with Saber asking Shirou why he didn’t summon her when he was attacked by Rider, to which Shirou has a hard time answering.Saber decides to follow him to school and begins to chow down a large amount of food, to the despair of Taiga-nee (^^;;). Later, Shirou and Sakura are setting off for school, with Saber in tow, when they’re greeted by Rin. Shirou manages to persuade Saber to stay home as Rin’s with him, but Sakura storms off to school first, misunderstanding the situation.

Reaching school, Shirou and Rin are confronted by Issei, shocked to see them together. He tries hard to “save” his friend Shirou from the clutches of Rin, but to no avail. During lunch later, Shirou skips his appointment with Rin on the rooftop to chase after Sakura and explain to her what happened. Sakura gladly accepts the explanation and goes off, relieving Shirou until he turns around to see none other than Rin.

Rin and Shirou then head for the rooftop to discuss about the *kekkai* and she explains that to break the *kekkai*, they need to destroy points known as *jikoku* to slow it down and weaken it.Shirou instantly points to a spot near him, saying that he feels something there, which Rin initially disbelieves but after checking it out, finds out it’s really a *jikoku*. Surprised at his talent, they both set out to detect and destroy the various *jikoku* around the school.

After a productive day, both of them head home after a cup of coffee and conversation on the rooftop. Rin warns him to be careful and return home quickly and sets off. However, Shirou suddenly detects a ominous presence and decides to check it out himself. He follows it to the archery *dojo* and enters it to find a big casting circle on the wall and Rider. Rider’s master appears and it’s none other than Matou Shinji, his friend, confirming his suspicions from earlier on. Shinji then invites him to play at his place >:).

A more laidback episode after the events of the last one, with more of comedy involving Shirou and his harem, succintly put by Garten as him playing Harem Master.

I tremendously enjoyed the episode for the presence of Her Gracefulness Rin, who seems to be having a lot of fun with Shirou. I’m finding myself increasingly liking her more and more with each episode now.

Shirou was less annoying this episode as he did play an important role in it. His talents in magic seems to be more towards passive abilities rather than active ones, so his partnership with Rin is quite successful, with him detecting and Rin destroying.

Other than that, it was a pretty bland episode, and TBH, I do feel that F/SN is slowly losing it’s steam for now. But it’s rumoured (?) to be more than 13 episodes so I guess it’ll be better towards the end and the production crew would just like to set-up the intricate and complicated world that is Fate/Stay Night for now and also the development of characters too. They better make the second half real good here :).

Next episode is a drama one, judging from the previews with Saber, Rin and Sakura. Personally, I don’t mind more of this episodes, only that I hope they won’t waste too much time with talks and explanations. We need more Rin-Shirou tag :P.

Ok, screw my memory loss angle. Anyone notice that one of the cyborgs talk in almost perfect Engrish?
Natsuki wins this episode for the HiME style hitchiking scene, especially with Nao adding in the final touches ;). Shiho is *maki-maki* as usual, and I need more Chie t_t. Nina’s black robe is pretty cool too :). Midori’s “eternal *jyunanasai*” wins too.

Aside from that, Otome’s finally making a turn for the better. Couldn’t understand half the technobauble they threw at me this episode, but it does seem interesting. I probably shouldn’t be watching this raw anyways :P. I’m still wishing for Mai’s return.

The new *meido* from the last episode preview makes and appearance, and yes, she does remind me of Tachibana from Mahoraba, albeit a much more sneakier and crazier one :). Anju is pretty hillarious and I just couldn’t stop laughing at her scenes, especially in her fight in the hospital with Ayumi, leading to some eel-rape :P.

The OP and ED sequences are also changed slightly in this episode, to fit in the new characters for the second half I presume. The OP sequence looks much more interesting now that the last one, and the ED still has those hynoptical dancing *chibi* forms of the characters , why change something that already works great , eh :).

The humour in this episode is also noticebly at a higher “LOL” quality than the past few ones, with the trademark extreme SD/ deformation of characters in full swing here, especially Maika’s ” “transformation”. Even Rika, the pokerfaced character that usually doesn’t get much changes in expression, also wasn’t spared, with her getting the “*tsukkomi*” treatment twice this episode XD.

Haruo greatly suffered this episode as well, with him getting sick and involved in the fights and all. I’d rank to second to Asuta in the “Top Ten Most Abused/Suffering Male Character in Anime This Season” chart. It’s not much wonder that he’s not the brightest bulb in the series, with his sisters constantly hitting him with the Memory Erase Hammer, not to mention the other constant abuse he’s been suffering, from having his soul kidnapped by a ghost to suck the *maryoku* out of him to falling in love with an eel.

However, this episode also quite suffered from bad art, which is quite noticeble, especially on the Yoshikawa *shimai*, specifically for Fuyuno and Chiaki.I guess the spent the budget a bit too much on the new OP and ED sequences :P. Still, it doesn’t really detract that much from enjoying the show, since this episode is all about humour :).

I’m pretty surprised at the amount of drama that’s being infused in Kashimashi right now. I almost kinda stopped watching this episode halfway because it was getting quite sappy. I need more humour, goddamn it!!!

Anyways, it’s about high time everyone stop being so conscious about Hazumu’s previously a boy. IIRC, in the manga, they were quite over the “Hazumu was a boy!! OMG!!111″ thing around volume 2?

The manga was also quite lighthearted compared to the anime right now, which has a quite heavy atmosphere surrounding the three main characters. I guess I’m just not quite used to watching romance shows at this level of sappyness.

To end this post….. what the dog did in this episode is sooo wrong….. ***sooooo wrong***. Plus, I’m starting to hate Hazumu’s father. And I really pity Asuta, since the next episode *will* make him experience both heaven *and* hell at the same time.

Shana admits that she’s a Flame Haze to Kazumi and is about to go find Yuuji when Alastor reminds her of her duty and asks Kazumi to follow her to save the city. Meanwhile, Sakai and Keisaku reveal their identities to each other when suddenly the *jizaishiki*, called **Konno Seibyou**, evolves into a different stage.

Seeing that, Khamsim launches some balls of light to investigate. Marjery spots it and decides to head over to find out who’s the new Flame Haze, which Yuuji also does the same. Marjery and Yuuji reach Khamsim’s place at almost the same time. Yuuji immediately lashes out at Khamsim for involving Kazumi in all this, with Kazumi and Shana overhearing it when they reach there too.

Seeing that, everyone is here, Khamsim decides to start the tuning. Yuuji is against it, but Kazumi says it’s fine and Khamsim initiates the process but it stops suddenly, due to interference caused by the *jizaishiki*.Tanaka contacts Marjery and they pinpoint the center of the *jizaishiki*, which is in the festival. Marjery and Shana head over to try and stop it there.

Reaching there, one the festival tents turns into a big robot and does some funny dance. Speechless, the Flame Hazes detect the appearence of the professor, **Dandankyukyu**, who’s apparently heading in the city using an airship. Yuuji realizes that the airship is the last piece of the *jizaishiki* and alerts everyone to it. Shana and Margery try to stop it but fail and in the end, Khamsim summons out a stone giant who easily swats down the airship. In the aftermath, Kazumi confesses to Yuuji and tells him that he’s human, not a Torch.

Morning comes and Khamsim resumes the tuning. Khamsim asks her to recall back the image of her city and she does so, coming out with a warm image of the city that touches Yuuji’s heart, making him remember back on the city that he was born and grew up in. This saddens Shana as she thinks that Yuuji now won’t follow her away from the city as he’ll be unable to leave it and runs off midway through the tuning, bumping into none other than Wilhelmina, de arimasu~~.

Meanwhile, back at the Ball Masque headquarters, Belpeol reprimands Dandankyukyu, who apparently survived and reports that all is fine as it was just only an experiment and the show ends with a shot of Hecate praying.

That was quite a quick end to this arc but I’m still impressed by it as this arc was more about the unveling of the hidden feelings and threads that connect all the characters. Kazumi finally confesses to Yuuji, although I think that Yuuji will still choose Shana in the end.

The best part of this episode is undoubtably the reappearence of Wilhelmina de arimasu~~~. I actually jumped for joy when I saw her appear before a fallen down Shana, with Shana sporting a look combining both surprise and relief. For Shana, Wilhelmina’s appearence is rightly timed as she’s having some painful problems right now and she’ll need a parental figure to turn to, of which Wilhelmina is.

The next episode seems to feature Wilhelmina quite prominently and it seems she’ll be staying over in Yuuji’s place as well. The eyecatch this time was quite good as well, with Hecate in yukata…. the producers are being very very nice to the fans this few episodes :). Now, the only one’s left is Wilhelmina in a yukata as well :P.