Kurogane’s Anime Blog

I don’t know why am I still watching this, apart from the awesome soundtrack which this series does not deserve.

Anyways, it was an entertaining watch, mostly because of Kisa-chan. I pity the enemy this episode, she had to come attack at the wrong time.

Other than that…..zzzzz…..

The game reaches the final stage as the *kaizou konpaku* summon a huge gate in the city, sucking Ichigo and co. into a rocky area where Chad is tied up to a big pole. The pole turns into and hourglass and the last game begins as a challenge between the 2 guys with Ichigo and Renji under a 5 minute timeframe. Ichigo tries to use his *Bankai* but fails and reaches the 5 minute limit when the hourglass breaks and everything returns normal.

Ichigo finally realises it’s Urahara’s doing and shouts his name out.He appears and explains it was done on purpose to test him. He also states that Ichigo can’t use his *Bankai* now as he did in Soul Society as he only managed to gain it because of his feelings to save Rukia. Yoruichi, who has been investigating a few things with Soi Fong, interrupts the discussion to bring bad news.

It turns out that people’s souls have been getting sucked away by Bounds, a clan of humans possesing special powers just like the Quincys. Unlike the Quincys, who use their power to kill Hollows, Bounds have the ability absorb human souls whose bodies have died and can continue to live on forever, much like vampires. There hasn’t been sightings of them as they’re in small numbers but it turns out that this time, it’s much more dangerous as they’re sucking souls from living people.

As Ichigo and co. have spirit powers, they’re highly attractive targets for the Bounds and to protect them, Urahara assigns Ichigo, Chad and Inoue a *kaizou konpaku* each, with Ichigo taking Lirin, Chad with Nova and Inoue with Claude, who each puts them in dolls that are seen at the new ED, with Lirin in the bird one, Claude in the rabbit and Nova in the green man one, as the *kaizou konpaku* have the ability to detect the Bound’s spiritual forces.

Their peace doesn’t last long as the *kaizou konpaku’s* soon detect the Bounds. Inoue and Chad are lead by Claude and Nova to a warehouse where they find a souless body crumbling into dust and meet a guy Bound who comments they’re delicious but lets them off as he’s full. Ichigo confronts a woman Bound in an alleyway, who unleashes a seemingly indestructible flame being on him. In the fight, Ichigo gets trapped by some debris, with the being delivering the final blow, but he’s saved by none other than Rukia, suprising Ichigo ^_^.

Wow, I’m actually liking the filler arc right now. They concluded the *kaizou konpaku* arc quite satisfyingly, with a good explanation too. It is quite true that Ichigo gained his *Bankai* in record time and that would really make him quite unable to control his powers that well.

The Bound arc now is also looking quite good, mostly because of the *kaizou konpaku* group joining them now. I particularly like Lirin now, especially in her bird doll which is quite *kawaii* and suits her well. Her chemistry with Ichigo is also quite instant and they both somewhat hit it off together quite well. Nova fits Chad well too, seeing that they both are silent types and as for Inoue and Claude…. well… hehe :). In fact, they could easily intergrate the three of them for the next major arc as well.

Undoubtably now, the return of Rukia will make things interesting as I quite miss her too. Her *zanpakutou* should prove to be very useful against the flame being summoned in this episode, and I really want to see her **Sodeno Shirayuki** animated :)…. oops, did I just gave out a spoiler :P.

This special 1 hour episode also had 2 little omake’s in the end, the first with Soi Fong and Yoruichi, with Soi Fong trying to give Yoruichi a box of chocolates, seemingly because it’s Valentine’s Day, but fails. Soi Fong seems to be thinking that Yoruichi is more of a masculine figure here XD. The second one involves Ukitake and Hitsugaya, with Ukitake giving Hitsugaya a big Christmas-themed box of candies, making Hitsugaya ask Ukitake why is he so good to him, to which he replies that because they both have white hair ^_^;;;;.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this episode, even if the earlier filler arc ones weren’t that all good. Humour was in full swing this episode and there was quite some action put in as well. The next episode will be the build-up of the Bound arc and about Rukia return to Karakura City.

After the Coralian attack, some of the Ageha Squad and Dominque visit the site to collect samples. Meanwhile, Gekko-Go receives a SOS signal from refugees from the city and drops by to help them. There a young boy who’s traumatized into muteness by seeing his parents killed recognizes Eureka as a Coralian panics and causes Eureka to suffer another breakdown. Holland also hears from one of the survivors about “arrows of light” striking down before the Coralian attack.

In Bellforest however, things are not going well as it seems the military has caught wind of Axel’s work on Nirvash’s new board. Realizing it, Axel makes preparations for getaway and when the military comes around, he successfully manages to deliver the board.

Meanwhile, Gekko-Go is desperately heading to the contact point when they get wind of Axel’s situation, when the Ageha Squad launches another round of “Arrows of Light” luring out yet another Coralian, which unfortunately appears at the contact point that the Gekko-Go are supposed to go. Renton, believing in his grandfather, launches out in the Nirvash without a board only to confront theEND and Anemone, who are in the vicinity and are supposed to be playing a part in observing the Coralian attack.

Axel’s board arrives in the nick of time and after a flurry of attacks, Eureka and Renton activate a small-scale Seven Swell which they compress into a ball, slamming it into theEND, causing significant damage. theEND retreats and the Coralian disappears shortly as well. Back in the Gekko-Go, Renton receives a letter from his grandfather and is touched to read it. Meanwhile, Colonel Dewey is listening to a report stating that there’s a time limit to the Coralian activation,which is 1246 seconds (I might be wrong in this, so don’t take me to word on this matter).

The third season arc starts off in fullswing with this episode, Animal Attack.

Dewey’s new platoon, the Ageha, drops in some form of digging devices from orbital ships, causing a Coralian to appear with numerous alien life forms surrounding it as well. A nearby city is the victim of it, with the life forms undiscriminately attacking humans in the city. A military fleet tries to engage them in battle, but are easily defeated.Eureka and Anemone both suffer breakdowns as the Coralian attacks.

As for Nirvash, the refit isn’t going too well as the Nirvash isn’t happy that they’re just refitting it with it’s old specs. Eureka conveys the Nirvash’s desire to be fully remade and spec’d up so it can be of use. The research team has no choice but to redesign, including asking for help from Renton’s grandfather as well.

As the refit is going on, the Coralian attack is happening nearby them with Holland watching in shock of the destruction wrecked by the Coralian. Fearing discovery and capture, he orders the whole setup and Nirvash to be taken on board the Gekko-go and heads towards Bellforest, to complete it.

Keeping up with it’s episode name, Change of Life, quite a few new changes are in this episode.

Nirvash finally gets a new refit, in the military base which first developed it. The military base is also once home to the newly discovered Eureka, and we get to see some footage of her testing the prototypes, not to mention more background info on the LFO’s, but don’t ask me to translate :).

Talho also decides to take on a new look, or specifically, going back to her old look. I’m not too sure if I can really agree on her new outlook, but it’s a good step for her. Maurice, the eldest of Eureka’s “kids” also seems to be taking up an interest in photography from Mr. Observer. It’s also revealed that Diane, Renton’s sister seems to have died.

***SUGOI~~~***

Very engaging, truly a work worthy of Studio Bones reputation.

Just finished marathoning this and also converting my whole house in to Eureka 7 fans at the same time. Score another one for the otakus ;).

The second arc with the introduction of Charles and Ray, is quite entertaining, especially since I’m an Aya Hisakawa fan as well…. ahhh… her voice~~~. I did get quite disappointed when she died too T_T. But so far, the production crew has handled the “oh-I’m-killing-people-so-i-don’t-want-to-fight” arc quite well.

Renton is growing up to be a very likable character, on the same way I’d liked Ayato Kamina in Rahxephon. The writers are shaping up his character very well, neither too predictable nor too boring and stereotypical, injecting a suitable amount of angst that’s believable, which IMO is one of the aspects where Studio Bones shines best.

The other characters, from Holland, Talho, Eureka down till poor ol’ Dominic still remain tightly intertwined by an invisible web of connections, that keeps tightening with each episode is very engaging to watch and follow, especially with the major revelation of episode 29 regarding Eureka, which admitedly had me surprised, even if I did expect it beforehand. I’d also liked how they’d sprung the revelation on us too, in a supposedly breather episode, instead of than in a more “serious” one.

There’s still quite a lot of questions out there that remained unanswered, such as the role that Diane plays in the SOF(probably teammates with Holland,Charles and co.), Renton’s connection with everything, the origin of Eureka, the truth behind Adrock Thurston’s researches, his subsequent death and labelling of as a hero, not to mention as well, about Anemone, which I suspect might be the same as Eureka herself or the anti of it.

Well, I’m going to grab the raws and take a look. I don’t have much confidence of watching it raw though, due to the amount of technobauble being spewed, but I hope I can catch at least the basic premise :P. In any case, I’ll just sit back and relax and enjoy Eureka 7 for it’s awesome blend of drama, action and storytelling.

On a sidenote, I miss hearing **Himitsu Kichi** for the ending :).One of the best songs I’ve heard and I’m rotating between it and Aka no Seijaku repeatedly :).

Kage Kara Mamoru keep surprises me every week.Initially, I’d thought that it would just a generic harem anime with a ninja theme, with fanservice here and there and disproportionally more than character development and drama.

But it’s given me quite a surprise with it’s pleasant blend of humour and seriousness at times, especially exhibited by Yuuna, who although is quite airheaded most of the time, but is quite serious with her love for Mamoru.

Anyways, this episode we have another girl (the last of them I hope) appearing, who is Kumogakure Hotaru, representing the shy girl stereotype. All is not it seems as although she confesses to Mamoru, but she’s actually a female ninja harbouring revenge on the Kagemori clan as they had “disgraced” her clan in a ninja *taikai* :).

Highlights:

- Mamoru on imagining the prospect of an Airi and Yuuna flood.
- Airi and Yuuna messing up Hotaru’s confession.
- Mamoru and Yamame using the ol’ UFO diversion trick and the effects of the loss of the ninja *taikai* on the Kumogakure clan
- Yuuna sulking in her room.

It’s nice to see Yuuna expertly changing from airhead mode to lovesick mode. Hotaru is quite likable with the BGM that plays when she’s on-screen quite helps too :).Yamame and Tsubaki are on the backseats this episode, so we don’t really get to see much of them, but they still had their 5 minutes in this episode too, with Yamame revealing out Tsubaki’s feelings.

Next episode has Hotaru meeting Yamame, the real cause of the Kumogakure clan’s resentment. It seems that knives , or should I say *shuriken’s* are literally being thrown around amongst them :). There’s also some flashbacks of Mamoru and Yuuna as well. *Chibi* Yuuna…. *kawaii~~*.

***Tsui ni kitaaa~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!***

**Subarashi……SUBARASHII~!!!!!**

Totally incomparable with the digest edition a few weeks ago, this is the real deal, the real work as the creators intended us to watch.**Chou kandouteki~~~!!!!!!!**

I can’t start off without venting my fanboyism-ness on it, beforehand. I’d been waiting since two days ago for the raw to come out, stalking Tokyotosho every 15-30 minutes or so, waiting for the torrent to appear.Unfortunately, my access to Winny is all but gone, but meh. Safe to say I wasn’t disappointed when this came out just 4-5 hours ago.

First off, a list of stuff that wasn’t in the digest edition:

- Glimpses of how Integral met Arucard in her early years.
- A short funny dream sequence with Seras.
- The hunting down of the “Bonnie & Clyde” freaks.
- For the Anderson worshippers, the short take of him working in his orphanage.
- Extra scenes for explanations and plot development.

The soundtrack is greatly improved and it seems that the digest version was held back in the soundtrack aspect. I totally take back everything I said about the soundtrack being sucky from my digest version entry. The soundtrack is now totally immersive and menacing, adding to the whole Hellsing experience. The ED is exudes grandness is spades and I can’t stop listening to it repeatedly, in fact I’m listening to it while I’m writing.

The fights are also expanded with more scenes in it, especially in the Arucard x Alexander showdown. Alexander especially is much much more psychotic, even in the orphanage scene. His *seiyuu* is infusing him with tons of psychoticness and I have to give credit to him. I could literally feel his psychoticness dripping out of the screen from him.

I’m at a loss of words here, so I’ll end my post here. For screencaps and such, check out my digest edition entry(which quite noticebly has received quite a lot of hits recently). This is going to be one heck of a wait for the next volume T_T.

Yes, it does sounds clichéd, which was quite why I didn’t really pick up Eureka 7 at first. I did get some of it’s OPED singles and particularly liked it, especially the first ED, **Himitsu Kichi**. I did thought of watching it sometime when I’m particularly free though, just to see how it is, well, y’know, surfing mechas? C’mon.

The chance kinda came this week, when I “acquired” the subbed episodes from a “certain” source, and seeing on how I had nothing to do(well, technically I had a few…”not-so-urgent” assignments) in the meantime while waiting for the next week of anime, I sat down and marathoned it.

Safe to say, I was quite surprised by it. The first episode already attracted me thanks to it’s FLCL-esque vibe it’s been giving off, mostly with Renton (I could’ve sworn he had the same *seiyuu* as Naota), the music and the whole setting, plus the whole “mecha piloted by mystery girl crashing in to house” really kinda reminded me of FLCL too.

The later episodes was also a joy to watch, as Studio Bones retains their Rahxephon style by focusing more on the characters rather than the action. Michiko Neya(Talho) wins this series, really missed listening to her voice recently :P. The rest of the characters are well fleshed out, and although some similarities can be seen with their previous works, it remains a good watch. I’d always liked how Studio Bones interconnects their characters together.

Well, that wraps my semi-review of Eureka 7, mainly for the first 13 episodes. I’m going to catch up on the rest now ;).

Shirou takes on Rin, but they’re interrupted by a girl’s scream. It seems that she’s had her life force taken and Rin proceeds to try and heal her, but Emiya senses a killing presence and blocks a hit meant for Rin. Leaving Rin to heal the girl, he runs out to confront Rider. He puts up a valiant fight but still loses and Rin comes to bail him out.

Seeing him hurt, Rin brings her back home and reveals that there’s another Master in the school, who has been kidnapping and taking life force from the students in the school and proposes a temporary ceasefire for both of them to find the mystery Master, which Shirou gladly agrees. When it’s time to go back, Rin orders Archer to escort Shirou home, and Archer takes the chance to question in Emiya’s beliefs, leaving him flustered. Back home, he finds Saber in the *futon* but she’s not asleep yet, asking Shirou why he’s late. He assures Saber it’s alright and then sits by the walkway, looking up at the moon.

Frankly, a kinda boring episode, with more development and drama. I was expecting more action and more Rider too, but we don’t really get to take a good look at her :P.She was on screen for around maybe 5 minutes or so, and she was spending an awful lot of it in the trees. Saber didn’t have much screentime here, but Rin did get quite a lot, as this episode kinda focuses on her too.

Still it was a pretty good episode and further reinforces my desire to get my hands on the OST and also the ED song.Next episode seems to be a breather episode and there seems to be quite some service.