Kurogane's Anime Blog

Okay series, just standard Gonzo lame ending. At least it’s not as bad as Sword of Druaga (as I am expecting from episode 11). Kouichi gets to become his “seigi no mikata” and scores with Kizaki at the end (at least that’s what’s implied) and everyone lives happily ever after… though, what’s with the weird deus ex machina (literally) at the end there? Oh well….

Finally, I’d just like to express admiration for myself for actually sticking with Kurogane no Linebarrels until the end. Though I have to add a disclaimer that this isn’t a mark of how shitty it actually is (seen much more shittier stuff till the end before), but as a mark of how I manage to find a free 24 minutes every week to watch this show considering how busy I have been lately.

Er, getting long-winded here, but yeah, that’s all. And Noto-sama was kinda underutilized throughout the whole series.

Heh, finally resolved Kouichi and Yajima’s awkward relationship. At the least the love polygon with Risako, Kouichi, Yajima and Kizaki is finally out of a deadlock state. Too bad for poor Miu though.

Also it seems that the game that Hisataka’s been playing all this while in the series was a ‘present’ left by Ishigami. He really loves to screw people around, doesn’t he? This episode also makes me doubt more and more about Hisataka’s true allegiance and whether he is really being evil or is he hiding something bigger under his sleeves.

Oh well, another few more episodes to the end. Final arc should be starting next week, but it seems that Kouichi’s gonna face a bit more love troubles first.

I don’t know why, but I have a sudden begrudging respect towards Hisataka now. For one, he sure has the balls, and he says some things that would really sway a much lesser-willed opponent to his side easily. A bit surprised at learning that Emi’s actually his little sister too.

I gotta say though, Yajima and Kouichi’s love-hate for each other is really…. I don’t know how say it. We Cantonese have a pretty good saying for it though, “no eye see”.

Ishigami is fucking awesome.

Even dead, he still manages to provide the laughs reliably. Makes me even more sad he’s dead now :(.

Man, I kinda respect Kouichi now, lasting so long outside against that narcissistic bastard, Kiriyama while Emi and co. went through 100 levels of Ishigami Hell to retrieve their Machina’s.

Also am I the only one to get flashes of Becky during this scene? Inb4/seiyuujoke/.

I’m surprised. Gonzo is truly going nuts with the plot now. Backstabbing, betrayal and deaths abound. I can’t believe that idiot President really died. Even showed us the body accompanied by an insert song too. Surprisingly Kouichi hasn’t powered up yet, he’s still getting his ass whooped by the hero-class characters.

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Whoa, from shitty romcom love triangle dilemma development to betrayal, backstabbing and generally major drama in one episode. Seriously makes me wonder what Gonzo has in store for the show still to come.

That said, Emi’s little secret of being able to control LINEBARREL too is revealed in this episode, but she really didn’t take advantage of her limited time and powers, just only chopping off one of VARDANT’s arms and basically peek-a-boo’ing Reiji around. Kinda WTF isn’t it?

But Reiji’s backstabbing and shooting of Mr. President was sure damn sudden and out of nowhere, even I was surprised too. Is that why we haven’t seen much of him throughout the series? To set him up as the mid-boss? Anyways, we’ll have to wait till next episode to see what happens.

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Mmm, happy ending of course. There were a bit really cheesy, WTF, “What are they thinking?!” moments in the episode, mostly involving Domyouji but overall it turned out okay. I damn well hope they explain why he’s scouted to pilot a mecha too.

The fatass died too, so I guess they’re cutting out his subplot out for the anime in favor of more fanservice. The next episode is a freaking beach episode! I bloody lol’ed when I watched the preview. Isn’t it a bit too fast for a beach episode, Gonzo? Especially right after a 2-parter Xmas episode.

Also, a toast to future harem owner, Hayase Kouichi. BTW, who the heck tells ghost stories during an Xmas party, LOL.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That was kinda epic of Kouichi there. Couldn’t stop laughing for a while after hearing him say that.

So it looks like they added a Christmas feel to the Helios arc, which isn’t too bad actually. This arc in the manga is actually quite an important one as it happens much earlier, around after the death of Yajima and it was in this arc that he actually regains much trust amongst his colleagues and the readers.

While they’ve moved the timeline a bit, I don’t think it was done in a bad way. They are still keeping the tension between Reiji and Kouichi too, as well as the “lost” Yamashita as well, so there’s plenty of room to toss in the requisite character development in the arc.

Also, it’s actually fun to watch Gonzo’s Christmas-themed episodes. They’re usually rather cliched but they somehow manage to inject a lot of enjoyment laced with a tinge of pensive solemness to it, which we can see here in the episode when they touched about the backgrounds of the other Factors. Not to forget, there’s also the fanservice too…

Interestingly, Doumyoji is revealed to be a JSDF soldier in this episode. Also, reference to Singapore’s Seletar base in the episode too!

Oh wow, Kouichi you PIMP

Kurogane no Erobarrels… eh.

Man, Gonzo writers are getting more and more random. They just love their slapstick comedy, don’t they?

Anyways, major plot development episode and Hisataka Katou actually manages to waltz right in to the FACTOR dorm to meet Kouichi and reveals to him (and us) that he’s actually a slider and he’s here to conquer the world using MACHINA’s from his world and that Kizaki is also from the same world he is in. I just don’t know whether to laugh or groan when Katou, wanting to demonstrate a point he’s making, opens up a briefcase he’s carrying along (after bated breaths) contains sponge cake. Yeah. Sponge cake. And it’s curry-flavored too. Heading in to the heart of the enemy unarmed except for a briefcase of curry-flavored sponge cakes… it’s rather GAR in a weird, weird way isn’t it?

Yeah, he’s being threatened with sponge cake.

Emi’s character keeps getting messed up in weirder ways too. From being moekko amnesiac to tsun-tsun to loving bonsai to my-pace… it seriously makes me wonder if Gonzo’s trying to pander her to the lowest-common denominator or something.

Kouichi’s first crush, Risako, also seems to be being placed in to a paranoid cum “yandere”-ish role too. *sighs*

Oh, and Domyoji is introduced properly in this episode, first actually to hit on Kizaki then fight with Kouichi. I lol’ed so hard when Kouichi summons Linebarrel after his sorry ass gets throughly kicked by him. Later, he creates the Hayase-dan after knowing what Linebarrel is. I think the writers are positioning him as the “Kamina” to Koichi’s “Simon” or smth.