To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 05

The story of how Kuroko and Kazari became partners.

Damn, I don't think I can do push-ups that effortlessly.

Summary:
Kuroko and Kazari are surveying a school for surveillance camera placement when they hear an alarm from the parking lot. The two discover a man breaking into a car in broad daylight. Kuroko goes to confront the man despite Kazari's warnings for waiting for backup and ends up being knocked down by another man who is in the car. Kazari tries to stop the two men from running away and gets hit by a stun gun. After the thieves have gotten away, Kazari and Kuroko start arguing with each other, with Kuroko accusing Kazari for being too weak for front-line work while Kazari accuses Kuroko of being reckless. Kazari wonders if Kuroko remembers the promise they made, but Kuroko doesn't remember which makes Kazari even more mad.

What happens if Kazari asks Ruiko to pull her finger?

Later, Ruiko visits Kazari's Judgment office and finds her friend to be unresponsive to the usual skirt-flipping. The senior member Kunori explains that Kazari and Kuroko had an argument and they need some time alone. In the meantime, Kunori decides to tell Ruiko about the story of how Kuroko and Kazari became partners, and at the same time Kuroko is telling the same story to Mikoto at their dorm.

Awwww... such a cutie. Much better than the insane lesbian we saw in episode 2.

The event happened when Kuroko was in the last year of elementary school. After finishing a patrol route with Kunori, Kuroko wonders why she's still stuck with support work despite being a member for a year, and Kunori states that Kuroko is a little too young and needs to learn to rely on others sometimes. To cheer Kuroko up, Kunori goes into the nearby bank to get money so she can treat Kuroko. While in the bank waiting for Kunori, Kuroko runs into fellow trainee member Kazari and the two start chatting about their graduation and middle school.

As expected, younger Kizari is lolier than her older self as well.

The robber should be ashamed of himself. You just got taken out by an elementary school girl (without using special powers).

Suddenly, Kunori spots a suspicious man entering the bank and discovers that the man has a gun (using her see-through vision). Kunori tells Kuroko get ready to evacuate the customers while she notifies the bank, but the robber acts first draws his pistol. Kuroko springs into action and takes down the robber, but unfortunately the robber has an accomplice who grabs Kazari as a hostage. A bank worker presses the alarm which encloses the bank in steel shutters and activates the security robot, but the remaining robber somehow destroys the robot and the explosion injures Kunori. Kuroko gets kicked around by the robber, but in the process she manages to grab and teleport Kazari out of the bank. Unfortunately, at that point Kuroko is not able to teleport herself and is left to face the robber. The robber shows off his ability which allows him to break down the steel shutters by throwing pinballs (the objects travel slowly but will maintain their velocity for a certain distance no matter what). The robber wants Kuroko to join up with him to rob the bank, but Kuroko refuses. The robber then throws a handful of pinballs at Kuroko, but those pinballs are disintegrated by a blast from Mikoto, who happens to be passing by outside the bank. Not knowing how the pinballs disappears, Kuroko charges and manages to subdue the robber.

These robots are quite explosive.

The show wouldn't be called Railgun if Miss Railgun didn't get any action.

In the aftermath of the incident, Kazari is impressed by Kuroko's bravery and wants to be just like Kuroko, while Kuroko realizes that she shouldn't be so reckless and the two make a promise to each other to work together. Back to present, Kuroko realizes that this was the promise Kazari was talking about but she's still too embarrassed to apologize. At this moment, Kuroko gets a phone call from Kunori informing her that Kazari has located the car thieves from before. Kazari has gone after the thieves by herself and Kunori asks what Kuroko will do. Kuroko eventually joins Kazari in the chase and the two friends have gotten their little argument.

Running off into the sunset... how typical.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This episode wasn't quite as good as last week's episode guest-starring Touma, but it was still decent. We are still not on to the first story arc yet despite all the hints the series is dropping left and right, and this is one of those standard friends-arguing scenarios, but at least this episode presented some interesting background info on Kuroko and Kazari and also had a better narrative than some of the other episodes. From the flashback, Kizari has always been weak, while Kuroko has always been reckless, and so the two of them make an unlikely but effective pair where Kuroko does the heavy lifting while Kazari keeps Kuroko informed and in check. It's nothing really out of the ordinary, but at least the presentation was nice if you can turn a blind eye to some of the details during the bank robbery. I don't remember Kuroko having super strength, so I'm not sure how she (as an elementary school girl) was able to knock out the first robber (an adult male) with just a stomp to the stomach. And there was the other robber who had a knife but kind of forgot about it and then for some reason started talking to Kuroko about helping him rob the bank. So basically the robbery didn't make much sense, but we get the point about Kuroko learning her lessons the hard way (and getting her behind saved by Mikoto for the first time).

Judging by the previews, looks like we have another non-serious, possibly-filler episode. We've waited this long of the Level Upper Arc to start, so I guess it doesn't hurt to wait for another week?

Claymore 97

More Riful vs. Alicia, and Priscilla in action!!!

With hair like that, who needs limbs?

Summary:
In the forest, Alicia has returned to her human form and is battling against Riful. Riful has used up too much strength to maintain her awakened form or regenerate, and soon she is only left with one leg. Alicia prepares to finish Riful, but suddenly Alicia's youki surges and the Claymore struggle to keep her powers under control, and Riful guesses that Beth must be fighting somewhere else and cannot control Alicia's powers.

Hmm... could use a bit of salt and pepper.

Not far away in the rocky area, the Beth-feline monster hybrid is fighting against the human form Priscilla. Beth attacks with her body blades but Priscilla easily counters them. Priscilla then climbs onto Beth's back and rips off Beth's old torso. Priscilla takes a bite out of the monster, but she doesn't like the taste and so she jumps off. Priscilla states that she is following the faint scent of "that man" and has no interest in Beth, but Beth is unwilling to let Priscilla leave and arms herself with more blades. Priscilla then comments that Beth is really stupid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After all these years, we finally see Priscilla in action, and it's against the infected Beth. It was kind of abrupt how Priscilla suddenly appeared out of the blue and started fighting Beth. I thought Uma and Cynthia are nearby, but Priscilla and Beth are probably not too concerned about them at the moment. Priscilla seems to have gotten back to her normal size, which means she probably ate something between now and chapter 94 (probably the residents of the village she and Raki were in). She's still hungry though, although she's not interested in eating Beth. From this chapter, it looks like Priscilla has Beth outclassed, so Beth is probably going to get killed soon. The more important questions now are what is Priscilla up to, why'd she ditch Raki at the village, and who is the "that man" whose smell Priscilla is following? Lots of big questions needing answers, but what I'm really hoping for now is a three way showdown between Priscilla, Clare, and Luciela/Rafaela. That would be insanely epic.

Regarding the other half of the chapter, Riful is not faring too well against Alicia as expected. I thought Alicia would have lost control after Beth was infected, but the No. 1 manage to suppress her powers for almost long enough to kill Riful. Alicia's behaviour is still pretty strange though, since after Luciela/Rafaela's first barrage Alicia flew away, but suddenly she came back to Riful and killed Abyss Feeders. With Alicia struggling to control her powers, this may be the only opportunity Riful has to kill the No. 1 and escape. Between Alicia and Riful, I'd rather see Riful live.

Last note: I thought this chapter didn't transition very well from the last few chapters (with Alicia suddenly back in human form and Priscilla appearing out of nowhere to fight Beth), but given there is so many things going on in the story right now, it might be inevitable that there would be some slight continuation issues.

Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne 06

The conclusion to Claudette vs. Menace and the start of the next round of Queen's Blade.

Menace starts off the fight with a 5 hit combo.

Shoddy list of highlights:
- Taking advantage of the desert arena, Menace smacks Claudette around with several attacks and a curse, but suddenly there's a torrential downpour and Claudette uses this opportunity to fry Menace, earning the victory. After the fight, Menace (and her staff) is taken to Aldora's collections room and petrified.

The grand finale light show.

- After the match, the remaining participants of the next round are announced. This list includes all the winners plus Risty and Nanael. Nanael is wandering around town and spots a betting ring on the tournament, and she takes all of Melpha's money to put a bet on herself. As a consequence for using the money, Nanael is forced to eat vegetables for dinner as Melpha doesn't have the money to buy meat.

Irma won't be eating anything tonight after this.

- Irma chased around the rooftops by Risty and her assassins. The chase ends up in a bar where Risty hits Irma in the stomach with her mace, but Irma is whisked away by Echidna. The former teacher and student hide out in a haystack warehouse, but they are forced to run again when Risty comes knocking. Echidna eventually tries sneaking Irma out of the city via gondola, but they are met by an ambassador summoning Irma for a Queen's Blade. Echidna doesn't want Irma to die, but Irma refuses to quit and walks into a crystal cave arena to fight against Risty.

Just admit that you are tsundere for Echidna.

- After Menace's defeat, Airi and Rana walk around in the streets and run into Tomoe and Shizuka. Tomoe doesn't want Rana to hang around with Airi, but Rana refuses to leave Airi and Tomoe decides to let it be. The warrior miko is then summoned to Queen's Blade match.

Time for a random staring contest.

- The three Vance sisters are in the process of having a portrait being painted for them when Elina is summoned for the match against Tomoe. The match takes place in a frigid wilderness in the middle of snow storm.

How does Elina wiggle her fake cat ears?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Menace vs. Claudette fight was a bit of a letdown. Menace had some nice-looking attacks, but in the end Claudette just fried her and predictably Aldora had Menace added to her collection. The other developments of the episode are more interesting though. It seems that Airi and Rana have really taken a liking to each other and Airi will be Rana's caretaker from now on. With both Mellona and Menace petrified, Airi is the only servant of the Swamp Witch remaining in the competition, but it looks like she's more inclined to hang around with Rana then carry out her orders.

Moving on, we have Irma who manages to escape from Risty thanks to Echidna, but then she gets suckered into fighting Risty in Queen's Blade. Given that there probably will be a Risty vs. Reina showdown, Irma is likely to lose the next fight, but the more important question is whether if she'll survive the encounter with Risty. None of Queen's Blade participants have died so far (just petrified), and I don't really want Irma to get killed. As for Irma's relationship with Echidna, Irma is still tsundere for Echidna, and Echidna showed that she does have some genuine concern for Irma (unlike her attitude about teasing/violating Reina).

Lastly, we have Tomoe vs. Elina. There's no question that Tomoe is going to win since she's the most important character after Reina. It's about time the spoiled Elina get taught a lesson.

Overall, this was an alright episode. Thus far there hasn't been absolutely horrible episode in Heir to the Throne, and if this trend continues this series could actually turn out to be half-decent. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not though...

Gantz 306

The devastation continues in Tokyo.

When you thought it couldn't get any worse...

Summary:
After the Godzilla-sized mechs finished blowing up the tall buildings in Tokyo, a swarm of alien crafts fly by to drop off pairs of three-story-tall troopers to guard the streets. In one of the streets Sakurai and his girlfriend Tonkotsu see a group of people raising their arm in front of a pair of troopers in an attempt to surrender, but one of the troopers fires a spinning disc from its cannon and slices the people into pieces. Many other people across town are being mowed down by these discs and Kato and his brother and Kaze and Takashi are shown fleeing from the discs. Meanwhile, Kurono #1 and Tae climb up to the roof of their schools and spots sets of mountain sized legs descending from the clouds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter felt like a blatant art showoff. To Oku: I know the graphics for the mechs and troopers were really cool and all, but was it necessary to dedicate 2/3 of the chapter just to showing them off from different angles? Anyways, the story of the final phase is starting to move, and the enemy has deployed a few more weapons including the aircrafts, the smaller (but still large) trooper units, and the ginormous thing that's descending from the skies. This is looking like an operation to takeover Earth, since if extermination is the only goal then it'd be easier to just have the giant mechs blow up everything. We still don't know who the bad guys really are, what they are up to, and how all of this has to do with Gantz. We've had plenty of destruction and a bit of slaughter up to this point, so hopefully we'll see some resistance from the Tokyo Team in the next chapter.

Naruto 469

The big Sakura and Naruto talk.

Naruto to Sasuke: Join me in the Dark Side (as in obsessing over Sasuke).

Summary:
Kisame warms up for the fight against Killer Bee by fighting against the giant raccoon bear (raccoon dog?) Ponta. Meanwhile, Danzo's trio has left some traps to take care of Ao so they can recover his Byakugan and Fuu manages to take over Ao's body with a tricky mind transfer jutsu. Back on the summit grounds, the remaining Kages agree on the alliance and Raikage is nominated as the leader with only Tsuchikage voicing some disagreement.

At the snowy village, all the other Konoha ninjas watch in shock as Sakura seemingly confesses to Naruto and tells him not to worry about Sasuke anymore, but Naruto doesn't believe the talk and thinks Sakura is just lying to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The big Sakura to Naruto talk is finally here!!... and it's moving along in the predictable direction with Sakura having a hard time saying things with a straight face while Naruto is adverse to any mention of abandoning Sasuke. Given Naruto is too far into the dark side to be brought back to the light, instead Naruto will probably convince Sakura into obsessing over Sasuke as well. Sai might have something to say about this, but Naruto and Sakura can probably just ignore him. I realize this is a somewhat important event in the story, but hopefully this little drama talk won't be dragged out for too long.

As for the rest of the chapter, we finally check on Ao and his pursuit of Danzo, and as expected Ao got owned. Fuu's cheap body switching curse jutsu was pretty neat and is a pretty great technique for securing other people's body parts. There is not much to talk about on the summit front or the fight between Killer Bee and Kisame.

One Piece 562

The Pacifistas are unleashed onto the battlefield.

The Pacifistas remind me of the Sentinels from X-Men.

Summary:
Sengoku orders the Pacifistas to attack the pirates in the bay at Marineford and that the execution to go as planned. Whitebeard had seen the attack coming and that's why he had ordered his allies to scatter before. Meanwhile, Luffy way is blocked by Kizaru, but a group of Whitebeard's squad captains rush to Luffy's aid. Sengoku orders the live broadcast to be cut off, but Buggy's group had stolen one of the cameras and Buggy uses the opportunity to hog all of the screen time. While the battle rages on in the bay, Whitebeard prepares to enter the battle himself, but suddenly one of his squad captains stabs him through the abdomen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was a big, unexpected development at the end there. My guess at this point is that the attacker is either some enemy in disguise or the guy was a mole from the Marines all along. Whitebeard probably won't go down from that attack, but he'll definitely be weakened. Things are definitely not looking good for Luffy's side with Whitebeard getting stabbed and the Pacifistas blasting their way through the battlefield, so some sort of miraculous event must happen for the good guys to win or at least for Luffy to escape. It's anyone's guess what kind miracle it's going to be.

On another note, Buggy has proven himself to be accidentally useful once again as his men steals one of the video Den Den Mushis and is providing a live feed to the battle against Sengoku's wishes. I wonder whether if the footage of the Pacifistas blowing stuff up will have an effect on people's attitudes towards the World Government. The other pirates of world will definitely be more apprehensive than ever.

Bleach 380

Kenpachi and Byakuya take over the fight against Yammy while Ichigo prepares to go back to Karakura Town.

"Do ya get beat half to death every damn place you go?" LOL

Summary:
Kenpachi tags into the fight against Yammy and Byakuya tells Ichigo to go take a hike. Kurotsuchi and Nemu arrive with a wagon full of loot from Szyal's lab and Kurotsuchi explains he can open a Garganta portal for Ichigo and Unohana to return to Karakura Town. Ichigo is reluctant to leave, but Byakuya reminds Ichigo of his duty to protect the town (and that Ichigo sucks), and Ichigo gets the message as the Garganta opens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Kurotsuchi has found a way to open a Garganta back to the human world, but why only send Ichigo and Unohana? Wouldn't it be better to take all of Ichigo's friends as well since there's not much of a point for them to stay in Hollow-Land. With Ichigo in his current impotent state (in regards to his mask), he's probably not going to be much help if he goes up against Aizen's trio. The classic/predictable plot development would be that Ichigo will arrive too late to stop Aizen from moving on to Soul Society, but hopefully the story won't be as predictable. I wonder if the narrative is going to stick with Ichigo or follow the fight against Yammy.

Other notes on the chapter: Kenpachi's comment about Ichigo getting beat half-to-death every place he goes was pretty hilarious. It's funny because it's so true. And Byakuya is still as haughty as ever, telling Ichigo that "his aid isn't considered significant" to any of the captains even though the hollow-side of Ichigo almost whooped him in chapter 166. Oh well, Bleach characters all tend to be big on talk.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 29

The aftermath of the big party at Father's house.

Envy is not impressed with what he sees.

Summary:
After the big fight in Father's chamber, Envy leads the Elrics up an elevator leading to Central HQ. the Elrics are given time to clean themselves up, and during that time Ed reveals that he found Al's body still alive within the Gate, while Al reveals that he's hiding May within his armor. Ed and Al are summoned to the meeting between Wrath and Mustang, Wrath lays out the situation to the Elrics. Ed threatens to quit being a State Alchemist but takes back his words when Wrath starts mentioning Winry. Al requests that he and Ed be permitted to continue their search to regain their bodies, and Wrath doesn't really care. Mustang then states that he has no intentions of quitting because of his ambitions. After the meeting is over, Mustang asks if Wrath was the one who killed Maes Hughes, and Wrath states that it wasn't him. Wrath then stabs through Al with his sword but was not able to injure May who hid inside Al's leg.

Just checking if my sword is sharp.

There are some inherent advantages from being small.

After eavesdropping on Ed's phone call with winry, Greed offers up some advice to improve Ed's game.

After the meeting, the Elrics borrow some money from Mustang and run off, while Mustang also runs off to check on Riza. The Elrics run to a phone booth and Ed phones Winry to check that she's okay. After the phone call, the brothers are approached by Greed, who hands Ed a message on a piece of cloth from Ling to hand to Ran Fan. Meanwhile, Mustang runs to gate where Riza is waiting and instead finds Alex Armstrong standing there. Riza quickly arrives and the three drive off to a back alley to have a private discussion. Alex is shocked that the Fuhrer is a homunculus, but the major declares he isn't going to back away as he did during the Ishvalan War.

Worshiping the Terminator.

In the underground, the injured Scar wanders into Dr. Marcoh's holding cell. After identifying Scar, Dr. Marcoh tells Scar to kill him so he can pay for his sins during the Ishvalan War, but first Scar wants Marcoh to tell him about the details of the military's research.

MY HOUSE, MY RULES!!!

At Dr. Knox's house, May is resting on the sofa due to exhaustion but she's otherwise healthy. While Knox is complaining to Al about bringing in more patients, Ran Fan gets up and wonders where Ling is. Al hands Ran Fan the message in which Ling writes that he has obtained the Philosopher's Stone. Ran Fan is happy for her prince, but she wonders why Ling didn't come back and Al is tasked with explaining what happened. Now back in Ran Fan's room, aAfter hearing Al's tale of what happened underground, Ran Fan blames herself for not being able to protect Ling and wants Al to introduce her to an automail mechanic, but Al tells Ran Fan to get some rest first. Suddenly, May walks into the room and gets into a standoff with Ran Fan as the two are from different warring clans, but the standoff is diffused when Knox arrives and whacks them both in the head. Later in the day, Al is helping Knox clean up the house and finds a photo of Knox with his ex-wife and son. Knox wants to throw the photo away, but Al thinks mementos such as the photo should be cherished.

Didn't know Wrath can make funny faces.

On top of Central HQ, Wrath has a chat with the new Greed. Wrath comments that Ling is hopeless, but Greed tells Wrath not to underestimate Ling as the Xingese prince is always watching for the right opportunity to retake his body.

Just in time for Halloween.

Meanwhile, Ed is on the streets repairing the damage caused by the fight against Scar. Ed notes that he is able to use alchemy once again, and two soldiers mention that a few alchemists had tried to repair the damage before but were not able to anything. This lead Ed to conclude that during the morning Father's move had disabled alchemy for most alchemists, but this leads Ed to wonder more about Scar and May's alchemy and whether if their techniques can help him and Al regain their bodies.

Miracles of life, or crime against nature?

Deep underground, a small Gluttony grows out from Father's chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the aftermath of the big battle from last episode, Ed and Al along with Mustang are given warnings and put on a shorter leash by Wrath, but our heroes are still healthy and have a fair bit of freedom to move around. I never really understood why Father and Wrath decided to not to confine our heroes. If the human sacrifices were that important, wouldn't it be better to always have them confined or at least always within an arms reach. Obviously the Elrics and Mustang wouldn't do anything rash in fear of endangering their loved ones and loyal subordinates, but they are more than free enough to plot behind the government's back. For example, Ed and Al were able to smuggle May back to Knox's house, and Wrath wasn't diligent enough to carefully check if Al was hiding someone within his body. I guess the story just has to give the heroes the chance to fight back, and Father, the homunculi, and the corrupt military are probably overconfident and don't believe that they can be toppled.

Basically this week was another transitional episodes, and starting next week the story is headed in another direction involving Marcoh and Scar. It could be a while until the next big action episode, but at least next week we'll have more flashbacks of the Ishvalan War featuring plenty of blood spill.

Tenjou Tenge 129

Sohaku makes a comeback.

Sohaku to Souchirou: For stabbing with this sword, I'm taking away half of your allowance.

Summary:
In the dream world, Souchirou and company think that they've won after stabbing Reiki through Sohaku. However, Sohaku has other plans and somehow causes Iya to fall down from the skies and lose her Dragon Eyes. A flashback scene shows that 2000 years ago Sohaku had raped and murdered Iya and plucked out her eyes while his monsters held off Iya's bodyguard Snake. Back to the dream world, Sohaku defiantly explains that even if he dies, the 1000 year war in the prophecy will still happen. Meanwhile, the blinded Iya tells Aya to use her (Aya's) Dragon Eyes to get everyone out because Iya can no longer maintain the connection to the real world. The upcoming battle is what Iya had foresaw 2000 years ago, and it's now up to Souichirou to change fate and ensure Sohaku doesn't escape.

Back in the real world, Masataka gets ready to fight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't ask me how Sohaku managed to survive being stabbed by "imaginary Reiki" and take down Iya. Ever since the Feudal Japan arc, I have no idea what all the weird details and flashbacks are about anyways. All we really need to know is that Sohaku is far from finished, so there'll be some more fights in both the dream world and the real world. It's probably going to be Mastaka and perhaps Maya vs. Souichirou in the real world, and Souichirou, Aya, and friends vs. Sohaku in the dream world. There'll probably be at least a dozen more chapters before this series is over.

Even though the story is confusing as ever (if not becoming more so), I think we can all agree on that Sohaku needs a serious beat down. I mean isn't Iya supposed to be his sister? What a sick bastard. What Sohaku did to Iya was just wrong on so many levels. I guess Tenjou Tenge is now messed up in more than one way.

Ishika & Honori (PC or DVD)

Possessing spirits like it's nobody's business. You are Araka, a Dispatch Coordinator for the Paranormal Defense Force (PDF). You support PDF agents Ishika and Honori, twin priestesses with tons of shamanistic talent and an even larger penchant for trouble.

Together Ishika and Honori are as cute as they are clumsy. Ishika is far too sweet a girl to ever effectively use her stupendous skills at spell-casting. While super strong Honori jumps blindly into battle before ever knowing what she's getting herself into.

Help Ishika and Honori regain the totem spirit creatures that fuel their psychic powers and defeat the masters of paranormal evil! Features Password enabled save points! Over 5 hours of story! Interactive plotlines and battle sequences! Multiple endings!

Size: 1.25gb
Language: English

Decompress, run in dvd program or mount or burn it to a dvd and play in dvd player.

Part 1 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5G42N0MX
Part 2 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1C4QFFJY
Part 3 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UNUPQNX6
Part 4 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4IT19O9S
Part 5 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OZQIUS3K
Part 6 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NBPXL0GR
Part 7 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E31J2YUS
Part 8 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=70FUQ9PT
Part 9 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EE7JD3L2
Part 10 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TG678UPD
Part 11 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VVAU36A9
Part 12 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B4U1JR54
Part 13 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EZCJQ5GS
Part 14 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QH1GTERP

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 04

...guest starring Touma!!!

Story time is over!

Mikoto is unhappy that Touma is driving away her admirers.

Summary:
Mikoto and the gang are at a restaurant sharing urban legends with each other, in particular one about a woman who strips in public and one about a guy who can cancel out all powers. Mikoto is bit curious about the second story, because she remembers that Touma was able to avoid her shocks. Touma and Mikoto first met when Mikoto was surrounded by a bunch of hooligans trying to get her to go party with them. Most people avoided the hooligans, but Touma actually stepped in to help Mikoto. In his effort to get Mikoto away from the hooligans, Touma ended up calling Mikoto a little immature girl, and Mikoto got pissed off and fried everyone except Touma.

Mikoto to Touma: You are supposed to be looking at me! ME!

Back to the present, after parting with her friends Mikoto walks on the streets and spots Touma trying to help a woman find a parking lot. Mikoto wants to have a fight with Touma, but Touma manages to push the responsibility of helping the lost woman to Mikoto. Suddenly, the woman takes off her blouse for no reason, causing Touma to run away (for fears of being labeled a pervert) and leaving Mikoto to take care of the situation. After getting the woman to put her shirt back on, Mikoto accompanies the woman to an outdoor seating area where the woman goes to buy drinks for herself and Mikoto. Mikoto gets a phone call from Kuroko who is with Ruiko and Kazari, and all three of them become excited when Mikoto reports that she's with the woman who strips in public. Mikoto ends up having to shut off her phone to avoid Ruiko and Kazari's questions. After the woman returns with drinks, Mikoto chats with the woman and discovers that she is a researcher specializing in AIM fields. Suddenly a little kid drops an ice cream cone on the woman's skirt. The woman doesn't mind and is about take off her skirt in public but she is stopped by Mikoto. Meanwhile, Kuroko, Kazari, and Ruiko are looking up more info on the legend of the stripping woman, and Kuroko becomes very concerned when she discovers that the public stripping could be passed on.

Isn't a stripping-prone Mikoto a good thing from Kuroko's standpoint?

A scientist driving a Lamborghini? Only in Academy City.

Mikoto accepts Touma's proposal with the broken eggs.

Mikoto takes the researcher to a washroom so Mikoto can clean the researcher's skirt. After getting back her skirt, the researcher asks Mikoto to thank Touma and inadvertently teases Mikoto about her relationship with Touma, calling Mikoto a "tsundere". Mikoto causes surge that shuts off the lights in the washroom and has to quickly leave with the researcher. After a long day, Mikoto finally leads the researcher to her parked car. After parting with the researcher, Mikoto runs into Touma who has dropped his bag of grocery. Mikoto demands that Touma fight with her and the two go off to an empty area near the bridge. Mikoto uses several attacks including electric shocks and forming a chain whip with the iron in the surrounding sand, but Touma is able to cancel out all of them with his right hand. Mikoto then tries grabbing Touma's right hand to shock him, but it doesn't work and she cowers when it looks like Touma is about to punch her. Seeing Mikoto cowering, Touma pretends to be defeated, but Mikoto is unsatisfied and continues to chase Touma.

Mikoto tries to whip Touma into shape.

OMG! Touma is going to punch a girl (again)!?

Mikoto and Touma are setting good examples by going out and getting exercise.

After losing Touma in a long chase, Mikoto returns to her dorm and is attacked by Kuroko who is concerned with Mikoto contracting the "stripping disease". Mikoto is eventually able to get some sleep after gagging and tying up Kuroko. In an office somewhere, the female researcher is looking up info on Mikoto.

Didn't know this relationship has progressed to bondage and gagging.

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The real plot finally starts! Sure took long enough for the show to reach this point. This was easily the most enjoyable episode of Railgun thus far, and this is mostly thanks to the interactions between Mikoto and Touma. I have mentioned in my previous posts that this show needed more Touma cameos, and this episode used Touma's screen time to very good effect. Touma's "I'm so unlucky/Please don't bother me/I'm a freakin' hero" attitude + Biri-biri's "Tsundere/I'm gonna fry you" attitude = automatic hilarity lol. It's a much better combination than Mikoto and Kuroko's crazy lesbian tendencies, although in this episode Kuroko was mildly amusing since her antics weren't overplayed. I realize this show is mostly about Mikoto's 4koma group, but this episode once again demonstrated that some Touma screen time can be beneficial to the comedic part of the series.

I noticed that Railgun seems to have retconned the first meeting between Mikoto and Touma since in Index Mikoto was in a restaurant instead of standing on the streets and Touma got chased across town by the hooligans. I'm not sure why they bothered to do this, since it's probably not that important to the ongoing story. A helpful commenter mentioned that the scene in the episode is the first meeting between Touma and Mikoto and in the beginning of Index, Touma was actually trying to save the hooligans from being fried by Mikoto. Lol at Touma's hero-wannabe tendencies.

The fight between Mikoto and Touma was pretty decent, with Mikoto showing up some new abilities other than just shocks and railgun coins. It seems that Mikoto has the ability control (ferromagnetic) metals a la Magneto, but the it's not that easy to defeat Touma with abilities alone. It's much easier to beat Touma with martial arts or an old fashioned weapon (like a gun), so if Touma was serious Mikoto wouldn't be able to beat him without using some ingenuity. It's funny that Mikoto has no qualms whatsoever about using potentially lethal level of force on Touma though.

Now that we are on to the real story, the next couple of episode should be pretty decent.

Queen's Blade: Heir to the Throne 05

Cattleya vs. Airi and Reina vs. Yummil.

Meido breakdancing!!!

My shoddy list of highlights:
- In the room of petrified people, Aldora sits on her throne and tells Cattleya and Airi to start the match. Cattleya fights handicapped, wielding a spear with her right arm and carrying Rana with her left, but Airi appears to have weakness for little boys and cannot gain the advantage.

Gotta hand it to Yummil for having the business sense and audacity to turn a Queen's Blade match into a promo for her products.

- In the lava cavern arena, Reina is being worn down by the heat and Yummil's heavy axe strikes, and Yummil use the fight to put on an infomercial for her weapons. Yummil believes that defeating Reina, who wields a sword made by Cattleya, would prove that the dwarf weapons are better and thus she'll get more customers.

- Nanael is watching the Reina vs. Yummil broadcast from Melpha's church and wonders why the other match isn't being aired.

- Back to Reina's match, Reina is succumbing to the cavern's heat and is growing tired. Yummil sees the opportunity and goes for her killer move "Double Swing" (somersault axe swing), but Reina is able to block the attack. Yummil goes for "Double Swing" again, but this time Reina dodges the attack and counters with a "Dragon Tail", sending the dwarf flying. With her axe broken and body battered, Yummil admits defeat not to Reina but to Cattleya, but in effect Reina wins the match.

Cattleya only gets a two with the maid bowling.

- Meanwhile, Cattleya and Airi are holding their own against each other. To get rid of the obstruction known as Rana, Airi summons some spirit to pull Rana out of Cattleya's grasp and to tie up Cattleya. The spirits cause Cattleya to drop her spear, but Cattleya quickly draws the Giant Killer and sends Airi flying. Airi crashes into a couple of petrified people and gets pinned beneath one of them. Cattleya steps up to finish Airi off, but she becomes distraught when she discovers that the petrified person lying on top of Airi is her husband Owen. While Cattleya griefs over her petrified husband, Airi frees herself and tries to finish Cattleya, but she is unable to follow through with her swing when Rana gets in the way. Since Cattleya no longer has the will to fight, Airi wins the match anyways.

Not as wussy as he looks.

Cattleya could have easily dodged the petrifying beam by stepping to the left a bit, but she chose to stand there like an idiot.

- Aldora explains that she made the match take place in this room is so that she can see all the drama with Cattleya's family and she then petrifies Cattleya. Airi decides it's a good time to leave, but she pauses to look at the frozen Mellona. Aldora is about to fire her petrifying beam at Airi, but the attack is broken up when Rana charges at Aldora with Cattleya's spear. Aldora fends off the attack, but Airi ties Aldora up with some spirits and flies out of the room with Rana in tow.

Risty is trying to hide her face because she knows her costume is ugly.

- Before flying out of the palace, Airi takes a pit stop to replenish her energy by draining the life force from a guard. Airi and Rana are then confronted by a squad of assassins led by Risty, but Risty gets a headache when she sees Rana and this allows Airi and Rana to escape. Airi tries to leave Rana in the middle of the city, but Rana refuses to stop following her.

Airi finds out firsthand that little kids cause headaches.

- After winning her match, Reina sleeps in her room for a few hours until she is woken up by Yummil banging at the door. Yummil states that she wants to take care of Reina's sword since Cattleya has lost her match and probably left town. Yummil declares that she'll make the sword even better by reforging it with dwarf techniques, and Reina agrees to arrangement.

- Airi takes Rana back to Menace's slave camp where Menace makes fun of Airi for having a kid. Menace is then called to her Queen's Blade match where she is fighting against Claudette in a windswept desert.

- In a dark alley, Irma is confronted by Risty and a squad of assassins who have been ordered by Aldora to kill Irma.

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Very decent episode. Perhaps the episode can even be considered "good", although a "good" Queen's Blade episode is probably an oxymoron. Anyways, some pretty interesting plot twists this week with Owen being part of Aldora's frozen figures collection and Airi hooking up with Rana. I'm not going to say I'm psychic or anything, but I did sort of mention in my last Queen's Blade post that Airi might have a weakness for little boys. Rana was actually pretty impressive, since he was able to thwart Airi, Aldora, and Risty in the span of one episode. Nobody else has done that in this series and I doubt anybody will in the future. I'm not saying that Rana is kick-ass or anything, but my opinion of him is definitely higher than before watching this episode.

On the other hand, Cattleya just absolutely sucked. First of all, she's a terrible parent by bringing her son into a Queen's Blade and using him as a meat shield. I doubt Cattleya would have known ahead of time that Airi had a soft spot for little boys, and even if Rana insists to come along doesn't mean that Cattleya should let him. Secondly, what's with Cattleya suddenly losing all of will to fight after seeing her petrified husband? It's understandable to grief for a bit, but afterwards the next logical step should be to smack Aldora around for an explanation instead of standing there and do nothing. Cattleya definitely had the skills to put up a decent fight, but she lacked the will. Oh well, I guess won't be seeing her for a while.

As for the rest of the episode, Reina predictably won the match via some fluke, and she also gets a new blacksmith in Yummil as Cattleya is on vacation indefinitely. Risty also made her action debut as the leader of the Assassin of the Fangs, but it appears that like Airi she also has a soft spot for little kids. I have to say Risty's new helmet and hairstyle looks pretty ugly; her new battle costume doesn't look nearly as good as the one shown in episode 3. And what's with the helmet covering one of her eyes? Risty may not have been able to strike down on Rana, but she probably has no problem with killing Irma. Irma is in a pretty bad situation, but maybe Echidna will come along and save her.

Overall, this was one of the best Queen's Blade episodes thus far. Given that Queen's Blade is already a ridiculous show, it can certainly use more crazy plot twists like the one shown in this episode. The next episode looks like a straight-on fight between Menace and Claudette though. Menace has the environmental advantage, but you can never count the Lightning General out. It's not that important of a match though given that it doesn't involve Reina, Tomoe, or Aldora. I wonder when Nanael will finally fight in the competition. She seems to be the odd one out in the tournament, but it's possible she could face the winners of last round of matches or supposedly non-participants like Risty or Shizuka.

One Piece 561

Luffy vs. Mihawk, and the Marines reveal their trump card.

The best weapon against the best swordsmen in the world is a scapegoat that can't be cut.

Summary:
Luffy is confronted by Mihawk and is unable to get past the world's no. 1 swordsmen. Nearby, Crocodile rejects Doflammingo's offer to team up and creates a tornado that catches the nearby Buggy. Meanwhile, Luffy is wondering how to get past Mihawk when he spots Buggy flying in the air. Luffy snatches Buggy out of the sky and successfully uses the clown to distract Mihawk long enough for Luffy himself to run past. Buggy tries to blow up Mihawk with a Special Muggy Ball but gets blown up himself. Mihawk tries to stop Luffy but he is confronted by Whitebeard's 5th Division commander Vista.

While the pirates and government forces continue to fight, Fleet Admiral Sengoku orders the execution broadcast be stopped so he can unleash the Marine's trump card: a whole squad of Pacifista (Kuma-bots) led by Sentoumaru.

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Sengoku finally reveals his plans to win the battle, and it turns out to be a simple but effective plan. I was wondering if the Pacifista bots will show up during the battle since it seems a little strange that only the mechanized Kuma is fighting. The PXs are pretty powerful as seen in the Sabaody arc and it took Luffy's entire crew to take out one of those things, so it appears that the Marines have the upper hand. Whitebeard could still have something up his sleeve, or maybe some other reinforcements will show up for Luffy's side. We still don't know who opened the Gate to let Luffy's ship into Marineford, so the people responsible for doing that may show up.

About the rest of this chapter: as expected Luffy manages to get past Mihawk without actually fighting him, and it was pretty hilarious how Luffy used Buggy in his Gomu Gomu no Scapegoat move. Actually Buggy has an inherent advantage in fighting swordsmen since he can't be cut, but Mihawk could probably kill Buggy even without Buggy blowing himself up.