Naruto 489

Naruto is summoned to toad world to receive a special item.

This is why you should keep your eyes open when you eat.

Summary:
At Konoha, Karin is being questioned but she demands for some food before she'll spill the secrets. Meanwhile, Tsunade is gorging herself to recover her chakra. Kakashi drops in to thank Tsunade from preventing him from becoming Hokage, and the two start talking about the alliance and Madara's plans. A war meeting is quickly called, and Shikamaru is invited along.

Meanwhile, Naruto is at his favorite ramen stand when Sakura runs in and informs him that Tsunade is okay. After Sakura runs off to spread the news, Naruto gets ready to enjoy his ramen, but he is suddenly teleported to Myobokuzan and ends up eating a mouthful of worms. Fukasaku has summoned Naruto to appear before the Great Elder who gives Naruto a reading about his future. The Great Elder states that Naruto will meet an octopus and a guy with power in his eyes. Naruto understands what the second prediction means and is ready for it. The Great Elder orders another toad to hand Naruto the key to the Fourth's seal which will allow Naruto to fully release the nine-tails and is the key to completing some jutsu.

In some tunnels somewhere, Anko's team discover the bodies of a few ninjas who were murdered by Kabuto. Meanwhile, Kabuto greets Madara at Madara's secret base. Madara plans to take out Kabuto, but Kabuto convinces Madara to change his mind by using his resurrection technique to resurrect five dead Akatsuki members (Itachi, Saori, Deidara, Kakuzu (or Orochimaru? not sure), and Nagato). Kabuto then states that he wants to join forces with Madara.

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

The story of Naruto continues to move along at a brisk pace. I almost forgot the series was capable of moving this fast lol. There were some more interesting developments in this chapter. The biggest news is Kabuto showing off his resurrection technique and deciding to join forces with Madara. It seems Kabuto really did master Orochimaru's moves. If he could re. As for joining up with Madara, I think Kabuto might be trying to take advantage of Madara's resources for his own benefit. I would be very surprised if Kabuto and Madara didn't end up double-crossing each other by the end. It'll be fun to see how this arrangement works out. Probably won't be good new for the ninja alliance.

On to the other development, Naruto gets a special item from the toads. This is expected of course given that Sasuke now has Itachi's eyes, so Naruto has to receive an equivalent power up so the two will end up at the same level. I suppose it's good news that these two lover-boys have more techniques to beat the stuffing out of each other. As for the octopus prediction from the Great Elder, that probably means Naruto will run into Killer Bee soon.

One Piece 580

The battle at Marineford comes to a conclusion.

All things come to an end.

Summary:
Having announced his presence to the battle, Shanks tricks Buggy into delivering Luffy's straw hat to Law's submarine. Shanks however declines to see Luffy because he thinks it'll break the promise between the two of them. Aokiji and Kizaru make one final attempt to destroy the submarine, but afterwards the Marines decide not to give chase. Now that Luffy has gotten away, some of the shichibukai decide to ditch the battle. With Shanks' crew around, Blackbeard and his crew take the hint and retreat as well. With Blackbeard's crew gone, Shanks asks the Marines to not exploit Whitebeard and Ace's deaths for their own gains (I think that was what he meant. Not too sure because of the translation), and Sengoku agrees to the request. With that, the battle at Marineford officially comes to an end.

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

Well, that ended pretty quickly. When the last chapter said that the battle was coming to end, it really meant that. I was looking forward to some more action after Shanks' surprise appearance, but I suppose this arc has gone for long enough and it's time to move on. Akainu had the bloodlust going on, but once he was stopped everyone else wasn't too opposed to the idea of stopping the battle. Out of the three admirals, Akainu is definitely the one Luffy and his friends have to watch out for the most from now on.

So the battle ends with big losses for both sides and Luffy barely escaping. The Whitebeard Pirates failed in their mission to save Ace and lost their leader, but the Marines took a lot of damage as well. I expect the next chapter to be some sort of summary to talk about the aftermath of the battle, but after that I don't know. It might be time for that rumored time skip, or perhaps the story will focus on how the Straw Hat Pirates reunite.

Note: One Piece will be on break (once again) next week.

Bleach 398

Ichigo and Isshin battle Aizen and Gin.

About time someone gave Aizen the middle finger.

Summary:
Moments after appearing, Isshin head-butts and kicks Ichigo off of the building in order to build some distance between themselves and Aizen. Down in the streets, Isshin tells Ichigo to keep quiet. Isshin knows that Ichigo must have a lot of questions for him, but surprisingly Ichigo states that he has nothing to ask. Instead, Ichigo is going to leave it up to Isshin to tell everything when he feels like it. Back on top of the building, Aizen tries to locate Isshin and Ichigo, but Isshin has put up a spell to avoid detection. Gin shows up, but he is soon attacked by Ichigo. While Gin is busy handling Ichigo, Aizen is attacked by Isshin, and Isshin sends Aizen flying with the one finger salute. Nearby, Gin decides to go bankai against Ichigo.

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

Lol, Isshin gave Aizen the finger. It was about time someone did that haha. Despite the shinigami uniform, Isshin is still his old self. This was an entertaining chapter because of Isshin's antics and also Gin's reappearance. It seems that Kubo finally remembered that Gin is still in the story. Looks like Gin will get the job of handling Ichigo while Aizen fights Isshin. This might be a ploy to give Ichigo some more time to awaken his powers before he really fights Aizen, but who knows for sure. I doubt the fighting will end in fake Karakura Town.

We didn't get any answers about Isshin's past or Ichigo's lineage, but those will be revealed in due time (hopefully). During Ichigo and Isshin's conversation, there were two panels featuring Rukia. I guess these panels lead to the question that if Isshin knew what was going on with Ichigo and Rukia, why didn't he do anything?  Isshin probably didn't want to be detected by Gotei 13, but there are probably other reasons for letting Aizen's plan carry on.

Gantz 316

Gantzers vs. giant aliens continued.

Is this a fight, or are they just dancing to the beat?

Summary:
The long haired alien with the special armor stands in front of Kurono #1 and the other Gantzers, and the Tokyo Team can see that the long haired one is the stronger than the regular aliens. Two more special troopers drop in, and in response the leader of the Gantzers phones home and a set of power arms (the ones seen in the Nura alien battle) is teleported to him. The two aliens with the upgraded armor starts plowing through the Gantzers with incredible speed, and the rest of the aliens troopers start attacking as well. Many Gantzers are sent flying or dismembered. Sakurai tries to fight back in the middle of the carnage, but he loses his right arm to a flying disc. Meanwhile, the two special troopers are fighting the leader of the Gantzers who is able to fend off the aliens' kicks with his power arms. Kurono #1 is watching the fight from nearby, but he suddenly realizes that the long haired alien is still standing in front of him.

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

The action started up again, but I didn't find the chapter too exciting. It was better than the last chapter though. This might just be a matter of personal taste, but I was hoping the special troopers would do something cooler than just run around and plow through the Gantzers. The alien with the long hair didn't do anything interesting, and neither did either of the Kuronos. Sakurai is the only named character that did anything notable in that he got owned, but it's not that important since characters, especially the side characters, are wounded and killed all the time in this series. Maybe this is the end of the line for Sakurai, but hopefully he'll use his psychic powers a bit.

The most interesting part of this chapter is the human leader calling in the power arms. Although this attack seems ill-planned, we have to give the Gantzers in control some credit for their Gantz-ball hacking skills. I wonder if the Tokyo Team will eventually be able to call for equipment like the leader did in this chapter. It'll also be interesting to see how the power arm fares against the special alien troopers, and I want to see how the complete super suit fares as well.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 50

Mustang, Olivier, and Ed fight their own battles in Central.

Sometimes it pays to look up.

Summary:
In the industrial district, the enemy commander tells his forces to shoot everyone except Mustang. However, the Central soldiers didn't notice Mustang's men on the roof beams, and the tables are quickly turned. Mustang's intent for walking into a small room is to determine what the enemy wants, and now it's confirmed that Central only wants him to be left alive. This fact shocks Mrs. Bradley, but Mustang reassures her that he and his group will protect her with their lives. After getting the information they want, one of Mustang's men shoots the enemy commander in the leg and the group exits the room.

Mustang and his group continue to fight their way through the streets of Central, and their strategy involves injuring but not killing their enemies. This information is eventually relayed to General Clemin, who responds by sending out more troops against Mustang's group. In Central HQ, Olivier Mira Armstrong is telling the other generals to put her in charge of the troops so they can capture Mustang more quickly. The other generals tells Olivier that she's only here as a hostage so that the soldiers at Briggs won't rebel, but Olivier tells the other generals that her soldiers will carry on what they are doing with or without her. Somewhere within the city, Bucanneer and the rest of Olivier's subordinates emerge from their hiding place (Armstrong mansion's basement) and start their attack against the Central troops.

I wonder... who's the person with the glowing red eyes?

I scream. You scream. We all want ice cream.

Meanwhile, Mustang's group is starting to run low on ammo. While taking a short break, Mustang and his group talk about how Olivier was hiding her forces inside her family mansion. The enemy quickly finds them and Mustang's group are forced into battle once again. The Central forces realize that Mustang's group is running out of ammo and plan to step up the attack, but suddenly a truck breaks through their lines from behind. The truck stops in front of Mustang's group and out the back pops Riza's friend Rebecca, and it turns out the truck is filled with weapons and ammo. Mustang goes to talk to the driver and is shocked to see that the driver is Maria Ross. After stunning the enemy soldier with a tear gas bomb, the trucks drive past the enemy lines once again but this time with Mustang's group inside. In the truck, Mustang's subordinates are surprised that a lot of the weapons were from Xing. Meanwhile, Mustang asks Maria who ordered her to help him. Maria stops by a telephone pole and a phone is set up for Mustang to talk to Maria's "commander". Mustang picks up the phone and is shocked to hear Jean Havoc's voice on the other side. Havoc is currently running a store that sells everything from groceries to weapons, and he jokingly asks Mustang about how he'll pay for all the help. In response, Mustang states that Havoc will be treating on this occasion.

Back from vacation and ready to go.

Your one stop shop for everything.

At the edge of the forest, Ed and company look towards Central and sees smoke rising from the capital city. The group realize that Mustang has made his move, so they decide to use the confusion to sneak into the underground and destroy Father's lair. Scar remembers the entrance to the underground that he and Mei used before, so the group decides to head to that location. Heinkel, Yoki, and Dr. Marcoh will stand guard while the rest of the group go into the city. Before leaving, Ed walks up to the big mound of mud and tells Al about what they are planning to do, and Al wishes his brother good luck. Also inside the mound, Pride is tapping on Al's head with a tree branch.

This is how I negotiate.

Back in Central headquarters, the other two generals demand Olivier to call of her forces, but Olivier takes control of the situation by force by cutting one of the generals in the arm and shooting the other. Somewhere in the city, Brosh runs to a military blockade put up by Major Armstrong. Brosh gets pissed off after Armstrong informs him of Mustang's activities. A subordinate arrives on the scene and whispers to Armstrong that his sister is in the Central command room. This little piece of information is also overheard by Fu, who is walking around in the city trying to find Lin/Greed. Fu cannot track Greed because of a large presence of "ki" coming from underground, and Fu notes that the presence has gotten stronger since yesterday. Deep down below the streets, Father is listening through the network of pipes for the tapping sound that Pride is making.

Ed turned out this way because you weren't there to educate him, Hohenheim.

Looks like Hohenheim has a thing for young women.

In Central, May runs back into the alley entrance to the underground with Envy in tow. Ed and the rest of his group have made their way to the same location, but the entrance is now too heavily guarded. Ed then remembers that the Third Research Facility also has an entrance, and so the group makes its way there. After taking care of three guards at the door, Ed and company make their way into the facility to the dark hallway Ed remembers. From that point on, the group splits into two teams, with Hohenheim and Ran Fan as one team while everyone else goes the other way. A while after the split, Hohenheim tells Ran Fan that he's fine on his own so she can go look for Lin. Ran Fan thanks Hohenheim and leaves through the ventilation shaft above the hall.

The one-eyed zombie choir makes its debut performance.

Somewhere else within the facility, an army official forcibly activates the immortal army despite protests from a researcher saying the procedure is not ready yet. After being injected with Philosopher's Stones, the hanging mono-eye corpses come to live with a blood-curdling scream that is heard throughout the facility.

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

FMA:B continues to roll and things are really moving along now. There are so many things in this episode that was worth mentioning. Most of all though, I loved how Ed, Mustang, and Olivier's forces are moving in parallel and how the narrative weaved everything together. It's just shows that this was a well-planned battle plan by the good guys and really gives an air of grandness for this upcoming showdown.

Commenting on specifics within the episode, this episode saw two surprise returns in Maria and Havoc. It's not well explained, but I think Maria probably returned with Fu and Ran Fan. It's great to have Havoc back as well. Even though he can't fight on the front lines anymore, Havoc is still helping his old friends from the sidelines. Mustang needs all the help he can get these days. Aside from Maria and Havoc, other characters that haven't appeared in a while such as Buccaneer, May and Envy also made appearances just to add to the point that this is final battle and everyone who matters is going to appear sooner or later.

Moving on to the progresses of the different groups, it's clear that Mustang still has plans for Mrs. Bradley even though Central forces have abandoned her. She is still the Fuhrer's wife so there is strategic value in having her around. Thanks to Mustang drawing away attention, Olivier and her forces are able to make their moves. Olivier was as awesome as always when she abandoned her charade and took control in the meeting chamber. Lastly, Ed's group has made it into the entrance to the underground. While Ed and most of the guys continue on one way, Hohenheim goes the other way and Ran Fan leaves to look for Ling/Greed. We'll find out why Hohenheim decided to go in a different direction soon enough.

At this point, things are going according to plan for the good guys, but there are some ominous signs in this episode. Back in the forest Pride is still tapping on Al's head, and now Father knows where Pride is. Underground, May is still being led on by Envy. Finally, there are also the screaming one-eyed zombies to worry about. Freakish things that let out blood-curdling screams are probably bad news, and these zombies seem to be pretty close to where Ed's group is.

Next episode should be more of the same stuff as this episode: exciting battles and fast developments. Definitely looking forward to it.

Tenjou Tenge 132

The school tournament is underway.

Being a big guy has its perks.

Flash forward 5 years into the future, Bob fights Madoka in a mostly empty stadium while Chiaki and her kid Mirai (with Bob presumably) watch from the stands. As Bob gains the upper hand, Madoka comments that if Bob had the skills that he had now things might have been different 5 years ago, but Bob states that the things would have been the same and Chiaki is his only one. As the fight comes to a conclusion, Chiaki is instead looking up into the moon and Mirai wonders why Chiaki is crying.

Back to the present, Bob is fighting in the school tournament and is being pummeled by the team leader from the 2nd Karate Club. From the sideline, Masataka, Aya, Sugano, and Kurei are trying to give Bob encouragement and advice, but Bob doesn't seem to be paying attention to them or the fight. Instead, Bob is actually thinking back to a conversation yesterday with Aya and Maya. The conversation made Bob realize that he shouldn't be so worried about being left behind by Souichirou and should try to catch up at his own pace. At this moment, Bob grabs his opponent's shirt. The karate guy attempts to toss Bob, but Bob picks the guy up with one arm and kicks him in the face.

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

Aside from the flash forward at the beginning, this was a fairly straight-forward fighting chapter. I guess Bob wanted a good beating in order to think things through, since obviously he could have easily defeated his opponent. Hopefully this tournament won't drag on for too long before Souichirou or other interesting fighters show up. It doesn't look Mitsuomi will participate seeing that he is still in casts and plugged with IV drips, but maybe we'll see some of the other Executive Council members in the tournament.

As for the flash forward, I'm not sure what it's actually about. I don't get the symbolism with the moon at all. Bob and Madoka seem to be referring to the fight they had during Madoka's debut. If I remember correctly, the fight ended in a no contest due to interference from Masataka who knocked Madoka out, while Bob learned to follow the beat but had some pretty nasty cuts from Madoka. Maybe this was a rematch of some sort? I have no idea what this means in the grand scheme of the story, and since this is Tenjou Tenge I have no plans to dwell on this.

Spring 2010 Anime

Oh right, I almost forgot that another anime season is around the corner. This shows that my blog is in decline already. Anyways, as with before this post is just a list of shows that I'll check out and/or blog for the upcoming season. If you are looking for some actual season previews, there is a list of them at the bottom.

Shows that I'll check out:

Angel Beats!
It's the show not named K-ON that's getting the most buzz out of all the previews I've read. Girls fighting with guns sound good to me. The show is also made by PA Works, the studio that did CANAAN so the animation should be nice if nothing else.

Heroman
I'm watching this show to see if there is any lulz to be had. On the other hand, this is being done by Bones so maybe it'll be one of the sleeper hits of the season... or not.


That's all for the spring 2010 season. Out of the new series for the season, I didn't find anything that really piqued my interest. Maybe I should take this time to marathon some old series and/or pick up stuff from last season. There are tons of "classics" and high acclaimed series I have yet to watch.

Finally, here is the list of actual spring 2010 anime previews from the excellent (not to mention hard-working) blogs on my blogroll.

- Bokutachi no BLOG
- METANORN
- Rabbit Poets
- Sea Slugs!
- Tenka Seiha
- T.H.A.T.

Bleach 397

Aizen messes with Ichigo.

In other words, Aizen is Ichigo's no. 1 fan.

Summary:
Aizen states that all the battles that Ichigo had up until now were part of his plan and he has been watching Ichigo ever since he were born. Aizen is about to explain why Ichigo is so special when suddenly Isshin shows up in shinigami form.

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

What is this, "Surprise Returns Week" for the big three WSJ series? Shanks show up in One Piece, Tsunade wakes up in Naruto, and now Isshin shows up in Bleach. Anyways, I welcome this new development since it'll make things more interesting. Isshin was bound to show up eventually. Aizen didn't give the full explanation for his plan, but we know it somehow involves Ichigo being half shinigami and half something else (human? hollow?). That's probably what makes Ichigo super strong. I want to see where Aizen is going with this though, and also I'm looking forward to learning about Isshin as the captain-class shinigami that nobody bothers to mention. Gotei 13 probably stricken Isshin's name from the record books because he ditched them and married a woman.

Naruto 488

A bunch of stuff happens.

Why is this system run off batteries? Just hire a guy with electric chakra to be the generator.

Summary:
Through a teleconference, the lords of the five nations agree to let their ninja villages join forces against Madara and Akatsuki. Meanwhile, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi and Karin meet up with Kiba, Lee, and Sai who are still a little pissed about Sakura putting them to sleep. While they are walking home, the group is met by three masked ninja who ask Sai about the disappearance of their seals, and Sai concludes that Danzo must be dead and Kakashi should take the title of Hokage. Back at the village, Naruto tells his buddies to let him handle Sasuke without giving any real explanation. Elsewhere, Kakashi meets up with the feudal lord and politicians to be sworn in as the next Hokage, but suddenly they get the news that Tsunade has awakened.

In Madara's hideout, Sasuke has received Itachi's eyes and is recovering from the surgery.

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

It's funny how things really move after Naruto and Sasuke stopped hogging the panels, and the trend continues into this chapter. All of the nations agreed rather quickly to the shinobi alliance and the various Kages are getting ready. Kakashi almost became Hokage, but was robbed... or perhaps I should say saved from the position by Tsunade who decided to wake up from her beauty sleep. Maybe Kakashi will live to see the end of this series now lol. Finally, Sasuke got Itachi's eyes, and that's bound to make him nuttier than ever (but maybe still more sane than Naruto). The only thing that remained the same was that Naruto is still intent on dying together with Sasuke. As "sad" as that is, it's probably here to stay. I doubt Naruto's friends are going to listen to him anyways given how he did not and probably cannot provide a reasonable explanation as to why he should handle Sasuke alone. Sasuke's final rite of passage as a bad guy would be to kill one of his former comrades, so whichever of Naruto's buddies who decide to fight Sasuke might end up being the victim.

One Piece 579

It ain't over until it's over...

... and it doesn't look like it'll be over any time soon.

Summary:
The Marines continue to battle Blackbeard on one end and chasing Luffy and the Whitebeard Pirates on the other. Kizaru starts shooting light beams near Law's submarine, prompting Buggy to dump Luffy into Law's hands. As Kizaru prepares to blast Law's submarine, suddenly a voice screams out for everyone to stop. That voice came from Coby who is sick and tired of the carnage especially since Whitebeard and Ace have died. Coby stands in the way of Akainu and asks for the Marines to come to their senses. However, Akainu isn't in the listening mood and prepares to blow Coby away, but his attack is blocked by Red Hair Shanks. Nearby Kizaru is confronted by Ben Beckman. All of the Marines notice Skank's flagship nearby, and Shanks proclaims that he is going to end this war.

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

The story just keeps piling on the surprises. I keep expecting the story to fall off into the denouement after Ace's death, but it's been one surprise after another. First Blackbeard, then Law, and now Shanks. People keep appearing out of nowhere in this battle, but then again nobody is really manning the sentry towers at Marineford anymore. I think this should be last big surprise in this arc though, since supposedly "the end draws nigh" according to the last page of this chapter. Shanks has a pretty good opportunity here with the Marines stretched thin against Blackbeard and the Whitebeard Pirates. It'll be very interesting to see what Shanks is going to do. Will he just cover Luffy and Whitebeard Pirates' escape, or will he end this war more conclusively by, for example, taking out the Marines? One thing is for sure though: whatever Shanks does will probably have a profound effect on the series from this point on.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 49

Hohenheim joins the fight against Pride, and Mustang's group start their campaign to take control of Central.

It's not as if Ed wasn't short already, but Pride wants him to be even shorter.

Summary:
Aided by the ingestion of Gluttony and the growing forest fire, Pride has become too powerful for Lin/Greed, Ran Fan, and Ed to hold off. Nearby, Hohenheim wakes Al up while old man Fu brings the injured Heinkel back to Darius . After figuring out where he is and what's going on, Al has an idea of how to deal with Pride and asks for his father's help.

Now that is some impressive alchemy.

Pride has Ed, Greed (the homunculus is back in control) and Ran Fan surrounding with his shadowy tendrils. Hohenheim walks into the middle of the battle and draws Pride's attention. As Pride focuses on Hohenheim, Al tries to sneak up on the homunculus from behind but Pride catches him. As Pride recalls his tendril to deal with Al, Hohenheim uses his alchemy and seals both Pride and Al in a giant dome. Ed starts arguing with Hohenheim about him trapping Al inside, and Hohenheim reveals that everything was Al's idea, including the part where they decided not to tell Ed about it. Everybody then suddenly notices that Greed has run off. Elsewhere in the forest, Greed is running as fast as he can towards Central, because he knows that only Sloth and Father remain. Greed decides that this is an opportunity that's too good to pass up and go ahead with his plan to take over the world.

Inside the darkness of the mud dome, Pride is trying to dig himself out but his efforts prove to be futile. Without his tendrils, Pride is only as powerful as a small child. With nothing else to do, Al and Pride start talking to each other. Al reveals that he plans to stay in the dome with Pride until the "promised day" has passed. The two then start talking about Pride's "mother" Mrs. Bradley. Pride explains that Mrs. Bradley doesn't know that her husband and son are both homunculus, and thus she behaves like a loving mother to him. The homunculus comments that he had never known what a "mother" is like and he is intrigued by Mrs. Bradley's behaviour. Al is somewhat surprised at Pride's not-so-evil comments towards Mrs. Bradley, but he decides not to let his guard down and change topics. Al asks Pride about the "sacrifices" and states that it's a pretty poor plan given Ed, himself, or any other of the "sacrifices" can leave the country. Pride answers that it doesn't matter, because Ed, Al and everyone else remained in the country, and the homunculus reasons that it's because Al and all the "sacrifices" are human. While talking, Pride picks up a stick and starts tapping on Al's fallen helmet.

The white pimp suit is back!

Somewhere not so far away, Scar's group talk to some of the locals. Scar wants to go to Kanama, which is where Ed and company are currently located. One of the locals mention seeing May Chang not so long ago, and this surprises Scar. In a dilapidated building somewhere, Kimblee has slain a bunch of Ishvalans and is about to start the task given to him by the homunculi.

Scar and his group arrive at the slums of Kanama and spot the aftermath of the battle between Ed's group and Pride/Gluttony. The two group meet up with each other, and it's soon decided that Fu will go check out what's happening in Central. After one final look at the mould that holds Al and Pride, Ed tells everyone that it's time for them to finish the job.

Still the Little Red Riding Hood.

In Central, Denny Brosh is waken up by his little brother and sister who want to use his telescope. The two kids want to look at the solar eclipse that is supposed to be happening, but instead they spot trucks full of soldiers deploying on the street. After spotting the soldiers, Denny rushes out of the house and tells his family to stay indoors.

Seems like Mustang and company maneuvered themselves into a corner.

Not too far away, Mustang and his loyal subordinates have started their campaign against Central. Brigadier General Clemin is in charge of the Central forces, and he tells his subordinates to only take Mustang alive. Everyone else in Mustang's group including the Fuhrer's wife are to be killed. Despite their much smaller numbers, Mustang and his subordinates are holding their own against the Central soldiers. Mustang's group retreat into a small room and the Central soldiers manage to surround them. The room is too small so Mustang cannot use his alchemy, and the enemy commander tells his forces to shoot everyone except Mustang.

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

This episode moved a bit faster than the last, covering a bit more than one chapter of the manga (last episode covered exactly one chapter). Without a good way to defeat Pride, Al and Hohenheim instead chose to trap Pride in a giant dome with Al using himself as the bait. It's a clever plan, but we all know Al and Pride won't be trapped inside the dome during the Promised Day. Al is one of the protagonists and Pride is an important villain, so look for them to escape soon. Instead of sitting there and chatting with Pride, Al could just to swing away in the dark and kill Pride while Pride is unable to fight back, but I guess Al is too much of a nice guy. The chat between the two was interesting though and Pride showed that he is not completely evil and has an appreciation or at least curiosity for Mrs. Bradley. He is still mostly evil though.

The various factions in this conflict continue to move in this episode. After trapping Pride, Ed and Scar's group is heading towards Central. Meanwhile, Mustang's group has started their campaign, and looks like a lot of the next episode will be devoted to Mustang and company battling the Central soldiers in the streets (obviously they are going to get out of the jam at the end of this episode). While Mustang's group will continue to move even knowing that the Central soldiers don't care for Mrs. Bradley, the news is probably quite devastating to Mrs. Bradley herself. Finally, Kimblee showed up again after disappearing at the end of the Brigg arc. Let's see what sort of role he'll play in this battle.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 24 (Finale)

Mikoto and co. battle Telestina and MAR to save Haruue and the Child Errors.

John McClane may have killed a helicopter with a car, but Mitsuko can kill two helicopters with a truck.

They make a good team despite the rivalry. Kuroko has the better power though.

Summary:
Kiyama is chasing two MAR trucks but discovers they contain MAR mechs with grenade launchers, but Mikoto and friends (including Konori and Mitsuko) swoop in for the rescue. Kuroko and Mitsuko remain the mop up the MAR mechs while the others join up with Kiyama to rescue the kids. Along the way, Telestina emerges in a giant yellow mech to try and squash Mikoto and co, and Konori is knocked out of the chase. Mikoto ends up on Kiyama's car and tries to take out Telestina, but Telestina's mech is designed to be Mikoto-resistant, making shocks and railgun coins ineffective. Kiyama's car is chased onto a section of the highway that's supposed to be blocked off by a MAR team, but that team is busy fighting with the Anti-Skills, thus allowing Kiyama to drive past. Telestina continues to chase, but Mikoto turns up the voltage and blows up a flying arm from Telestina's mech. Kuroko teleports in and teleports the tip of the destroyed arm to Mikoto, who then launches launches the tip in a railgun blast right through Telestina's mech. With Telestina's mech destroyed, Mikoto and company continue their journey to the secret Kihara lab where the kids were being taken to.

I guess the marking of "Safety First" on the mech's arm only refers to the safety of the pilot.

Who the heck shoots a rifle in battle with their eyes closed?
Just more evidence that Anti-Skill (or at least Tessou) never had any real training.

Kamehameha with a railgun.

Mikoto and friends made the bad mistake of not checking if the villain is out of commission or not.

After taking out the security the lab, Mikoto and company locate Haruue and the Child Errors at the lowest level of the lab. Kiyama gets to work trying to free the kids, but suddenly the Capacity Down system is turned on and a bloodied Telestina shows up to swat away her opponents. Saten happens to be standing right outside the room and is not spotted by Telestina, and Uiharu manages to tell Saten to go back to the control room on the surface to disable the Capacity Down without Telestina knowing. Firmly in control, Telestina states that she is going to use the Child Errors and the first sample abilities crystal (made from herself) to make Haruue into a Level 6, and she doesn't care if the whole city end up being destroyed in case the Child Errors wake up. Mikoto and friends stall for time so that Saten can run back upstairs to the control room, and Saten smashes up the controls with her baseball bat just in time to save Mikoto. With the Capacity Down disabled, Mikoto tosses Telestina away and this allows Kiyama to get hold of the first sample crystal. The crazed Telestina refuse to give up and tries to kill Mikoto with her own version of the railgun, but Mikoto wins the ensuing Railgun vs. railgun showdown and blasts Telestina into unconsciousness.

Mikoto got an "up"grade this episode and went from being choked to hanging off of a lance.

So that's why she brought the baseball bat.

I'm not sure how two railgun projectiles can have contest of force like this, but it doesn't really matter.

After the battle, Kiyama uses the first sample crystal to complete her program, and all the Child Errors regain consciousness without causing poltergeist activities. This joyous moment brings tears to Kiyama's eyes, and Kiyama thank Mikoto and friends for their help.

Hurray, you finally win for once.

A day or days later, Mikoto and friends are late for some event (thought of by Mikoto) with Haruue and the Child Errors. While rushing to the hospital where the Child Errors are, Kuroko receives a phone call from Konori about the case. It turns out Telestina has survived the battle but is refusing to talk, and so there is still a lot of work to be done. Mikoto and friends don't make to the hospital in time, but they are able to see the event from an overpass. In another hospital, Kiyama is recovering from her injuries. Suddenly she hears the voices of her former students from outside the window. Kiyama looks out and sees Bani and other Child Errors wishing her well and happy birthday from a screen on an airship, and this brings tears to her eyes.

Happy faces all around.

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It was good finale. There were stuff being blown up, cool teleporting, a nice chase scene, more crazy expressions, and a Beatrice-esque cackle or two. Also, Anti-Skill was actually useful for once (although I'm not sure how assault rifles can stand up to heavily armored mechs with grenade launchers) and Mitsuko also got in the on the action and showed off her abilities as well. Overall I have to say I'm satisfied with how the episode went. It wasn't the greatest final showdown ever; it wasn't that imaginative and was cliched at some parts, not to mention that the whole arc didn't make much sense, but at least the episode focused on Mikoto, Kuroko and friends using their skills to save the day and that's what I came here to see.

Looking into the story for this episode, I have no idea how Telestina's plans was supposed to work, but at this stage it doesn't matter. I'm a bit disappointed that Telestina still relied on a stationary Capacity Down system to suppress Mikoto and friends. How is making a device bigger and stationary an improvement? I would have expected Telestina to have a portable version of the device, but then again that would rob Saten and her baseball bat of their purpose. And how come Mikoto's railgun coin can only go 50m? Does the coin get burned up in the process? Anyways, I should stop nitpicking on the plot since it probably wasn't written to make sense in the first place.

The only other notable complaint about this episode (aside from plot related things) is J.C. Staff's insistence on playing the OP songs during the action sequences. Don't get me wrong. I think both OPs are decent, but they are not really appropriate as fight music (and this isn't Macross). Is it that hard to come up with a piece of music to use for the big battles?

This episode and last week's episode were pretty entertaining. Unfortunately, this can't be said for many of the previous episodes in Railgun. This second half arc and the Level Upper arc were decent for the most part, but some of the other episodes (especially the fillers in the middle) really dropped the ball. Overall, I found Railgun to be an average series. I was expecting Railgun to be better than Index, but it ended up being about the same. While Index got bogged down by various scientific and hero speeches, Railgun was bogged down by the fillers and smaller amount of pseudo-science expositions.

At the end of the episode, I was a little surprised that there were no announcements for the next season of Index. We probably won't be seeing Railgun season 2 for a while given how the manga is monthly, but there should be plenty of material for second season of Index. I think it'll happen eventually.

Gantz 315

The Tokyo Team and other Gantzers get into trouble inside enemy territory.

Here comes the welcoming committee.

Summary:
The Tokyo Team and other unfortunate Gantzers are teleported to a location near a river on the alien home world. The aliens are surprised by the tiny invaders and start taking pictures with their wrist phones. Kurono #1 and Kato try to tell the others not to shoot, but a couple of guys start shooting at the aliens. After the alien civilians are dispersed by the gunfire, a couple of the Tokyo Team members use the time to take in the sights and contemplate their current conflict against an advanced alien civilization. Soon after, the Gantzers are surrounded by a large number of alien troopers who start killing the Gantzers with their disc cannons. As the Gantzers scramble for survival, Kurono #1 finds his way blocked by a long haired alien commander.

Back in Tokyo, Tae and the other surviving students/teacher make their way out of the hotel, and Tae is still wondering where Kurono #1 had gone.

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Another one of those slow chapters. The Gantzers are deep inside alien territory, but nobody is sure what they are supposed to be doing. It seems like the idiots who took control of Gantz balls actually sent a few of their own on the mission to take command of the Gantz troops, but as expected they are pretty useless and nobody listens to them anyways. It was dumb how the Gantzers just stood there in the open and waited for the enemy troopers to close in. At least try to run for some cover, guys, although it was an ill-planned mission from the start.

The only interesting note in this chapter is the appearance of the long haired alien commander. I think this is the same guy who had a look at Kurono's picture while he as piloting an UFO around Tokyo. Therefore I'm not too sure if the Gantzers are in the alien mother ship or the home world, although the place looks too big to be inside the ship. Hopefully something more exciting will happen next chapter. I really want to see the Kurono tag team in action.

Bleach 396

Everything is still going according to Aizen's plans.

I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt,
so sexy it hurts.

Summary:
Yamamoto sacrificed himself to use hadou #96 to burn Aizen. Aizen barely escapes, but he is confronted by Ichigo's Getsuga. Ichigo manages to would Aizen on the shoulder before Aizen can fend him off. Much to Ichigo's surprise, Aizen quickly regenerates from his injury, but he reveals that he is using the power of the Hougykou implanted on his chest instead of any hollow powers. Aizen then states that all of Ichigo's fights up until now were all according to his plan.

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

A somewhat slow chapter this week. Kubo got lazy again after the pretty decent chapter last week. So despite Yamamoto sacrificing himself for the hadou blast, everything is still going according to Aizen's plans. It was a slight surprise that Aizen didn't turn himself into a hollow, but the hougykou was probably a better device. I suppose we shouldn't have expecting anything else. I'm looking forward to hearing Aizen's explanation of how everything was "in his palm" all along no matter how preposterous it might turn out to be. Maybe it'll turn out that Ichigo is the key to the shinigami king's realm or something like that lol.

Naruto 487

Naruto and Sasuke part ways before their big battle, and a bunch of other things happen.

Confronting Sasuke was too much for Naruto's heart to take... oh, it's just Sakura screwing up again. Never mind.

Summary:
Sasuke agrees to Naruto's challenge and vows to kill Naruto first. On the sidelines, Sakura realizes that she's completely useless. Kakashi attempt to attack Madara, but Madara tells Kakashi not to bother and teleports away with Sasuke. After returning to Madara's hiding place, Sasuke asks Madara to transplant Itachi's eyes into him because he wants to crush Naruto with his full power. Meanwhile back under the bridge, Naruto faints after the standoff with Sasuke and Kakashi realizes Naruto has been poisoned by Sakura's kunai. Sakura quickly revives Naruto, and together with Kakashi and Karin they head back towards Konoha.

Elsewhere, Raikage, Killer Bee and entourage have returned to their village and Killer Bee brings back Sameheda as the souvenir. Back at the forest where Killer Bee fought Kisame, White Zetsu meets up with Black Zetsu, and it reveals that Black Zetsu actually doubled in for Kisame in the last moment. The real Kisame is hidden with Sameheda in a mission to infiltrate Kumogakure.

In a tunnel somewhere, three ninjas are strangled to death by Kabuto.

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Interesting chapter I suppose, although the Naruto/Sasuke drama from last chapter still left a bad taste. At least the two are taking an intermission for now before their final date. Initially I thought Naruto fainted after talking to Sasuke because of his fainting spell, but it turns out Sakura was responsible. Way to make Sakura even more useless, Kishi. Well, at least Sakura realized she was useless earlier in this chapter and self-awareness counts for something.

With the Naruto/Sasuke meeting over, the bad guys are on the move again. As expected, Sasuke is getting Itachi's eyes so he can give Naruto the most love possible. I guess Madara will implant that Rinnegan he has into himself or someone else too. Kisame is also back again, having sneaked into Kumogakure through Sameheda. I would have preferred that Kisame stay dead since he is just not that interesting, but I suppose someone has to capture Killer Bee for Madara. Finally, Kabuto has shown himself again. Looks like we can never truly get rid of Orochimaru's influence from this manga, even if Orochimaru himself is sealed away forever. Kabuto would make up a third faction in the upcoming ninja war since he neither supports the villages nor Madara, so let's see if he'll do anything notable.

One Piece 578

Akainu continues to go after Luffy while Sengoku battles Blackbeard.

Blackbeard still got some work to do before it actually becomes "his age".

Summary:
After collapsing Marine HQ, Blackbeard plans to sink the island of Marineford but he and his crew are confronted by Sengoku in his giant form. Meanwhile, Akainu has defeated Ivankov and Inazuma and continues to chase after Jimbei and Luffy. Jimbei tries to dive into the ocean, but he finds the sea frozen by Aokiji. Akainu catches up and injures both Jimbei and Luffy with an attack. It looks like Akainu has Jimbei and Luffy right where he wants them, but suddenly Crocodile appears and sends Jimbei and Luffy away with a whirlwind. Jimbei and Luffy are then caught by Buggy (whose upper body is floating in the sky) who instinctively starts running. Akainu gives chase but he is confronted by the remaining Whitebeard Pirates. As the battle rages on the island, Buggy looks for a way out, and suddenly he spots a submarine surfacing nearby. Out of the submarine emerges Trafalgar Law and his crew and he tells Buggy to hand Luffy over so he can be treated.

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

One of the pirates from Shabondy finally showed up! We all know Luffy is going to survive, but this chapter gave answer to how Luffy is going to escape. Looks like Law's submarine might be Luffy's ticket out of the fight. I guess the other “Supernovas” will show up soon as well since they departed Shabondy together with Law.

Even though it seems like the Marineford arc is near the end, there are still a lot of things going on. The remaining Whitebeard Pirates are faced with Akainu who is relentless in his pursuit of Luffy. The Whitebeard Pirates can't really afford to be caught up in a long battle, but they might sacrifice themselves to cover Luffy's escape. There is also Blackbeard vs. Sengoku and the other Marines. We'll see if Blackbeard can back up his words and take out Marineford. Garp might get involved (he doesn't seem to be doing anything else at the moment) and so could the other two admirals. There is still a lot fights left yet.

Sekirei 97

Mikogami scares off Uzume and declares his intentions to Minato.

I don't think Mutsu would dare call Miya a witch to her face.

Summary:
Mikogami, Mutsu, and Akitsu face off against Uzume. As Uzume is distracted by the new arrivals, Homura frees Minato and Uzume decides to retreat. Before Uzume disappears, Miktogami tells Uzume to tell her handler to stop cheating and ruining the game. After Uzume is gone, Mikogami states to Minato that he doesn't plan to fight him here as someone else would benefit. As Mikogami's group turn around to leave, Homura recognizes Mutsu as a member of the original Disciplinary Squad. Mutsu recognizes Homura as well and gives Homura some encouragement for living with the "crazy witches" at Izumo Inn. At this moment, Mikogami turns back to Minato and states that he is not going to let Uzume off so easily next time. Mikogami also adds that he still hates Minato for winging Kusano and taking out Yomi, but he is going to obey the rules unlike a certain cheater. Mikogami then declares that he will be the winner and leaves with Mutsu and Akitsu.

After Mikogami's group leaves, Minato calls back to the inn to Matsu. Minato and Matsu had already suspected Uzume was the Veiled Sekirei, and Minato has just planted a tracking device on Uzume (when he hugged her). Minato is confident that Uzume is being forced to act against her will, and he wants to teach a lesson to whoever is manipulating Uzume.

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Ha, looks like the real Minato vs. Higa fight is finally in sight. Thanks to Mikogami's not-so-subtle hinting and the tracking device, Minato will probably soon confirm that Higa is responsible for Uzume's behavior. I'm really looking forward to Higa getting his ass kicked and Minato saving his sister. Ideally Minato would save Uzume and Shiina as well, but with the way the Sekirei Plan works Uzume and Shiina will have to go down eventually if Minato is to win. Hopefully it won't take too long until we see this showdown.

Back to this chapter, Mikogami showed himself to be a rule-abiding player for some reason, although I think there is more to him than meets the eye. Having Minato go after Higa is of strategic benefit to Mikogami, so Mikogami may have planned this move. Mikogami might be questionable, but Mutsu seems like a cool guy. I loved how Mutsu referred to his days in the Disciplinary Squad as "the Dark Ages" and his encouragement to Homura for living with the "witches". He also accurately described Matsu and Kazehana as "Hentai" and "Drunk", but I'm not too sure about describing Miya as "Hanya" (Wisdom in Buddhism I believe). I'm not sure why that's her nickname. I think Miya should be called "Demon" lol. It's interesting that Mikogami doesn't know about Mutsu's history but Akitsu does. This is more evidence that Akitsu was Sekirei #7.

Deadman Wonderland 31 & 32

A double dose of DW for today.

Makina dresses up for the occasion.

Chapter 31 Summary:
As the Forgeries dispatched Tamaki walk past Ganta, Ganta tries to convince the Forgeries into disobeying Tamaki's orders. Instead, the Forgeries tries to put a mask on to Ganta, but they are taken out by Shiro and Azami. Shiro and Azami get to work on freeing Ganta, but there are still more Forgeries in the room. Fortunately for Shiro and Azami, Makina arrives in the lab with her anti-worm (referring to the Nameless Worm) sword and cuts up the rest of the attacking Forgeries. After freeing Ganta, Makina reveals that all the Forgeries are controlled via their masks, and Ganta may be able to free them by destroying the central transmitter. Makina gives Ganta and friends the direction to the transmitter and she stays to hold off another wave of Forgeries.

Ganta, Shiro, and Azami follow Makina's directions and arrive in a large room where they are confronted by three Forgeries named Ikazuchi Akatsuki, Hajime Mikawa, and Uzume Sumeragi. However, these three are the first unit "completed Forgeries", and thus they are much more powerful and have their own unique Branches of Sin. The three first unit members charge at Ganta and the girls, but they are blocked off by Senji, Minatsuki, Masaru, and Hitara. Ganta is overwhelmed by emotions after seeing his fellow Deadmen, and Shiro comments that Ganta is surrounded by idiots (who care for him).

Chapter 32 Summary:

The benefit of being the main character is that you can skip the not-as-important battles and them off to the side characters.

The three Forgeries respond to the Deadmen's arrival by destroying a platform to show off their power. Senji and the others tell Ganta's group to go on while they hold off the Forgeries. Ganta and the Deadmen raise their fists in solidarity and Ganta leaves with Shiro and Azami. The Forgeries try to give chase, but Senji kicks Akatsuki into a hallway, Hitara shoves Hajime down a hatch, and Masaru and Minatsuki trap Sumeragi with their Branches of Sin. Minatsuki and Masaru try to follow up with more attacks, but Sumeragi escapes the trap by flying out with her Branch of Sin. Sumeragi taunts the two Deadmen by repeating the awful messages about their past, and she then forms a large flower with her blood releasing many butterflies.

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

Looks like we are on to the combat portion of this little adventure. The Deadmen showed up in a rather predictable manner to take on the first unit Forgeries, but I guess Ganta have bigger and better things to tackle. It's good to see the Deadmen working with Ganta again even if Ganta almost killed them. These first unit Forgeries are supposed to be so Senji and the gang might be in trouble, but maybe Makina's special unit will back them up. As for Ganta, Shiro, and Azami, I'm sure the crazy doctor or Tamaki have something saved up for them.

It's now a full-on revolt at Deadmen Wonderland. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for this series. What happens if Tamaki stops this revolt? I can't imagine, so I have feeling this may be the start of the final battle. A lot of stuff can still happen along the way though. I'm sure Sakigami Toto will get involved somewhere down the line, and of course there is still Shiro's big secret.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 48

Ed and company continue to battle Pride and Gluttony out in the forest.

LOL Poor Gluttony.

Summary:
Back in the forest, Lan Fan and Lin continues to deal damage to Gluttony, who can't tell where the attacks are coming from. Ed and Darius are "watching" the fight, and suddenly the two notice that Lan Fan's grandfather Fu is standing next to them. Fu reveals that he and the others from Xing can sense people's "ki", and he has sensed Gluttony, Greed/Lin, Selim/Pride, and even Hohenhim back in the village. After watching Lan Fan toss a bomb at Gluttony, Ed gets an idea and asks Fu to lead him to Pride.

It's a nice mask, but Ed and Darius can't really see.

In a bar somewhere in Central, Mustang is talking with one of his contacts, Madame Christmas. Madame Christmas has confirmed that Selim is indeed not a human. Outside of the bar, two government agents who are trailing Mustang are waiting for him to come out. Another agent comes along and tells the two agents that Madame Christmas is actually Mustang's foster mother. The three agents immediately bust into the bar only to be blown up along with the building. Underneath the sewers underneath the bar, Mustang part ways with his foster mother and then meets up with Hawkeye, Fuery, and Breda. With the Fuhrer and Selim currently missing, it's now or never for Mustang's crew to take action, and Mustang's subordinates decide to follow their leader.

Thankfully there was no major damage,
and the earthquake alert make only lasted for 5 minutes this time.

That's a pretty nice flare.

Somewhere else in the forest, Heinkel is attacking Pride, but of course Pride can't be eradicated that easily. Heinkel realizes the power will come back on soon so he has to hurry and finish the homunculus. A group of villagers suddenly appear with a lantern, and this allows Pride to use his shadows to injure the chimera. The villagers drop the lantern and run away, thus giving Pride a steady source of light. Pride tries to finish off Heinkel, but Ed appears and blocks the attack. Pride wonders why his shadows can't pierce Ed's automail arm, and it turns out that Ed has alchemized the carbon in his winter automail into a form analogous to Greed's shield. Pride decides to bring Al back into the battle, but that's exactly what Ed wants. As Al walks on to the battlefield, Fu sets off a couple of flash-bangs which severs Pride's connection to Al's body, and Ed and Darius take the opportunity to pull Al away from the homunculus. Pride realizes that he and Gluttony have both been killed numerous times, and neither of them can fight against the Xingese warriors in the dark. Therefore, Pride decides to ingest Gluttony in order to acquire his partner's acute sense of smell in order to even up the odds. After eating Gluttony, Pride notices that Hohenheim is nearby tending to Al.

Ironic that Gluttony ended up being eaten by someone else.

At the Central Headquarters, Father is asking all the generals to think about what Mustang is going to do. Olivier answers that if she were Mustang, she would probably kidnap the Fuhrer's wife. Father thinks this action would be pointless, but Olivier's prediction turns out to be true.

Where is our tip?

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

Pride is one creepy bastard. As usual, Bones did an excellent job animating Pride's tendrils (and Ed blocking them with his automail arm), and they made the scene where Pride ate Gluttony a bit nastier than in the manga. I gotta say, I feel sorry for Gluttony in this episode. I'm all for Ran Fan and Ling beating up bad guys, but Gluttony had it tough this episode, getting owned in the dark and then ingested by a fellow homunculus. That's the end of Gluttony now since his Philosopher's Stone was taken by Pride.

This was a good action episode for the most part. Ed and company managed to rescue Al from Pride and Gluttony is gone, but Pride now has a steady source of light, Heinkel is hurt bad, and Lan Fan is having a whee bit of trouble with her automail arm. However, Ed and company does have Hohenheim on their side, and next episode we might get a glimpse of what Ed and Al's father is really capable of.

Other than the fight out at Kanama, Mustang makes his move by kidnapping Mrs. Bradley, but as noted by Father it's probably a useless action. Olivier is still biding her time because Father is still around, but she is going to make a move soon now that Mustang has started his operation. With Wrath missing though, it's unclear what the East Army will do now, but Grumman is probably waiting for Mustang to make the first move as well. The big showdown is just in the early phases, so there is plenty more action and strategic maneuvering to come.

On a somewhat unrelated note, an earthquake alert came up in the middle of the episode, but it only lasted a few minutes unlike the tsunami alert two weeks ago. From new reports, there doesn't seem to be any major damage which is good news to hear.

Fullmetal Alchemist 105

The final battle continues.

Let's turn up the force, shall we?

Summary:
After absorbing God and the 50 million souls of Amestris into his body, Father disables Amestrian alchemy in the surrounding the area and launches a destructive ball of energy from above to crush Ed and company. Hohenheim steps in and blocks the blast using energy from his Philosopher's Stone, but Father turns up the power and at the same time start shaking the floor. It looks Hohenheim can't hold on, but May stabilizes the floor with her Xingese alchemy. While Hohenheim and May are busy fending off the attacks from above and below, Father decides to form a miniature sun in one hand to blow all his enemies away, but suddenly he starts losing power. Hohenheim explains that the souls of the Amestrian people are still connected to their bodies and he has spread souls within his Philosopher's Stone around the country for this very moment. In one fast and spectacular reaction, the souls of the Amestrian people are sucked from Father's body and deposited back into the bodies of the people, and the people around the country start to wake up.

Bad-ass until the very end.

Without the 50 millions souls, Father is having trouble containing God within his body and he calls off the attacks on Hohenheim and company. However, Father is not about to surrender and he fires an energy blast which starts to overwhelm Hohenheim. Ed and Al try to support their father from behind, but they know Hohenheim can't hold out for long and they need Scar to do his part. A few levels above, Scar and Wrath are engaged in a ferocious fight with the two combatants trading blows. As the solar eclipse is about the end, Wrath is momentarily blinded by sunlight, and this allows Scar to rip off both of Wrath's arms. However, before falling down, Wrath is able to inflict a deep cut in Scar's torso by grabbing a sword with his mouth. Lying down on the ground and near the end of his life, Wrath spots Lan Fan approaching. Lan Fan asks if Wrath has any last words, and Wrath answers no. Lan Fan asks about Mrs. Bradley, and Wrath states that nothing needs to be said because he had chosen her and she was the King's wife. Wrath then comments that humans have given a bit of meaning to his life before dying. After Wrath dies, Lan Fan retrieves the bottle of Philosopher's Stone from Wrath's body. Lan Fan helps Scar over to the human transmutation circle, and Scar uses his arms to activate the reverse transmutation circle around the city (which the Ishvalans have set up).

Back down in Father's chamber, Ed and company can use their alchemy once again, and Ed, Al, and Izumi combine their attacks to destroy Father's throne. Ed then declares that they are going to kick Father's ass.

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Somewhat predictable chapter, but it was still epic. As many of us have suspected, the good guys manages to save the souls from Father and revive the Amestrian people. This makes sense since it wouldn't be right if the Armstrong siblings or Dr. Marcoh didn't take part in the final battle, and we can't have Winry lying dead either. I'm not sure how exactly Hohenheim managed to pull it off, but it had something to do with him spreading the souls in his stone around the country. I guess this explains why he was wandering the country through most of the series.

The Scar vs. Wrath fight finally concludes. Wrath is finally defeated, but he was still extremely bad-ass, inflicting a serious wound on Scar by holding the sword in his mouth. He is probably the most bad-ass character in this series, and I think this was an appropriate end for him, although letting Ling/Greed get the kill would be even more appropriate. So Scar gets credit for the kill, with assists from Ling/Greed, Fu, and Buccaneer.

After Father's big move in the last chapter, things are looking better for the good guys now that Father has lost the souls and can't hold on to his ban on Amestrian alchemy. However, Father still has the power of God within him, and this probably where the real battle will begin. I have a feeling that Hohenheim is going to sacrifice himself, but not sure about the others. There will probably be one more trip through the Gates of Truth as well. Hopefully the Armstrongs and Dr. Marcoh will join the battle as well. Even with alchemy, Ed and company still need all the help they can get.