Motto To Love-Ru 09

Rito and Mikan have a Christmas Party with friends and family; Rito gets stuck in Peke's body; and Rito pretends to be Run's boyfriend and meets Kyouko.

This is the episode where Rito and Haruna finally get it on.... NOT.

Part 1 Summary:
The holiday season has arrived and Mikan is busy at home preparing for a Christmas party. Meanwhile, Rito is wandering around on the streets looking for someone, and by accident he runs into Haruna. Rito explains that he is looking for Yami to invite her to a Christmas party, since Yami showing up would make Mikan very happy. Rito then asks Haruna if she wants to come but Haruna is celebrating Christmas with her family. After Rito departs, Haruna fantasizes about being alone with Rito and Rito giving her a kiss as a Christmas present.

Rito is a nice big brother when he isn't being a pervert.

Back at Rito's house, Lala asks Mikan if she and Rito always had Christmas parties. Mikan explains that this would be their first proper party, but they have celebrated the holidays before. Mikan remembers that one year Rito was in high spirits and made a mini Christmas tree. As Mikan was criticizing the tree, Rito gets a present and hands it to Mikan. The present was a scarf and a pair of earmuffs, and Mikan was very happy to receive these items from her brother. Mikan is a high-spirits this year to throw a party. Even though her parents are too busy to return, Mikan states that at least they have Lala's family and Celine to celebrate with.

Rito finally finds Yami in a local library. After dodging the intial attack, Rito explains to Yami that he wants her to go to the party at his house because it would make Mikan happy. A short time later, Rito brings Yami back to the house to surprise Mikan. Lala then appears in a Christmas costume and holding a big sack over her shoulders. Lala announces that she has a present for Mikan and opens the sack, and out of the sack appears Mikan and Rito's parents. As the surprised Rito and Mikan greet their parents, Lala explains that she had brought them back by spaceship. Mikan realizes that both Rito and Lala worked hard to bring back the people she liked and feels very happy about it. Someone rings the doorbell and Rito opens the door to find Haruna standing outside. Haruna's parents agreed to let Haruna come to the party, and Rito has no problem welcoming Haruna into the house. After the party starts, Rito's mother starts wondering about Celine, and Rito has to deny that is his daughter.

In a way, Celine is Rito's daughter.

Part 2 Summary:
Rito wakes up in the morning and finds Momo and a pair of girl's panties in his room. After Momo leaves to go change, Rito is spotted with the panties by Mikan, who misunderstands the situation. After getting dressed, Rito goes downstairs and finds a note from Lala. Lala has morning chore duty so she had to go early, but Peke still hasn't recharged yet so Rito is supposed to bring Peke to school after.

Rito waits for Peke to wake up but Peke is still recharging and Rito is in danger of being late for school. Momo arrives in the living room and lends Rito a "charger" after hearing about the dilemma. Rito uses the "charger" but instead he is digitized and sent into Peke's body. Rito is now stuck as Peke, and the effects of the digitizer won't wear off for two hours. Rito doesn't know what to do, but Momo suggests that Rito play along as Peke for the day so Lala's schedule won't be wrecked. Momo brings Rito to school and hands him off to Lala, who needs Rito to transform into her gym uniform. Rito tries to transform into the uniform but he ends up transforming in the kitchen apron (and nothing else), leaving Lala mostly naked.

Horniest character on the show by a wide margin.

Having promised Momo to play the part of Peke for the day, Rito (in Peke's body) serves as Lala's gym uniform while Lala is going through the stretches. Rito becomes embarrassed and aroused due to the fact that he feels every inch of Lala's curves, but he decides to stick with the plan since so that Lala doesn't know that it was Momo's mistake. Unfortunately, Rito's natural reactions trumps his emotions and he starts to malfunction. First Rito loses control of the tightness of Lala's gym shorts, and later he loses control completely when Lala goes on a run with Haruna and Oshizu. Rito unwilling transforms into a bikini and starts tightening up on Lala, while at the same time he starts putting costumes on all of the nearby girls. Rito/Peke eventually overheats and shuts down, and Momo runs over to give Lala a temporary Peke badge of the gym uniform while she takes Rito/Peke home.

How come Yui always gets the best costumes?

On the way back home, Momo apologizes to the unconscious Rito for putting him through this ordeal. Momo states that Rito is a kind person and this is why she's attracted to him. In the morning after Rito has been separated from Peke, Lala tells Peke to tell everyone if she's not feeling well, but Peke has no recollection of what happened and doesn't know what Lala is talking about.


Part 3 Summary:
Rito is out for a walk and runs into Run. Run asks Rito to be her boyfriend for a day, and Rito has no choice but to agree when Run turns on the tear ducts. Run drags Rito off to meet her friend who turns out to be Kyouko, the star of Lala's favorite TV show. Rito is initially stiff during the conversations with Run and Kyouko, but after finding out Kyouko is half-alien Rito begins to talk freely about how Lala is a big fan of Kyouko's. Seeing how Rito is so happy talking about Lala, Run becomes a little depressed and stops clinging onto Rito, and this is noticed by Kyouko.

Kyouko's flames aren't the only thing burning in this picture.

Suddenly, Rito and the girls are spotted by the perverted principal, who quickly shreds his clothes to chase after the girls. Rito and the girls quickly run into an alley where Run takes out a bomb to ward off the principle. Unfortunately Run drops the bomb before she can toss it, and the explosion rips off all of Run's and Kyouko's clothes, giving Rito a full frontal view of both girls. As the principal approaches, Kyouko uses Rito to shield her naked body and torches the principal with a fire blast. After the principal is defeated, Rito runs off to get the girls some clothes while Run and Kyouko hide in the alley. Run admits that Rito isn't really his boyfriend, and Kyouko states that she had already noticed. Kyouko agrees that Rito is pretty cute though and promises to help Run in her pursuit for Rito. A short while later, Rito returns with Lala who can use Peke to fix Run and Kyouko's clothes, and Lala is elated to meet Kyouko in real-life much to Run's annoyance.

Seeing Kyouko is nice. Seeing Kyouko naked is even better.

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Another three decent segments this week, and the censoring was scarce which was good news as well. Unlike most of the previous episodes, the censoring this episode was mostly justified as the female characters were more or less completely naked. On the other hand, there weren't any groping in this episode, so there is no chance for the censors to go wild.

Anyways, on to the segments, all three were alright. The first Christmas segment had a nice little childhood memory between Mikan and Rito. I think it also marks the first time that Rito's mother has appeared in the anime in person. I could be mistaken about that, but I don't remember the chapter about Rito' mother sizing up Haruna and Lala being animated. Too bad this Christmas story didn't actually air near Christmas.

The second segment was a two-chapter micro-arc from the manga, and the anime did a pretty good job compressing two chapters down into one segment. Rito seem to have a tendency to get stuck in the bodies of other beings, and usually that results in copious amounts of fan service. The segment was mostly fan service-focused, with Lala being squeezed by Rito/Peke, Momo being horny, and the other girls being put into costumes. A bit mindless, but at least the fan service was funny.

The last segment had plenty of fan service as well with Kyouko and Run ending up completely naked. This segment continues from the story from an earlier episode about the growing friendship between Run and Kyouko, and this time Rito is added into the mix. Run ends up gaining Kyouko's support for her pursuit of Rito, but she didn't make any progress with Rito though. As for Kyouko, she did mention that Rito was cute, so there might be some possibilities there, as any attractive, non-committed female characters seem to be a possible candidate for Rito's harem lol.

Blue Version of New Theme

This blog switched to a new theme about a month ago featuring images of the Red ranger mascot. The theme is still a work in progress though, and here is the first of the alternative versions featuring the Blue ranger Audrey. The new banner is similar in style to the one for the Red, which meant it was a quick coloring of a pencil drawing, but it didn't turn out too badly. Switching to the blue is somewhat appropriate as winter is coming, and blue is more of a winter color than red.

(click picture for larger version at DeviantART)

My ultimate plan for this theme is for it to switch versions automatically. Not sure if that's feasible or not though, and it might be a while until I get around to making that happen.

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 08

A problem begins to brew during the Academy City's sports festival.

It's funny that Touma's dad was hitting on Mikoto's mom given their children's relationship.

This is all the motivation you'll ever need.

Summary:
It's the Academy City's sport festival and many people from outside are inside the city. Among them are Touma's parents and also Mikoto's mother. Before the competitions start, Mikoto and Touma made a bet with each other as to which school would win, and the loser has to do whatever the winner tells him/her. Touma isn't too concerned, but Mikoto is a little embarrassed by the possibilities. After meeting Mikoto and ditching the hungry Index, Touma returns to his school and finds his fellow team members feeling down, but after some pep talk by acting class representative Seiri and moeness from Komoe-sensei, Touma and comrades work up the battle spirit and win their first event.

Mikoto wishes this was the race to win Touma's heart.

Too bad Kuroko will never follow through with the threat to put needles into Touma.

After the event, Touma tries to get Index some food, but the street they want to cross is cordoned off for a parade and next crossing is far away. Touma is then dragged away by Mikoto who needed Touma for her competition. Mikoto drags Touma past the finish line and wins the competition and afterwards Mikoto gives Touma her water bottle. Elsewhere in the city, Uiharu is pushing the recovering Kuroko around on the streets and they both see Mikoto's win along with her post-competition interaction with Touma on a big screen. Kuroko vows to make Touma pay for getting so close to her beloved onee-sama.

Feline attack!!

Touma walks back to find Index, but he spots Motoharu talking with Stiyl instead. Touma joins in the conversation and finds out two magicians have sneaked into the city, and they are after an artifact that can kill saints. After the chat, Touma goes back to looking for Index, and he learns from Aisa and Maika that Index has joined Komoe-sensei for lunch. Touma eventually finds Komoe and Index in a park and catches Index in the middle of changing into an uniform. Index tries to bite Touma but accidentally kisses him on the cheek instead and this stuns her. Touma is then dragged away by Seiri for slacking off. Seiri notices that Touma seem to have his mind on something else, but during the conversation Touma bumps into a beautiful blond woman. The woman apologizes for bumping into Touma and shakes his right hand, and upon contact Touma and the woman notice Touma's right hand negation working. The woman is Oriana Thomson, one of the magicians who sneaked into the city. Oriana uses magical tag to call her comrade and reports that the spell on her body has been broken. Oriana also notices that Touma is following her and she plans to lose him.

Another picture to prove that Touma is hardly unlucky.

Can't blame Touma, since a kiss from Oriana is an offer too good to refuse.

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A so-so episode to start off the new story arc. The main problem is that the narrative is disjointed and jumps all over the place. There some bits with Mikoto, some bits with Index, some bits with Seiri and in the middle of fooling around with all the girls, Touma randomly stumbles onto Stiyl and Motoharu chatting (or maybe Aleister planned it that way) and gets involved with yet another intrigue. Basically, it was a lot of fan service interlaced with random bits of plot progression, and this didn't work too well. The story doesn't sound terribly interesting either as it sounded like another kooky Catholic nun wants to do something naughty. Those Catholics, they never learn.

On the bright side, at least there wasn't too much exposition and those looking for fan service should be satisfied. There was Index, Mikoto, Seiri, and even Oriana and Komoe to satisfy different tastes. It's amusing that Touma can actually dodge or deflect Index's biting to some degree, but then again this isn't that tough when compared to running up falling debris in the last episode. The fan service was clicking on all cylinders this week. Too bad the storytelling wasn't.

Gantz 328

Sakurai goes nuts, while the group at the Gantz apartment gets a surprise.

Force Crush!!

Summary:
Sakurai goes all out with his psychic powers and starts ripping apart the aliens while shielding himself and Tonkatsu from the lightning weapons. Inside the alien city ship, Fra (the alien woman that Kurono #1 is holding at knife point) leads Kurono #1 and the survivors toward the exit, but they make too conspicuous of a group, so Kurono decides that he'll get a trooper armor suit for Fra to wear. Meanwhile at the alien apartment, Tae is trying to fend off the sex-hungry Shun, and thankfully the little alien girl arrives to grab Shun off of Tae and reprimand him for being a bad boy.

At the Gantz apartment, Reika feels that there's someone else in the room, and Nishi decloaks besides the Gantz ball. When Reika asks if the Gantz ball is usable, Nishi appears reluctant to answer, but suddenly the ball pops open and Gantz (the hairless guy from the Gantz ball) tells the others that he can help them out. Kurono #2 then tells Gantz to prevent them from being teleported by other Gantz balls and also remove the bombs from their brains.

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Yeah Sakurai! Rip those evil, human-eating aliens apart! With his powers at max, Sakurai is plowing through the aliens, but he'll probably die afterwards from brain injuries if nobody helps him out. However, since Kurono #2's crew appear to have control of their Gantz ball, they can just teleport Sakurai back and he'll be whole again. We finally found out where Nishi and Gantz are. They haven't explained how those two ended up in the apartment, but I'm assuming Nishi went out to find Gantz and brought him back to the apartment to operate the ball. If the Tokyo team does have complete control of their Gantz ball, that would open up a lot of possibilities. Other than teleporting Sakurai back, they might be able to teleport Kurono #1 and maybe even Tae back (since she's in the database). Furthermore, how about some weapon upgrades, or maybe even cloning an army of Kuronos to save the world? That'd be nuts, but the Gantz ball was on the fritz before so it might be just half operational.

Oh on an unrelated note, I hope those in the US had a happy Thanksgiving. I know I did :).

Bleach 428

Ramen Guy continues to mess around with Ichigo.

I never knew Vitamin C was good for treating back/shoulder pain and spirit possession.

Summary:
The ramen guy asks how much Ichigo knows about his own family, but the conversation is interrupted by Ikumi. Ikumi tells the ramen guy that she'll think about the job and tells the ramen guy to leave. The ramen guy complies but before leaving he tells Ichigo to head to Urahara's shop to see something interesting.

After leaving the shop, the ramen guy is met by his comrades Riruka (girl in maid-like dress) and Kutsuzawa (one eyed butler). Riruka makes fun of the ramen guy for getting the cold shoulder, but the ramen guy tells her to shut up and leave.

At Urahara's shop, Karin buys a bunch of anti-spirit/hollow products, but Urahara refuses to accept her money because he owes Ichigo. As Karin gets ready to leave, Urahara asks about Ichigo, and Karin states that she'll protect her brother if he doesn't get his power back. Outside the shop, Ichigo spots Karin leaving and wonders what she was doing at the shop. The ramen guy then shows up and warns Ichigo to be wary of Urahara. Ichigo asks the guy what his name is, and the guy states that he is Ginjou Kuugo.

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We finally learned what the ramen guy's name was and also learned that he is not alone, but beyond that everything is still moving at the slow and steady pace. Ginjou is messing with Ichigo, and it looks like Ichigo is starting to sway due to Ginjou's talk. There might be some decent drama here if Ichigo starts becoming suspicious of his own family and former allies. It still might be a while before we find out what Ginjou and company are really after though. As for Karin, she appears to be on route to follow Ichigo's footsteps, but she is starting out with low-level stuff first by using Urahara's wacky products. Will the story be able to make a shinigami out of her, or will Ichigo somehow put a stop to it?

Naruto 518

The ambush squads from both sides continue to fight.

I'm going to draw a scathing comic about you two and post it all over the internet. By the end of the week, you two will be laughingstocks of the whole world!

Summary:
Omoi cuts Sasori chakra threads which allows his side to retrieve the two recon team members, and Kankuro drags Sasori out of hiding and onto Deidara by pulling on Sasori's threads with his own. Kankuro then pulls out Sasori's old puppet body, but Sasori counters by taking control of Shin. The Joint Army contingent realize that Shin has been implanted with Deidara's explosives, but it can deactivated by lightning techniques. As Shin comes after the group, Omoi tries to hit him with lightning chakra but misses. Deidara activates the bomb, bu Kankuro smothers most of the explosion with a giant puppet hidden in the ground. Sai is pissed off that Deidara used Shin as a bomb and draws two giants to knock both Deidara and Sasori into Kankuro's containment puppets. Omoi disables Deidara's explosives with his lightning chakra, and both are restrained by Kankuro's puppets. Shin quickly regenerates from being blown up but sees the picture book dropped by Sai in which there was a drawing of two of them together. Sai wonders if he has to fight Shin, but Shin states that seeing the drawing has freed his soul and Shin then disintegrates. Not far away, Chuukichi decides that it's time for him to join the fight and back up his zombie comrades.

Inside the containment puppet, Sasori wonders why there is no feeling from his chakra threads. Kankuro starts lecturing Sasori that he has lost his way and has now become a puppet to someone else instead of a master ninja puppeteer.

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An alright action chapter, and the good guys are doing better than expected. I was wondering how the good guys will deal with the "indestructible" zombies, but it turns out Kabuto's zombies can't be destroyed by normal means, they can be defeated by making the soul pass on as did the case with Shin. We don't know how many people in the joint army have the skills to seal away the souls by force, but my guess is that there aren't that many, so the "passing-on" method gives the good guys a better chance at winning. With so many of the zombies being good or not-half-bad characters, the passing-on method of defeating them might become pretty common in the war. Some of the zombies might even help the good guys and/or purposely go against Kabuto/Madara. I can't see Itachi or Nagato playing nice, but we'll see how well Kabuto can control his zombies while he is trying back-stab Madara and claim Sasuke at the same time.

One Piece 605

Luffy and company try to tame the kraken.

No sea creature is safe from the Straw Hats.

Summary:
Luffy wants to tame the kraken and use it to pull the ship, but the other crew members are in disagreement about what they should do. The Caribou Pirates return to rescue their captain, but their ship is crushed by the kraken. The kraken then tries to smash the Sunny but the Sunny dodges the blow in time. Nami suggest that they use the Sunny's Coup de Burst to shoot past the kraken, but Franky states that there won't be any air left if they use the burst. Seeing the Straw Hats in disagreement, Caribou suggest that the ones who want to fight the kraken go outside in individual bubbles. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are coated and they walk off the ship. While Franky and Chopper protect the ship from the kraken, Luffy charges up a giant Gear 3 fist but has trouble swing it due to his arm extending into the water. To buy Luffy some time, Sanji uses his newly developed super fast speed to run out of his bubble and kick the kraken, and Zoro also slices up one of the kraken's tentacles. Luffy finally charges up and rocks the kraken with his giant hardened fist. The kraken is knocked out, but the crew spots a large shark wearing a shirt swimming near the kraken. The kraken then falls off the cliff ledge and is sucked into the downward stream. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are also sucked in, and the rest of the crew follow suit in the Sunny, but in the increasing darkness they lose track of the trio.

The descent finally stops and the ship 7000 meters below the surface. Being pitch dark outside, Franky turns on his built-in lights and the crew spots many giant deep water creatures.

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I thought Luffy might try to use a haki stare-down on the kraken, but he actually went out to fight the creature physically. The chapter was mostly a showcase for the crew members to demonstrate some of their new abilities. Luffy can use haki to condition himself; Zoro can cut up larger object; Sanji has super foot speed; Franky has more gadgets; Robin can do giant hands; and Chopper can turn into a giant puffball cushion. With so many new powers on board, the kraken obviously had no chance, but it was interesting how a shark suddenly showed up after the kraken was knocked out. Was the shark "piloting" the kraken? We probably won't find out for a while. With the kraken out of the way, the Straw Hats are onto the next depth on their journey to Fishmen Island, and the three strongest crew members are separated from the ship and there are quite a few giant a dangerous-looking sea creatures swimming about. It might be another "beat up giant seas monster" chapter next week, and I'm okay with that as long as the action is good.

As for Caribou, his crew seem to be done for, so he'll be probably be sticking with the Straw Hats at least for this journey. I still don't think Caribou will join the Straw Hats (too bloodthirsty), but with the three strongest Straw Hats gone Caribou might be plotting to overpower the rest of the crew.

Motto To Love-Ru 08

Nana, Haruna, and Oshizu discuss how to increase their chest sizes; Rito becomes a dog and is taken in by Haruna; and Yami and Mikan switch bodies.

Uncensored groping makes a return.

Part 1 Summary:
After gym class, Risa, Mio, Haruna, and Oshizu talk to each other in the changing room. Risa examines herself and thinks that she is getting fat, so she and Mio decide to go around the school asking people about their secrets for maintaining their figure. Haruna gets dragged on the ride as always. The first person they ask is Lala, who has a great figure. However, the princess never really thinks about maintaining her figure and can eat as much as she wants. After groping Lala, Risa deicde to tease Rito about living with a hot girl like Lala, but Rito responds by saying that to him, the "inside" is more important than outer appearance. This statement impresses Haruna, but unfortunately Rito's poor choice of words allows Risa to tease him further by showing him her "insides" (panties). As Rito gets all embarrassed, Yui Kotegawa comes over to investigate all the commotion, and Risa pounces on Yui and gropes her too. Yui doesn't take the groping very well and her scream can be heard throughout the school.

Later after school, Haruna and Oshizu are out strolling in the park when they spot Nana sitting at a bench looking depressed. When asked, Nana reveals that she's pissed that Momo keep teasing her about her flat chest. After recalling being humiliated, Nana declares that she's going enlarge her breasts no matter what, and she forcefully recruits Haruna and Oshizu as her helpers. Nana, Haruna, and Oshizu arrive at Rito's home and are greeted by Mikan. Nana asks if Mikan wants to join her "Operation Breasts", but Mikan declines.

I don't like the censoring in general, but I have to say that the heart-shaped censor was a nice touch.

Now in Nana's room, the three girls try to brainstorm ideas of how to make their chests larger. Haruna reveals that she had tried doing push-ups and such to little effect. Nana wonders why Haruna is so concerned, and Haruna states that she feels inadequate in figure when standing next to the likes of Lala and Yui. Oshizu wonders why Nana and Haruna are so concerned about their chests, and Nana answers that bigger boobs makes one long more mature. Oshizu then remembers that someone told her that massaging breasts will make them larger, so she uses her PK powers to make Nana and Haruna grope each other. After an exhausting yet fruitless session, Haruna finally learns that Oshizu got the idea from Risa. Not giving up yet, Nana searches the galactic internet and finds an article that claims that breasts can be enlarged using a "cute octopus". Nana happens to have a "cute octopus" and summons the large alien octopus using her phone. The instruction states that the octopus should attach its suction cups to the bust, and without Nana's orders the alien octopus wraps its tentacles around the girls and starts suctioning on their chests. Outside the room, the curious Mikan is wondering what Nana and company were up to, and after hearing the screams Mikan decides that she made a wise decision not to join Nana.

Not joining in is one of the best decisions Mikan has ever made.

After getting rid of the octopus, Haruna suggests that they stop trying to enlarge their breasts because outer beauty is superficial. Haruna states that Rito had told her that it's the inside that counts, but Nana purposely interprets it as an inspiration to work on improving both her inner and outer selves.

It's Rito's lucky day: how else is he going to share a bath with Haruna?

Part 2 Summary:
Haruna is walking her dog Malone when they find a small and tired-looking dog lying in the park. Haruna decides to take the dog back to the apartment to nurse it back to health, but little does she know that dog is actually Rito. Earlier in the day, Rito was forced to try out Lala's body switching machine and ended up inside a dog. Rito then got separated from Lala and was chased by people who thought he was a stray and ended up at the park. At Haruna's apartment, Haruna takes a shower together with Rito and Rito is extremely embarrassed. Afterwards, Malone tries to teach Rito how to behave as a dog and demonstrates by licking Haruna all over the place. Rito is reluctant to follow suit but eventually tries it out, but this causes him to become so embarrassed that he bolts right out of the apartment. Back outside, Rito eventually finds Lala again and returns to his human body.

After this episode, Rito now knows how every inch of Haruna feels like... to the tongue.

The next day, Rito and Lala bump into Haruna walking Malone. Haruna picks up Malone who starts licking her, and Rito recalls his experience as a dog and starts blushing.

Part 3 Summary:
After Yami retrieves a balloon for a little kid by using her wings, Mikan and Lala remark that Yami's transformation ability is really cool. As the three girls walk together, Mikan wishes that she could try out Yami's abilities, and on cue Lala pulls out her body-switching chamber. After swapping bodies, Mikan (not in Yami's body) decides to go have some fun while Yami (in Mikan's body) goes home with Lala. A short while later, Mikan is having fun flying in the air, but she soon falls onto a roof when she loses concentration. Meanwhile, Lala and Yami run into the perverted principal, and Yami responds by beating the principal viciously. After beating the principal up, Yami notes that Mikan's body isn't as powerful as her own.

Don't mess with Mikan!

Some time later, Rito walks into the living room and sees Yami (in Mikan's body) sitting there. Rito notices that there's something different about his sister, but Yami states that it's just his imagination. Rito then wonders what's for dinner and Yami prepares a meal using taiyaki as the main ingredient. After forcing down the strange dinner, Rito concludes that there must be something wrong with Mikan today. Meanwhile, Mikan (in Yami's body) is being chased by the perverted principal, and out of desperation Mikan forms a frying pan with her hair and knocks the principal out.

And of course, don't mess with Yami either!

Back at Rito's house, Yami has found a cleaning brush and asks Rito if the brush is a weapon. When Rito explains that the brush is for cleaning, Yami goes to try it out but Rito tells her to go watch TV while he takes care of the cleaning. While Yami watches TV with Celine, Rito walks in and offers Yami some tea. Moved by the gesture, Yami wonders if Rito has always been so kind. Rito is somewhat surprised by the question (since he thinks it's coming from his sister), but he answers that this is what being a family is about. As Rito and Yami enjoy the tea together, Lala is hiding behind the door frame with a smile on her face.

Yami and Mikan switch back to their original body after Mikan returns. Mikan thanks Yami for allowing her to test drive the transformable body, but Yami states that she had a precious experience as well and is actually a little envious of Mikan. Mikan returns home and wonders why all the food is made with taiyaki, which surprises Rito since he thinks Mikan had made the food.

Isn't the taiyaki meal a dead giveaway as to who made it?

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This week we have three pretty good segments (by To Love-Ru standards). The first segment about the breast enlargement plan was funny in a dumb, ecchi kind of way. Certainly far from enlightening, but it was naughty and fun. Best part of the segment was Mikan standing outside the door wondering what was going on and deciding it was best not to join in. It was curious that the beginning of the segment was from another chapter from the manga (about Risa trying to lose weight), but Xebecs decided to tack that on as an introduction to Haruna's story.

The second segment was pretty amusing too. Despite his reservations, Rito actually did end up giving Haruna the licking, which meant that he has licked Haurna in several naughty spots. Haruna of course doesn't know that it was Rito, so Rito can savor the little secret experience on his own lol.

The last segment was another Yami-centric story and also the second story in a roll that involves the body switching machine. It's one of the few times where Yami didn't beat up Rito or chase him for any indiscretions, but then again it was the few times where Rito didn't do anything questionable. Other than Rito earning a few more points in Yami's heart by acting as the caring big brother, Yami and Mikan didn't do too much with their switched bodies. The scene where Yami (in Mikan's body) beating up the principal is kind of fun, but it would have been more fun if Xebecs left Nana in the story and had her wondering if Mikan was always this powerful.

Overall, this was an enjoyable episode of To Love. Only thing really to complain about was the inconsistent censoring. They censor panties but not bras, and the groping is only censored some of the time. The censoring is so inconsistent now it's becoming funny. One more comedic element to the show I suppose.

Mid-season Anime Thoughts Fall 2010

It's time once again for my mid-season impressions post. Strictly speaking, it's past the half point mark of the season already, but I never said "mid" was exactly the middle. Anyways, I'm watching five shows this season, and here are my thoughts on them:


Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls

Too much lounging around and also too much ink.

Picked this one up because I seem to like these "hot girls fighting (while clothes disintegrate)" shows. Samurai Girls didn't turn out to be too bad of a show; better than Queen's Blade for the most part anyways. The art style is appealing, some of the comedy on the show is pretty funny, and the action is quite decent. However, the story has been stalling of late and hasn't gone anywhere for 2 or 3 episodes, and the male protagonist Muneakira doesn't really do anything despite supposedly being a proficient fighter. I guess story and character development aren't the highest priority for a show like this, but it'd be nice to see regardless.


Motto To Love-Ru

Yami agrees that show has improved from "shitty" to "watchable".

With the three segments per episode format and sticking to the manga material, the second season of To Love-Ru has been a big improvement over the first season. It's by no means great or even good, but at least there hasn't been any really terrible episodes. On the other hand, because there aren't any really terrible episodes, I now don't have much to say about the series other than to complain about the strange censoring practices. The three segments per episode format is efficient for chugging through the material, but there is no sense of continuity... which is what the manga was like, but hopefully this season will cover some of the longer, multi-chapter stories from the manga for a change of pace.


Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

An average scene from the show.

If I had to pick which show stood out the most this season, I'd pick this show. The animation style aside, it's not often you see an anime that prides itself with being crass and vulgar. Just because it's lowbrow doesn't mean the show isn't fun to watch though, and Panty & Stocking has delivered some chaotically entertaining segments such as the first battle between the angels and Scanty and Kneesocks and also the Transformers parody. On the other hand, the show has also delivered its share of bizarreness, such as the segments with the sperm and the one about the old salaryman. I prefer the segments that are more battle-focused, although action-heavy segments aren't always better (the recent zombie-parody was only so-so, while the casino segment was pretty good). With the introduction of Scanty and Kneesocks as chief antagonists, Panty & Stockings might actually have an overall plot, but we haven't seen it yet. Overall the series has been entertaining, and hopefully the remainder of the show will feature more funny and action-heavy segments rather than bizarre stories.


Star Driver

Sort of the same, but not quite the same.

I don't really know what to say about this show. From what we've seen so far, Star Driver is structured like one of those "villain of the week" robot shows, but the excellent Bones animation and the quirky undertones/overtones prevent the show from feeling repetitive. My main concern with the show is that we still don't know where the story is really headed. In particular, what happened with the purple hair guy and Fish Girl? We know what the villains are up to, but they aren't really accomplishing much other than being defeated one by one.  I'm sure the villains will have a sudden breakthrough sooner or later that will actually give Takuto a run for his money... or at least that's what I'm hoping. The show can't ride on the funnily dressed villains, the "Galactic Pretty Boy" business, and all the other quirkiness forever, or can it?


To Aru Majutsu no Index II

I don't want to admit this, but seeing guys punch out girls is one of the best parts of this show.

The second season of Index is going fairly well so far. There hasn't been a really good episode and there is still quite a bit of chatter, but there hasn't been any really slow episodes either and  the three stories shown so far have been decent. The Orsola and Kuroko arcs didn't make a lot of sense (partially due to J.C. Staff omitting certain details from the novels), but they both had good action for their finales, and it's amusing how both times the male hero punched out the female "villain". There aren't that many shows out there where a guy (one of whom killed 10000 girls) can punch out a girl (one of whom was a three foot tall loli) and still be called heroic. Index would be excellent if it could deliver a compelling story-arc a lot of high quality action or amusing comedy and without a lot of hero speeches/expositions, but I don't know if that'll ever happen. If the rest of the story arcs can remain decent than this season would be an improvement over the first season.

Sekirei 108

Yukari tries to escape from her captors.

Destroying Higa's stuff is one way to get some payback.

Summary:
In front of Izumo Inn, Natsuo explains that he and the Disciplinary Squad are just here to collect the deactivated Uzume and tells Minato to hand Uzume over. Meanwhile at Higa's underground parking garage, Kakizaki tells Toyotama and Ichiya to head to the Higa hospital due to the invasion from Minato's Sekirei, and Higa Izumi is stuck in a meeting and thus can't deal with the problem yet. Shiina is sitting nearby and thinking about Uzume's words telling him to believe in Yukari. Suddenly, a group of Higa's underling appear to inform Kakizaki that Higa's private apartment is on fire, and Shiina quickly springs into action.

Kakizaki rushes to the apartment to find the furniture on fire and Yukari with a chair in her hands. Seeing that Higa didn't personally come and see her, Yukari tosses the chair through a window and tells Kakizaki that she's leaving. Yukari tells Kakizaki to Higa that she is only interested in bishies who is near her age. Yukari then jumps out the windows from the 50th floor apartment, but she is caught by Shiina.

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So much for Minato coming to Yukari's rescue, at least when getting her out of the apartment was concerned. Leaving Yukari in an apartment with fire and electricity probably wasn't the best idea. I'm a little disappointed the Yukari didn't actually hit anyone though, particularly Kakizaki. Yukari literally took a leap of faith at the end of the chapter there, but we all knew she wasn't going to go splat. Both Shiina and Yukari seem to have snapped out of feeling sorry for themselves, but they might not be in the clear yet if Kakizaki/Higa still have some Sekirei in the area. I wonder which way the story will go at this point: will Yukari and Shiina still need Minato's help, or are they going to get away on their own?

Anyways, things seem to be falling apart for Higa these days. His hospital got invaded and Chiho was taken, Uzume switched sides (although she was taken out), Yukari escapes, and meanwhile Higa himself is stuck in a meeting and can't do much about anything. That is unless Higa is having the meeting to conjure up something more devious, but it doesn't sound like it. He better have something else planned, or else this might turn out to be a lot more bland than expected.

On the other front, we didn't get anything from the umpteenth face off between Minato's company and the Disciplinary Squad. The author just had to save it for next time, and that will be two issues (around a month) later if I read the footnote on the last page correctly.

Queen's Blade Utsukushiki Toushi-tachi OVA 04

Airi and Melona journey through the desert to convince Menace to rejoin the group, but Menace isn't so willing to abandon her rebuilt kingdom.

Some images not safe for work.

Mmm mmm good.

Melona would make a good stand-up comedian because she can do impressions of anyone.

Last episode we found that ghosts can get stomach aches. This episode we discover that ghost can get drunk as well.

Summary:
The Swamp Witch has given Airi and Melona three days to retrieve Menace. Airi and Melona journey through the desert and find that Menace has created a vibrant city along the river. Supposedly Menace made a lot money by partnering up with a figurine maker to make a popular line of figures featuring Queen's Blade competitors. In the city, Airi and Melona bump into Yummil who is unsuccessful in selling her weapons. Yummil leads Airi and Melona to the boats that lead to Menace's palace before informing the two that she's returning to Gainos to learn fighting skills from Claudette. Airi and Melona take the boat to Menace's palace and finds that Menace is living the high life with many beautiful girls as her servants. To Airi and Melona's surprise, the servants aren't under any spell and appear to be serving Menace willingly. Airi tries to get down to business and demands that Menace accompany them back to the swamp, but Melona decides she wants to try out a queen's life and sides with Menace.

Blame yourself for getting hung over and not getting the massage table, Airi.

Airi has outstayed her welcome.

Giant Bitch SLAP!!!

Without Melona's support, Airi's efforts are frustrated as she stands by while Menace and Melona enjoy the high life. Airi then gets talked into a wine drinking contest with the other two girls and ends up with a bad hangover which further stifles her efforts. After recovering from her hangover on the third day, Airi convinces Melona to rejoin her side by threatening to report Melona's behaviour to the Swamp Witch. When Menace refuses to budge, Airi and Melona decide to use force, but Menace uses her powerful magic to smack her former companions around. The battle gets out of hand and Menace's palace is destroyed, but Menace's servants are still around and willing to help Menace rebuild the palace. Airi and Melona then discover that Menace's subjects are all masochists who love being abused by Menace, and the two decide to head back home without Menace.

This is what can happen when parties get out of hand.

Abusing slaves come easily especially when the slaves want to be abused.

Yes, the whole episode was just a big commercial to get you to buy QB figures.

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I thought the three stooges would be reunited after how Airi ditched Rana to rejoin the forces of evil last episode, but apparently not as Menace has too much a good time selling figures and living the high life with tons of people willing to take her abuse. Menace is also powerful enough to fend off both Airi and Melona, and so the two of them couldn't drag her kicking and screaming back to the swamp. Anyways, there wasn't much to talk about in terms of the story this episode, but I guess that's to be expected from Queen's Blade. Episode 1 and 2 of the OVA were focused on the relationships between characters, but the last two episode have been pretty random. I still don't get why Airi is suddenly oh so loyal to the Swamp Witch, and how Menace rebuilt her kingdom was both lacking and funny at the same time. The whole figure thing is probably some excuse they came up with so that the anime can help promote Queen's Blade figure sales.

On to the positives, the fight near the end between Menace and her two former companions wasn't too bad, and Menace shows that she is more than capable of holding her own against both Airi and Melona. Menace did give Claudette a good run for her money during the tournament and Claudette is one of the most powerful characters, so Menace is definitely no slouch. Of course, any Queen's Blade episode wouldn't be complete without the nakedness, and there was plenty of that yet again from all three evildoers plus Menace's band of sexy and curvy female servants. The scene at the beginning with Menace drinking wine from a servant's cleavage was the highlight of the fan service.

The next episode looks like it'll be about Nanael going bad, but the preview just repeatedly showed two shots. I heard that the next two episodes are delayed for a month due to production issues, so there probably won't be new episode until January of next year.

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 07

Kuroko tries to stop Awaki as various other characters join the fray.

A corkscrew for a corkscrew.

Summary:
Mikoto runs in the streets trying to find Awaki, but Awaki is hiding inside a restaurant a few stories above ground level. Awaki thinks she's safe, but she is stabbed by several needles and discovers Kuroko sitting behind her. Kuroko has done her homework and knows that Awaki has trouble teleporting herself due to psychological trauma suffered from a teleporting accident two years ago. Kuroko declares that she'll stop Awaki and the two teleporters start to fight. Awaki manages to hit Kuroko with the carry case, but Kuroko teleports behind Awaki and knocks her down. Awaki responds by teleporting table and chairs above Kuroko, and Kuroko can't teleport away as her wounds are acting up and she is pinned by the pile of chairs and tables.

Somewhere in the city, Misaka clone #10032 sneaks out of her room at the hospital and runs to Touma's apartment. Along the way, 10032 chats with other Misakas including Last Order about her intention to stop Tree Diagram from being rebuilt, and the other Misakas voice their support. Last Order's chatter with the other clones is overheard by Accelerator. At a phone booth, Mikoto uses her hacking ability to locate Kuroko and Awaki. She is soon joined by Touma who agreed to help after being visited by Misaka #10032.

Now that you are trapped and can't teleport, you'll have no choice but to finish listening to my monologue.

Aren't we a little too emotionally fragile to be a villain?

After Kuroko is trapped under the pile of chairs and tables, Awaki reveals that she is working for a group outside of Academy City and starts telling Kuroko about how her bosses wants to reconstruct Tree Diagram and use it to give non-humans special abilities. Awaki wants Kuroko to join her group, but Kuroko refuses and tells Awaki that she's pathetic. Awaki is unsettled by Kuroko's speech, and this allows Kuroko to get up and grab a lamp pole. Kuroko attempts to hit Awaki with the lamp, but Awaki pulls out a pistol and shoots Kuroko in the torso. After Kuroko is down, Awaki has a breakdown and loses control of her powers, causing the windows to blow out and chairs and tables swirling around in the air. Awaki eventually recovers and tries to shoot Kuroko, but Kuroko manages to teleport a spoon into the gun. Awaki then decides she'll use her abilities to crash the entire building down on Kuroko and teleports away with the luggage case. As Awaki is warping the building with her ability, Misaka arrives on the outside and blasts a hole through the floors. Kuroko falls through the hole, Touma runs up on the falling debris, catches Kuroko, dispels Awaki's warp and lands safely on one of the floors. Kuroko looks at Touma and wants to say something, but she quickly falls unconscious.

Touma: Here is me saving the day once again. Am I awesome or what?

If you think I'm not going to punch you in the nose, you obviously haven't gone through my file very carefully.

In an alley, Awaki calls her cohorts but discovers that they are in a losing gunfight against some woman. Wondering what to do, Awaki walks out onto an empty street and is confronted by Accelerator. Awaki knows that Accelerator had suffered a bad head injury, but Accelerator reveals that he can still use his ability when he wants to and sends debris flying everywhere. Awaki teleports into the air to escape but she is slowed down by her mental trauma, and this allows Accelerator to catch up to her with his "tornado wings". Accelerator destroys the luggage case with the remnants with a punch and then punches Awaki right in the nose. Awaki is sent flying into a building and falls down onto a platform where she loses consciousness, and Accelerator returns to the ground and walks back home.

If it was Touma, he would've hit you on the cheek instead, so consider yourself unlucky that you ran into the other girl-hitter in the story.

Man, I pulled a freaking ninja to save your skinny behind, and this is the thanks I get? Being a hero is such a thankless job.

The next day, Touma attempts to visit Kuroko and Misaka #10032 at the hospital but ends up with a slap to show for his efforts as he walks in on both girls while they are naked/half-naked. Index asks Touma about the Remnants, but Touma explains that the culprit was beat up by some unknown person and the luggage case along with its contents were completely destroyed. Elsewhere, Last Order talks about how Yomikawa went out last night to take out the group behind the incident, but Accelerator doesn't want to hear it and goes to sleep. Back in the hospital, Mikoto and Kuroko share a nice moment between friends.

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The episode had no shortage of action, but it didn't feel like a very satisfying ending. Sure, Touma, Misaka #10032, and Accelerator got in on the action and Awaki was defeated in a rather over-the-top fashion, but the resolution feels empty as Awaki's group were defeated off screen (by Yomikawa no less... they must have sucked really badly to be defeated by Anti-Skills-caliber forces) and it's unclear if there is someone else behind the whole thing. I'm also thought Kuroko should have done more before being bailed out by the other characters, but perhaps the show is trying the emphasize the value of friendship or something. In addition, Awaki didn't turn out to be an impressive villain. Despite her substantial abilities, Awaki is way too talkative but even worse she lacks the confidence and/or mental stability to back up the talk. Still, this certainly wasn't too bad as far as Index story arc finale go, and I probably should be glad that there was at least plenty of action.

The action... it was entertaining in an over-the-top kind of way. The fight between Kuroko and Awaki was a bit subdued until Awaki had her breakdown, but everything after that was ridiculous. I know Touma is supposed to be pretty agile, but I never knew he was a freaking ninja who can run up falling debris. Things were then topped off by Accelerator flying and punching Awaki straight in the nose. And of course, every time Mikoto and Accelerator "get serious" they cause thousands if not millions of dollars in damage. I couldn't help but chuckle during both of those scenes, but it doesn't mean they weren't fun.

Overall, this was an okay story-arc. It's no better or worse than the previous arc which also had its share of problems but wasn't bad as a whole. I still have yet to see anything that matched up to the first story-arc though. Let's hope the upcoming sports festival arc will be decent.

Naruto 517

The ambush squadrons from both sides run into each other.

A shinobi should always watch his/her back even when falling downwards.

Summary:
From the sky, Deidara toss bombs into the forest in order to flush out the three scouts from the Shinobi army, but he is being stifled by Muta Aburame's bugs. Muta tells his bugs to take a message scroll to home base but he is then hit by an explosion.

Meanwhile, the Shinobi Army is mobilizing and evacuating feudal lords from certain countries. In the forest near Madara's hideout, Anko has been defeated by Kabuto. Some distance away, the Shinobi Army ambush squad led by Kankuro sets up camp near enemy territory and Kankuro sends Sai out for more scouting. As the camp is being set up, Saji (one of the squad's sensors) spots Muta coming through the woods and runs to his aid, but Saji is grabbed by Muta who is controlled by Sasori. Kankuro and the other sensor Hoheto figures out that Muta is carrying a bomb from Deidara and immediately telling Ittan (earth element user) to erect a wall as Deidara sets off the bomb. The wall comes up in time to block the explosion and Kankuro manages to retrieve Saji using his puppet technique, but Muta is dead. Sasori sends the other two scouts under his control at the ambush squad but they are fended off by Omoi. The zombie from "Root" also jump in but is stomped in mid air by the returning Sai. Deidara appears on his owl, but Sasori and Chuukichi remains out of sight. Deidara declares that his side will win this battle of ambush squads because zombies can't be killed by conventional means. The "Root" zombie that Sai stomped on gets up and reveals that he is Sai's older brother, and he tells Sai to run. Sai is taken aback, but Omoi, who was nervous earlier, is ready to fight.

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The first battle of the war has started, and the good guys aren't off to a great start as their advance recon squad is taken out and their ambush squad failed to ambush anyone. Predictably, Anko got owned in a snake fight once again and is possibly dead now, and things are not looking good for the ambush squad as Kabuto's zombies are too much of a cheat. The good guy's plan about capturing Kabuto and using genjutsu to make him recall the zombies sound like bit of a stretch, but distracting Kabuto enough will probably make him loose control of the zombies that don't like him. Back to the battle at hand, the obvious match ups right now are Kankuro vs. Sasori (puppet vs puppet), and Sai vs. his dead brother, but we'll see if Deidara or Chuukichi will be matched up with anyone in particular. I'm leaning towards the good guys losing this battle, but some of the more "important" members (like Kankuro, Omoi, or Sai) will probably survive to tell the tale. It'll probably be a while until we see Naruto in action. The battles still have to work their way up to that point. Let's hope the long string of battles in Naruto will turn out to be better than what happened in Bleach.