Anime DVDs

March 30, 2010
Aquarion – Box Set
Kanon – Box Set
Neo Angelique Abyss: Second Age – Box Set (S)
Ouran High School Host Club – Box Set (DVD & Blu-Ray)

Manga

March 31, 2010

07-Ghost – Volume 7
Bamboo Blade – Volume 4
Bunny Drop – Volume 1
Nabari no Ou – Volume 3
Sumomomo Momomo – Volume 3
With the Light – Volume 6

Pixiv Sauce I haven’t done one of these in a long time! I’m not cut out for reviewing stuff, I suck at them so I take the easy way out and just say a few sentences and get it over with. That will be the disclaimer, these reviews are not SUPAH in any way. The title [...]

Funimation has announced that they have licensed the anime series Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji). Black Butler is a 24 episode series that aired between October 2008 and March 2009, and was produced by A-1 Pictures and Aniplex.

A second season is scheduled to start airing in July.

Blogging, simply put, is the defining tool of a new era of journalism, both inside of geekdom and outside it. It puts power in the hands of the underdogs: no matter who you are or what your education is, if you start a decent blog and pimp it hard enough, you’ll get your word out.

It also provides for discussions and social interactions unlike any other media form out there… and that’s why I started blogging. August 2007 was the month I began homeschooling, which did quite a number on my RL social life, obviously. I was determined to meet other people fascinated with Japanese animation and comics, just like me. Needless to say, that experiment worked pretty well: I now have some of the greatest friends in the whole world, and my baby is getting 25,000 pageviews a month with 250+ RSS feed subscribers.

But now I’m walking away. A third-degree existential crisis hit me yesterday, and though most of it was mainly about real life stuff, some of it was about my blogging. To sum it up, I’ve hit the point where blogging isn’t doing anything for me anymore, and it’s conflicting with my RL goals. I really hate to leave this behind, because I don’t want things to change; I don’t want to move on. But it’s happening, and this post goes a bit more into why. It’s a little tl;dr, but I’m explaining it all in hopes that maybe it’ll prove to be inspiring for someone else. I don’t want anyone else to quit aniblogging, obviously, but the emotions and logic in this post are fairly relevant to a lot of things besides blogging.

And in the words of my AP US History teacher, no, this ain’t gonna be a “sit around the campfire and sing kumbaya” post. (Of course, I guess that depends on your definition of one…)

My retirement has been a long time coming. Since October (or even before,) blogging has become a chore to me, to put it bluntly. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to watch the anime, per se, it was that I had begun not seeing the point of summarizing or reviewing the episode. Before that, I hadn’t blogged as much simply because of a lack of time – volleyball was in full swing, senior year had just started, I’d been taking college classes, and OH YEAH, I had mono. That was fun.

This whole spiral began with a disenchantment with the anime that were premiering at that time, and grew to a general discontentment. I became more and more interested in people and things IRL, and began reading and watching various entertainment sources less. This wasn’t too much of a bad thing, and I knew it was mainly happening because it was my senior year of high school. (For anyone who hasn’t been a senior in high school yet: it will be worse than you think it’s gonna be. Trust me.) Multiple hiatuses occurred, both formal and unannounced, because my priorities had shifted. I didn’t know why, at the time.

The drama over the past few months wasn’t even all that disenchanting; as I said on Twitter, I know I have my allies and my enemies, and that’s that. But as I sat down to blog Durarara!! late on Saturday, I suddenly wondered:

Why does this even matter?

I won’t explain the train of thought that finally put my emotions into words, because really, I don’t think I can. I just suddenly got to thinking about my real life goals, and what blogging’s really about, and how blogging can help me achieve those goals. It hit me pretty bluntly that honestly, it looks like blogging can’t do much else for me.

Don’t get me wrong: Blogging over the years has been absolutely amazing. I have loved making new friends and improving my writing skills, all while feeling like I was kinda “giving back” to fandom. I was homeschooled when I started this blog, and writing here was kinda what kept me sane. I loved it for a long, long time. I loved paneling, I loved conventions, and most of all, I loved the art form that is anime.

But now the entertainment has worn off. I’ve grown up quite a bit. I almost wish I hadn’t.

I’m now trying to pursue a double major in Criminal Justice and Japanese. I want to be an FBI Special Agent or something like that. I have real-world goals now, and real-world friends and values. It’s not that you guys aren’t important, it’s just that I need to step back and really refocus on using my talents to the fullest. I’m at the point where I’ve ended up asking, “Is there a point to blogging, especially if I’m no longer enjoying it?”

There’s a point to blogging, of course, it’s just not right for me anymore. And it’s not even that I don’t love anime anymore; I just love other things more. I want to love writing and the social aspects that come with them, but when I compare those things to the RL things that matter more, I can’t keep spending 5+ hours a week managing a blog.

As I’ve made clear over the past week, I’ve stopped caring about the social aspect of blogging… and that’s turning out to be a good thing. If I’d had this epiphany back in December or so, I probably couldn’t have handled it. But now I’m simply looking at it and wondering, “Wait, why DO I care about what 100-odd quasi-anonymous people think about what I think about Durarara!!’s fictional characters each week?”

I want the aniblogosphere to thrive. I want it to be full of people that love journalism and anime, and combine those two loves into something useful and beautiful. I just don’t want to be a part of it, anymore, because it’s not in line with my real-life goals and loves. It’s crowding out my other, more useful loves; and while hobbies are good to have,, they’re also supposed to be fun and beneficial to your real-life health, intelligence and relationships. This one’s only helping the third, and it’s pretty minimal, at this point.

I’m rambling, at this point (sorry ^^; ) and I guess I’ll just summarize the changes that are probably going to happen with me and the blog:

Am I deleting the blog? Heck no. xD
Am I leaving the blog to Rakuen? Yes, but not effective immediately. Him and I have talked things over, and I’ll tie up a few things I want fixed (in old posts, etc) before fading into the background. I’ll still be around to fix typos and such, and maybe chip in for a convention post, if I go to any more (see final question.) But for 95% of the posts, I’m done.
Am I leaving because I’m mad/sad/disappointed? I’m disappointed that I’m not having fun anymore, and that this all boils down to the fact that I’m growing up. But other than that, there’s no negative feelings here.
Am I going to stop reading manga and watching anime? Oh, heck no. I’ll probably cut back a fair amount; but despite being fiction, anime and manga are art forms, really, and I can’t just abandon them. Besides, subtitled anime is good for reinforcing the Japanese I’ve learned. <3
Am I leaving Twitter/LJ? Nope. I’ll make my Twitter a lot more RL-oriented, probably, and LJ will probably become that way as well. But I’ll still make fangirly tweets and posts when I discover shiny pretties or an episode of something simply blows me away.
Am I still going to write fanfics/make icons/do cosplay? 90% no to all 3. It seems sudden, yeah, but… Anime is fiction, and for me, making it a huge part of my lifestyle is ridiculous. I might bring out my Rohfa or Ema Skye cosplays one more time, but no more; fanfiction is pointless to me now, and LJ icon-making will only happen if I find extraordinarily shiny pretties. (Which is all too possible. MARIIIIIIIII <3)
Am I going to go to conventions anymore? … This one is harder to answer. I have already committed to doing Anime Blogging panels at Matsuricon this fall, but after that, I’m not sure. I might just go to Ohayocon as a fan and relax a lot more, and not worry about cosplay/panels constantly, especially since Ohayo’s a great place for me to see my friends.

In summary… this hurts. I’m reaching the age where I have to start living more rationally and prioritize more, and even though blogging’s not as fun as it used to be, I’d love to stick with it. It’s an escape of sorts, for me, but it’s an escape that I don’t think I need anymore.

I love you guys a lot. Rakuen, Crisu, Jenni, Dave, Icystorm, and our newest members lvlln and Raphael… Thank you so much for being here for so long. The experiences here have made me a better writer, fan, and administrator, period. I know the things I’ve learned here will help me in the long run, even if it’s not truly worth continuing. No matter what happens to this blog, you guys have all made a difference in fandom and to me.

To all of our readers… Thank you. Thank you so much for supporting me and my project and allowing me to make new friends. Everything here was worth my time for 2+ years; and it’s not anything y’all did or didn’t do that’s making me want to leave. It’s my own conscience. I hope you all will keep reading and supporting our other writers, because they’re talented and passionate about writing and anime, even though it’s time for me to distance myself from those things.

Best wishes,

CJ Blackwing

PS- No, I swear this is not an elaborate pre-April Fool’s joke. It’s not a joke at all. Sorry about the crappy timing, though… XD;

There was more talk and less action in this episode than I expected, but I found that to be alright, because the talk brought back that very important issue that had been ignored for the last many episodes: Akira’s continued amnesia. And it ties it together with Telomere; what Akira still doesn’t remember is what Telomere wants. And Telomere comes back in this episode to get it from him. With just 1 more episode left, all the loose story ends have come together, for one last Dance… in the Vampire Bund (sorry, hate me if you want to for that).

The plot thickens! It seems that the 1st assassin was with Telomere, which means that one of the 3 clans, or all of them, are in bed with Telomere. It did put her in an awkward position, as it was her job to kill Akira for her master, but she also needed to get information out of him before doing so (explains why she didn’t kill Akira outright when she ambushed him at the border to the Bund). It really saved Akira’s butt a few times, as he got repeatedly stabbed due to his inability to transform. That was a nice little plot point, as it showed how much he really loved and was in love with Mina, despite him being in denial about it.

Speaking of impossible love and saving Akira’s butt, Meiren was pretty phenomenal in this episode. I found it humorous that she came in with a shotgun, and it had predictably little effect on the 2nd Assassin, managing just to knock him away for a little bit. But she took care of him using melee in the end, which gave us a chance to see that she was a wolfman – or rather, wolfwoman – as well. Her confessing to Akira – for serious this time instead of her usual playful flirting – was very sweet. I wonder how much of her emotions were driven by the fact that she’s supposedly the last of her kind, though. She’ll have to come to terms with her feelings just like Yuki did halfway into the show.

I enjoyed most of the action, seeing the 1st assassin’s true powers, her ability to shapeshift to really insane proportions. She was really the star of the episode, and I liked how some of her personality shone through, through her speech, her facial expressions, and her choice of attacks, making her a more complete character than just another enemy. Which is kinda what the 2nd assassin ended up being. Given his awesome weapons from the previous episode (naginata and claws), I was hoping for some good fight scenes involving him, but he was taken out very quickly by Meiren. Pretty disappointing, though it did emphasize what a badass Meiren is.

Both of the 1st 2 assassins were dispatched in this episode, which leaves the 3rd as the only obstacle lying between Akira and a happy ending. I wonder if Meiren is indeed the 3rd assassin, as joker76 posited in his comment on my post on the previous episode. Would make for a very interesting fight, especially with Akira finally having regained the ability to transform due to his anger at seeing Mina’s image dirtied by the 1st assassin.

And Mina has put everything on the line now. It puts an even greater weight to the outcome of the finale, but at the same time, it pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of whatever doubt you might have had that Akira wouldn’t pull through. I mean, I think it was pretty clear from the previous episode, but they won’t really have Mina lose everything in one fell swoop at the end… will they?

As for the creepiness factor, they showed again the final scene of the previous episode, and also some short clips from the actual verification ceremony itself. We also learn that Mina knew Akira since his birth 17 years ago, which puts a whole new twist in the creepiness factor of their relationship. She’s the one who’s “robbing the cradle” – almost literally. It reminded me a lot of the very unhealthy relationship between Buster and Lucille 2 in Arrested Development (“She changed him as a baby!”).

I’m looking forward to seeing what Akira’s still hidden memory is, and why Telomere wants it so badly. There were some hints that he was starting to regain this memory towards the end, but I found the flashbacks to be confusing. They brought back imagery from the nightmare at the beginning of the previous episode, and the flashbacks did seem to imply that Mina might be dead or something. And what Alphonse said to Akira implies that this was a piece of information that could change Akira’s behavior drastically, to the point of making him an enemy. It would be great if Akira’s remembrance forces him to make a Sophie’s choice in the next episode. But at this point, I just have no idea, and my approach is just to let it come to me, let the director tell me the story without theorizing needlessly. And so it’s with great anticipation that I await the finale of this show. There’s a lot that has to happen, but this show’s pacing has proven to me that 23 minutes is more than enough.

An aside:

I went to Pax East today for the final day. There wasn’t much in terms of cosplay, but I’ve added what I took to the Picasa album. I attended a panel by members of OverClocked ReMix, a site in which people upload their own remixes of video game music. I was a big fan of the remix “Save Me,” a remix of the save-point theme from Ico (the only parts in the game that actually had background music), which is why I attended. But that whole community reminded me of the microcultures that were mentioned in the Memes talk yesterday.

Speaking of which, I also saw Alex Leavitt, the researcher from that Memes talk, cosplaying as Ash from Pokemon attending a panel on geeks. He also made a comment on my post from yesterday!

Besides the panels, I spent a lot of time on the show floor. I got to play The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and talked with its sole developer. Turns out he was a big fan of DMC3 and Bayonetta, which I figured from playing his game. I also got to play some DeathSmiles for the XBox360, and that game just might get me into shmups like Touhou.

Last week on Durarara!!, Mikado utilized the Dollars to back Namie into a corner.  At the same time, Celty went seemingly berserk and unveiled herself to the city.  This week concludes the night’s festivities, as well as the first arc of the series.  Will Mikado die?  Will Celty get her head back?  Will the Hatfields and McCoys end their feud?  Read on to find out!

The episode starts where last week ended, with Seiji about ready to kill Mikado.  Celty interferes and almost decapitates the kid when Mika jumps in the middle.  She admits that Seiji almost killed her, but Namie saved her and persuaded her to undergo plastic surgery.  Celty realizes the only Shinra could have done this, and rides off to confront him.  He admits to her that he kept the head a secret because he feared she would leave or disappear.  However, Celty just fears a loss of control over her own life, and has no plans to leave.  The two awkwardly embrace, and the scene shifts back to Izaya.  He tells Mikado that he must keep evolving to obtain the extraordinary life he desires.  Business returns to normal in the city.  Seiji and Mika become a couple, at least for a while.  Celty finally feels a sense of fulfillment with her life.  Mikado takes Izaya’s words to heart, and finally makes a move on Anri.  As for Izaya himself, we already knew he played a role in manipulating events.  We finally see exactly what he wants.  He desires the afterlife, and believes Celty can fulfill his wish.

Celty and Shinra enthusiasts can rejoice because it seems the two have finally formed a couple.  However, it also might leave some scratching their heads.  Shinra really isn’t all that special by any stretch of the imagination, and many probably seem him as a dirtbag.  Instead of looking at their sheer compatibility, think about the level of comfort they share with each other.  In this world, some marriages last ten years, others five, and still others self-destruct in the hangar before they can ever go anywhere.  These two have lived together for twenty years, and in some ways that’s special.  We like to think about childhood friends growing up and falling in love, and I think the pair fit right into that niche.  Does that mean they can live happily ever after?  Unfortunately, no.  Time and circumstances can change in an instant, and you can even see couples that have lived their whole lives together breaking up at death’s door.  What they have now is enough for now, but given the nature of their lives, I might say they will never obtain a true happy ending.

Izaya’s conversation with Namie ties us into the next arc.  Well, it’s really more of a soliloquy with Namie attending so he doesn’t blatantly talk to the audience.  He believes that Celty roughly correlates to the Norse Valkyries who take brave warriors to the afterlife.  If that truly is Celty’s purpose, then Izaya needs to brew a war.  His profession as an information broker and a member of the Dollars puts him in the unique position to build a war.  All it takes is a little information gathering with a spread of misinformation to set two sides against each other.  You might look at the history of Ikebukuro and conclude Izaya needs to resurrect the gangs.  Two gangs fighting over turf can potentially build a solid body count, and involving the police can escalate the conflict and cause a three-sided war.  With so many people in the Dollars already, he could potentially pull this stunt with just one other gang.  The preview for the next episode implies he might use the Yellow Scarves.  Alternatively, he might try to set the Dollars against each other by spreading internal strife.  He could even do both to magnify the effect.  Whichever method he chooses, it will take some time to set his plans into motion.  He takes control of Celty’s head and invites Namie to join the Dollars so she can monitor the group.

Oh, those Hatfields and McCoys?  Their feud ended in 1891.  On the other hand, Shizuo still wants to wring Izaya’s neck.  At the same time, they’re both members of the Dollars.  The Internet allows for a great deal of anonymity that desynchronizes a person’s true persona from the way he presents himself online.  I wonder if they might be friends online through the Dollars’ website.  Wouldn’t that plot thread and its eventual resolution be a giant kick in the pants?

I’m too lazy to create my own season preview on short notice after coming back, so I’ll just be using THAT’s preview information instead.

Angel Beats – It’s an interesting synopsis, anyway.  And given that it’s based off of a Key visual novel (Air, Kanon, CLANNAD) makes this one even more promising.  Add to that the studio who did True Tears and CANAAN, and the fact that it has girls with guns, and it’s hard to see where this one can go wrong.  Judgment: Blogging

Arakawa Under the Bridge – The synopsis of this makes no sense.  If the pair hooked up, why would the rich guy go to live with the girl under a bridge and not vice versa? Who knows.  Judgment: Not Watching

B Gata H Kei – Oh for the love of all that is holy, who came up with this concept? No, No, and No! Judgment: Do I even need to say it? NOT WATCHING

Giant Killing – If I were into sports anime, this would sound interesting. But I’m not. Judgment: Not Watching

Hakuouki - That’s a lot of bishis. Judgment: Not Watching

Heroman – If I were into superhear stuff, this might sound interesting. But I’m not. Judgment: Not Watching

House of Five Leaves – I’m not really into samurai anime very much, but the synopsis part of this sounds really interesting. Judgment: Watching

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou – This sounds like every anime ever done x 10. Judgment: Not Watching

Iron Man – Shouldn’t people be making movies from anime, not the other way around? And I haven’t even seen the movie. Judgment: Not Watching

Kaichou wa Maid Sama – Yet another “Perfect Proper Girl with a sexy/naughty/nerdy/dorky/magical/alien/other secret” show.  On the plus side, J.C. Staff is doing it, who I would probably hold as my highest regarded anime producer.  Even then, it seems like this theme has been run into the ground. Judgment: Not Watching

Kiss X Sis – Shows about incest (even if only step-siblings) only really work well as dramas.  Once they’re turned into comedies, they just get weird. Judgment: Not Watching

K-ON season 2 – Are things so bad this season that I may watch the could-have-been-much-better K-ON? Yes they are. Judgment: Watching

Mayoi Neko Overrun – It’s AIC. Enough said. Judgment: Not Watching

RAINBOW – Haven’t I seen this on preview lists 2 or 3 times already only to be pushed back? In any case, I’m not sure…sounds too depressing right off the bat. Judgment: Not Watching

Senko no Night Raid – I sometimes like shows like this one, but this one doesn’t quite…feel right. Judgment: Not Watching

Uragiri no Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – This might sound interesting if the guy didn’t have such a lame ability. Judgment: Not Watching

Working – This one sounds like it might have some potential. Judgment: Watching

Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei - I’m trying to figure out the point of this show based on it’s synopsis.  Judgment: Not Watching

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So here is the round-up:

Blogging
Angel Beats

I decided I should pick something up, and this was easily the most appealing looking series to me to blog this season.

Watching
House of Five Leaves
K-ON season 2
Working

Well, Penny Arcade kicked off their first PAX East here in Boston at the Hynes Convention Center, so I had to attend. I didn’t make it in time on Friday because I had to stay late for work, but today, Saturday, I spent the whole day there, from 10am to 10:30pm.

Went to a few panels, missed a few due to overly long lines. My favorite panel by far was Memes, Microcultures, and 2D Chicks: Our Future in the Otaku Gamer by Alex Leavitt, a researcher from the Comparative Media Studies department at MIT. He broke down how memes start and propagate, what kind of “grammar” is within them. He showed and explained the Hitler meme.

He went in length about the different way niche cultures develop in Japan (he called it microculture). Touhou was a main example, where the gameplay doesn’t matter, but rather the characters, about whom very little is revealed within the original games. But fans took that and built a world of their own, using Nico Nico Douga, doujin comics, animations. He showed some of Bad Apple as a very high production example, but not the insane stop-motion one, which itself is a great example of the meme propagating.

He also compared it to the Vocaloid phenomenon, which really interested me, because I’m a huge fan of Supercell, which got its start uploading Vocaloid vids on Nico Nico Douga. The use of Vocaloid really blew up after the company added characters, because the works became not just about the music, but mainly about the character. Showed parts of some of Supercell’s vids but didn’t mention them by name. Could’ve been a great example, as they became professionals due to it, even getting a real anime produced based on one of their their videos (Black Rock Shooter, which was recently revealed to have Miyuki Sawashiro and Kana Hanzawa as main roles). And their fame and success came precisely because others on Nico Nico Douga took their music and did their own things with them (e.g. Nagi, also known as Gazelle, their current singer, got her start by posting videos onto Nico Nico Douga of her singing Supercell’s songs – most famously Melt – and to this day ppl continue to post themselves playing them, including their professional releases, with real instruments), thus extending the phenomenon seen in Touhou and Vocaloid. He showed bits of the PSP game Project Diva, a rhythm game starring Hatsune Miku. It made me want to get a PSP and import that game, as it seems to have at least a few of Supercell’s songs.

I was surprised he didn’t talk about 4chan too much, as that’s where so many memes, at least in the US, started. Did mention visual novels and particularly Katawa Shoujo, an American amateur production from the folks on 4chan. And like the other examples he mentioned, it had its genesis in fans taking someone’s work and applying their own twist on it.

Besides that talk, most notable for me was the concert. I stuck around for just the first part, featuring the Video Game Orchestra (VGO). I’m a big fan of classical music, so I had to see it. The highlights for me: a wonderful rendition of the Super Mario theme; the Chocobo theme from Final Fantasy, which had a great light mood with highlights from the saxophone and flute; a very embellished and metal-ish arrangement of the Final Fantasy VII battle theme; a surprise vocal appearance, as a singer from the local Berklee music school sang Snake Eater, which was sandwiched by a very dramatic performance of the MGS theme. Overall, they had a great mix of classical music with their orchestral instruments and more modern rock/metal music with electric guitar, keyboard, and drums.

I’ve got some videos from the concert that I’ll upload to YouTube, but tomorrow, as it’s way past my bedtime already, and I need to wake up early for the final day of PAX East tomorrow.

But what of the cosplay? That’s probably what you really care about. Well, I was a bit underwhelmed by the amount. I saw more video game cosplay in Anime Boston last year (which is being held next weekend, same place, Hynes Convention Center). Seriously, I saw 1 Snake, whereas at Anime Boston, there were at least a dozen. Still, there were enough to make a nice album – I’ve interspersed this post with some of them. But I don’t want to deal with WordPress’s slow file upload system, so I’m providing a link to my Picasa album of most the cosplay photos I took today. Some unexpected ones are Green Man (Charlie) from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and C.C. from Code Geass.

It’s, Kobato episode 24, the final episode, and Fujimoto now has to live in a world without Kobato. Or does he?

After Kobato disappears, Ushagi erases Kobato from the world, including from everyone’s memories and even from pictures. However, Even after a couple months have passed, Fujimoto keeps having a nagging feeling that something isn’t right, and has flashbacks to memories where children are playing with someone who isn’t there.

Back in his apartment, Fujimoto organizes his closet when he finds a candy on one of his jackets. The candy then causes him to completely remember Kobato. Fujimoto grabs a picture which clearly seems to show someone missing and shows it to Sayaka amd various other people, but they don’t know what he’s talking about.

He then suddenly remembers about Kohaku, and she does remember Kobato. Fujimoto asks Kohaku what Kobato meant when she said she’s going to the place she should be at. Kohaku then tells him: A long time ago, there was an incident that involved the human world, and Kobato was killed. Her wish was to return back to that time.

Kohaku further explains that she and Shuichiro have had several sad partings, but every time that he is reborn, their hearts call to each other and they eventually find each other again, and this is because they share the same soul.

Several more years pass, and Fujimoto is now working at a law firm, and he is assigned a case to clear up an inheritance issue with someone’s will, but they need to asses the true boundaries of the person’s property first. Fujimoto arrives, and finds a piano and starts playing on it. When he’s done, he hears a girl singing the same song outside. When the girl arrives it’s…the reborn Kobato. After Fujimoto finishes his work, he gives the candy to Kobato, and it returns all of the memories from the Kobato Fujimoto knew to the new reborn Kobato, and Ushagi returns the memories of Kobato to everyone else.

Whaaaaaa! Gotta love endings that have you reaching for the tissues.

So Kobato left behind her own candy (either incidentally or perhaps by design by Ushagi as a way to “make things OK” without breaking the contract). I have to admit, this series ended a lot differently than I was expecting, but it was still a great ending.

So we find out where Kobato wanted to go – back into the past where she apparently lived with the prior carnation of Fujimoto (thus, her memories of a Fujimoto-like person) and why she was so drawn to him in the first place.

We never do really find out precisely what the ‘incident’ was that caused all this. From what I recall, Ioryogi, Genko, etc. from the Spirit World attacked the Heavenly World to get…something. The resulting battle somehow affected the Human World, killing Kobato, leaving her in some sort of state of limbo. To make up for this, Ioryogi took it upon himself to help Kobato return, but she had to fulfill her contract with God, which is, of course, what much of the series was about.

Having fulfilled this contract with Fujimoto’s candy (and the fact that the two are soul-mates may be why his was so powerful) sent her back, where that Kobato of course lived and died, and as born again as the new Kobato.

We also got to see a glimpse of everyone else too. Ioryogi apparently figured out what was going on (or knew all along) and found the reborn Kobato and watched her from the shadows. Meanwhile, Sayaka reopened the nursery once again.

In any case, I thought this was a very nice ending to a pretty good series.

It’s Kobato episode 23, and the time for Kobato to collect candies has finally run out. However, Kobato now has a different wish.

Kobato wakes up Fujimoto early in the morning, asking if she can help him out that day (and apparently this has now been occurring for a while). While they’re talking, Chihiro shows up and tells Kobato to keep helping Fujimoto out or else he’d overwork himself. Kobato decides to drag Fujimoto around for a walk, saying that she wants him to enjoy himself. All of this agitates Fujimoto, because he’s annoyed by being followed around, and Ioryogi because Kobato isn’t filling her jar.

Finally, Fujimoto just tells her to leave him alone, since he can’t calm down whenever she’s around, and walks off. Soon he finds that he’s walked to where the nursery was, but Kobato catches back up to him. Fujimoto asks her why she keeps concerning herself with him, and so Kobato tells him it’s because he’s an important person to her. When the pair arrive back at the apartment, Ushagi sends Kobato a flower signaling that she has one day left, and Kobato tells Fujimoto that she won’t be able to see him tomorrow. The next day, Kobato moves out of Chihiro’s apartment.

When Fujimoto finally returns, Chihiro tells him that Kobato has moved out, which alarms him, and he runs out to chase after her. Meanwhile, Kobato is waiting in the playground where she arrived, where Ushagi comes for them. Ushagi is about to take Kobato away, but he has to hide himself because Fujimoto has arrived to demand from Kobato what she’s doing. Kobato can’t really explain why she’s going away so finally….Ioryogi speaks up.

He tells Fujimoto (who is obviously alarmed at seeing a stuffed animal speak) that Kobato has to leave because of her contract. Ioryogi tells Kobato to take off her hat, so Kobato does, revealing a ghostly crown above her head. Ioryogi explains that Kobato is dead, and her soul doesn’t belong to any world. However, she made a contract with someone in heaven (presumably God) that gave her a chance to relive her life. However, Kobato decided to spend her time with Fujimoto instead, and thus broke her contract.

At that point, Ushagi arrives and puts up a barrier around Kobato to prepare to take her away, and Kobato tells Fujimoto that she loves him. Then, something activates within Fujimoto, and he unwittingly breaks Ushagi’s barrier. That something turns into a candy that enters Kobato’s jar, but is powerful enough to fill the jar and complete her contract.

However, now there is a new problem: the contract calls for Kobato to be taken to “the place she wants to go” as specified in her contract, not stay on earth. Kobato disappears, leaving Ioryogi and Fujimoto.

Wow…just wow. I’m not sure what to make of Fujimoto breaking Ushagi’s barrier. I don’t know if it was the fact that his candy was so powerful that it filled her bottle (and why was it so powerful?) or if he has some sort of power that he doesn’t know about (there has been some suggestion that he knew Kobato in the past too).

Also, I guess this explains why Kobato is always wearing a hat.  I didn’t even really notice until a few episodes ago when Ioryogi warned Kobato when her hat was about to fly off.

So we have one more episode to go. Kobato is gone to…wherever. Ioryogi is still left behind, as far as I can tell, so I guess we may get to hear more from him, explaining to Fujimoto, what exactly is going on. And, of course, we have to see if Fujimoto and Kobato can be reunited at the end.

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu things finally became serious, relatively speaking.  Class F started their campaign with the goal of taking down Class A.  With all the other classes taken down, the latest episode focuses on an all-out war against the elites.  I wonder, who will prevail?

The episode starts with some training on the roof, which eventually ends with a joke at Yoshii’s expense.  The next morning he wakes up to his sister trying to make advances on him again.  Putting that craziness aside, he goes to school, where Hideyoshi has retrieved his sisters “textbooks.”  Yuuji sends the idiot out in the hall with one to declare war on Class A.  He meets with predictable results, and Yuuko comes to berate the class.  The battle actually begins when Kyouji strikes at the pride of Class A.  The rest of the school follows, wearing down the high-level forces.  Class F uses a variety of misdirection and traps to thin the ranks, with Yoshii playing point in most of the plan.  The main Class F and A forces meet on the roof and begin to fight.  The lower class’s practice has paid off, they’ve developed the ability to dodge in the battle system.  When the enemy cavalry arrives, Yoshii blocks them off with the school’s bell.  Unfortunately, his bracelet dies and the bell almost kills everyone.  Ironman actually saves the day, but Yuuko kills Yuuji’s avatar, winning the battle for Class A.

I enjoyed this episode all the way up to the end.  I thought Yuuji using the other classes to force Class A into a war of attrition was brilliant, and it had the bonus of exasperating Yuuko.  Yoshii finally got to put his avatar to use as well, and it must be humiliating to get taken down by a wall of desks, and then by a bell.  I also liked the strategy to try to win the fight with scratch damage, considering my propensity to do the same thing in video games.  The relationship level up both the couple’s got added in that D’aww factor that appears in every episode.  The only aspect I really take issue with is the ending.  Maybe it’s because I like to root for the underdog, and this is the same kind of ending that I have seen so many times in the past.  I felt like I had just watched a Trix commercial or an episode of Roadrunner vs. Coyote.  Except in this case, Class F actually had a good, solid plan for victory.  I know seeing the moment stolen from them was a joke, but to me, it just felt like a weak copout to keep them from finally winning.  It does leave me wondering what they have planned for the final episode.  They had just better not use it to tie into a second season of the same thing.

It’s Shakugan no Shana S episode 2, and Shana has been sneaking around and hiding something from Wilhelmina, so Wilhelmina enlists Yuji to try to find out what Shana is up to.

Shana returns home from running some errands, and Wilhelmina notes that she’s been coming back later than usual for a while, but Shana and Alastor brush her off. Wilhelmina, still concerned about what Shana is up to visits Chigusa for advice. Chigusa says she doesn’t think Shana would hide something just to keep from getting in trouble, and suggests trying to get information from someone who can “question her more easily.”

Wilhelmina decides to enlist Yuji to try to find out what Shana is up to, though he says there is evidence that Shana is hiding something from him too. However, when Yuji tries to follow her, he notices that she’s squashing her presence. So Yuji goes to Margery. However, when they arrive, Satou tells him that Margery is passed out drunk and is unavailable except during an emergency. Yuji tells Wilhelmina that this is evidence that perhaps Margery is in on whatever Shana is doing.

Yuji then decides to use Friagne’s map to find Shana, but she’s no where to be found on it, which Wilhelmina notes is not unexpected since she’s squashing her presence. Yuji then suggests that Wilhelmina display whatever unrestricted method Shana is using to hide her presence, but when Wilhelmina does this, the maps shows multiple scattered unrestricted methods, confirming that Margery is putting up a screen to hide Shana from such a search.

Yuji tries approaching Shana at school the next day, but Yoshida and Ogata block his attempts. After they leave, Yuji wonders if Shana is planning to throw a surprise party for Wilhelmina, but wonders why they didn’t keep him in the loop if that’s the case. Yuji and Wilhelmina decide to follow Shana to the store, and then decide to follow her visually from above on the way home, but are intercepted by Margery.

Meanwhile, Shana and the girls gather at Wilhelmina’s place so they can prepare for a surprise party. However, they got the wrong type of flower, so they call up Margery to ask her to stall Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina, meanwhile, returns to the map, where Tanaka is currently stationed, and Yuji realizes the reason why he wasn’t kept in the loop: so that he would work with Wilhelmina, allowing them to track her movements. Yuji demands to know what is going on, so Tanaka decides to try to stall them by telling a long, drawn out dramatic story until Wilhelmina expectantly asks what the point of it is. Finally, Tanaka tells them to go home and they’ll find the answer.

When they arrive, they’re ready for the surprise party for Wilhelmina. Once everyone leaves, leaving Wilhelmina and Shana alone, Wilhelmina asks why they had her and Yuji work on this together, and Alastor and Shana responds by saying that they thought it would be good to build a certain level of trust between the two of them for possible upcoming situations. Shana then asks what day this is for Wilhelmina, and she says that it’s the day that Shana arrived at Tendo-kyu.

I pretty much suspected the “throwing a surprise party” thing from the very start in this episode, and I don’t think there was any real attempt to hide it either. I think one of the things that might have thrown people off – and which threw me off for a while – is that I thought Yuji was in on it, especially when he appeared to be relieved that Shana wasn’t showing up in the map. I thought he had blown his cover, but then later it became clear that he, in fact, was not involved.

It also didn’t dawn to me at first, but I think I pretty soon figured out that “the important day” Wilhelmina was for when Shana arrived to Tendo-kyu, especially after Wilhelmina referenced it during the episode.

This episode was also somewhat important for another reason: it established a bit of trust between Yuji and Wilhelmina so that they didn’t have to spend an episode in the upcoming new TV series to do the same thing. However, other than that, this episode was pretty much just for fun, and like the first episode, it was still pretty entertaining.

It’s Kobato episode 22, and it’s finally time for the nursery to be torn down. However, Kobato is now facing two dire problems: Fujimoto, and filling her bottle.

This episode begins Kobato dreaming of someone who looks like Fujimoto playing the piano for her younger self. When Kobato wakes up, Ioryogi asks if she was having a really good dream, since Kobato had a huge smaile on her face. Kobato says yes, but then can’t remember what her dream was about.

Kobato helps Sayaka clean out the nursery, but Fujimoto gets in a bad mood about it closing again, and refuses to return, and instead just works at his other jobs. However, Kobato urges him to come back one more time, and he finally relents. Back at her apartment, Kobato remains all depressed, and Ioryogi asks if it’s about Fujimoto. Kobato asks what he’s talking about, and Ioryogi just responds by asking if she’s unaware of her own feelings.

It’s finally the day that the nursery is being torn down, and Ioryogi decides that he’s going to go out for the day, and Kobato goes to watch them tear down the nursery. Ioryogi goes to Genko’s place and proposes capturing someone called Ushagi and using her as leverage against “him,” but Genko and the others are against the idea. We then see a memory of when Ioryogi first met Kobato. Kobato appeared to be floating in some empty world when Ioryogi appeared before her, but that’s the end of the memory we see.

Back at the nursery, Sayaka asks Kobato to be “Fujimoto’s strength.” Sayaka thinks that the nursery was holding Fujimoto down, making him feel like he had to constantly struggle and overachieve. Meanwhile, Fujimoto has been kind of out of it since the close of the nursery and almost walks ot into traffic, and then gets into an accident on his bike while working. On Kobato’s way back home, Chiho and Chise find her and tell her about the accident, so Kobato goes to the hospital, but Fujimoto is mad that she found out about his injury, and he tells her that if she tries to cheer him up out of pity, to stop because it’s annoying.

This crushes Kobato, but soon Rabbit visits her and gives her a purple flower. Ioryogi then arrives and tells her that the flower means that she has until the next full moon to finishing filling her bottle, or her time is up. Ioryogi then asks Rabbit (who is the Ushagi referenced before) if there is a way to extend the deadline, but Rabbit says there isn’t a way. Back at Genko’s place, they remark that at least Ioryogi feels a sense of responsibility since what he did in the past cause something to happen to Kobato.

Well, Fujimoto is still in a bad mood about the nursery closing (and to my surprise, they did go ahead and demolish it, so so-long to the idea of ultimately saving it), and he ends up taking it out on Kobato by telling her that her trying to cheer him up is annoying, because he thinks she is pitying him.

Meanwhile, Kobato has other problems as she only has one lunar month left to fill her bottle up, and again, and now that the nursery is gone, I’m not sure how she’s going to do it. I presume healing Fujimoto is going to be a big part of that, but surely she can’t fill her entire bottle just by healing him. At least with the nursery, you had the possibility of, if she saved it, getting candies from Sayaka, Fujimoto, and all the children, and perhaps even some of the children’s parents. It would have been like hitting the candy jackpot. I suppose there is still a door for that happening still, but the path to that possibility seems far less clear now.

There are only 2 more episodes left, so things are going to have to come to a head pretty quickly, and we still don’t even know the full history about Ioryogi and Kobato.

It’s Kobato episode 22, and it’s finally time for the nursery to be torn down. However, Kobato is now facing two dire problems: Fujimoto, and filling her bottle.

This episode begins Kobato dreaming of someone who looks like Fujimoto playing the piano for her younger self. When Kobato wakes up, Ioryogi asks if she was having a really good dream, since Kobato had a huge smaile on her face. Kobato says yes, but then can’t remember what her dream was about.

Kobato helps Sayaka clean out the nursery, but Fujimoto gets in a bad mood about it closing again, and refuses to return, and instead just works at his other jobs. However, Kobato urges him to come back one more time, and he finally relents. Back at her apartment, Kobato remains all depressed, and Ioryogi asks if it’s about Fujimoto. Kobato asks what he’s talking about, and Ioryogi just responds by asking if she’s unaware of her own feelings.

It’s finally the day that the nursery is being torn down, and Ioryogi decides that he’s going to go out for the day, and Kobato goes to watch them tear down the nursery. Ioryogi goes to Genko’s place and proposes capturing someone called Ushagi and using her as leverage against “him,” but Genko and the others are against the idea. We then see a memory of when Ioryogi first met Kobato. Kobato appeared to be floating in some empty world when Ioryogi appeared before her, but that’s the end of the memory we see.

Back at the nursery, Sayaka asks Kobato to be “Fujimoto’s strength.” Sayaka thinks that the nursery was holding Fujimoto down, making him feel like he had to constantly struggle and overachieve. Meanwhile, Fujimoto has been kind of out of it since the close of the nursery and almost walks ot into traffic, and then gets into an accident on his bike while working. On Kobato’s way back home, Chiho and Chise find her and tell her about the accident, so Kobato goes to the hospital, but Fujimoto is mad that she found out about his injury, and he tells her that if she tries to cheer him up out of pity, to stop because it’s annoying.

This crushes Kobato, but soon Rabbit visits her and gives her a purple flower. Ioryogi then arrives and tells her that the flower means that she has until the next full moon to finishing filling her bottle, or her time is up. Ioryogi then asks Rabbit (who is the Ushagi referenced before) if there is a way to extend the deadline, but Rabbit says there isn’t a way. Back at Genko’s place, they remark that at least Ioryogi feels a sense of responsibility since what he did in the past cause something to happen to Kobato.

Well, Fujimoto is still in a bad mood about the nursery closing (and to my surprise, they did go ahead and demolish it, so so-long to the idea of ultimately saving it), and he ends up taking it out on Kobato by telling her that her trying to cheer him up is annoying, because he thinks she is pitying him.

Meanwhile, Kobato has other problems as she only has one lunar month left to fill her bottle up, and again, and now that the nursery is gone, I’m not sure how she’s going to do it. I presume healing Fujimoto is going to be a big part of that, but surely she can’t fill her entire bottle just by healing him. At least with the nursery, you had the possibility of, if she saved it, getting candies from Sayaka, Fujimoto, and all the children, and perhaps even some of the children’s parents. It would have been like hitting the candy jackpot. I suppose there is still a door for that happening still, but the path to that possibility seems far less clear now.

There are only 2 more episodes left, so things are going to have to come to a head pretty quickly, and we still don’t even know the full history about Ioryogi and Kobato.

It’s Kobato episode 22, and it’s finally time for the nursery to be torn down. However, Kobato is now facing two dire problems: Fujimoto, and filling her bottle.

This episode begins Kobato dreaming of someone who looks like Fujimoto playing the piano for her younger self. When Kobato wakes up, Ioryogi asks if she was having a really good dream, since Kobato had a huge smaile on her face. Kobato says yes, but then can’t remember what her dream was about.

Kobato helps Sayaka clean out the nursery, but Fujimoto gets in a bad mood about it closing again, and refuses to return, and instead just works at his other jobs. However, Kobato urges him to come back one more time, and he finally relents. Back at her apartment, Kobato remains all depressed, and Ioryogi asks if it’s about Fujimoto. Kobato asks what he’s talking about, and Ioryogi just responds by asking if she’s unaware of her own feelings.

It’s finally the day that the nursery is being torn down, and Ioryogi decides that he’s going to go out for the day, and Kobato goes to watch them tear down the nursery. Ioryogi goes to Genko’s place and proposes capturing someone called Ushagi and using her as leverage against “him,” but Genko and the others are against the idea. We then see a memory of when Ioryogi first met Kobato. Kobato appeared to be floating in some empty world when Ioryogi appeared before her, but that’s the end of the memory we see.

Back at the nursery, Sayaka asks Kobato to be “Fujimoto’s strength.” Sayaka thinks that the nursery was holding Fujimoto down, making him feel like he had to constantly struggle and overachieve. Meanwhile, Fujimoto has been kind of out of it since the close of the nursery and almost walks ot into traffic, and then gets into an accident on his bike while working. On Kobato’s way back home, Chiho and Chise find her and tell her about the accident, so Kobato goes to the hospital, but Fujimoto is mad that she found out about his injury, and he tells her that if she tries to cheer him up out of pity, to stop because it’s annoying.

This crushes Kobato, but soon Rabbit visits her and gives her a purple flower. Ioryogi then arrives and tells her that the flower means that she has until the next full moon to finishing filling her bottle, or her time is up. Ioryogi then asks Rabbit (who is the Ushagi referenced before) if there is a way to extend the deadline, but Rabbit says there isn’t a way. Back at Genko’s place, they remark that at least Ioryogi feels a sense of responsibility since what he did in the past cause something to happen to Kobato.

Well, Fujimoto is still in a bad mood about the nursery closing (and to my surprise, they did go ahead and demolish it, so so-long to the idea of ultimately saving it), and he ends up taking it out on Kobato by telling her that her trying to cheer him up is annoying, because he thinks she is pitying him.

Meanwhile, Kobato has other problems as she only has one lunar month left to fill her bottle up, and again, and now that the nursery is gone, I’m not sure how she’s going to do it. I presume healing Fujimoto is going to be a big part of that, but surely she can’t fill her entire bottle just by healing him. At least with the nursery, you had the possibility of, if she saved it, getting candies from Sayaka, Fujimoto, and all the children, and perhaps even some of the children’s parents. It would have been like hitting the candy jackpot. I suppose there is still a door for that happening still, but the path to that possibility seems far less clear now.

There are only 2 more episodes left, so things are going to have to come to a head pretty quickly, and we still don’t even know the full history about Ioryogi and Kobato.