Heh, didn’t I tell you the christmas update was going to be huge? And there’ll still be more, as Anime-Forever suddenly released a massive six episodes nearly all at once. I’ve said it before: this anime is my most favourite ever, and this episode only gave me more reasons to believe so.

Alice, instead of hiding from the warlocks, does the most reckless thing you can ever think of, and it still works. Meanwhile, her father may have some escape plans. I’m also currently in a love-hate relationship with the warlock locked up along with him, and the magic world is running more and more, and faster and faster into chaos. Literally and figuratively.

Wha-who-wha-wha-wha-what an awesome episode this was. In just eight minutes, this series accomplishes what some anime only can manage in two whole hours. So many different things happened, so many plot twists… and still everything connects perfectly. I’m not going to spoil anything, this is something you’d have to really see for yourself, but I can definately say that this was the best episode yet of Mahou Shoujotai.

Oh, and I just love the detail the creators brought in with the rose and the healing spell. It was a very nice touch.

Even though this is probably just a prologue of the next episode, this episode was incredible! At the beginning of the just eight-minute-long episode, Ateria acts like a selfish idiot, only after the true magic book. Afterwards, you’ll get the respect you had of her back. Meanwhile, I just hate warlock guy who was locked up along with Alice’s father, and the three witches seen in the first fifteen episodes make their comeback. Alice educates Renon a bit about fathership, and Atera’s castle is being stormed, and SO much more! It was good to finally see an episode of this again. I was getting a bit worried about the inconsistent releases by Anime-Forever, but this totally made up for it, and it remains my favourite show ever!

This was an interesting episode. The conflict between Yuu and his mom gets fully explored, and it seems like it got solved in the end. Although it was just a side-plot and an excuse to make Haruka discover some of her powers, the creators did a good job into telling this story.

The next episodes will be focused at the main plot again. It was nice to see an intermezzo like this, without any fighting or tension like in the previous episodes. It keeps the anime balanced, I believe.

This was a sort-of intermezzo between two arcs. It mainly focused on the relationship between Yuu and his mother, from which we get to see the outcome in the next episode. It also seems that she actually has some kind of reason to do all this, which involves her own sister (Yuu’s aunt). I’m curious to know what it is. I’m still loving the depressiveness of Yuu.

Okay, let’s recap, the members of the enemy team have the following variety of powers:
- The power to change clothes into armor.
- The power to change a sculpture into the real thing.
- The power to change a line picture into a warp portal.
- The power to turn a pun into reality if the victim of the pun laughs.
I’m really curious now to the power of the tiny little guy. Furthermore, on the island the battles are taking place, there are giant meat-eating oranges, who bite your head off if you touch the trees they’re growing on.

I just want to know in what kind of mood the creators were when they thought of this. These things are so utterly creative, it’s almost inhuman. I especially like the pun guy. If he wants to change something of the opponent, he uses the picture guy to tickle them through the portals so that they laugh. If he wants to change something of himself, he sets up an incredibly fake, but still hysterical and maniacal lauch. The result is quite hilarious.

Anyway, we first have Ueki and Mori get separated in a rather funny way. You have to see if for yourself, but I can assure: you will NOT see it coming. Then Mori meets up with Hideyoshi for a short, but extremely funny while. Afterwards, she ends up right next to Rinko and Sano in a rather peculiar situation… Anyway, Sano and Rinko are having some issues with working together while they are up against a combination of the Pun guy and the Picture guy. The ending, is of course predictable, but the way they manage to beat them at last deserves a few credits.

The next episode will probably feature Ueki versus the little guy and the sculpture guy, while the little guy learns a few lessons from him. And when the hell does Mori get to figure out her powers?!?!

Oh my god… you just can’t help but feeling sad, shocked and angry along with the characters. Something aweful happened in the past of La’Cryma, which probably involved Haruka sacrificed herself for something inevitable. All of the friends she had in the past are having trouble with seeing Haruka again. This effect is only strengthened if you know that she (having the Dragon Torque, and all) must be sacrificed again, in order to protect La’Cryma.

The visuals are amazing as ever. From the character design, to the special effects and to the huge monsters, everything looks amazing, but I really have to give muchas kudos to the artists for drawing the characters while shocked, sad and angry. You really can’t help but feeling along with them.

It’s just a bit annoying to see this awesome tension being broken when peaceful world comes into picture again. It isn’t as bad with Yuu, as I just love seeing him broken like that (call me sadistic, but the effect works really well), but rather when the others are in the image. I don’t know, but somehow, it doesn’t really fit.

A lot of things happened this episode. Some for the best, some for the worst. The big bad guy is uberpowerful. He manages to execute his plan. And Rukia is no longer needed, so she needs to be killed. I wasn’t very pleased with these turn of events. It all seemed to go too easy for the bad guy. Then suddenly everyone arrives right at the same time to help out Ichigo and company. I’m really having love-hate feelings over this. It was of course great to see all those characters back with some roles, especially since it wasn’t at the last possible minute that they made their entrance. I also found it highly enjoyable after I saw the first ones appear. But isn’t it a bit too coïncidental to make ALL of them appear at the same friggin’ time? Well, afterwards, you finally think that they are going to give a nice turn to the story, but no. The bad guys just ascend into heaven and disappear. I guess the creators wanted to have everyone important see the events that were about to happen, for god knows why. Anyway, everyone’s happy, everything is over, everyone’s still alive (Ugh! >.<), and the bad guys still roam somewhere, probably waiting to be slaughtered by Ichigo in the end.

There are two things I really liked about this episode. The first thing was the fox trying to get to Tousen. At the beginning, this seemed to go totally wrong, as he got slaughtered by the big bad guy in less than a second, but the creators managed to execute this part pretty well. I’m curious about what is about to happen to them. The other thing I liked was Byakuya’s explanation of his reasons. These actually seem very plausible, and left me with a good feeling afterwards.

Overall, I’m looking forward to the next couple of episodes. The climax is over now, so there’ll probably be more time for comic relief - the strength of Bleach. Let us hope they won’t screw this up as well.

Because of my exams this week, I’ve been a bit busy, which means that I had a very large queue of anime goodness waiting for me. I’ll probably be able to catch up to them tomorrow, so be expecting a huge christmas update. ;)

Oh, and P.S. If you have anything to say, feel free to use the comment option. I don’t care if I’ve never seen you or anything, everyone’s welcome to comment. It’s always nice to see some opinions of other people. ^_^

Animeblogger did a very nice job in collecting as much data as possible on the upcoming winter season. You can find it here.

Well then, here follows a preview of the upcoming anime:

Magikano
The description is a bit fuzzy for this one, so I have no idea what to think of it. I believe that we have here a typical harem anime, as all the characters mentioned are females (with the maid and the sempai who’s secretly in love, of course, included), except for the main one. I think I’ll watch the first episode of this before I make my conclusions.

Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rinbukyoku
"That tale from the heart, where wishes are granted, the endless tale of ‘Alice.’" This can be pretty interesting. I’m really into fantasy stories and tales. I’ll definately watch this. I’m just a bit worried about the rediculously huge amount of hair this person has.

Tonagura!
A dirty guy returns to his childhood friend after 10 years of absence and tries to hit on her. No doubt this series will have the two of them coming together and accepting each other… I don’t think I’ll like this one.

REC
Voice actress, that’s a new one (if you don’t include Puni Puni Poemy, of course). Again, I’m suspecting some kind of love story between the main characters. I may see this, I may not. Although I like the art of this one.

Kashimashi ~Girl meets Girl~
I really don’t know what to think about this one: A guy confesses to a girl, and gets turned down. Then he gets hit by a UFO and aliens turn him into a girl. I’m suspecting that this will be Shoujo Ai with a lot of life-lessons. I think I’ll watch this out of curiosity.

Shinigami no Ballad
This series consists of six episodes, with each of them a different story, all revolving around a girl in white robes with white hair, who wields a scythe and acts as death. I am SO wanting to see this. The premisse sounds awesome, and the art looks TOO cute.

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
While a guy was hospitalized, he kept getting bothered by a girl his age, who was acting extremely rude. After a while, he found out why. This sounds like it’ll be good for some interesting drama. I also like the art of this. I think I’ll watch this.

Yomigaeru Sora - Rescue Wings
A guy wanting to pilot a fighter gets assigned to a helicopter-rescue-department. I doubt I’ll watch this, I hate these kinds of concepts.

Kage Kara Mamoru!
A geeky-like boy is in reality a ninja that protectsone certain family. Judging from the fact that he’s surrounded by five girls on the image provided by the link above, I can really say that this will be a harem anime with lots of action thrown into it. I’m not really fond of these kinds of anime, but who knows, I may watch this.

Rakugo Tennyo
Six girls get summoned into the end of Edo period by the power of mystic stones. They become celestial nymphs to protect cities from evils. Each girl obtains her own power. The power one f those girls obtained was “word”. She fights against evils by her “words” that gave people hope. If this gets to be more then just a mahou shoujo series, then I’ll be satisfied. I especially like the fact that she got the power "word", instead of the cheesy fire.

Binchotan
"Binchou-tan doesn’t have parents. She lives alone in the mountain in her private residence, but someone called Ubamega-san gives her assistance." She also carries a lump of charcoal on her head. Judging from the art, it’ll probably be a kids’ show. But still, I may see one episode to see how it turns out.

Ginyuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe Wieder
The second season of Meine Liebe. I still got to see the first one.

Sasami -Mahou Shoujo Club-
No further info is given, except for one picture of it. I’m predicting that it’ll involve some mahou shoujo. I may see this.

Fate/stay night
This is the big thing everyone’s waiting for. I’ll watch it to see if it is as good as people think.

Naikaku Kenryoku Hanzai Kyosei Torishimarikan Zaizen Jotaro
This anime’s got an incredibly long title… It’s based on a political intrigue detective manga. It has some potential in it. I’ll probably watch the first episode of it before jumping to conclusions.

The Third
OMG! I like this! The art looks amazing. I’ll really be looking forward to this one.

MAJOR 2nd season
The second season of a baseball anime. It doesn’t really catch my eye…

Wings of Rean
Judging by the art, this is going to be some sort of mecha/familiar anime… Maybe I’ll check it out…

Lemon Angel Project
Another singing anime, unlike beck more focused to pop music…. yuch. I have a bad feeling about this.

Furthermore, I’ve also found some interesting titles to appear from this site. I’ll be listing a few of them.

Ayakashi~ Japanese Classic Horror
Horror stories. I’ll keep an eye on this. The artwork also seems very impressive.

Zero no Tsukaima
I’m liking this. A girl summons a guy from another world so he can become her servant. The art also seems of decent quality.

XXXHolic TV
I am SO looking forward to this series. It’s supposed to be similar to Tsubasa Chronicle, and I loved that.

Yoshinaga-san Ie no Gargoyle
I have no idea what this is, but I like the art. :)

Arusu The Adventure
Sorry if I’m a bit scary now, but OMG!!!!!!! I can’t believe Mahou Shoujo Tai is having a second season. I’m currently still following Anime-Forever’s fansubs, but afterwards, the goodness will continue. I WILL definately be following this.

Hellsing Ultimate
Another series I’ll be looking forward to. The original Hellsing went on a totally different path from the manga (which I never read, by the way). This one is following a bit more. I’ll be following this one.

Utawarerumono
"The main character was helped when he was wounded lying on the ground in woods. When he woke up, he didn’t remember who he was. Furthermore, he had a mask that he couldn’t put off. By favor of the people in the village, who had animal ears and tails by the way, he began to live in the village." I don’t know what to think of this. I’ll probably watch the first episode of this.

Highlander: Vengeance
It’s got an interesting setting. It’s lots of years into the future, and there are lots of celtic influences. I’m really liking celtic aspects, so I’ll be following this when it comes out.

Ergo Proxy
This is supposed to be THE anime with the best graphics ever. I’ll probably watch it to see if it’s really what they say.

Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z
I’m still having twitches from when I discovered what this anime is about. I have no idea what to do: to cheer, or to run away screaming…

Tsubasa Chronicle 2nd Season
Another anime I’ll be looking out for. I loved the first season, and I’m hungry for more.

Brave Story
Hmmm, a fantasy adventure story for what appears to be little kids. Still, I like the idea as well. I’ll probably watch this.

Afro Samurai
I have just one thing to say: ……..

Makai Senki Disgaea
I haven’t played the game, but I love the art. I’ll probably watch this.

So, that’s it. Lots of great is anime coming up in 2006. I can’t wait. :)