The new ED seriously rocks. It’s still on my mind. Anyway, the episode was great once more. The previous one introduced the problem, while this one solved it. And it was indeed more than just telling the older twin to “always look on the bright side of life”. The younger twin proved to be much more of a problem. She not only had more confidence and was more cheerful, she also kept believing that her older sister indeed was worthless. Even worse: she kept reminding the older sister of it. Believe me, it isn’t good if you keep getting told that you’re not good at anything.

Words are a bit theme during this episode. It doesn’t focus at something supernatural, just something mental. Overall, it was great. The interesting thing is that Watanuki has the same problem as the older sister, though a bit less extreme. When he’s in front of Himawari, he too gets too scared to say anything. It seems that he still doesn’t have this courage, after Yuuko gets evil at the end of the episode. Things are going better, though.

First of all, this episode comes with a new ED, and it totally ROCKS. Seeing Maru and Moro on the air guitar like that, and Mokona on air drums, without overdoing it is so incredibly awesome. The song really fits the dark moods of the show as well. Two thumbs up for the creators.

About the episode: it shows that we can have two-episode arcs as well. I think xxxHolic will now be turning into that direction. The first two-arc story, in any case, is great. We have these twins, and they’re the total opposite of each other. One is cheerful and laid-back, while the other is gloomy. The cheerful one always takes the initiative, and the gloomy one kindof tags along. The gloomy sister feels that she’s being held back by her twin. And this starts to get to her. In the end, she ends up with a bloody forehead inside a cinema. This one really is getting exciting. Especially as I can relate to the gloomy sister a bit. Not because of twins, but because of other things.

The fact that this episode reminded me of Jigoku Shoujo 16 also made this one better. Watanuki, Himawari and Domeki’s antics were great to see once more. Yuuko, meanwhile discovered that she has a hidden talent for juggling while Maru and Moro ran arond with a couple of rugs. And call me crazy, but I begin to like the tall character design even more.

This episode turns more serious, as the antagonist reveals herself. It indeed turns out to be Hansel’s brother, Gretl (how else :P). Her character design is pretty interesting. Still, most of the minor trump cards seem to be played now. What will Hansel be trying next time?

We start with where we left off in the previous episode. Baru is sensing someone, not a Nightmarian at the school. Something stronger, so he and Shirayukihime decide to head for the school. Hansel meanwhile has a little talk with his sister. Meanwhile, Baru and Shirayukihime infiltrate the school, in which Akazukin’s still going “undercover”.

Shirayukihime found a more effective way: pretend to be teacher. She’s fairly good in it, though Akazukin wonders what she’s doing there. And makes a fool out of herself. ^^ Later, she meets up with Baru, and the two start to search for the source of the huge strength. They eventually manage to find a couple of lunch boxes. (^^;)

Gretl, meanwhile, tries to carry out her plans. She pretends to be sick, and Souta and Ringo go along with her. Gretl seems to look at a watch, suggesting that she’s waiting for something. In the corridor, when things were supposed to go off, nothing happens. It seems it had something to do with a couple of mirrors, which were deactivated by Shirayukihime. Gretl doesn’t really get happy with this when she finds out.

Gretl reveals her true form. Souta, however, still trusts her because of the things she said earlier. Whether this is a smart move, or utter foolishness remains a mystery. Gretl meanwhile places a barrier, hence why she was checking out everything in the previous episode. Something in the barrier turns everyone unconscious. Souta and Ringo only escape this fact because of a protection spell Shirayukihime put on them. Afterwards, Shirayukihime ends up outside of the barrier, while the former two end up inside of it.

Even Akazukin and Baru are under Gretl’s spell. When Gretl’s about to attack Souta, she appears, for some reason. That reason gets explained, though I have no idea what it is. Akazukin then decides to lure Gretl outside, as she has no room at all to fight inside a small corridor. Eventually, it seems that the weak point in Gretl’s barrier was the top of it. Akazukin breaks it, in order to let Shirayukihime in again.

Hansel, in the end, manages to prevent Shirayukihime and Akazukin from destroying Gretl by saving her. It seems his plans have failed again.

Another awesome episode. It wasn’t as fun as the previous one, though it still had plenty of entertaining moments. We learn a bit more about Shirayukihime and the fact that she’s always able to win debates in the magic-country. Until Ringo trumps her. ^^

It’s also nice to see that the creators have spent time in developing the world an the magic system for Otogi Juushi Akazukin, as Shirayukihime gives us a demonstration of how to set up a barrier. I also just loved the dream that Shota was having at the beginning of the episode. Finally we see some dreams which don’t have to be so grim or serious, but are just plain wacky, like normal dreams are.

This episode, Hansel sends a spy towards Souta, in the form of a transfer student. He distracts everyone by making a nightmarian appear. Still, it does show that Souta is incredibly naive, as he doesn’t question the fact that she knows about the fairy tale, or that she knows that Akazukin is a musketeer.

There’s one thing I’m wondering about, though that can also be a mistake by the fansubbers. The fact is that the musketeers got their name from their muskets. These are like, 18th century types of guns. I’m wondering what the literal meaning of Juushi means, as I’d like to know the explanation behind the fact why they’re called musketeers.

I’m also wondering about the direction in which this anime is going. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. The fact remains that it has 39 episodes to fill. If it became clear that the Nightmarians don’t work against Akazukin in the second episode, what will the creators have in mind for the later episodes? I hope that this means what I think it means. =)

Overall, another great episode. Some of the antics of the characters really were adorable.

Memorable Moment: Baru, finding out he has to stay at home.

I’ve got some major issues with .Hack//Roots. It just tries to be more than it actually is. The third episode was awesome. Why? Because Haseo had to think in order to make his decision. A whole episode was spent on it. What do we have when we reach episode sixteen? He goes to attack random monsters with an emo-face.

The fact is that .Hack//Roots seems to be forgetting that it’s an MMORPG. Haseo’s reaction just isn’t possible. Tabby’s reaction isn’t possible either. Everything is just virtual. The PC’s are just PC’s. When they cry, it happens offline. Right here, we have absolutely no clues at all that there are persons who are controlling the PC’s. That was one of the beauties of .Hack//Sign. It really made me feel like we were dealing with an MMORPG. .Hack//Roots feels more like a fantasy adventure.

The fact remains that Haseo’s strong now. How the heck did he manage to do that? The basic laws of the MMORPG’s say that the longer you play the game, the stronger you become. After all, the longer you play, the more experience you get. Still, this is a ridiculous amount of experience. If that’s the case, why can Haseo grow stronger than anyone out here when he just started?

Ah well, in any case, Tri Edge really had an impact on Phyllo, as he loses his cool against Haseo for the first time ever. The two of them fight a bit while Tabby stands on the side-lines, doing nothing. While this may have been interesting, it seemed a bit too direct. It felt like it was missing something.

Overall, I like the shy Haseo more. He’s really getting annoying right now. .Hack//Roots just doesn’t feel like an MMORPG anymore. Still, I wonder what Ovan’s planning to do. He hasn’t returned to Haseo yet. Yata also makes an interesting point: Tabby. Saburou gets sent after her, after she makes another cryptic remark towards Pai. I have no idea what that means. Also, why did Saburou claim that she’s on good terms with Haseo? Could she be the reincarnation of Tawaraya?

Pani Poni Dash certainly is one of the better comedy-anime out there. Every single episode just had me cracked up, time and time again. Its huge cast of interesting and unique characters combined with the huge waves of parodies and references came together into a brilliant piece of awesomeness.

The situation’s like this: Rebecca Miyamoto, or Becky, is a child prodigy. At the age of ten, she already graduated from the MIT (supposedly the best university in the United States, correct me if I’m wrong). She then goes to work as a teacher on a high-school. Still, she remains a ten-year-old child, and the creators did an extremely good job in portraying her brattiness.

The class Becky has to teach also is full of interesting characters, ranging from the idiot to the sarcastic, evil person and the bookworm to the plain girl. These character bring the perfect combination between serious and whacky personages, which get turned into some really funny moments.

If the main characters are out of the picture, the side-characters have enough material to show. The incredibly huge cast of unique characters worked out really great. There’s bound to be a character fit for everyone.

This anime also is extremely well coordinated. Every second of screen time, multiple things are happening at once. Whenever a character’s talking, something whacky is happening in the background. The creators manage to stuff so many in just one episode. They try to give enough room for each of the side-characters, even if it is just one second in an episode.

I also seriously recommend listening to the OP. The show’s got three different ones of them, and all of them are extremely high-quality, though don’t expect the lyrics to make sense. The creators also spent a huge load of time on the art and character design, with Becky appearing in a different outfit each episode, complete with a different haircut. Most of the characters look too cute as well, though Becky is by far the cutest. Do beware, though. While this definitely isn’t a harem or fanservice show, the creators aren’t scared to show some fanservice-y shots of the different characters at times.

Overall, if you want to see a comedy-show, I seriously recommend this anime. It really is one of the better comedies out there. While it isn’t perfect and some moments may miss the mark, it certainly gives a good shot.

Holy god… I never knew that this season contained so much rubbish. Ah well, a bad season once in a while doesn’t hurt either, as it gives me the chance to concentrate on the good stuff from the previous seasons. So far, I’m still hoping for Angelique, Night Head Genesis and Kemonozume to produce something worthwile. Let’s hope they do. Anyway, we now turn to the next batch of new shows, and it isn’t really exciting. All feature bland relationship between a boy and girl, destined to be together.

Boku ga Ita

We have this girl, who falls in love with an extremely popular guy. And well, that’s what this anime’s about. Some people might like such a love-story, though I found it incredibly boring. Nothing really happened in the twenty minutes of this episode and seeing the girl be embarrassed was so annoying to watch. And why are the characters missing an eye at times? Budget savings?

Tonagura!

I was indeed fearing for this series, and my fears have been confirmed after watching. Stay away from this series at all costs. We have a girl who still remembers her shildhood love from ten years ago. The boy meanwhile moved away, though now, ten years later he’s coming back. She’s so longing to see him again, until she finds out that he’s a horny bastard. The side-characters don’t really help either, as each and every one of them fits into the fanservice-clichés perfectly. The entire series seems to be aimed at fanservice, and of course the two main characters will be ending up together.

Chottoko Sister

If I had to describe this series, it’d be something like “Chobits goes loli”. The description of the anime really turned me off: a guy wishes he has a little sister, and on one Christmas Eve, his wish gets fulfilled when Santa personally brings him a little 10-year-old sister. Still, it works better in the anime. First of all, the guy was seven when he wished Santa for a new sister, after it became clear that his mother would never be able to have the sister he so longed for. It’s indeed very hard for a seven-year-old boy to deal with things like deaths, and especially premature deaths. The eccentric Santa also made up for a lot of things, I really appreciated that. Still, the fact remains that the guy has a new cute sister, and the sister keeps clinging to him. The focus of the anime indeed is clear. I might watch it, though this show will never be able to step out of the boundaries of mediocrity.

This episode was just… incredible… It focuses mostly on Dominüra and Limone, with a bit of Paraietta. The title of the episode already gave away what was about to happen… but god… I never expected it to be this awesome.

We continue with where we left off at the previous episode. Neviriru, Morinasu, Kaimu, Dödoreamon, Aruti, Furoe, Mamiina and Yun are still gone, and most of the episode therefore only shows Aaeru, Dominüra, Limone, Paraietta and Wauf. (Interesting note: the OP has changed. Okay, not a bit, though there are small parts which are different).

Wauf is worrying about the things which are happening. After all, things are quite strange, with four Simouns gone. Dominüra meanwhile is praying to Tempus Patiem. Limone, meanwhile, managed to find Rödoreamon’s doll. She and Aaeru have a bit of fun, and Paraietta gets angry at them. After that, another alarm goes off. This time, it’s not just one enemy plane, it’s an army of them. Wauf commands the Messis to dive into the trees for shelter (it seems that they haven’t been spotted yet).

Paraietta, Aaeru, Dominüra and Limone head off to scare the enemy planes away. Dominüra surprises Waporifu by admitting that the Simoun are God’s Crafts. Meanwhile, Paraietta feels quite left behind when she suggests to charge in, while Dominüra and Aaeru find it a better idea to defend the Messis. Limone was too cute when it appeared that she brought the stuffed toy along.

On a side-note, the background music definitely changed for the Simoun-battles. The accordion is totally gone, and it has made way for a psychedelic, futuristic tune. I have to say, that it fits perfectly! The enemy manages to leave without being able to spot the Messis. Paraietta gets even more confused when it seems that she acted too rash once more. When everything seems clear, she doesn’t notice the scouts of the enemy. Only because of Aaeru, they don’t get sighted.

Dominüra and Limone meanwhile have a touching discussion about the Emerald Ri Maajon. Limone understands how Dominüra feels. Later in the Messis, Wauf comes with two possible options, if the enemy were to attack again. 1. Wait for the four Simouns to return and hold defences until that happens. 2. Flee, and leave the other Simouns to die. Paraietta is so confused that she immediately assumes that it’ll be option 2. She then suggests to look for the others (aka Neviriru). The others disagree with her. Paraietta answers this by slapping Aaeru, in order to make her point. I wonder how she’ll turn out, as the rest of the episode focuses around Dominüra and Limone.

The former enters the church again, in which Waporifu is praying. Dominüra then fully acknowledges the existence of Tempus Patiem, and forbids Waporifu to mention the incident, a couple of episodes back. Then the alarm follows, and Wauf makes the logical decision: wait for the other Simoun to return. After all, he values their lives more than his own.

Limone again forgot to put Rödoreamon’s stuffed toy back. The Simoun head out, and they start to attack the enemy crafts. It then seems, however, that the enemies have exponentially increased their speeds, and they’re starting to be able to dodge the Ri Maajons. Dominüra and Limone try out all sorts of highly destructive Ri Maajons, but they don’t work. Dominüra then suggests the Emerald Ri Maajon. What follows is Dominüra claiming that what she saw a couple of episodes back completely destroyed her beliefs. Does that mean that she abandoned her superiors as well?

What follows is Wauf deciding to use the Messis as decoy for Simoun to escape. Neviriru, meanwhile, begins to feel that someone’s making the Emerald Ri Maajon. Paraietta also begins to yell at them, without any success, as well as the other Sybylla. Neviriru even screams, though Dominüra and Limone are totally relaxed, accompanied by an awesome background tune.

In the awesomeness which follows, Dominüra and Limone have disappeared, with the enemies still intact. Then, the other four Simoun return and the Arcus Prima appears. Even though this is a Deus ex Machina, I don’t care at all. It cleans up neatly after the major events of the scene. This also closes the Messis-arc.

Overall, this was just totally awesome. Without a doubt, this was the best episode of Simoun yet. And that has to say something! I can’t wait to find out what the last part of Simoun will be like.

Just one thing…

What the heck happened to Limone and Dominüra?