KILL la KILL- 07 ("Well we're movin' on up, to the east side, to a delux apartment in the sky!")

キルラキル ep. 07
KILL la KILL SPOILER Review

Synopsis:

Ryuuko is starting to enjoy family life at Mako's, but the constant club attacks on Ryuuko are annoying her. Mako explains that more clubs are forming because of Ryuuko as club presidents get 2-star Goku uniforms. Ryuuko decides to form the Fight Club, which Ira is not going to approve until Satsuki overrules him. When Ira reveals all of the paperwork, meetings, and the like required of a club president, Ryuuko makes Mako the president, much to Mako's chagrin. Ryuuko says that with this, her family can move up with everyone Ryuuko defeats. Indeed, as Ryuuko challenges other clubs and defeats them, Mako's family do get to move out of the slums, Mako gets a 1-star Goku uniform, and their quality of life improves. Ryuuko's success and Mako's paperwork skills soon gets the family moved into a mansion. However, the close, family atmosphere that Ryuuko had enjoyed vanishes, though Mako is determined to see it continue.

Their continued success has the elite four very concerned, which they express to Satsuki. She tells them to be patient, as it may be that Ryuuko and Mako aren't destroying the Honnouji system, but are being assimilated by it. Ryuuko doesn't like where they've headed, so on the day they are to challenge the elite, Ryuuko resigns. Mako doesn't want to go back to the slums. Satsuki sends down a 2-star robe for Mako, telling her that if she defeats Ryuuko, she'll gain a 3-star Goku uniform. Mako dons the uniform and battles Ryuuko for the sake of not being poor again. Even Mako's family cheers for Mako. Ryuuko refuses to fight and takes a beating for an entire day. Satsuki gloats over Ryuuko and the pig nature of humans that must be controlled. As Mako goes for the finishing blow, she stops herself because Ryuuko isn't fighting. She gets angry with herself and her family and unleashes the uniforms full power at them, which Ryuuko stops, destroying the arena. Ryuuko gloats back at Satsuki about this, but through Mako's family are sent back to the slums, they are happy as a family.

Thoughts/Review:

One of the things I'm liking about KILL la KILL is that though the setting is nothing that new, the series is not falling into a "monster of the week" trope, but keeps things lively and interesting with the unexpected.

Having Mako's family move up in life as Mako's status at the school improved was an interesting way of getting a glimpse into how other folks in better circumstances lived. There's a certain cliched element to the different lifestyles, but considering how the whole area around Honnouji is set up, that is to be expected.

The one element I didn't like is the reset to the status quo for Mako's family. The second it became clear that Mako's family would see their standard of living improved, I knew that it would be force-reset back down to nothing. For me, it would have been more interesting and even more sinister had Satsuki arranged it so that Mako's family didn't return to the slums. but went down to the area above that.

I guess only Ryuuko is allowed to have any growth, which is mostly coming from cliched shounen battle approaches -- fight, learn lessons, get stronger, repeat. I don't mind that Ryuuko grows in this fashion, but allowing Ryuuko to progress while Mako's family stays down just seems wrong to me (even if the lesson is supposed to be, "Be happy with your lot in life").

Satsuki still remains the most interesting character in this series as far as I'm concerned. The fact that she allowed the Fight Club to be formed and for Ryuuko to hunt down and defeat the other clubs in order to purge Honnouji Academy of the weak and undesirables is pure diabolical and genius to boot. After all, had Satsuki gone out and done a purge herself, it might have truly torn down the system she'd created. But, if she appears to be an outsider and allows someone else to do her dirty work, the system not only remains, but gets stronger while Satsuki's hands stay clean and her power reaffirmed.

In the end, a good episode with an interesting reveal. I just wish Mako's family didn't get the status quo reset.

UQ Holder Chapter 12 SPOILER Images (Update #1)

Here are SPOILER images from the upcoming UQ Holder chapter 12, courtesy of the VERY gracious Southrop.

**********UQ HOLDER CHAPTER 12 SPOILERS**********

Southrop has also written up quite a few translator notes for the chapter for those wanting more information. ^_^

Update #1: One more, NSFW image. 

BWAH!Ha!ha!ha! Akamatsu-sensei, you so-and-so!

Akamatsu-sensei's "UQ Holder" Gets Jabbed in Kumeta-sensei's "Sekkachi Hakushaku to Jikan Dorobou"

KUMETA Kouji-sensei, probably best known as the manga-ka of the popular series Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, has recently started a new manga series, titled Sekkachi Hakushaku to Jikan Dorobou. In his second chapter, he goes after AKAMATSU Ken-sensei's new manga, UQ Holder. Apparently, Kumeta-sensei isn't a fan of Akamatsu-sensei and has jabbed him a few times in Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei.

For those who don't know, UQ Holder is the sequel to Negima! UQ Holder is about a group of immortals, of whom Eva, the shinso vampire in Negima!, is a member. Eva has been the guardian to a boy named Touta, who has recently become an immortal vampire.  Touta is an oblivious character who has certain thoughts on how things should be and that's that. One of his dreams is to one day get to the top of the space elevator (tower), which could be seen in the distance from his rural village.

It is this premise that Kumeta-sensei pokes fun of in chapter 2 of Sekkachi Hakushaku to Jikan Dorobou (no translation needed to get the visual gag).

But, Kumeta-sensei doesn't stop there. According to Hata (Negima!/UQ Holder fan extraordinaire), Kumeta-sensei goes after the fact that the first chapter of UQ Holder was 82 pages; he jabs the whole immortality concept that is the basis of UQ Holder, and he apparently cracks about the female lead (I'm guessing Yukihime, but those who can read Japanese can correct me). I'm not sure which chapter(s) these shots come from, but here are the pages.

****WARNING! LAST TWO IMAGES ARE NSFW!!!****

Anyway, I found this rather amusing. I'm not sure how serious this thing is between Kumeta-sensei and Akamatsu-sensei. If anyone has more info, do share in the comments. ^_^

Update: This information comes from Hata regarding the conflict.

Ken and Kumita never knew each other well, in fact, according to Ken, he NEVER talked to Kumita once, even if sometimes chances present itself during the year end Kodansha party, the only connection they shared is the friendship with Hayate's Hata sensei, (Hata being the assistant to Kumita once.) they both refer to each other on BBS/twitter as "that guy/jerk", (yaru) and the interests are all one sided from Kumita, pretty much acts like a stalker in his reference to things related to Ken,

basically Kumita since the days of Love Hina never fail to troll Ken whenever he could, the most likely reason general public can come out with is he is jealous at Ken being a life winner, (otaku being a successful, rich mangaka marry to a young, pretty, cosplay wife.) Kumita himself never give a reason for his actions.

contray to public belief, Ken said he is not mad at Kumita, and Kumita also had extend free promotion such as for Ken's wife failed cosplay photo salon.

you can read all about it by google both names together, this is well known to most people follow either mangaka.

http://www91.odn.ne.jp/cjt24200/yamada/text/m/index2.html
http://wiki.kumetan.net/index.php?赤松健

H/T: Hata ^_^

UQ Holder Manga Chapter 11 Review (UQ Holder defined.)

ユーキューホルダー!/UQ Holder Chapter 11 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

Kuroumaru and Touta launch an attack on the monster seals. Kuroumaru's Kenfuka Bakuenheki creates a massive wall of flame, which ends up killing one of the monster seals that ate Touta's arm. They continue slaughtering the monsters and Jinbee encourages them, telling them that they have to kill all of the monster seals, giant spiders, and bats in order to escape.

Up at the UQ Holder HQ, Karin thinks about how Touta was living with Yukihime and she's not pleased. Three girls (two beast girls and a human-looking girl) are playing with a ball, which gets away from them and rolls to Karin. They nervously approach her to get the ball back, but she absentmindedly destroys it. The trio flee crying to AMEYA Ikkuu, who scolds Karin for making the kids cry. He rapidly repairs their destroyed ball, then tells Karin that she should smile more. Karin says she has no such orders from Yukihime.

The sealed well leading to the underground labyrinth shows signs of activity, causing great alarm. Karin tells Ikkuu to inform Yukihime while she handles things here, should the magical monsters come forth. Touta and Kuroumaru emerge as Karin whacks Touta hard with her mallet. She's surprised to discover her mistake. Touta recovers and goes off on Karin, who takes his words as a challenge.

The two charge each other as Kuroumaru tells Touta he shouldn't fight girls. Touta says that in war, sex doesn't matter, which is what Yukihime taught him. Touta increases the weight of Gravity Sword, surprising Karin a bit, though she acts like it is nothing. Gengorou breaks up the fight, citing that fighting between UQ Holder members is not allowed. Touta is amazed that Gengorou is holding him up in spite of the massive weight he's now placed on Gravity Blade.

The commotion causes a lot of people to emerge from the buildings, but when they see Kuroumaru and Touta, they are surprised since only a month and a half had passed since they were dumped underground. Even Ikkuu took four months to escape. Jinbee emerges from the well and vouches for them, so everyone accepts the two, addressing Touta as "Konoe-aniki" and Kuroumaru as "Tokisaka-anesan". Jinbee flees when Gengorou demands he get back to work after slacking off for two years.

Touta asks what UQ Holder does, amazing Ikkuu since they took the test to join without knowing anything about the group. The people who'd emerge all transform into youkai, surprising Touta and Kuroumaru. Ikkuu calls this group of general UQ Holder members as Hyakki Yakou, and says that UQ Holder is a group of otherworldly beings who help each other out and that they are protectors of that. Touta decides he's going to take over the place, irritating the youkai, who ask Ikkuu if they can teach Touta a lesson.

Thoughts/Review:

This chapter turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would be, which is a pleasant surprise.

I'm glad that the somewhat tedious mini training arc is over. Although it makes Touta overpowered at the moment, I'd rather the story move to more interesting areas.

Touta still hasn't learned a blasted thing from his time underground. He lost an arm, but the moment he got it back, everything else was forgotten. I really would love for all of those youkai to teach him a very painful lesson.

That brings me to the youkai. That was the big surprise here as it turns out that all of the yakuza-type folks are actually youkai. The one big dude does appear to be the same youkai that Asuna and Setsuna fought during the Kyoto arc. I hope it is.

The fact that youkai can have human form is not new to the Akamatsu-verse. After all, just prior to the Mahora Budokai arc in Negima!, Negi and Kotaro had to fight Count Herrman, the youkai that petrified Negi's village. His transformation seemed more illusionary than the youkai in UQH, but maybe we'll learn more down the road.

The three young girls were quite adorable. Looks like they are all beast girls, with one looking like Konoka (which I'm assuming is part of the Akamatsu-sensei curse of not having a lot of character designs).  It would be cool if they were related to the girls from Negima! on the Magic World.

As to Jinbee, I guess he was slacking off for two years since he could have escaped by cleaning up the place below on his own.

That does lead me to wonder how new recruits normally get through. If there's no one down there, and the only way out is to defeat the magical monsters, how do they learn that without someone there. Jinbee really gave Touta and Kuroumaru a major leg up.

Finally, I did not Touta reflecting on the fact that even though he is a vampire, he still enjoyed the sun. It would be interesting to see if Akamatsu-sensei actually provides more information on vampires in his universe.

So, a better chapter than expected. I hope things continue to improve.

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 429 (Product placement anyone? How about some Georgia Max Coffee?)

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 429 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With the doujinshi event now over, the exhausted Ruka and Nagi sit in folding chairs back to back and discuss the situation. Ruka's remark that she didn't think Nagi would sell 100 copies of her doujinshi causes Nagi to think that Ruka threw the contest, since Ruka only sold 99. Ruka denies this and blames the weird mask she wore, stating that folks would rather buy from a cute girl than someone in a bizarre mask.

Ruka claims victory on manga quality, so Nagi asks if she wants another contest. Ruka agrees, but says they'll have to do it in ten years. Ruka says that during that time, she'll focus on being an idol, since the life of an idol is limited, after which she return to the world of manga. Ruka holds out her hand and says that Nagi will probably be a successful manga-ka in ten years, so she asks Nagi to wait for her to join Nagi. Nagi says that there's no way she's waiting, vowing to be so far ahead of Ruka, Ruka won't be able to see Nagi's back. This causes Ruka to smile.

Chiharu returns from taking out the trash and has canned coffee for everyone. She asks Nagi how it feels to sell out, to which Nagi responds that it is the best feeling ever. Ruka tells Chiharu of their plans to do this again in ten years, so Chiharu promises to help again then.

Outside, Kurosu and Hayate chat about Ruka's parents and the positive outcome for Ruka. Kurosu asks if Hayate will reconcile with his own parents. He says that is impossible since they'd never change nor feel sorry for what they'd done, unlike Ruka's parents. However, Hayate does express a desire to meet his older brother again, whom he has not seen in ten years. When Hayate describes him, Kurosu appears to recognize him.

Thoughts/Review:

This was a nice aftermath chapter, where once again, Hata-sensei didn't worry about trying to ramrod gags into the chapter just for the sake of gags.

I got a little kick out of Ruka teasing Nagi, subtly making Nagi aware that Ruka threw the match. Ruka's excuse for not selling one additional copy being the mask amused me as well since it kept Nagi off balance.

I wonder if Hata-sensei will do some artwork showing Nagi and Ruka ten years from now doing another doujinshi contest. I rather doubt that would make it into the regular manga, but it could be omake work of some kind.

Hata-sensei's dropping Hayate's older brother back into the mix was something I'd not expected. He's been forgotten about for a long time, but obviously, Hata-sensei has his notes for plot threads that need addressing. ^_~

Speaking of which, Kurosu is turning out to be a character brought in just to move plot threads forward. She was responsible for moving Ruka's story to a conclusion, and now it appears she'll be the one to reintroduce Hayate with his brother. I rather doubt Hata-sensei jumps right into that story, but it will have to be done before the Athena story can advance, as I see it.

One final thought -- product placement anyone? *lol* Georgia Max Coffee is something I don't think is sold in the U.S. at all (I know Pacific Mercantile sells some canned coffees, but not Georgia products), but it is big in Japan.  Using real products never bothers me, but the focus on the product combined with it not being a parody version makes me think that this might be a product placement.

In the end, a nice aftermath chapter with the groundwork of the next arc being laid out. I expect Hata-sensei to do gag chapters now, but I could be very wrong about that.

Coppelion - 06 (Wanna join Coppelion? All you need are the brains of a squashed apricot!)

コッペリオン Ep. 06 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Haruto from the Cleaners squad sets out to find the Medical Unit squad of Ibara's. Meanwhile, in Planet, Takeo continues her recovery while Ibara has a meal and chats with Kurobe and Gennai about the situation. Kurobe has a large arsenal of weapons he's collected, so to deal with 1st Division, they load up. An alarm sounds, indicating intruders at the front gate, but since no one is there, Aoi assumes the wolf is there and races out to let it in. She's immediately captured by 1st Division, who demand Ibara join their cause. 1st Division leaves, so Kurobe takes Ibara to their hideout, where Ibara foolishly tries to force their surrender. They aren't afraid of death, and she's quickly overcome and beaten.

Haruto arrives and tosses a grenade at their makeshift HQ, damaging it. They escape in his APC, but have to abandon Aoi after Kurobe accidentally drops her. They do get Ibara, who's not happy when she gains consciousness and learns about Aoi. Haruto reveals that he has a tracer on Aoi that will remain active as long as she's alive. He's made it so that 1st Division will have to move and sure enough, they do just that. The group sets out with Gennai and follow 1st Division to a former water treatment plant, where they are extracting barrels of nuclear waste from the pools. Haruto creates a distraction to allow Ibara to rescue Aoi. Aoi gets away but Ibara is caught by the general, how has his tank fire at himself and Ibara. When Aoi lets the others know, they are horrified when they find the injured Ibara.

Thoughts/Review:

Please, can we lose the character of Aoi already? Sheeze, what was she injected with? Massive amounts of stupidity instead of brains? Short term memory failure?

Hey! There's an alarm at the front gate. We don't see ANYTHING, but clearly, it was the wolf that's been hanging out with them 'cause that's what Aoi believes. Why is Aoi in the JASA facility? It couldn't be because she and her comrades were FLEEING FOR THEIR LIVES from 1st Division, could it?

"Oh no! Who's 1st Division. It has to be the wolf and by George, I'm going to open the gate, let the wolf in, then get surprised when I'm captured, whereby I can execute my chief skills of crying, screaming, complaining, etc. I'm a valuable member of Coppelion's Medical Unit! IBARA-SENPAI! DON'T ABANDON THE BEAUTIFUL AOI!"

Ibara may have some redeeming skills, but she's kind of annoying as well, more so in this episode. The anime may be making her more stupid since the manga had her in firefights with opponents, even killing mutant animals, proving she had fighting skills. Here, she's worthless because she won't shoot when she should despite knowing the truth. Instead, she falls back on her emotionalism, leading her to a stupid, naive decision which could have cost her the only life she has.

Remember how I was complaining last episode about the Medical Unit (as I'll now refer to the members of Ibara's team) not having an M1133 Stryker Medical Evacuation Vehicle? At least the Cleaner's group had some sort of Armored Personnel Carrier. So tell me again why the Medical Unit didn't get a vehicle?

I wanted to read the Crunchyroll translations, but naturally, this one is the only one of the ones I've checked with an adaptation that isn't ANB-approved (it actually made my eyes hurt because of certain changes made, which would be minor to most, but a big deal to me...kinda like not getting cheese on my cheeseburger ^_~). So I've just been unable to swallow it. I may try again later.  I'd like to see how the manga story actually goes for this arc.

For now, I still want to be fair to this anime and as such I'll keep going. However, this is proving to be a case of what NOT to do to make a good anime series. 

BABYMETAL - Death (デス - Desu!)

Time for another adventure in BABYMETAL music. This time, I'm going off the beaten path by sharing one of the limited edition songs from BABYMETAL called Death. This one is pure death metal, or as pure as an idol-metal group can get.  First up, here's the song from the LE single.



Up until 1:15, the song has a beautifully haunting, Gothic feel to it. Then, the metal kicks in full steam with a very Metallica One feel for a bit. By the way, if you couldn't tell, they are spelling out BABYMETAL.  Japanese really haven't mastered English phonetics. ^_~

Here are a couple of live versions of the song, which kind of amuse me.  There's something about seeing young idol girls performing a death metal song that cracks me up, but in a good way.



I think this one is the on the LE disc, but don't quote me on that.



It is a shame that this song isn't on iTunes. However, were the Japanese were to allow that to happen, that would break the otaku-fleecing system the Japanese have, whereby they get otaku to double and triple dip for the same songs on different discs, but with LE ones having unique items, such as a song not found anywhere else.

Anyway, the song does tickle my ear and is another of my favorite BABYMETAL tunes. ^_^