Moving

Update: April 29, 2006: I've moved my blog from this site to my own website using Wordpress. Wordpress gives me more flexibility and allows me to streamline the main page so it won't take forever to load for you.

My new site is available here: wrexgrafix.com/anime/blog

Yoroshiku!

Kiba 03

Episode 3: Those Who Have Power (Chikara wo Motsu Monotachi)

Zed is sent to train from Dumas and he meets Robes, another powerful shardcaster. Full summary following the pics (click to enlarge):Sebastian thinks Jiico should train Zed, but Jiico believes Zed's potential would be best brought out by letting him find his own path. He sends Zed to Dumas, the shardcaster champion, to see if he can learn from him. Roiya takes him to his farm and they are greeted by Mickey, Dumas' apprentice. Zed attacks Dumas as soon as he sees him. However, Dumas doesn't have to lay a finger on him and Zed tires out with his futile attempts. Mickey gives Zed a hoe to work on the farm; the tells him that a shardcaster needs to build his strength and stamina, but Zed just walks off. Blocking the path, however, is a spirit... and from behind the spirit steps out Robes, a foppish shardcaster who believes he's stronger than Dumas. He's quite popular with the ladies, and Roiya goes fangirl over him. Robes has heard of the boy from another dimension and invites him to his party being held that night. He extends the invitation to his friends. Zed doesn't want to go, but his stomach growls and they use that as the excuse to go to the party.

At the party, Robes tries to talk to Zed again; they are interrupted by some guests (Robes uses this opportunity to talk about how he's stronger than Dumas) and then by the surprise appearance of Dumas himself. Robes challenges him, but Robes' butler says that he's the one who invited Dumas and that they had business to talk about and they go off on their own. Later that evening, Dumas sees a shard battle take place in a dark alley.

That night, Zed sees a man with a tattoo on his face indicating that he was a shard warrior from Jiimotto (Jemot?). He follows him and is standing near a farm. He sees Mickey who asks what he's doing here. Mickey says this place also belonged to Dumas. Dumas comes out of the building and invites them in; he says he can't really hide what he's doing. He reveals that he heals fallen warriors (using a healing shard), even though they are from Jiimotto. The whole farm is full of former Jiimotto warriors. He explains that once defeated, they can't return to their homelands so they have nowhere to go. He sees nothing wrong with what he's doing. Zed comments that they are enemies.

Anyway, it seems they are harmless and Mickey advises Zed to sleep there, as it is late. He dreams of his Spirit and also his mom. He wakes up and meets a female warrior. She says it's best if he doesn't stay here; that he should return to his mother, who's probably worried.

Later that night, however, the same girl attacks Zed from behind; a strong Jiimotto warrior attacks Dumas, and the rest run towards the center of town. She tells him they have no place to go so they need to make their own place. They're planning to storm the castle. She throws a spirit ball at Zed, causing a small explosion, and she heads toward the castle. Meanwhile, Dumas has defeated the warrior but there's a big blast from the direction of the castle. The rest of the Jiimotto warriors are opening the castle gates. However, waiting for them is Robes. Zed is unharmed, as he was able to protect himself using his spirit energy. He heads for the castle as well. At the castle, 5 warriors and their Spirits attack Robes; he takes them on with one, and he's kicking ass. Dumas arrives on the scene with his own Spirit, and together they defeat all the Jiimotto warriors. Zed's seen the action and comments that this is the power of shardcasters.

Blood+ Episode 27

Episode title: Paris: Je t'aime

Kai learns about the Shifu and Diva goes out for a night out on the town. Detailed summary following the pics (click to enlarge):Kai sees the Shifu Irene at an observatory deck at the Eiffle Tower. A boy bumps into her, falls, and she helps him up. The boy says, "Thank you" and runs off, and she seems surprised by those words. Meanwhile, Saya and Haji spar, honing their fighting skills. David and Lewis discuss human deaths at the apparent hands of either yokushuu, shifu, Chevaliers, or maybe even Diva. Saya shows a determination to stop the killings and says she's off to the library and would be back by the evening, making Lewis comment that she'd changed. David thinks that she's shouldering the responsibility for stopping Diva.

Meanwhile, Kai trails Irene, but is surprised by her innocence and wonderment about the world. He begins to question if she's really a yokushuu. As she turns into a dark alley, however, he hears her miffled scream. Some thugs have a hold of her and try to mug her for cash, which she doesn't. She restrains her instincts to rip them to shreds, and doesn't have to, as Kai comes to her rescue, looking cool as he beats up the thugs and forces them to leave at gunpoint. He sees her staring at the blood on the ground and asks her if she doesn't want blood. He asks why she didn't fight back when she was assaulted, and she says sadly that she doesn't want to kill any more. At that moment, the clouds part, revealing the sun, and she hurriedly pulls over her cowl and tries to flee but falls unconscious.

Meanwhile, Saya's doing research at the library and has found something in the microfiche archives and gets a print out. As she's walking out, Akihiro and Mao pass her but neither party sees each other. Akihiro has found the connection between Goldsmidt and the Goldsmiths who founded the Cinq Flèches Group. The librarian tells Akihiro that the microfiche machine is now available for his use.

When Irene wakes up, Kai's at her side. She realizes that he's saved her, and asks if he's going to call his comrades, but he said if had wanted to he already would have. He asks her what Shifu are, and she says that they were created from humans in the north, a place called "Kirube," and bred to fight... probably (we also see an image of Anshel). They were educated in human ways, but only trained for fighting (they fought against yokushuu), and realized they were nearly invincible, as they always healed. However, they realized that they could die as well, as they witnessed comrades who developed red cracks and eventually died. They called the condition before death "son" ("harm"). One day Moses convinced everyone to break out, to find a cure for their eventual early death. He wanted to believe in the word, "hope" that he had learned. As they broke out, they learned from the humans that they were created to be disposable creatures. Then she shows Kai that she has "son" on her neck... she's soon to die. To cure that, she says she needs blood from the source: blood from Diva.... or Saya.

Meanwhile, Solomon wants to talk to Anshel why he secretly created the shifu, and he says that he created them as insurance and to just leave them in his hands. Solomon's objection is interrupted by Diva and the other Chevaliers; Diva has a new dress and she wants to go out (to "play"). She calls Anshel her father, but he says he's only to call her that in front of the humans.

Kai tells Irene that if she wants Saya's blood, he'll just ask her for it. He informs her that they don't have to kill, they just need to ask. Ask, and when their request is granted, to say, "Thank you." She doesn't know what it means as they were only taught what they needed to do at Kirube. They get ready to leave, but she's too weak to stand, he teaches her to piggy back on him (and nearly chokes him at first), and he carries her on his back. As they're walking he tells her about what happened to Riku and his helpless feeling. She tells him she'd feel happy if she was Riku and could return to someone like him. She tells him she was happy to have talked to him today and tells him, "thank you" and he says that she hasn't learned the words well enough as he hasn't done anything she needs to thank him for yet.

Saya gets a call about Riku and says she's about to return. Both Saya and Irene feel something; Diva's singing. She and the chevaliers pass Irene and Kai as they drive by in their limosine. Irene gets off and runs the other direction and Kai chases her. Saya sees Diva get out of the car at the end of the street but is distracted by the sight of Kai and Irene. She tries to warn him away, but he follows her and the rest of the Shifu surround them. Irene tells them not to kill Kai and they wonder why she's protecting him (and Moses notices the red cracks on her neck). Then Saya shows up and the little psychotic girl shifu Riru can't believe she's come to them and with no weapon. She attacks but is twarted by Haji's dagger. He gives Saya her sword, which she draws. Moses calls them to retreat. Saya asks Kai if he's all right, and he seems lost in thought. Haji asks if they should go after the shifu, and Saya says "yes." Then Kai asks they not go after them, to believe him, that the shifu are not their enemies.

At the library, it's closing time, but Akihiro's made a big discovery... a photo of Saya and Haji from over a hundred years ago. End of episode.

Simoun 02

Episode title: Blue Springs (Aoi Izumi)

Quick summary: Aeru goes out on a training Simoun vessel and engages the enemy fighters. When her guns don't work, she rams into them and uses their broken fighters to ram into each other. Those watching above in the ship can't believe how she can fight in a Simoun with "remersion" capabilities... they are also surprised to see that her flight patterns resemble those of Simoun remersion attack patterns. When she returns, a pilot named Paraieta is angry with her and asks if she was trying to do Nebiriru's Simoun remersions, but Aeru neither knows about remersions or Nebiriru. Paraieta angrily stomps away, and Aeru learns from the other girls that Nebiriru is their star Simoun pilot; Aeru's decided, she's going to be Nebiriru's partner.

Meanwhile, a pilot named Eri assists Nebiriru, who had been training Simoun patterns. She's in civilian clothes as she will go to the Springs and asks Nebiriru if she can accompany her since she lost her partner. Nebiriru agrees. We learn that everyone is born female in this world, and when one turns 17, one must go to the Springs where you decide to be male or female. Eri is past 17. Paraieta (who has a thing for Nebiriru) tries to stop Nebiriru; Nebiriru says that she may enter the Springs herself since she's over 17 (she has an exemption because she's like their princess and their symbol). Aeru tries to stop her too, but Nebiriru decides to go anyway. Aeru asks if she can pilot them there and Nebiriru agrees.

After they land, Nebiriru and Eri go off alone to the Spring site. They go there by train and some passengers pay homage to Nebiriru. Nebiriru asks Eri if she's decided, but she hasn't yet chosen which gender. They get to the Springs, Eri enters, some light, looking like DNA helixes hit her. Afterwards, they walk out, and Nebiriru congratulates her. It seems Eri will now become male; her new name is Erif, and as the realization hits her, she breaks down and cries. At the air port, Nebiriru tells Aeru she decided not to enter the Springs, and she'll become Aeru's Simoun partner. They kiss, start up their Simoun vessel and fly back to the ship. Nebiriru seems pensive and full of emotion, and she tells Aeru to fly higher... higher than their ship.

Screencaps with caption (click to enlarge):

Kagihime 13

Well, after seeing this, I'll have to say that episode 12 was the true final episode. Think of this one as a fanservice episode. It was funny, bizarre, and looked like an RPG at times. Enjoy the pics, and I'll explain what this was at the end (click on the pics to enlarge):
So as you could probably surmise from the pics, the entire episode was just Aruto's story he was telling Kiraha. As I mentioned it earlier, I think this is like a fanservice episode, showing the unused Alice-users we see on the ending animation. I gotta say that this show grew on me, and I enjoyed it. I'm planning on buying the R2 DVDs (the first comes out at the end of April) and the manga as well (I think there are only 3 volumes). I hope it'll be licensed and released to R1 DVDs.