Tales of Wedding Rings – 12 (Fin) – Upping Their Game

Satou and his wives return to the ruins of Idanokan to find a battle between the imperial and the Abyss King’s armies. Nobody can put a scratch on the Abyss King himself, but after everyone wishes him good luck, Satou jumps into the battle, his five rings combine into one, and he disperses the Abyss King’s forces in one great explosion of light.

However, this attack is not quite enough to destroy the Abyss King. It merely wounds him, and Satou is completely out of juice, unable to lift a finger. The King prepares to kill Satou, but his wives leap in to protect him. Granart and Amber fight valiantly, but when the Abyss King re-summons his forces, they are woefully outnumbered. Satou tries to get his second wind, but passes out entirely.

After a series of flashbacks and dream sequences, Satou comes to on the back of a giant flying bird. Turns out Alabaster, with help from his former elven lover Smaragdi, were able to snatch him and his wives away from the Abyss King. Alabaster thanks Satou for wounding the Abyss King and sending his army into retreat for the time being.

Back home in Hime’s kingdom, Alabaster admits that there has been no record of the dark rings the Abyss King now wears, and that the only solution to defeating him once and for all is for the Ring King and his wives to gain even more power and fight as a unit. This will require them to “strengthen their bonds”, hence the arrival of the end credits scene of the wives sprawled across the bed in lingerie (though nothing happens).

In addition to growing closer to Satou, Hime will need more magical training so she can fight beside him. That’s where Hime’s powerful mage of a little sister, Morion Ravri Nokanakita, comes in, out of nowhere, just after Hime first mentions she even had a little sister she hasn’t seen in years. Need(akitta)less to say, this is not a true finale, but merely a stopping point for an confirmed second season.

My Dress-Up Darling – 03 – What “Beautiful” is For

While he’s no stranger to the beauty of Hina Dolls, having a real-life woman in a bikini in his room, followed by playing the eroge she loves so much, was bound to be a shock to Gojou’s system.

Sure enough, he dreams about Kitagawa, in the completed Shizuku-tan cosplay, starting to act like the eroge character, resulting in Gojou waking up with a surprise in his pants that makes him ask his Hina Doll head to look away.

It’s a frank but fairly accurate depiction of how things might likely go for someone so poorly socialized if confronted with stunning beauty and sexiness in such short order. But up to this point, he and Kitagawa have interacted one-on-one.

He’s nervous about how others would see them together, even when Kitagawa greets him warmly and her stylish friends are perfectly friendly with him. She doesn’t tell them“be nice to this guy”—if he’s alright with Marin-chan, he’s alright with them!

Even so, all of the muttering and rumors he overhears causes Gojou to avoid Kitagawa the rest of the day, for what he deems to be “her own good”. When she finally finds him hiding and confronts him, and he mentions people saying they might be going out, she can’t help but tease him by asking “then why don’t we?”

Before that though, it’s clear Kitagawa is genuinely hurt by Gojou avoiding her, saying it “sucks”. Sure, she could be a bit more patient with someone with such poor social skills, but it’s also a good idea not to let him adopt bad social habits. As far as she’s concerned, they’re already friends—something he hadn’t even considered, but has no reason not to believe.

With that, Kitagawa leads Gojou by the hand to Ikebukuro to shop for the materials needed to make the Shizuku cosplay. Kitagawa is extremely impressed by Gojou’s schematics and attention to detail. I also love how into the nitty-gritty this gets, and how the project stokes Gojou’s creative fire.

Among the nice details: Gojou suggests a richer cloth to accurately depict the high-class school Shizuku attends, and while Kitagawa picks a plain black wig, he tells her she’ll look more like a real-life Shizuku if the wig is more on the deep purple side.

Needless to say, Kitagawa is really glad she brought Gojou on the shopping trip. Had she gone alone (or not made the effort to track him down when he tried to avoid her), she’d have made the same mistakes she’s been making while going the cosplay path alone. In effect, he’s helping her make the right choices for the best possible final product.

In keeping with the equitability of their relationship, Gojou’s sage artistic advice is rewarded with things Kitagawa can offer, like a peak at her garterbelt, and buying him dinner. Watching Gojou stand so awkwardly in the lingerie shop is just such a relatable moment, even when Kitagawa says everyone there will assume they’re a couple and not care.

After ramen, a woman in line for the restaurant spots the two high school kids and thinks how nice it must be to be young…then she and other adults overhear the two discuss the eroge in enthusiastic detail and conclude that high school kids are terrifying. But that’s a loaded word. I’d say they’re just very specific in the things they’re passionate about.

Another cute detail is when Kitagawa shows Gojou a bunch of photos of cosplayers on social media, and he notes that she’s into characters with black hair…to which she says “look who’s talking” with his Hina doll love. It’s also clear the pint-sized model and the girl cosplaying male roles is one of the two yet-to-be introduced characters in the show’s promo art.

When Kitagawa’s calling all of the models in these photos “beautiful”, then notices he seems distracted, she asks him what’s up, and he relays to her his preference only to use the word beautiful for things that truly touch his heart, like the first time his gramps showed him Hina dolls.

Kitagawa doesn’t judge his ideals about beauty; she tells him if that’s what he’s decided, it’s totally fine, and it’s important to have things you don’t want to compromise on. The quality of the Shizuku costume is one of them, and I have no doubt that when it’s complete in two weeks(!) in time for an event Kitagawa wishes to attend, she’ll be able to move his heart to the extent he has no choice but to call her “beautiful.”

Before they part ways, Kitagawa offers him an indirect kiss in the form of a bite of meat-wrapped onigiri, and then has a moment of self-consciousness when she senses he thinks she’s pigging out. But before she catches her train, she makes sure to tell him how grateful she is for all his help and advice, for actually playing the game she loves so much, and for just being there for her in a way no one else can.

It wasn’t an official “date” but it might as well have been one, and a good one at that! Both parties came away having learned more about each other and liking each other even more as a result. That two-week deadline is going to be tough, but I have every confidence that Gojou will get the job done, and done well.

Shokugeki no Souma 4 – 08 – Someone Having Fun is Invincible

After some objections from both sides of the bout (both the rebels and Rindou), Azami gets his way, taking his seat as one of the judges for the final two matches. He’s flanked by two pro-Central WGO Bookmen in Decora and Courage, who brought Anne up from a “cloddish” sprout and taught her everything she knows. Thus both Takumi and Satoshi face a far less impartial and more hostile panel, though Anne gets to remain.

Takumi starts off with a delectable Calamari Ripieni, which acutally garners praise from all of the judges, even Azami. However, Rindou’s Causa suplemented by the rare Amazon fish Pirarucu, is simply better on every level, and Takumi is beaten by unanimous decision. It’s an honorable defeat, but a certain one, as the change of judges probably wouldn’t have affected the end result.

That brings us to Satoshi vs. Eishi, and we actually don’t see Eishi the entire rest of the episode. Everything is focused on Satoshi, who uses a very non-Japanese traditional ingredient in wild rabbit to craft a traditionally very delicate dish in a clear Wanmono soup, which any kind of wild game could easily spoil.

As the judges take a sumptuous journey through his dish and its morphing textures and flavors that preserved all the umami but removed all the unpleasant gaminess, Satoshi’s closest observer is Nene, who has known him since they were kids and was always jealous of his natural talent.

Little does she know he never looked down on her; in fact, as he was being mechanically prepared to succeed his parents in a process devoid of passion and joy, it was watching Nene work her butt off at her family’s restaurant that first awakened the idea of actually having fun cooking.

If Nene is outraged that Satoshi can seem so happy and content and lighthearted under such high leverage situations as this potentially-decisive Shokugeki, she has no one to blame but herself, who Satoshi credits with “saving” him from quitting cooking altogether. The judges agree: his cuisine has what it takes to at least put up a fight against Der Weiss Ritter. But first we have to see what Eishi has come up with.

BokuBen – 09 – Mr. Taro’s Neighborhood

Nariyuki’s penchant for getting himself in the most ridiculous situations with women seems to have no bounds, as demonstrated this week when he’s simply walking down the street when he’s suddenly snagged by Kurisu-sensei.

Apparently, her apartment is back to being a cesspool despite him “tutoring” her on how to clean it. But while there, a cockroach appears, and Nariyuki learns that Kurisu harbors a paralyzing fear of bugs.

The roach gets away when Kurisu can’t stop clinging to Nariyuki, but he continues on with the cleaning. But since the bug is still at large, Kurisu tells him she’ll “do anything” if he just stays with her. Pure, innocent Nariyuki asks her to help him study more. It gets late, and Kurisu orders food…from Rizu’s family’s restaurant.

When Rizu shows up with the delivery and sees Nariyuki at Kurisu’s house, well, her reaction is as predictable as it is understandable. What exactly is going on here? Rizu’s feelings for Nariyuki aside, she and Kurisu have a turbulent history. Nariyuki tries to break the ice with Rizu’s card game, but forgets Rizu sucks at it and Kurisu’s domination only makes things more awkward and tense.

While Kurisu is in the kitchen, Nariyuki tells Rizu that someone likes her more than she knows. He’s talking about Kurisu actually being kind and caring, but Rizu initially misinterprets it as Nariyuki confessing. Then a scream comes from the kitchen: the roach is back.

The moment Nariyuki enters, Kurisu gloms on him, and claims she’s paralyzed with fear, thus incapacitating him as the roach advances. They’re both saved by Rizu, daughter of a restaurateur, who shows no fear or hesitation in smashing what the business refers to as “Mr. Taro.”

While walking home, Rizu admits that in Kurisu’s fear of bugs she finally saw another side of her former tutor; one she not only never knew, but also never bothered to learn, since their past adversity closed her off to that. She thanks him, but he gains her ire once more when he gives the wrong answer to the somewhat dirty-sounding question of “If Mr. Taro comes to my house, will you come by to help?”

Fighting cockroaches with Rizu at Kurisu’s is pretty up there on the list of bizarre experiences Nariyuki finds himself in, but the second half’s scenario bests it in all attributes by a fair margin. To get to where ultimately ends up, Nariyuki’s mom has to get sick, he has to fill in for her at work not knowing what it is she actually does.

Turns out his mom works at a sexy lingerie shop. When his mom’s co-worker sees how embarrassed he is, she dresses him up as the mall mascot, then gets a call about her daughter and rushes off, leaving him in charge of the store when he can neither talk or remove the costume by himself. The second that costume went on, Nariyuki was doomed to experience trials he’s all too ill-equipped to deal with.

That’s because his first customers are Uruka and Rizu, the latter of whom needs a new, bigger bra due to her growing bust. When Nariyuki hesitates to measure Rizu, Uruka helps him, then presents him with either an elegant, frilly bra or a sleek, sexy one and asking which would be best to charm a third-year  boy (the answer, of course, being either).

If that’s not enough, Kurisu makes her second-straight appearance, this time having trouble with a bra that’s a bit too small, and requiring an attendant to help her unhook it. Since Nariyuki is the only attendant there, it’s up to him.

And that’s how he ends up removing the bra of a teacher from his school while dressed as a mascot filling in for his sick mom. There is a tide in the affairs of men…

Uruka and Rizu invited Fumino to join them, but she said she had other plans. Those plans turned out to be shopping for a bra alone, since that’s her preference, and because shopping for bras with the larger-breasted Uruka and Rizu isn’t her idea of a good time.

Poor Fumino: when she blurts out to the attendant that she is, indeed, a Size A,  Nariyuki’s mom’s co-worker has returned and removed the head of the mascot, reavealing to Fumino that Nariyuki was there all along, and leading to her declaring that “God is dead.”

Nariyuki treats her to a “crepe-pology” and properly explains why he was in a lingere store, and Fumino simply tells him he’s lucky she’s the one who found out and not the other two. He asks why, but she keeps it secret, as the “fifth exercise” in understanding a woman’s heart.

The thing is, I’m not entirely sure it’s any better for him that she found out, considering her conflicting feelings for the lad. Whoever ends up with this kid is simply going to have to be okay with the fact that he gets himself into the weirdest plights.

Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 25

For some reason, Tenchi’s duties as Dorm Supervisor include cleaning the girls’ bath dangerously close to bath time. Why can the girls keep their own bath clean? Like Lost, Ai Tenchi Muyo! isn’t interested in answering questions, only posing new ones, like ‘Why doesn’t Tenchi simply stay out in the open and explain his innocent presence there?’

How about ‘Why is Hana massaging Momo’s boobs when Momo’s boobs aren’t really that small at all?’ It’s not all that surprising the innocent Momo isn’t upset to find Tenchi in there at all, but it is rather odd that the other three student council members don’t notice the fully-clothed guy lurking behind her, especially when he and Momo talk. It’s as if just because those characters are out of that particular shot, they cannot see or hear anything going on three feet away from them!

Anyway, enough with cataloging the illogic; somehow, Momo gets Tenchi out of there without him being detected (or drowning). And while he’s in there, Tenchi gains another piece of the school’s puzzle: the student council and science clubs are locked in a struggle for some kind of “treasure”, treasure he may or may not also be looking for. This may be another case of being in the dark because this is my first exposure to the franchise and I have no idea what Tenchi is really up to, but unlike Hatoko, I’m content to stay in the dark and see what happens.

Ai Tenchi Muyo! – 24

Tenchi has come to a dangerous place, fenced in by barbed wire and covered in “No Trespassing” and “No Boys” signs. Tenchi may be a boy, but he’s also the dorm supervisor, and as such, he must brave the dorm, no matter what horrors await him.

Momo shows him around, and everything is pretty docile, and then they cross paths with Hana and Beni taking full advantage of the lack of a dress code (not that they follow it that closely at school!). Hana seems to be trying to impress Tenchi, while Beni has a perfectly reasonable explanation for her near-nudity: she’s going to take a bath. Thus, Tenchi’s demands that they put clothes on fall on deaf ears.

A less showy plot is also afoot: perhaps in an effort to blackmail/seduce Tenchi to their side, Yuki uses poor, shapely, innocent Rui for nefarious purposes, telling her to accidentally fall off a ladder and into Tenchi’s arms. When a real spider descends in her face, she loses it, clutching Tenchi so close to her chest he passes out. Yup; definitely a dangerous place. For him. For the girls, it’s just home.

Mawaru Penguindrum – 02 (Retro Review)

Originally posted 15 July 2011

“Which holes do her legs go through?”
“Fool, those holes lead to the Cosmos.”

-Shouma/Kanba @ a lingerie store

Good lord, that was an awesome, brilliant piece of entertainment. If anything, better than the first episode, since some things were already established. This just added more. More places, more people, more layers of story, more comedy, more mysteries; more lingerie and more stalking!

It’s all in the details: For instance, there’s a little animated PSA on the Sky Metro in which warns against groping in no uncertain terms…then Shouma is accused of just that, groping a girl on the train because his preguin friends (whom no one else can see) did so. That girl just happens to be friends with the person Shouma and Kanba are tailing – Ringo Oginome – the proverbial apple in the OP and ED. Ringo loves fate.

Hardly anything we’d seen from Ringo seemed all that suspicious, but it turns out she’s far from normal, compulsively stalking a teacher she’s fallen for (lying on a blanket under his house listening to him) as the brothers stalk her (with their penguins acting as their eyes and ears). While Himari is wearing her penguin hat, she has another “Incoming Message From The Big Giant Head” moment, ordering the bros to fetch the Penguindrum from Ringo. Problem is, she doesn’t tell them what it is.

So now, having followed Ringo, and learned the stalked is also a stalker, they have to gain possession of something they know not what from someone who is clearly unstable. Hell, she herself could be the drum thing. Who knows? All we know is, this episode was fantastic, and we can’t wait for the next one.

Rating: 9 (Superior)

Kami-sama no Memo-cho 4

Inside, beneath her hard exterior, Min knows she doesn’t make the best ramen in the world. Her father never intented to pass either his business or his recipes down to her, since their relationship was apparently strained. But he disappeared, so she took over Hanamaru anyway.

While she knows she’s not the best, she’s fiercely proud and strives to be better, and doesn’t appreciate ramen snobs taking just one sip then paying. Of course, that snob turns out to be her father, essentially checking in to see how she’s progressing. After all, artists like constructive critique. They don’t like people just walking out without explaining themselves.

The NEET Detectives’ case was very close to home this week, and without any Yakuza or clients-of-the-week, the core cast could shine. An apparent stalker is revealed – quite incredibly – as a bigwig designer at a lingerie company who simply cannot allow Min to walk around confine her “Taj Mahal” bust in something as vulgar and a sarashi. It’s silly, and allows for some fanservice, but the guy says he’s an artist – like Min, only with underwear, not ramen.

Artists can get hung up on things very easily, and are driven by some invisible force to achieve their goals, no matter how ludicrous. This episode really fleshed out Min a little more, giving her some background and depth; she previously hadn’t been much more than Narumi’s stern, cantankerous boss. Here’s hoping we can look forward to more character stories peppered in between cases – or mixed in with them.

Rating: 3.5

Mawaru Penguindrum 2

“Which holes do her legs go through?”
“Fool, those holes lead to the Cosmos.”

-Shouma/Kanba @ a lingerie store

Good lord, that was…brilliant. Awesome in every way. If anything, better than the first episode, since some things were already established. This just added more. More places, more people, more layers of story, more comedy, more mysteries; more lingerie and more stalking!

It’s all in the details: For instance, there’s a little animated PSA on the Sky Metro in which warns against groping in no uncertain terms…then Shouma is accused of just that, groping a girl on the train because his preguin friends (whom no one else can see) did so. The girl just happens to be friends with the person Shouma and Kanba are tailing – Ringo Oginome – the proverbial apple in the opening and ending sequences – which one really looks forward to, like the cherry atop the proverbial sundae. Ringo loves fate.

Hardly anything we’d seen from Ringo seemed all that suspicious, but it turns out she’s far from normal, compulsively stalking a teacher she’s fallen for (lying on a blanket under his house listening to him) as the brothers stalk her (with their penguins acting as their eyes and ears). While Himari is wearing her penguin hat, she has another “Incoming Message From The Big Giant Head” moment, ordering the bros to fetch the Penguindrum from Ringo. Problem is, she doesn’t tell them what it is.

So now, having followed Ringo, and learned the stalked is also a stalker, they have to gain possession of something they know not what from someone who is clearly unstable. Hell, she herself could be the drum thing. Who knows? All I know is, this episode was fantastic, and I can’t wait for the next one. Rating: 4