Gushing over Magical Girls – 01 (First Impressions) – Magical Churl

Hiiragi Utena is an average girl who keeps to herself. Her town is protected by the Tres Magia, a trio of strong, beautiful magical girls. Utena loves them very, very much and wishes she could be them. Someone heard her wish, and decided to make it come true … with a twist.

That someone is the Kyuubey-like Vinalita, who presents Utena with a talisman that switches out her school uni for an extremely risqué get-up complete with star pasties. When she comments that the look doesn’t scream “magical girl”, Vinalita lays it on her: she’s going to be a villain.

When the Tres Magia spot them and think they’re up to no good, Vinalita blackmails Utena with video of her transformation and hands her a crop with which to turn a flower into a monster that binds the magical girls into compromising positions with its tendrils.

Utena admits that watching the girls squirm makes her feel “funny”, but it’s not a feeling she hates. Venalita, not content to let her simply watch, tells her to take an active role, and she does, spanking the girls repeatedly with her crop-like wand.

Venalita believes that Utena’s feelings for magical girls isn’t love, but a twisted delight from watching them suffer, and an even greater delight in administering that suffering. In other words, Venalita believes her to be a pure sadist—the perfect new recruit for the evil organization, Enormita.

Utena wakes up in bed, relieved it was just a dream (albeit one she somewhat enjoyed), only for Venalita to shatter the idea it was a dream. Due to magical interference, Utena doesn’t realize that the Tres Magia are in the same class as her, nor do they recognize her as their torturer.

Haruka, greets Utena warmly at school and and compliments the flowers she tends to; Utena is surprised Haruka even knows her name. Throughout the day Haruka and her comrades Kaoruko (blonde hair) and Sayo (turquoise hair) suffer the lasting effects of their lashing and vow revenge against the evil perpetrator.

They get the rematch they wanted, but it doesn’t go the way they want. Venalita lures them to an abandoned warehouse to fight low-level baddies. Then when Utena shows up, she creates monsters out of mannequins that once again restrain the magical girls.

This time, the mannequins tear away their sleeves and boots and start mercilessly tickling them. The display once again gets Utena’s juices flowing, and she joins in the ticklefest, once again giving in to her darker impulses.

When Sayo breaks free, Utena has to retreat. Back home, she continues to wrestle with the outrageous, previously unthinkable fact that she has tortured the magical girls she loves more than anything not once but twice now, and can’t even deny she enjoyed it.

As a bad guy, I’m sure it’s Venalita’s goal to hone Utena into a more confident villain by steadily flushing away her shame with more close encounters. The OP and ED also indicate she’ll be gaining two villainous comrades, so we’ll eventually see how a 3-on-3 battle will shake out.

Utena definitely engages in objectionable, villainous behavior. At the same time, there’s the question of whether this is who she was always meant to be. Before she met Venalita, she was a loner with no power. Now she’s about to gain friends and has gained lots of power. We’ll see if it ends up being worth it.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades – 15 (Fin) – Never Let Me Go

Joe’s orbs end up doing the trick: even though Pete trips before he can toss the flare, everyone sees it and race to the source. As he sinks into the bog, utterly exhausted, he says he doesn’t want to die there, and wants to see everyone again. He gets his wish: he doesn’t die, and Oliver, Nanao, Chela, and Vera are there when he comes to.

After some hugs and tears, Lia makes her presence known, and begins an incantation that they can’t stop, leading to the creation of a “Grand Aria”, a little world in miniature where Lia reigns supreme. It takes the form of a giant womb. No one can get in, and no one can escape.

Stacey and Lynette end up caught in the Aria as well, but Vera knows even with numbers on their side, they’re all now living under Lia’s rules. Interestingly, their magic doesn’t seem to suffer, as they’re able to destroy newborn chimeras aplenty; it’s just that they never stop coming.

Vera decides to take a gamble and rattle Lia’s cage by telling her she was never good enough for Alvin. Lia’s reaction shows Vera that there’s still some humanity left in her, or she wouldn’t be lashing out in anger. Vera’s whole hope is to create an opening long enough for her underclassmen to strike, but she pays dearly in the form of grievous bodily harm.

With Vera out of commission, it’s up to Nanao, and between her and Oliver I thought we might get one or two Spellblade attacks. But while Chela and the others give Nanao enough time to get within range to kill Lia, when the time comes to bring her sword down, she can’t do it.

She gets knocked off her broom and picked up by Oliver. She apologizes for not being able to get it done, for Lia was “but a child” to her, and she simply can’t bring her blade down upon a crying kid. Oliver understands; it’s just who Nanao is, and one of the reasons he cares for her so.

Now, it would appear to be curtains for the good guys, but Lia’s humanity remains exposed after Vera ripped off the magic scab to reveal a raw wound of longing. Lia watches Oliver holding Nanao and wonders how long its been since someone held her like that.

Just then, a beautiful, pure, piercing song emantes from outside the Aria, and holes and fissures start to form, letting bright white light in. Alvin and Carlos have made it. That “Final Visitor” thing they mentioned last week? It’s time for that, because the Whitlows have a pact with the Salvadoris.

Because Carlos is a castrato in order to preserve his magical singing voice, he is utterly immune to all forms of sexual magic. In other words, he’s Salvadori Kryptonite. So if Lia were ever to be consumed by her family’s magic, as she is here, he can come in and put and end to it.

Of course, that power comes with a price; a price Carlos knew all too well but was prepared to pay. Taking Lia into his arms and calming her eliminates her threat to the rest of Kimberly and the world, but the two of them end up dying in each others’ arms.

Carlos tells Lia he loves her and always has; Lia tells him he hates her, but because he’s casting away his life to save her. His lingering final song evaporates the Grand Aria, and the crisis ends. And while I’d thought Vera too had bitten the dust, somebody healed her at some point.

Time passes, and before long the talk of Ophelia Salvadori fades away from the halls of Kimberly. After all, at a school where so many students meet violent ends, this was more or less par for the course. The Sword Roses manage to escape unscathed, and as a closer and stronger found family than ever.

Life returns to normal, with the Roses hanging out in Katie’s inherited workshop. Katie teaches Marco math, Olivier teaches Nanao magic, Guy cooks for Pete and the others, and Chela continues as the motherly heart of the group. When four teachers pass them, they all bow to show respect, but as they pass, Oliver shoots them a death stare.

They are his future targets, for which there was no time this season to cover. The final shot of a hungry Nanao breaking him from that stare, telling him to hurry up so they can go eat, exemplifies Oliver’s predicament going forward.

In Nanao, Chela, Katie, Pete, and Guy he has people he cares about and doesn’t want to lose or get involved. He’s not some avenging angel with nothing to lose. At the same time, he has the solemn duty to avenge his mother. Hopefully we get a second season to explore how he juggles those responsibilities, and learn if and when those two lives will cross.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 05 – Scent of a Dragon Woman

This week we witness and extended interaction between Chise and Lucy Webster for the first time since they met. Despite Chise being cursed, Lucy is the one with the dragon-sized chip on her shoulder. There’s an almost performative quality to her rude abrasiveness. That Chise is immune to it only makes her more irritated.

Lucy doesn’t wait up for Chise, who runs into Jasmine St. George in the hall, who doesn’t know how Chise can stand having Lucy as a roommate. Jasmine also lets slip about something called the “Webster Tragedy”, but doesn’t elaborate, realizing she’d already said too much.

At the cafeteria Chise meets up with Rian and Isaac, but Zoe Ivey once again excuses himself from Chise’s presence. Chise learns about the Seven Shields, the seven distinguished families that founded the College. Jasmine is from the Saint George Family; Rian is from the Scrimgeours.

Unlike most of the other scions, Rian seems to want to separate from his legacy and forge his path on his own, without access or favor. That’s why he asked Chise to help him with magic. When Chise asks about the Webster Tragedy, he’s tight-lipped, and asks where she heard that from.

Later, Chise runs into Lucy again, and the two of them run into Zoe, who once again avoids Chise. When Chise asks him if she’s done something wrong, he ignores her and keeps walking. This doesn’t sit right with Lucy. Chise may get on her nerves with her timidity and apologizing, but she’s her roommate, and people being rude pisses her off, so she runs Zoe down and pulls of his headphones.

This…doesn’t have the effect she’d intended, as the headphones are actually earmuffs to limit the sounds Zoe hears. Without them, his hair suddenly turns into a tangle of snakes. Scared and panicked, Zoe runs away, calling Chise a “monster”. Rian and Isaac happen to appear, and both they and Lucy end up following Chise, who sends Ruth to find him.

Ruth leads the quartet to a hedge maze where sound is suppressed, and they find Zoe in one of the dead ends, scared to death. Turns out he’s the son of a human sorcerer and a Gorgon, a creature once persecuted and hunted. While the snakes lash out at Chise, they don’t harm her (probably due to her Sleigh Beggy status).

Lucy places the earmuffs back on Zoe, and apologizes for taking them. Zoe goes on to say that his father urged him to go to the College so he could get used to being outside and even make some friends. Zoe then asks Chise what her whole deal is, as she doesn’t smell human to him; in fact, she smells positively toxic.

In a gesture of trust and in the spirit of full disclosure, Chise reveals her blackened arm and tells them about her dragon’s curse. She even lets them touch her arm, and they are both surprised and amazed to learn something new about their mild-mannered new friend.

While the curse riles up Zoe’s snakes, about which he’s very self-conscious, Lucy tells them they’re a beautiful shade of green. She doesn’t know it, but she’s fulfilling Zoe’s father’s assurance that if he went to the College, he’d eventually meet someone who’d say he was beautiful.

This pleasant exchange is interrupted by a noise on the other side of the hedge. Ruth has tackled Philomela, who was eavesdropping. Rian points out that her family deals with intelligence, so it’s kind of in her nature (Philomela is also his second cousin).

The others can’t very well let Philomela go blab about what she heard from Zoe and Chise. When Chise approaches her, Philomela says she’ll obey an order to stay silent. But when Chise says it’s not an order, but merely a polite request, a little bit of color seems to return to Philomela’s wan face.

The whole group agrees to contribute a drop of blood to a magical pact that will punish them if they say or write anything about what they’ve heard today. Non-magical high school friendships have similar pacts, but not with surefire supernatural consequences for breaking them!

The thing is, this isn’t exactly overkill. Even knowing the little that we know about the school, there could well be parties who don’t have Chise or Zoe’s bests interests at heart; maybe even quite the opposite. And that this pact includes everyone means they’re binding themselves together. What is friendship but a mutual sharing, not just of secrets, but of times—both good and bad?

Even after the pact, Lucy is distrustful of Philomela, whose family Lucy blames for the destruction of hers. But blood isn’t and shouldn’t be the whole story, or the sole obstacle to them becoming friends. I’m hopeful Chise can facilitate their becoming friends.

More than a married couple, but not lovers. – 02 – Hearing her out to the end

Jirou is having a lovely dream about Shiori visiting him in the night, only to be woken up by Akari wanting the same thing. Not so fast: she wants him to watch scary movies with her so they’ll earn points—while wearing matching PJs she’s comfortable enough to change into with him right there (with his back turned). When there’s a blackout, Jirou also learns Akari’s not great with storms or the dark.

Jirou may not learn here that Akari’s as inexperienced in love as he is, but her little vulnerabilities help bring her down to earth, as someone more approaching an equal to Jirou rather than someone to place on a pedestal and venerate (or resent her elite gyaru status). Between the close quarters and a sweet-smelling aromatherapy candle, a cozy chemistry emerges, with Jirou even admitting how cute Akari is and how hard she’s working, thinking she’s asleep when she’s not…and is very flattered!

As a result of spending the night together on the couch (avoiding the no-going-in-each-other’s-rooms rule) Jirou and Akari earn enough points to end up ranked 8th in their class. But both are shocked to find that Shiori and Minami are ranked 71st. If the other couple doesn’t make Rank A, all their efforts are for naught.

While Jirou can’t deny he’s a little happy things aren’t going well with Shiroi and Minami, as he friend he wants to help, but can’t broach the subject, and then he’s out with a cold. Shiori’s best friend Mei, who is either overprotective or has a crush on her herself (maybe both!) cheers Shiori up with her piano play and a willing ear.

Just as Jirou admits to be being a little hurt Akari went out with her friends instead of taking care of him, while also dreaming of Shiori taking care of him, it’s Shiori who is at the door with a bag of stuff to nurse him back to health.

Rather than an angel sent by heaven, Shiori was asked by Akari to look after Jirou, both knowing Jirou is in love with her and that, most likely, Shiori feels the same way. I’m not sure how premeditated this was for Akari, but this results in us getting almost the full measure of Jirou and Shiori’s history together.

Shiori still cherishes the day she was sick in elementary school and Jirou came and replaced her forehead compress, and relishes the opportunity to repay the favor. Jirou also watches intently as Shiori puts on an apron like a pro to whip up some rice porridge for him.

He’s worried this sudden wife-like attention will “give him the wrong idea”, but he’s had that ever since they parted ways when she had to transfer schools in middle school. Before he could summon the courage to confess to her, she asked him if they could remain friends despite the new geographic distance.

Jirou thought he was being friendzoned, so he canceled the confession, but he was mistaken. Just as he needed to make a great effort to even consider voicing his feelings for her, so too did Shiori, and those were the compromised words that came out at the wrong time. These two have loved each other all along, but that misunderstanding kept them from getting what they both wanted.

Now they’re “married” to separate people for this ridiculous school training, but Jirou’s cold afforded them the chance to live out what life might’ve been like if they had gotten their confessions for each other out into the open. It broke my heart when Shiori’s voice broke after she said, quite genuinely, that she thought it would be better if he were her husband. But my heart was re-forged when Jirou took her hand and, without thinking, called her “Shiori”, which causes her heart to similarly swell.

Shiori remembers that day just as much as Jirou does as a missed opportunity. Shiori was mere words from asking him on a date to see fireworks, but since he believed that would be as “just friends” he made an excuse to part ways right then and there. When Jirou called her “Shiori”, her mind went blank from happiness.

Not only that, when she’s sure he’s asleep, she leans in to steal a kiss…just as Akari’s galfriends are teasing her about the possibility of Shiori stealing Minami away. Shiori doesn’t kiss Jirou, but still prays that one day he’ll hear her out to the end. If only he did, he’d know that she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her.

The thing is, things are no longer so simple. Despite her haughty gal front and enduring crush on Minami, the fact is Jirou is the one with whom she’s experiencing all these new things. It’s gotten to the point that even when Jirou thanks her when she gets home for asking Shiori to come by, and resolves to work his hardest so she can be with Minami, she’s actually annoyed, despite herself.

Shiori isn’t going to be falling for Minami anytime soon. Maybe we’ll get Minami-centric episode at some point, but for now he’s simply a placeholder. Ironically, the harder Jirou and Akari work to make Rank A, the more good times they’ll have and the more they’ll learn about each other that overwrites their shallow first impressions of one another. By the time they’re offered the opportunity to exchange partners, who’s to say they’ll want to?

Jujutsu Kaisen – 12 – Shape of the Heart

Last week barreled through a rapidly-created friendship between Yuuji and Yoshino Junpei, yet despite that story being told at breakneck speed, it still worked; i was still emotionally invested, and like Yuuji was dearly hoping Junpei could be saved.

Granted, that wasn’t going to happen without a little bit of tough love in the form of a physical showdown between the two. At first glance Junpei seems as bad a matchup with Yuuji as Mahito vs. Nanami: he can use his jellyfish shikigami to dull Yuuji’s blunt-force blows.

Well…until he can’t, and Yuuji punches the shit out of the jellyfish. Junpei tries to explain while he fights why what he’s doing is right and just, but like myself Yuuji wasn’t really listening, and in any case isn’t buying what Junpei is selling about nobody having hearts, or people being free to kill those who wronged them.

But when Junpei breaks out the jellyfish cutlery, Yuuji fails to dodge on purpose, because he realizes he’s dismissing Junpei’s point of view from a place of ignorant privilege. Especially considering how short a time he’s known Junpei, Yuuji admits he doesn’t know the full story about what’s going on…which is why he stops fighting and asks Junpei to tell him.

Once he does, Yuuji suggests Junpei come to Jujutsu Tech with him, not only to hone his abilities, but to find out who cursed his mom and bring them to justice the right way. Junpei might even have been receptive to such an offer, as he’d no longer have to attend the school where he’s so horribly bullied. Alas, it’s not his call…it’s Mahito’s.

Mahito arrives with all his usual immaturity, vivaciousness and swagger that make him Gojou’s cursed spirit counterpart. Without hesitation, he uses Idle Transformation on Junpei, transforming him into a grotesque monster that called to mind both Made in Abyss Attack on Titan, and of course Parasyte: The Maxim.

It was one thing to see a curse sneak up on Junpei’s mom; her death happened off-camera. But to see Yuuji’s new friend, someone who was just a kid being led down the wrong path by a literal curse, cruelly disfigured beyond repair was f-ing hard to watch. The transformed Junpei attacks Yuuji, who tells Sukuna that he’ll do or give up anything if only he heals him…and Sukuna refuses.

This shocks Mahito, whose entire plan (or rather Getou’s) was to back Yuuji into a corner so he’d have no choice but to form a pact with Sukuna, whereupon Mahito and his friends would introduce themselves to the King of Curses and seek an alliance in the war against humanity. Instead, Yuuji remains Yuuji, and Junpei dies (from the shock of the transformation) while clutching his friend.

From that point on, Yuuji has HAD it with Mahito, explodes with shounen energy and starts whaling on the guy. Of course, physical attacks are of limited efficacy against a curse that can change his physical shape at will, but that first punch makes Mahito’s nose bleed, which is something.

Unfortunately, Mahito has something for Yuuji too; part of being able to change his shape means he can transform into any number of frightening weapons, from a chain of razor-sharp blades to piercing spikes large and small that riddle the reckless Yuuji with holes.

Throughout this fight, in which Mahito hangs in there in a rather bemused state, still feels he can salvage the plan. Yuuji made clear he doesn’t want to exorcise Mahito, he wants to kill him, so if he can’t kill him alone, he’ll have no choice but to switch out with Sukuna.

Mahito is even fully prepared to transform every student in the school until Yuuji is enraged enough to switch out. However, when Mahito gets an opening, he can’t resist trying to use Idle Transformation on someone who is “aware of the outline of their soul”, as Yuuji is.

It doesn’t go well. Rather than touch Yuuji’s soul and transform him, Mahito is shunted to Sukuna’s Innate Domain, where Sukuna sits upon his giant throne of bones, looks down on a frightened Mahito, and gravely warns the “fool” to “know his place.” He’ll let him off with trying to touch his soul once, since they both shared a laugh at Yuuji and Junpei’s expense. But ther won’t be a second time.

Mahito ends up back in the outside world, and his failed technique opens him up to a series of brutal skull-crushing headbutts from a committed Yuuji. Mahito stops playing around and slips out of Yuuji’s hold, and is about to bash him with a giant cudgel arm when Nanami swoops in to absorb the blow.

Next, Nanami asks for a report from Yuuji, and is irritated when Yuuji reports that he couldn’t save two people (Junpei and his mom) before reporting on his own physical status. To Nanami and many other sorcerers, looking after oneself trumps worrying about others. I’m sure he hopes it’s something he can exorcise from Yuuji, but for now, he recognizes that he’s still just a kid. A kid full of holes.

Now that a capital-A Adult has arrive at the scene, we’ve arrived at the beginning of the endgame to the Mahito battle. Nanami has already determined his attacks are ineffective, but he is able to limit his movement. Combined with Yuuji’s ability to make him bleed, hopefully the two of them working together can defeat the patchwork curse…or at least force him to retreat. If not, heck…maybe they’ll get a surprise assist from Gojou.

Jujutsu Kaisen – 06 – Wax On, Wax Off

I wondered how long JK would dare go on insisting Yuuji was dead, but it turns out not long: he’s revived in the first seven minutes of this episode. Turns out he was being kept alive within Sukuna’s Innate Domain. In what is basically his mind, Sukuna lets Yuuji challenge him to a duel. If Yuuji wins, Sukuna will heal his heart without conditions.

If Sukuna wins, there will be conditions, like him being able to take over Yuuji’s body for a minute whenever he says “Extension”. One of those conditions is that upon waking up, Yuuji won’t remember what conditions he promised to. We never learn who won the duel, and Yuuji wakes up just seconds before Ieiri Shouko begins the autopsy.

Meanwhile in an unassuming Tokyo café, the sorcerer/priest guy whose name we learn is Getou continues his chat with the Curse Jougo. One of the waiters flees the café before shit goes down…and shit does go down, with Jougo sets everyone in the café on fire and leaves them to die horrible deaths…just ’cause he feels like it.

Getou estimates Jougo’s power to be equal to roughly eight or nine of Sukuna’s fingers, meaning at this point in time he’s presumably three times stronger than Sukuna!Yuuji. He also recommends the use of the special-grade cursed object, Prison Realm, to seal Gojou’s power away. Jougo takes Getou up on that.

After visiting the dead inmate’s mother and presenting her with his nametag as proof of death, Megumi joins Nobara and the upperclassmen on the school athletic field to train for close combat and other forms of battle neither of them are accustomed to. If nothing else, Maki, Inumaki and Panda seem to be doing a good job keeping the first-years too busy to be sad about Yuuji’s death.

Of course, no one knows Yuuji is alive except for Gojou, Ijichi, and Ieiri, and Gojou intends to keep it that way. He’ll train Yuuji in how to maintain cursed energy levels in preparation for the Kyoto Exchange Event, but won’t reveal that he’s still alive until he makes his appearance there. That’s not just for dramatic effect; it’s so those who “tactfully” arranged for Yuuji’s death at the detention center, including the Jujutsu brass, can’t target him again before he’s ready.

And ready is what Gojou intends to make Yuuji. Using the innovative method of spending all of his waking hours watching movies while accompanied by one of the principal’s cursed dolls, who will punch the shit out of him if he doesn’t maintain a constant stream of cursed energy—not too high or too low. Being able to maintain that stream even under duress is key for someone like Yuuji who, at least for now, doesn’t have any cursed techniques.

Gojou leaves Yuuji in his isolated bunker to train up, but in the middle of his ride home he tells Ijichi to stop and he gets out of the car. Not long thereafter he’s ambushed by Jougo, who knows he needs Gojou out of the picture if the grand plan of replacing humans as the dominant species on earth is to come to fruition.

Assault Lily: Bouquet – 01 (First Impressions) – From Idolizer to Idolized

Cheerful airhead Hitotsuyanagi Riri attends her first day at an academy for Assault Lilies, teenage girls who are able to use sword-like CHARMs to fight robotic enemy known as the Huge. Riri’s first meetings of note are with haughty rich girl Kaede Johan Nouvel and cool beauty Shirai Yuyu.

Yuyu saved Riri from the Huge two years ago and is the reason Riri applied to the academy. The three girls team up to fight and defeat an escaped Huge specimen, with Yuyu helping Riri form a pact with her CHARM and Kaede falling for the unexpectedly heroic Riri.

My first thoughts about Assault Lily were that the bridge in the cold open looks just like one in my neck of the woods, that everyone’s tight stockings made me worry for their leg circulation, and that there were too many damn characters to keep track of.

But as I got to watching, I became more engrossed in Riri, Yuyu, and Kaede’s first impromptu Huge-hunting mission, even if the Huge itself was underwhelming robo-CGI. Since this is Shaft, comparisons to the iconic Madoka are inevitable, and the Huge lack the creativity and “wrongness” of Madoka’s Witches.

I was also suspect when we catch the first glimpse of the character’s CGI counterparts, which will almost always look different and separate from the hand-drawn designs. That said, in the heat of battle the speed and focus helps alleviate that design gap, while the combat is smooth, seamless, and impactful.

Characters’ designs also feature an exaggerated Victorian hourglass shape with wide hips impossibly slim waists, and the aforementioned too-tight stockings. The designs take some getting used to, but unlike the Huge at least they’re relatively unique in a sea of big-boobed rail-thin anime characters.

Plot-wise, this opening episode couldn’t be any simpler, with the plucky newbie Riri proving she can hold her own even in her very first fight—after she’s able to draw her CHARM, that is. Both Yuyu and Kaede could tell there was something special when Riri was able to sneak up on both to stop them from fighting early on.

The escaped Huge specimen from the academy lab is a nice way of easing Yuyu and audience into the mechanics of the conflict, though I’m hoping future Huge are more menacing and tougher to bring down. The spotless academy and its lush green environs are beautiful, but this world lacks that immediate existential peril of, say, any Angel attack in Evangelion.

That said, the Huge battle is rough, Riri ends up with a scar on her arm, and both she and Yuyu have to be quarantined after the battle, during which Riri reveals that Yuyu’s heroics on that bridge two years ago are pretty much the sole reason she joined up.

I appreciate that Kaede switched her affection from Yuyu to Riri after the latter pushed her out of harms way (she didn’t need quarantine) and it will be interesting to see if they end up forming a Schutzengel (German for “Guardian Angel”) contract.

Riri’s exploits with Yuyu and Kaede earn her immediate fame before the first-year entrance ceremony even kicks off. No doubt she’ll have more allies, rivals, and neutral parties all keeping a close eye on her so-far rapid progress, while keeping track of all the names and hairstyles will be challenging.

There’s also the inevitable “cool beauty is morose” dynamic to Yuyu suggesting some kind of Dark Past, as well as some end credits with far more explicit yuri elements than we saw in the episode itself. In Japan lilies represent purity and virtue, but with nary a dude to be seen and the conceit that only teenage girls can wield CHARMs, it seems love will be sought and/or found within the same team.

Assault Lily: Bouquet doesn’t offer anything particularly novel, but what it lacks in originality it does largely make up in solid execution. It looks and sounds very polished—as expected for Studio Shaft—and in a lean season may be enough to stick with it.

Dororo – 24 (Fin) – Proof of Existence, Proof of Humanity

In the end, the brothers Hyakkimaru and Tahoumaru only had to endure one last thing: the missteps of their parents. When Hyakkimaru was born, Daigo decided to sacrifice him to the demons. Nui would have Tahoumaru later, but she never stopped loving her firstborn, and that ate at her second in its own way. Even Mutsu and Hyougou couldn’t replace the love of a mother that he always lacked.

As they continue their swordfight in the castle, Tahoumaru goes on about how the likes of Hyakkimaru doesn’t belong within the walls, and that unlike the post where Mutsu and Hyougou marked their heights over the years, there’s nothing there to prove his existence. This is ironic, as the castle itself is burning and crumbling around them, and all of that physical proof Tahoumaru values so along with it.

But even though Tahoumaru still has his human eyes, Hyakkimaru can still see the void in his brother’s heart; the same sense of lacking something as himself. They are no different, and despite their crazed fighting and bizarre modifications, they are both humans who have simply forgotten themselves, lashing out to fill those voids.

As Nui and Jukai enter the castle to try to stop the fighting, Hyakkimaru ends things on his own, not by killing Tahoumaru, but by sparing him. The demon eyes in his head still burn even after Tahoumaru accepts defeat, but he rips them out and offers them to their rightful owner. Hyakkimaru’s false eyes are ejected and his human eyes restored.

As a mass of demonic crystal surges with anger, the castle starts to come down, but both Nui and Jukai arrive in time to save him from being crushed by burning debris. He plunges his swords into the crystal mass, apparently exorcising the residual evil energy, but that also completes the destruction of the temple literally kept up by the power of those now-forsaken demons.

Jukai, Nui and Tahoumaru do not escape, but perish in the flames, while Dororo finds Hyakkimaru and the two climb up the well Nui used to gain access. Hyakkimaru sees Dororo with his own eyes for the first time and calls him—calls her—pretty, which really throws Dororo off. Biwamaru, who helped get them out of the well, stands with the two as they watch Daigo’s castle and surrounding lands burn in a purifying fire.

Once the flames recede and the smoke clears, Dororo is back in the village of survivors and invalids led by a few able-bodied individuals, including those he suggested start to live life without depending on samurai, using money instead of swords to maintain that life.

When they ask where that money will come from, Dororo says he’s got it covered. Dororo has decided, then, what to do with that fortune: use it to realize a community that runs itself, without fealty to some stern-faced lord.

As for the lord, Daigo is not quite ready to give up his quest to restore his lands to prosperity, no matter how many people, including Hyakkimaru again, he has to sacrifice to the demons in a new pact. That is, until Hyakkimaru takes a sword and instead of plunging it into Daigo’s back, pierces his helmet instead.

The helmet is a powerful symbol of Daigo’s status as something other than a mere human, so its destruction is a symbol of Hyakkimaru’s hope his father will live on as a human, something he too plans on doing. In the end, Daigo laments ever making the pact, as he now realizes he might have achieved prosperity simply by raising Hyakkimaru and letting him succeed him.

Bittersweetly, it’s not Happily Ever After for the duo of Dororo and Hyakkimaru. The two go their separate ways; Dororo to lead a new community in keeping with the legacy of her rebellious parents, and Hyakkimaru to learn how to walk the path of humanity after a lifetime of survival-and-revenge mode. With his new eyes, heart, and purpose in life, he has truly been reborn, and until he finds his way, it’s not safe for Dororo to be beside him.

However, the ending suggests that one day the two are reunited, as the young “boy” Dororo runs across a pier with a hopeful smile, he transforms into Dororo the older and more beautiful woman. At the end of the pier is a slightly older-looking Hyakkimaru, in all his human glory, welcoming her with a warm smile. It’s a shame a passing look is all we get, rather than an after-credits scene of the two conversing—but then again, perhaps their reunion is meant more symbolically, as something to which they both aspire.

In any case, both souls, once having lost and suffered so much, seem to be in a much better place, and have stepped out of the darkness and doubt and embraced their respective selves. While I wish we’d seen more of Dororo-as-a-leader, considering where we started, this was a logical and satisfying enough place to end.

Dororo – 23 – Chicks Fed by the Hen

Dororo, Nui, and Biwamaru can only watch as Hyakkimaru and Midoro battle the newly demon-possessed Tahoumaru, Hyougou and Mutsu. The latter two meet ignominious ends as Midoro lops Hyougou’s head off and kicks Mutsu to death, but Mutsu at least dies a human.

As the young foal finds and calms her mother, Nui laments her inability to calm either of her sons, as they run off fighting together. Hyakkimaru notably regains his arms, which bleed profusely as he grasps the blades that had up until only recently been his arms.

The three men who were chasing the foal agree it’s wrong to rely on Hyakkimaru’s parts being eaten by a demon – but neither they nor Nui are wrong in valuing an entire domain over one man.

As Lord Daigo abandons his castle and leads his troops to fight the advancing Asakura, Tahoumaru and Hyakkimaru turn the place into the venue of their final battle, setting the place ablaze in the process. Jukai also seems to have one last task to perform, perhaps depending on the outcome of the duel. As for the fighting itself and the dialogue between the brothers…it unfortunately grows repetitive and dull as it drags on.

As for Dororo and the three men who chased the foal, they all agree right then and there not to rely on the samurai (i.e. the strong) to take what they want out of live, but to rather acquire it with their own hands. If three men can get on board with that concept, rather than continuing to mooch on a demon pact (sorry Daigo, you did make the wrong choice) that only ever created only a very fragile prosperity, perhaps the rest of the domain can as well. One way or another, the lands of Daigo are going to change.

Dororo – 22 – Stay The Bro You Are

Things get more and more dire in Dororoland with this week’s events, with Hyakkimaru pushed over the edge in more ways than one by the capture of Dororo. The damage he did to Hyougou and Mutsu seems to render them no longer able to protect Tahoumaru, which means he’s more pissed off than ever.

Mutsu is the worse-off off the two, however, as she’s caught the disease that’s gripped parts of Daigo’s lands, and will soon claim her life. I feel for these siblings, now that I know what they’ve already been through when they were the same age as Dororo. But hey, at least Hyakkimaru doesn’t have to kill the demon horse Midoro right out of the gate.

Nui decides she won’t let another innocent child die for her sake, so she releases him, and hides him in her robes when guards pass by. Dororo lingers under those robes just a bit and called “Nui” mama. Nui can probably tell right there that Dororo has suffered too much already. Nui ends up following Dororo out of Daigo’s castle just as Midoro arrives to wreak havoc, and they take a boat downriver.

Dororo tells her more about Hyakkimaru and how unfair it is that he has to go through with all this, and she tells him how even without skin or limbs, Hyakkimaru was the most precious thing in her life. He hopes Dororo will tell him that. Dororo hopes she can help keep Hyakkimaru from becoming a demon. But due to the rains, they lose control of the boat and crash…

Fortunately, they’re both okay, as Dororo wakes up in the same stable as Midoro’s child; the two of them having to live on without their mothers. Biwamaru is watching over him, and later shows him that Niu is aiding in the care and feeding of the sick and invalid who had nowhere else to go.

Meanwhile, Hyakkimaru is revealed to have taken Midoro as his horse, and the two form a tornado of wrath that cuts through Daigo’s soldiers like softened butter. If Dororo wants to save him, he’d better hurry…if he’s not already too late.

Mutsu, deciding she can’t simply die in a room, heads to the Hall of Hell to offer her body to the one demon who didn’t eat a part of Hyakkimaru. Tahoumaru and Hyougou arrive in the nick of time to stop her, but something far worse happens instead, the three of them desperate beyond words for the power to protect their lands people, and each other.

After Hyakkimaru disposes of the fixer who kidnapped Dororo, he ends up crossing paths with Tahoumaru, Mutsu and Hyougou. Only they’re not the same people anymore. Thanks to a new deal with the demons, Mutsu and Hyougou have their arms back, and Tahoumaru has his eye back, along with a third one.

Those arms and eyes are Hyakkimaru’s. They were no doubt given to the three for one purpose: to get the remaining body parts back. Only then will the demons honor the pact and restore Daigo’s lands to prosperity…or so they probably told Tahoumaru. But it was a mistake for his father to deal with the demons in the first place, and it’s an even bigger mistake to deal with them now.

Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho – 02

Wenias is a world where inaccurate assumptions abound while forgiveness is in short supply. It’s in a state where most witches hate humans, most humans hate witches. And it’s one assumption—that Mercenary is a witch-hunter rather than a present witch-harborer—that leads to an episode of trouble for Merc, Zero, and their third member Albus.

Merc & Co. are welcomed to the village with open arms, because they appreciate his service as a beastfallen witch-hunter. But when an old woman reports a ring stolen and Albus produces that very ring (which he found in the spring outside of town), the villagers, wracked with grief and pain from witch raids, turn on a dime and demand justice.

The villagers have been through too much, and suspect outsiders so much, that it doesn’t matter if Albus is in fact innocent, and they’re immune to calm discussions, only taking it as further proof of guilt. So Merc has to scoop up Zero and Albus and skedaddle while they still can. But the villagers, desperate to blame and punish someone for their ills, pursue them deep into the forest.

Only one villager—the old woman who lost the ring—has the trio’s side, and shows them a safe escape route. She does this to thank Albus for finding her ring—which was given to her by none other than the great witch Sorena—but also because she to is a witch, albeit one in hiding.

The older generation seems more open to negotiation, cooperation, and forgiveness regarding “the other side”, while the younger people on both sides want blood and fire to satisfy their thirst for justice. And yet just like this little incident with the ring in the village, Sorena herself fell victim to a misunderstanding, having been performing magic when a plague broke out.

She was blamed and burned to death, leading to the violent witch rebellion that rages on. But the witch-in-hiding with the ring believes there’s still hope that witches and humans can—and must—coexist peacefully, someday. The developing Merc-Zero-Albus trio is small-scale but important proof that she’s right.

Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho – 01 (First Impressions)

In a world where witches are hunted and burned by normal humans, a half-man, half-cat “beastfallen” witch-hunting mercenary encounters a petite, seemingly young witch named Zero in a forest.

They make a pact: the Mercenary will be Zero’s guard as she searches for her associate Thirteen. In exchange, she will make him human. She’ll do so using magic from the Grimoire of Zero, so-called because she wrote it. She impresses that upon a young witch named Albus who tries in vain to hunt the Merc. 

Fresh of the heels of Re:Zero, this similarly-named, similarly-set new show eschews the modern-guy fish-out-of-water angle for a more straightforward pact-between-classic-foes story.

The nameless (for now) Mercenary fears and hates any and all witches, and kinda hates himself too, for causing his family and village to suffer and die. But he’s got a good heart, so he’s not going to leave a hungry, cute little girl in the forest.

Does he bite off more than he can chew, oh, definitely. And a great deal of the appeal of this otherwise not-too-original fantasy milieu is in the relationship that forms between the Mercenary and Zero, complete with lots of informal, playful banter.

It’s an intro that doesn’t try to do too much, but gives us a good-enough glimpse of the situation and then focuses on the two lead characters, quickly breathing life into both so we care about them immediately.

Is there excessive explanation of “sorcery” and “magic” and the differences between them? Sure, but because Merc wasn’t totally informed himself, Zero’s lessons at least serve the story rather than simply bring us up to speed.

Also, there’s the fact that this seemingly-young girl literally wrote the book on magic, to the extent that fellow magic-user Albus has his ass handed to him when going up against the author. And they’re on a journey to a place with a defined goal, which can be nice for contrast when watching other, more mysterious shows.

Add the fact it’s a Monday show, and Zero looks like a keeper.

Tales of Zestiria the X – 20

Both Alisha’s enemy Bartlow and her “supporter” Lunarre wrongly believe she’ll take the bait of her suffering Maltran, but they’re both wrong. Maltron knows if Alisha does as she taught, she won’t come for her.

Instead Alisha and her people infiltrate the palace. It’s not at all certain that Alisha’s order that no one is to die is carried out in the process, as both her men and many of the palace guards are injured and shot with arrows, and it’s asking a lot to think none of them will succumb to their injuries.

In any case, Alisha gets an audience with her father at last, but he’s consumed by malevolence. Baltrow enters the room alone and attempts to take out Alisha by himself…which makes no sense. Why did he go in alone, without any backup?

What would be his killing blow to Alisha is blocked by the king in what I gather is one last act of sacrifice to make up for, charitably, over a season and a half of complete inaction.

Then, before the young, athletic Alisha or her knights can stop him, the slow old Baltrow runs outside and jumps off the balcony, spiting Alisha by not being taken alive. Um, why did everyone just stand around and let him do that?

With the internal power struggle thus hastily ended and Alisha now the de facto ruler of Hyland, she turns to the next existential crisis: that giant tornado. There’s a dragon inside, and Sorey believes he’ll be the first shepherd to purify it, erasing the myth that such a feat is impossible.

He manages to get the job done, thanks not only to Mikleo and Rose, but his other squire Alisha joining in to help share the burden of the dragon’s malevolence, as Lailah, Edna, and Dezel handle the small fry.

And once the dragon is purified and the sun shines over Ladylake once more, our heroes get to enjoy the victory for all of ten seconds before Symmone appears, telling them her master will cover the entire earth in malevolence and end the world, and they don’t have what it takes to stop them.

Well, I asked for more action to masked the seemingly increasing blandness characters, and I got it. But with so much significance placed on Baltrow over the last few months, and the immediate introduction of an even bigger threat, then an even bigger one after that, it all felt rather anti-climatic.

And once more, a preview in which 2D Rose and Alisha bicker over whose late master was strongest was more far more engaging than anything either of them said in the actual episode.

I’m quickly doubting whether my master adequately trained me or if I have enough squires to help bear the burden of Zestiria. Because the eye candy isn’t nearly enough to keep me interested.