Urusei Yatsura – 37 – SisTerminator 2: Misjudgment Day

Mizunokouji Asuka’s parents deserve jail time for the abject neglect they’ve subjected to their daughter Asuka. At the same time, Asuka has quickly risen to become one of my favorite Urusei Yatsura characters. That’s simply because she’s such a chaotic force of nature, even more so than anyone else, due to her superhuman strength and obsession with her “Big Brothers.”

Because she fundamentally misunderstands what “big brother” is, she believes it’s okay to bathe and sleep with Ton. When his nose spurts two-thirds of his blood, her solution is to embrace him so tightly she crushes his ribs. Eventually their mother realizes that it’s not Ton luring Asuka to his bed, but Asuka inviting herself.

Deciding that now is the time for her to meet other men unrelated by blood, she sends Asuka on an errand to deliver a letter to Shuu at his school. This goes about as well as you’d expect, as every time the fully-armored (though in a smaller suit than her first appearance) Asuka encounters a man she lashes out and causes generous amounts of collateral damage.

When she ends up in Ryuu’s lap, she assumes she’s a man like most people, but Ryuu isn’t about to let her get away with misgendering her. Ryuu chases her around the school until Asuka ends up in a tree, where her mother and Ton urge her to try to open up to the strange man who “seems different.” But once Ryuu watches Asuka snap a medium-sized tree like a toothpick, she ends up running from Asuka.

The bit is completed when Asuka finally lays her head on Ryuu’s chest, but when she notices that Ryuu’s chest is bound, she doesn’t realize she’s a woman, but another big brother, like the similarly bandaged Ton. Asuka is so sheltered she has no idea what anything is. On the one hand, this is deeply tragic. On the other, it’s freakin’ hilarious.

Asuka’s mother isn’t about to keep letting Asuka get away with glomming onto her blood brother, so she beseeches Shuu to go on a date with her. Ataru happens to be there too, but not because he invited himself: Ryouko invited him, because she’s just as obsessed with her brother as Asuka is with hers, and won’t allow him to date or marry the likes of Asuka.

Nevertheless, Asuka arrives in a grand procession led by her mother, and is dolled up in traditional garb very similar to FFX’s Yuna. Shuu is initially excited to go on a date with such a cutie, but when she charges at him like a locomotive, his survival instinct causes him to dodge her, and she shatters a giant stone piece of decorative Mendou art instead.

Since Asuka has absolutely no concept of letting off the accelerator or lessoning the force with which she does things, Shuu is in for a world of pain. But he won’t be alone. Ryouko is watching nearby, Ataru has disguised himself as one of Ryouko’s bodyguards, and Lum has disguised herself as one of Asuka’s bodyguards (the ladies in safari garb). I’m greatly looking forward to a chaotic, action-packed date!

Urusei Yatsura – 36 – His Own Worst Enemy

Urusei Yatsura’s second season resumes after a week off with fresh OP and ED themes from MAISONdes and the origin story of Mendou Shuutarou’s nyctophobia and claustrophobia. Mendou is feverishly training until he literally drops, and when his friends Lum, Ataru, Shinobu, and Ryuunosuke visit to check on him, he wishes he could travel back in time, and Lum tells him that he can with one of her gizmos.

The quintet ends up in the past when Mendou is just a little squirt. His younger self immediately suspects his older self and the others are intruding “hooligans” and summons his army of men in black to deal with them. They manage to give the bodyguards the slip, but Mendou proves such an entitled brat that Ataru can’t help but bop him with a plastic mallet. When an adorable Lil’ Ryouko arrives to defend her brother, she only ends up playing a number of silly pranks on him, as is her M.O.

When Mendou and Ataru are captured, it’s up to Lum, Shinobu, and Ryuunosuke to rescue them, and as is always the case, they’re more than up to the task. I loved how they did the classic “steal uniforms from the enemy”, which don’t fit, only for Lum to whip out another one of her Oni gizmos to make the suits fit beautifully. That said, their hair and figures still somewhat give them away.

Ataru temporarily aligns himself with Lil’ Mendou to tag-team torture Big Mendou, assuring him he’s only doing it to buy time for their eventual escape. The three ladies come in and kick ass, but by that time, Mendou has well and truly snapped, and chases after Lil’ Mendou and Ataru, into the very room full of clay jars where, in the future, he’ll train to overcome his phobias.

This is where we learn that he himself is the reason he fears dark cramped places so much, as Lil’ Mendou has to hide from his unhinged older self stalking him with an axe. Mendou and the others return to the present without resolving his deep-seated phobias, but now we know for certain: due to a temporal paradox, he has only himself (and Lum, who sent him to the past after all) to blame for his fears.

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 09 – Man of Two Worlds

The man Lime encounters in the shadows isn’t Makoto’s comrade Professor Bright, but another man who is strong enough to block Lime’s slash with his wrist and knock him out with one halfhearted blow. Lime wakes up in a cell with the librarian Eva and without his katana, but uses a second magical knife to break them out. What they encounter is horrific: a lab full of failed hyuman and demihuman experiment subjects.

As thanks for freeing her, Eva offers Makoto the most information he’s gotten in a long time about his parents, who were apparently a nobleman and priestess in this world. They were to be married in Kaleneon, a state that no longer exists, and where Eva and her sister Luria are from.

Ashamed that they had to abandon their homeland, Eva and Luria are determined to return and reclaim Kaleneon out of the ashes of the kingdom of Elysion. Eva was where Lime was that night because she was seeking help from an organization of people who oppose the goddess.

When Makoto returns to his rooms, Lime detects the man who bested him, and Tomoe and Mio show up to provide backup. The man turns out to be Root, guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild. He’s also, like Tomoe, a dragon; an extremely old and powerful greater dragon she knew in her female form, but at some point grew bored and turned became a man.

If Root is indeed at or near the level of Tomoe and Mio in power, I suppose it’s a good thing he has no interest in fighting, though his attempts to flirt with Makoto only serve to antagonize them. As for the guild, Root himself founded it a thousand years ago, and his first master was someone from another world, from which he got video game terms like “level.”

Root set up the guild as a kind of check on the Hyuman population, giving them greater and greater levels and challenges that some Hyumans would lose their lives trying to achieve. When Makoto asks how someone from his world a thousand years ago would know about video games and the 16-bit limit, Root goes on to explain it as the result of time dialation between worlds,

Some of this goes over Makoto’s head, while Mio straight-up falls asleep after eating all the apples Root asked for. The big question Makoto wants to know is what the chances are of him returning to his world. Root doesn’t mince words: it’s not impossible, but he has about a one in 10 million chance of returning to the time and place he came from.

After all this enlightening information from a very fascinating new character, Tomoe escorts Root out, specifically so she can ask him if humans from Makoto’s world really only live a hundred years. When Root confirms they very rarely even get to that age, Tomoe is crestfallen, for that’s far too short a time for a dragon like her, and if she lost him, the world would lose its luster

Root can understand why Tomoe loves Makoto so much, as he’s an ordinary young man on an extraordinary path. He doubts Makoto would ever abandon Tomoe, but believes a “single catalyst” might make him change. While the other two heroes are choosing new paths for themselves in this world, Root can’t rule out the possibility Makoto chooses neither to stay nor go, but rather gain the ability to travel between worlds at will. All very intriguing stuff.

The Dangers in My Heart – 21 – Thanatos vs. Pigman

Kyoutarou, which is what Anna has decided to call him now (and I hope he calls her Anna at some point!), wakes up to find her in his bathroom brushing her teeth. It’s like they’re already married! As is Kyoutarou’s M.O., he suspects this good fortune is some kind of a portent of doom for him.

Thus week, he finds a completely new thing to get worried about with Anna: social media, specifically a toxic fan on Twitter with the handle pig_man1209, or Pigman, who has a bit of an unhealthy obsession with Anna and is always trying to find out where she is, what she’s doing … and who she’s with. Kyou tries to tell this fan off (with the handle thanatos_moros), but gets blocked.

When Pigman learns Anna is filming in their hometown, Kyou can’t help but think like an obsessed otaku does, and fears that the fan might try to confront or hurt Anna. Sure enough, while on a video call with her as she’s sitting by the water, what looks like a shadowy figure in a hoodie seemingly pushes her into the water. The call goes dead, and Kyou is near death with worry.

Eventually he stakes out her apartment until her dad comes home, and nice guy that he is, he invites him in to warm up with some tasty soup. Anna’s dad then gets a picture message from Anna on her mom’s phone: it’s a map to Kyou’s house, and asking him to let the person who lives there know she’s okay.

Since that person is already at her place, Anna’s dad hands the phone to Kyou to call Anna himself. She’s fine and always was, it was her mother behind her, and she dropped her phone in the water. After they hang up, Anna tells her mom she likes Kyou, and Kyou tells her dad that he likes Anna. Pops’ response is to give him his monster hunt friend code.

The threat of creeps finding out where Anna is has not lifted, so when both Anna and Pigman declare they’ll be at a ramen stand of note in Mita, he rushes to her aid, only to find her with her model senpai, Nico. Anna momentarily pretends not to know Kyou, at least not too well, but when Kyou asks if he can have lunch with them, she agrees, and Nico looks annoyed.

When Nico is the person sitting precisely where Pigman said they’d sit at the ramen stand, he mutters “Pigman” to test her, and her reaction makes it clear SHE’S Pigman. He identifies himself as Thanatos, whom she blocked, and claims to be a fellow fan. After Anna finishes and steps out (this is the kind of place you need to give up your seat ASAP) Nico quietly fangirls out, declaring Anna “perfect”.

This actually comforts Kyou, who finishes his ramen next and declares he “won.” But he also won because he knows the real Anna, the very, very, imperfect Anna. An Anna just as imperfect as him, but one he cares for more than anything. To his declaration of victory, Nico simply tells him to place his empty bowl on the rail.

When Nico exits and finds Anna chatting with Kyou, she sees just a glimpse of that real Anna. It’s a face she’s never seen before, and she finds it even more adorable. When she takes her leave, Kyou follows her for a bit to warn her to stop posting Anna’s personal info, because that shit’s not cool. In response, Nico unblocks him and gives him her LINE ID, asking him to send her photos of Anna at school, which is also not cool, but regardless, Kyou now has the contact info of a famous model.

That point is driven home when the subway car home he and Anna are on is plastered with photos of Nico in cosmetics ads. Anna snuggles up to Kyou, apologizing for worrying him with her phone. He slowly separates himself from her and tells her that there are people out there who want to see “famous faces fall.”

Pigman wasn’t one of those people, but they are out there. So he asks her to be more careful what she posts, and to keep “some distance” in crowded spaces, implying that includes at least a bit of distance from him. Not wanting him to worry and wanting to “grow up” more, Anna promises to abide by those rules.

Normally, I’d say Kyou was being presumptuous in thinking her agency hadn’t already given her some kind of guidance on handling social media, but 1.) there’s no guarantee they did any such thing, and 2.) this is Space Cadet Anna we’re talking about. She’s happy Kyou has her back, and so am I. I just hope they can continue closing the distance .. when not in crowded spaces.

Chained Soldier – 08 – Getting Personal

This is the second straight week where there’s not a lot of action out in the field, but this episode makes up for it with action elsewhere. Tenka is serious about acquiring Yuuki from Kyouka. At first she says “pet”, but when she meets him in his bedroom via portal, she clarifies that she actually wants more of a normal boyfriend, and he’ll do nicely.

While she really should have knocked, I do appreciate that she asks Yuuki if he’ll miss his shirt before she casts it into a mini-singularity. She tries to convince Yuuki to agree to date her with her body when Shushu pops in. For failing to knock, she’s punished by having to see the boy she likes being glommed on by the 6th Squad’s commander.

While Tenka is caught, her offer to Yuuki remains, and Kyouka won’t interfere in his personal life. He’s free to date whomever he likes as long as it doesn’t disrupt his duties as her slave. Speaking of, she has Nei hop on Yuuki’s back and take the reins in order to determine if he’ll transform into a useful variant.

In this case, he’s not too strong or fast, but he does have extremely keen vision and hearing, the former allowing him to see through his comrades’ clothes. Nei ends up giving him a peck on the cheek as a reward (whew), and makes Shushu eager to hop on Yuuki as well. Unfortunately, while the resulting Yuuki is stronger, he’s also much slower, and can’t scale up along with Shushu.

The testing session in interrupted by an alarm indicating it’s time for Nei to head to school. Yuuki accompanies her, still curious why a relative kid would join the defense force. Like his sister, her parents vanished in what was likely a Maho Mishap, making her an orphan. Her Peach ability’s name, “Sure to Find: Promise”, indicates her stalwart resolve to find them. Her lack of tears and bright smile confirm she’s tougher than she looks.

After having sukiyaki with Tenka, the 6th Squad commander follows her home and immediately starts hitting on Yuuki. Then an alarm sounds, and the three head to the battlefield where Himari and Shushu are already mobilized. There, Kyouka takes it back: she doesn’t want him fawning over Tenka anymore.

Call it jealousy, possessiveness, fear of distractions, or all of the above, Kyouka’s decided she doesn’t want him to date her rival. After giving him a stern talking-to, he’s fired up to give it his all, and they’re able to easily defeat a boss-level Shuuki that was designed by the Snake Lady to toy with them.

Kyouka and Tenka’s boss wants to try talking with the humanoid Shuuki first, but somehow I doubt things will work out so peaceably. As for Tenka, the fact Yuuki is off-limits only makes him more attractive, so I’m sure she’ll keep trying to make him hers.

Tales of Wedding Rings – 04 – New Wife, New Strife

With Jade forbidding Satou from marrying Nef, Alabaster suggests they depart for now. The Abyss King’s forces are massing and time is of the essence: Satou needs to collect them most rings as efficiently as possible. They can always come back and try again. Satou doesn’t like it, but defers to Alabaster’s reasoning.

But then an Abyss Knight opens a hole in the barrier large enough for his minions to flow through, and just like that Jade’s status quo is off the table. He tries his best to fight the Knight, but is woefully underpowered. When Satou tries to fight with just the Light Ring, it’s not enough, even with Alabaster, Marse, and the Elder supporting him.

Hime hates how she’s not enough on her own to provide the Ring King with sufficient power to defeat a Abyss Knight, but she hurries to Nef’s room and explains the situation. Satou isn’t putting his life on the line because it’s his duty as Ring King; he’s trying to protect Nef’s home. But he can only succeed if Nef inherits the ring and marries him.

Hime returns to the battle with Nef, both of them brandishing a giant warhammer they use to smash her petrified parents and free the wind rings. Nef dons her ring, then leaps onto Satou, kisses him, and slips the ring on his hand. While the wind barrier falls, with the power of light and wind Satou is able to destroy all of the minions and defeat the Abyss Knight.

He comes to flanked by his two wives, and soon meets Smaragdi, Nef’s aunt who left the village. Turns out the Abyss King used a black wind ring to trick her into becoming one of his knights, and Satou freed her. His reward is an awkward bath in the village’s healing springs, where Nef and the Elder almost convince Hime to make love to Satou right in front of them.

As for Smaragdi’s human lover of fifty years ago, it was Alabaster! He returns to her a necklace she gave him back then, but lies and says her lover is somewhere far away living comfortably. Either Alabaster feels he’s too old (despite Smaragdi being far older), or he’s too busy accompanying the Ring King to rekindle their romance.

Jade finally grows up and sees Nef off with a hug, and Nef joins Satou’s party as his second wife, a fact both Hime and Satou will probably continue to struggle with. On to the next princess!

The Dangers in My Heart – 15 – Trying for What He Wants

Valentine’s Day has arrived, and the girls want to get together to make chocolates. Yamada suggests her place, and invites Ichikawa too. When he encounters Serina and Chihiro outside Yamada’s place, he pretends to just be passing by, but thankfully his wingwoman Moeko shows up to drag him along. When they’re greeted at the entrance by Yamada’s mom, she makes a concerned face when she notices a boy is among them.

Thinking fast, Moeko takes Ichikawa’s arm and says he’s her “bae.” Mom seems appeased, but Yamada is understandably less enthused. The ensuing chocolate making progresses with not-great-to-bad vibes, not just because Yamada’s mom is loitering around. Finally, it’s Serina who shouts that “this just isn’t right,” obviously referring to Moeko’s ruse.

Ichikawa naturally believes his presence is what’s causing the awkwardness, and even though Cool Kyou tells him to set things right, he chooses an Irish exit instead. When Yamada’s mom notices him leaving, he admits he’s not Moeko’s boyfriend. That’s when Mom realizes that this is the Ichikawa Anna talks so much about. With the ruse lifted, Ichikawa comes back in.

By then, Yamada’s dad has appeared, and he resembles a giant Ichikawa (now we know where Yamada gets her impressive height). Just as Ichikawa developed a sour look and hid an eye in his bangs as a defense mechanism, belying his sweet nature, so too does Dad look a lot scarier than he is.

In fact, he’s elated to have another gamer in the house, though Yamada ends up grabbing Ichikawa’s controller and playing against her dad. This results in a beautiful scene of (hopefully) things to come, as Ichikawa is surrounded by Yamadas.

After the chocolates are done, Yamada pulls Ichikawa behind the curtains for a private tasting. He takes a bite of the piece she saved for him, which is very pointedly missing the full “obligatory” label, making it special. He declares it a bit too sweet, but she takes it from him and eats the rest (casual indirect kiss), then beams brightly, saying she’s glad he came.

That night she calls him and asks him what he thought of her parents. While scary at first, he admitted they were very nice and pretty much exactly what he expected her parents to be like. She says the same about how they regarded him, adding that her dad thinks his last name is Yamada (since they met in the elevator when he was wearing her jersey).

Kana is impressed by the strides her little bro has been making, even to the point she teases that he’s already built himself a harem. She then cracks open a 9% highball for herself and an amazake for him, and asks upfront, when he’s going to ask Yamada out. From what she’s seen, she sees no reason why he couldn’t.

Ichikawa talks about how he has no idea how she feels or what his “chances” are. When Kana says it’s fine, there are plenty of women out there, but he goes on, perhaps due to the effect of the amazake. He’s certain he won’t fall in love with anyone other than Yamada.

That said, he’s worried that as she keeps moving ahead and through mistakes, and keeps being loved by so many people, she may well end up somewhere far away, and forget about him in no time. And he doesn’t want her to. Kana being the Best Big Sister, tells him it’s not about “chances”, but what he wants to do. What he wants.

What Ichikawa wants, he admits to Kana, is to be Yamada’s boyfriend. And while the amazake may have worn off by morning, his feelings haven’t changed. Even if there’s no guarantee they have a tomorrow, in the meantime, he’s going to try for what he wants.

So on the way to school when Yamada decries the fact she hasn’t found out what chocolates to give “the guys”, he grabs her sleeve (a reversal of the usual), stopping her in her tracks, and tells her not to worry about the other guys. After some momentary shock, she smiles and nods her head in agreement. After all, this isn’t the story of her and the guys, but her and Ichikawa.

Ichikawa being so honest with his sister in admitting what he truly wants and deciding he’s going to at least try to achieve what he wants is a huge breakthrough. I’m sure he’ll try to backtrack a little due to his deep-seated anxiety about being hurt, but his actions and words this week have convinced me he will eventually confess to Yamada and properly ask her out … if she doesn’t beat him to it, of course!

Tales of Wedding Rings – 03 – A Cage of Wind and Stone

After the Maiden of the Wind Ring Princess Nefritis Lomka flees, her older brother Prince Jade arrives and tosses Haruto in a cell for a period not to exceed eighty years. Jade is a serious siscon, and even if he didn’t feel she was too young (54!), he insists that Nefritis doesn’t have to inherit the Wind Ring. As long as the Tempest Wall is in place, their people are safe.

Haruto is busted out by a busty elder she-elf, who takes him to the Temple of Wind to show him the location of the Wind Ring: in the hand of Nefritis and Jade’s parents, turned to stone but still continuously maintaining the Tempest Wall. When Nefritis shows up to pray to them, she over hears Haruto and the Elder, and when she spots him, she faints on sight.

The Elder takes Haruto and Nef to a secure location and bids him good luck in winning her over. And while she vomits all over him shortly after regaining consciousness, he’s able to assure her he means her no harm. He learns Nef is actually quite curious about the outside world, including the one he comes from, thanks to the books the Elder has lent her. She even expresses an earnest desire to visit his world with him someday.

But being curious about the world and actually stepping outside are two different matters. When Prince Jade and his guards flush them out of the Elder’s treehouse, Nef is ready to assert her own will, as Haruto encouraged, but is quickly strong-armed by Jade to return to the palace with him. He’s convinced the status quo is sufficient; Nef needn’t ever inherit the ring.

After reuniting with Hime (who admits she’s a bit jealous by his dealings with pretty she-elves), the Elder, named Peridot, tells them that it isn’t just Prince Jade keeping Nef from inheriting the ring. When her elder sister fell in love with a human traveler but rumors and suspicions led to his mysterious disappearance, the grief-stricken sister cursed and fled the village.

The ensuing fear of that curse led to Nef’s parents inheriting the ring in her older sister’s stead and using it to raise the Tempest Wall. Nef isn’t the only one afraid of the outside world; the entire village is that way. But like Rivendell, a beautiful elven haven cannot stand against the power of the Abyss King.

They may feel safe now, but if Nef doesn’t inherit the ring and the Ring King doesn’t marry her and gain its power, their ruin is as certain as everyone else’s. If Jade can’t be convinced of this, perhaps Nef can be made to realize she can’t keep her promise to her parents.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 12 (Fin) – Only the Biggest Dreams

Higurashi decided back in college that Akira was the poster boy for everything and everyone he despised, and so now that they’ve been brought back together, he simply wants to see that poster torn down and burned. Akira is such a good boy he seriously considers becoming a zombie to rescue his dad, but his dad forbids it: Akira needs to protect his mom … and humanity.

Ultimately, Akira’s love for his dad and desire to repay him for raising him leads him to acquiese to Higurashi’s demand. The door to the house opens, three zombies enter, Akira screams, and then slowly shambles out. Oh no! Akira’s a zombie!!

SIKE! Akira is not a zombie, but rather a clever and resourceful motherfucker. Employing the professional makeup skills of one of the city survivors, he is made to look like a zombie. When the other zombies approach him, he screams, and the three women take them out. Then, when Higurashi’s guard is down, Akira stops acting like a zombie and separates him from his dad.

Higurashi flies into a rage, or rather a temper tantrum. Then a zombie bites him in the ankle, meaning his time grows short. While the ladies hold him back, Akira desperately wants Higurashi to tell him what he wants … what he really wants, not this bullshit revenge against an assigned nemesis.

Higurashi believes he “peaked” when he and his friends spent every day at the pool during summer break. So all he wants to do is go back to the pool with his friends, instead of the slow descent into isolation that followed. Akira, taking a big risk, ends up crossing off an item from the list: giving a free hug to someone who needs one.

In the moments before he turns, Higurashi gets up and runs towards the approaching zombies, some of whom follow him. One good deed doesn’t erase all of the horrible ones he committed before, but it does matter. Rather than curl up and die screaming, he chose to do what he could to delay the suffering of others. Akira helped him unlock his empathy.

Akira ends up reuniting with a still nude and shit-covered Kencho, Angie, and Shizuka, along with all of the other survivors and villagers. Trapped by the fence and with the horde of zombies coming fast, things look grim. But then Bea rolls up on them and asks that they make way so she can use the water wheel to blast the hole in the fence everyone needs to flee.

There’s a fresh crisis when everyone reaches the suspension bridge only to find it’s out. That’s when Mr. Kumano tosses over a brand-new bridge he built. He promised he’d help Akira and the others if they crossed paths again.

While this is a little deus ex machina-y, I’ll allow it because it’s yet another example of Akira and his friends being rewarded for helping and befriending others. There’s no time and the zombies are coming, so Akira and Kencho hold the bridge up as everyone else crosses, then swing themselves to the other side.

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief to hear the boys’ cries of pain, because it means they didn’t fall to their deaths. The one to help Akira up is his dad, who is proud of his son for saving the village. Later, one of the old ladies thanks Shizuka for serving as the village doctor, while Angie thanks Kencho for cheering her up. Our quartet are legit heroes; it’s only fair they get recognition.

Things turn somber when Akira sits beside his father, who is clearly sleeping through quite a bit of pain. But when he actually asks what his issue is and his mom says it’s untreated hemorrhoids, the mood is lightened considerably.

Akira, no longer fearful his dad is on his last legs, vows to save the world from this zombie virus, as a means to a more important end: getting his dad to go to the doctor and get surgery! When he invites the others to add more items to the list, they do so with enthusiasm.

Shizuka wants too become a real doctor, which is what she always dreamed of doing. Kencho wants to bring a smile to as many people as possible like Angie. And Beatrix wants to restore “Nippon’s” natural beauty, by eliminating all zombies.

That night they add a whole bunch of other, less big items, but all four have big dreams in place and bid farewell to Akira’s hometown in order to carry them out. While their grand mission soon takes the form of a sightseeing trip, everyone’s okay with that. Nothing wrong with living a little while figuring out how exactly they’re going to save this world.

As the episode ended with huge bright smiles on everyone’s faces, it left me with a big smile of my own. This was a much appreciated Christmas gift and serves as a joyful, feel-good bow on the anime year.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 11 – Warring States of Being

Kencho manages to track down Anju, thank goodness, who went after her dog, the only family she has left, but the older baddie ends up cornering them atop the roof of a barn, and intends to push them off. Bea is headed to the water wheel but is knocked off her horse by the female baddie, who engages her in a hedge-trimmer/katana duel.

When the old folks tell Shizuka they can’t run, she throws risk analysis out the window and heroically lures the zombies away. Akira uses a farmer’s hoe to cut back the zombies descending on his parents and the three city survivors he befriended. Our group may be completely split up, like the bad guys, but they’re not really alone.

Akira’s dad is clearly keeping some kind of terminal illness a secret from his son, but even if he wasn’t about to keel over from that, he’d probably still tell his son to stay inside and let him handle the zombies. He may never be an astronaut, but he still has a son with dreams he isn’t interested in outliving.

We get the sob stories of the old baddie, the fat baddie, and the female baddie, and honestly I didn’t even have the energy to break out the world’s tiniest air violin. These three suck. In contrast to our four heroes, they’ve only ever cared about themselves. They have no one to blame for their miserable lives than themselves.

Our heroes don’t usually have to try to reason with their adversaries (because they’re typically mindless zombies), but I like how they try here, starting with Kencho perfectly outlining all of the little ways the old bad guy messed up with his relationship with his wife.

When that doesn’t work Kencho goes Full Kencho (i.e. nude) and dives head-first into the cesspit. The zombies lose his scent and surround the old bad guy, who runs into the over-electrified fencde. When Kencho emerges he is now entirely pixelated (thank goodness) and Anju warns him in no uncertain terms he’s not to come near her until he’s bathed thoroughly.

With the girl and her dog safe, we head back to the house where all the elderly villagers are holed up. Old Man Hiko, typically bedridden, asks where his late wife Akemi is. When they tell him Shizuka is using herself as bait, he asks them what they’re still doing there.

The fat bad guy is armed with a pistol and chasing Shizuka to French kiss her, but Hiko, a sharpshooter, manages to intervene, and mustered the other older villagers to protect Shizuka and beat the crap out of the bad guy. Shizuka, shedding tears of relief and joy, thanks them from the bottom of her heart, but she earned their help by being so kind to them; by becoming a part of the community.

The female bad guy’s axe to grind is that people resented, hated, and mocked her for her unbending, my-way-or-the-high-way attitude towards everyone. Beatrix lists all the ways Germans do things that differ and may even seem ridiculous to the Japanese, but insists there is no perfectly right way to do things.

Beatrix then demonstrates that there’s more than one way to deactivate the water wheel, by leaping onto it and using the weight of the zombies attack to wrench it free. She then balances herself on the wheel and crushes the zombies one by one … but doesn’t crush the woman. Instead, the woman is surrounded by zombies an meets certain doom.

Finally, there’s Higurashi, the ringleader. His three comrades may be defeated, but he proves he’s real boss asshole material by plucking up Akira’s dad, who is on his last legs, and threatening to toss him to the zombies unless Akira lets himself get zombified.

I’m gonna go not very far out on a limb and predict that the MC of this show is not going to kick the bucket in episode 12. Between zombies and his health condition his dad seems like a more likely victim. Maybe our now-dreadlocked recovered salaryman will find some way to talk down or outfox Higurashi. Or maybe he’ll get a last-minute assist from friends new and old.

Kimizero – 12 (Fin) – Their First Time*

* No, not that first time.

Runa and Ryuuto are once again inseparable, with Runa loudly proclaiming her feelings for him to everyone around. Honestly, I wouldn’t be embarrassed. She speaks the truth! When talk turns to Christmas Eve, Ryuuto considers if Runa may actually want to have sex. But she has a new project in mind: setting up a surprise dinner for her and Maria’s parents.

While an extraordinarily bad idea that could easily blow up in her face, it’s classic Runa: she loves both her parents and wants them to be happy. Back at school, Isshi returns after a lot of time off and has transformed due to weight loss. Now he looks jut like Akari’s favorite K-pop idol but she daren’t ask him out lest she look like a pathetic loser.

Nisshi tries to hit on Nicole, who instantly calls him out on it, but he rightly says that nothing will happen if he just sits back and does nothing. But Nicole hasn’t given up on Sekiya, so she tells him “Sorry, I have a boyfriend.” While asking someone out right after a breakup can work, I fear the difficulty level is far to high for someone with no courtship experience.

As for Runa and Ryuuto, both are nervous about the impending dinner. They have every right to be, as it ends up blowing up in Runa’s face. Because Runa didn’t tell her dad her mom would also be at the dinner, he brought a date. And because Runa is going to introduce him to her boyfriend, he thought he’d introduce her to his new fiancée.

Poor Runa! Ryuuto takes her home, and her dad told her he’d be out late, so they’re alone. Ryuuto, who at least realizes the mood just isn’t right to stick around, prepares to leave, but failed to grasp how much Runa wanted him with her, especially this night when she feels so alone.

Runa “wants Ryuuto to have [her]”, but there’s a problem: Runa is a little redder and breathing a little heavier than she should be, even under these circumstances. When she virtually passes out in his arms, Ryuuto takes her temperature (102 F!) gets her into bed, puts a washcloth on her forehead, and stays by her side through the night.

Meanwhile, Nisshi is somewhat creepily hanging around Nichole’s workplace, wanting to more directly ask her out even if it means getting rejected again. But he hesitates, and in those hesitant moments, Nicole runs right past him to the cram school.

She blows by the receptionist, opens every door to every room until she finds Sekiya, then tells him she’ll wait for him until he’s through his exams, even if he tells her not to. She then runs off, but Sekiya chases her down and puts his scarf around her. Even this gesture brings tears to Nicole’s eyes. There is truly no one else in her heart but this guy. He’d better effin’ step up!

Ryuuto eventually falls asleep beside Runa, so they technically spend the night together. In the morning, Runa’s feeling right as rain, and particularly happy to be spending Christmas morning with Ryuuto. They exchange gifts: he gives him a slew of good luck charms (not just for studying), he gives her moonstone earrings to match her ring.

In an extra florish, Ryuuto dresses up as Santa, which is the same thing Runa’s dad used to do. But now she realizes she has “a new santa”—a new source of happiness, in Ryuuto.

That night Runa chats with Nicole, who is still riding the high of having sucessfully re-bagged herself a Sekiya. Runa asks if it’s weird that Ryuuto didn’t try doing anything dirty with her last night. Nicole correctly posits that it was due to her having a fever.

Nicole, who could make a great therapist if she hadn’t already chosen a dream, thinks Runa’s disappointment in the lack of on-gettin’ is a sign that she may finally want have sex with Ryuuto. That makes it the first time she’s actually wanted to have sex with someone, as opposed to feeling obligated. If and when they do do it, Runa and Ryuuto will be sharing firsts.

In the epilogue, Runa takes Ryuuto to a print club where she cosplays as a maid and does a shoot with Ryuuto. In keeping with her new policy of being direct about her feelings, Runa tells him she wants to turn him on, probably because she’s coming around to wanting to be physical with him.

With that, she plants a smooch on his cheek for the final photo captioned “I love Ryuuto,” and we close the book on Kimizero. While it never knocked my socks off in any particular aspect, this was an all-around solid rom-com exploring an experience gap that turned out to be mutual: Ryuuto’s inexperience in sex, and Runa’s inexperience in love.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 22 – Hammertime

Be it a remnant of the grimoire or a piece of her subconscious that won’t let her break free or hold any hope, Philomela is pulled out of the dreamscape and back into her grandmother’s office. Chise, Lucy, and Isaac are also there, but still unconscious. Still driven by that “dark side” of herself, she heads to the site of Lizbeth’s ritual, in hopes she’ll be reunited with her parents and make all of this torment worth it.

Meanwhile, I don’t know if Elias always knew something was not quite right about Alcyone, or only figured it out now, but now he’s decided to do something about it. He takes hold of her and finds that there’s a twisted metal core within her, placed there by Lizbeth to repurpose her. Elias destroys the metal core, revealing a core of blue light. Perhaps this core contains all of the memories of Philomela’s childhood.

As Lizbeth prepares to commence the ritual to resurrect her son, we get a little bit of her backstory, and it’s what you’d expect. As the heir to her family, Lizbeth was tasked with bearing her own heir, but her womb was lacking. At some point she must have found away around that, since Adam was born though his father isn’t revealed.

Lizbeth found herself simultaneously captivated by Adam’s cuteness and repulsed by his weakness, but he eventually grew bigger and stronger; a worthy heir. Then he took his “test subject” and ran away, a betrayal Lizbeth could not have predicted. Just as she was deemed inferior in her youth, she always saw Philomela as inferior to Adam.

While it’s good to get some context into what makes Lizbeth tick, I didn’t gain a single iota of empathy for her. Philomela was totally innocent, and yet Lizbeth treated her as someone who had wronged her; treated her like fuckin’ dirt. Frankly Lizbeth deserves to die screaming for her years of abuse and cruelty. Fingers crossed!

Chise, Lucy, and Isaac come to, and as Chise can still detect the scent of Mela’s soul, she leads the way, knowing the other two aren’t going to turn back now for safety. They rush to Philomela not a moment too soon, as she learns that Lizbeth only raised her as a vessel for the magical power sufficient to bring back her son.

Mela herself is no more than a sacrifice; Lizbeth will take all the magic she amassed and there will be nothing left. At first Lizbeth does as she’s told, but then pulls back and hesitates. At this point, Lizbeth drops all pretense and calls for her guards to force her into the magic circle for the ritual.

Philomela lies there as her magic is drained and her skin begins to crack like porcelain, utterly resigned to her fate because “she has no one.” But she’s proven wrong when a someone—three someones—arrive in the nick of time. Chise, Lucy, and Isaac, flanked by Elias and Ruth, have come to rescue her.

This doesn’t matter to Lizbeth; she says that the ritual that has started cannot be stopped. But that’s only if Philomela herself lets it continue. Chise tells her that if she wishes, she can stop it right here and now. She, Isaac, and Lucy encourage her to finish what was started in the dreamscape, and she does, shouting as loud as we’ve ever heard her to “HELP ME!”

Chise tries to rush the eldritch deity Lizbeth summoned, but Elias holds her back, saying there’s a better way. She employs the tool Isaac brought, changing its form into a weapon suitable for destroying the ritual. A sword or staff isn’t quite right, so Chise conjures a freakin’ warhammer, which she brings down upon the magic circle and smashes it to bits. I might have startled my neighbors cheering this action!

With the ritual cancelled, Chise hurries to Philomela, who gets up and meets her halfway, and drapes a dress cloak over her. Chise takes Philomela’s ruined, blackened hands into her own and holds her tight, communicating without words that everything is going to be alright now.

Philomela, bless her, only now just realize what she’s wanted more than anything is for someone to help her. After a lifetime of failing to ask, Philomela has finally done it, and learned that she does not have to live her life in darkness and hopelessness. She has people who aren’t just using her, who actually care about her, and will help any and every time she asks.

No doubt Lizbeth will launch some kind of counterattack, but I’m not concerned. She’s already lost. Her bitterness and resentment, and years of physical and psychological torture have amounted to nothing. She has no chance against Chise’s love and kindness. Just as I have no chance resisting a Chise x Philomela ship. Look how goddamn adorable these two look in the Postcard Memory that ends the episode!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 21 – Picking Up Your Pieces

Zoe intercepts the she-werewolf and freezes her with his Medusa eyes, but quickly grows fatigued. When the wolf starts to struggle, another layer of Zoe’s medusa side surfaces, one he didn’t think was necessary. However, in this form he inadvertently destroys the curse placed on the werewolf by Lizbeth, and all of her memories of her family come rushing back. She thanks Zoe, referring to him as her “god”, then takes her leave.

We then learn that Alcyone was carrying Philomela’s soul within her body for an undisclosed amount of time and with her consent (as much as Philomela can consent to anything). But even when she produces the soul and places it back into Philomela’s body, she continues to deteriorate.

Between Zoe freeing the werewolf and Morrigan handling all of the Sargeant forces, Chise, Elias, Lucy and Isaac are able to enter the mansion without any issues. Alcyone meets them and asks them if they’re there for the book or for Philomela’s sake.

Isaac assures them it’s the latter, so she lets the three kids go, but insists Elias stay behind since he’s not thinking about Philomela. No doubt he’s thinking about Chise … and what he’s going to do to appease Morrigan when this is all over.

But there’s still quite a bit to do. Upon entering the office Philomela’s root-like tendrils attack them, but Chise’s amulets hold. When the tendrils start to slip under Isaac’s hood, lending us the first look at his eyes, he slashes at them and freaks out.

Lucy sees a framed spider on the wall, kicks Philomela, grabs her by the tendrils and demands an explanation. All Philomela can do is apologize. Clearly both Isaac and Lucy are being sidetracked by their own baggage, so Chise steps in, and then dives into Philomela’s dreams.

There, Philomela is a little kid like in the OP; unlike the OP, Chise is also a kid. She guides Philomela around her dream, which takes the general form of a school, and helps her collect lost “pieces” of herself, which manifest as various memories, both good and bad.

This includes the wooden puzzle with which she once played with Rian, the dungeon where her grandmother imprisoned her when she failed to measure up to her, and the photo of her as a baby with her parents’ faces blacked out with marker. Philomela also gets glimpses of Chise’s psyche, which Chise says is a matter of the two of them getting “mixed up” in this non-corporeal place.

While Philomela continues to collect her pieces and witnesses some of Chise’s, she starts to form a picture of Chise as someone perhaps similar to her. Neither of them knew their parents faces, and both of them faced long stretches of cold, barren, lonely darkness.

But all of that despair is washed away once they reach the school rooftop, replaced by a gorgeous sunset. Now that Philomela has all of her pieces back, it’s on her to decide what to do, and what she wants others to do for her.

When she asks Chise why she’s helping someone who tried to kill her, Chise admits she’s trying to save her past self, whose eyes were identical to Philomela’s. The two go on to find a little Isaac crying on the top of a mountain of debris, and it’s Philomela who comforts him by placing her hand on his head.

While they’re all in younger forms, all three remember who they are and who they are to each other. All that’s left is to find Lucy, who is in a library full of cobwebs. Like Isaac, she had been crying alone until the others came, but was eager to find them so she could stop crying and do something; move forward.

She asks nothing less of Philomela: stop whining and either run away, do something else, or say something, anything, for herself. Alas, when Philomela drops her flashlight and it starts projecting a recording of the events that led to Philomela being present for the assassination of Lucy’s family, well, let’s just say it kills the redemptive mood.

Lucy grabs her and demands to know why she killed her family, but Philomela doesn’t know. She never had the right to know, and at the time Lucy’s family was killed, there was nothing she could have done to stop it. But while her past self was powerless, her present self isn’t.

She’s allowed to speak now. Chise tells her she can’t remind silent if she wants help; she has to shout out for it; that’s just the way of the world they live in. Philomela finally does manage to utter what she wants, which is for Chise and the others to help her.

Unfortunately, just as she says “help me”, her dark version appears and swallows her up in her tendrils. When Chise reaches out for her, kid Philomela turns into a cloud of flower petals and is scattered into the darkness. Just when it felt like genuine progress was being made and we were close to a breakthrough, we may be back to square one. As such, this episode ends on a bit of a downer. Hopefully, all hope for Philomela isn’t lost.