Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 07 – No Need to Obey

Akira may as well be back at the office, as he’s completely under the boot-heel of Chief Kosugi—a constantly apologetic, servile cog in the machine. Watching him, and having to pour beer and endure sexual harassment from Kosugi, dredges up a lot of memories for Shizuka. She doesn’t like those memories, and she doesn’t like watching Akira like this.

Shizuka’s father was essentially Chief Kosugi, only richer and more powerful. So obsessed was he with molding Shizuka into his scion that he told her to get rid of a sickly puppy she found on the street, because she needed to cast aside the weak. When she didn’t, he had the dog put down. Throughout her life, his constant mantra was You only need to obey.

Those are the same words used by Kosugi when on the last day of his servitude they agreed upon, the Chief suddenly switches gears from yelling to acting benevolent, telling the thoroughly downtrodden Akira that he can just stay here and work for him indefinitely.

Up until witnessing Akira in this state, Shizuka had more or less obeyed her father, which resulted in her having a prosperous job but very little in the way of joy. It’s only now that she realizes she wasn’t benefitting herself obeying her father and letting him dominate her.

When she finds Akira’s bucket list in the RV, she reads it over and smiles at how weird some of the items are. Then, in a moment of inspiration, adds a new item to the list.

The morning they’re to depart, the brainwashed Akira shocks Shizuka and Kencho by saying he’ll stay, parroting the reasons Kosugi mentioned: freedom is tough, the world outside is dangerous, and he’s not good for much, so he needs to stick with the boss.

Shizuka is fine to leave without him, but when he uses the word “need” over and over again, she can’t help but remember her father constantly drilling that into her head. She never snapped back at her father for fear of being thrown out on the street, but she’s officially had it with that word.

Shizuka’s parting words, about Kosugi being nothing but a sad, pathetic parasite who makes himself bigger by putting others down and wants to steal Akira’s free will, his very soul. She stands in front of the image of her younger self and says she’s getting away from this gross shithead with all due haste, because she’s not giving herself over to anyone ever again.

She then shows Akira his bucket list, tells him he’s not a machine or a zombie, and that he should be allowed to do what he wants, not be browbeaten into doing what others think he needs. When he sees the item she wrote—Tell off my jerk of a boss—and Kosugi snatches the book and prepares to stomp on it, Akira protects it with his own body.

His eyes now returned to normal thanks to Shizuka, he fulfills that bucket list item by telling Kosugi off. Whatever the Chief believes he still “owes” him, Akira tells him straight up he won’t be able to make it up to him. Sorry! As for the threat of being eaten by zombies, it’s better than being worked like one.

As Akira is about to leave with Shizuka and Kencho, a delivery van arrives and a zombie bursts out, causing pure chaos and sending Kosugi, who is not built for running, running for his life.

Because Akira’s a good guy with delusions of superheroism, he rescues his boss by coordinating with the baseball players to pen in all of the zombies, then blow them up by igniting propane tanks.

Shizuka can’t help but smile and laugh at the fact Akira keeps pulling off the craziest shit that ends up working. When he thanks her and she tells him it wasn’t meant to be a compliment, they both laugh.

Shizuka didn’t just wake Akira up, but thanks to her words and his actions, now all of them have had their fill of Kosugi as their leader, and abandon him en masse. He believed he was on the road to running Japan, but it only took two days for the sad little king’s hill to melt down into nothing.

Back on the road (and hopefully watching very carefully for more spike strips!), Akira reveals that he literally blanked out whenever he was around Kosugi, so while he remembered the torturous work, he remembered little of his interactions with him. That’s probably for the best.

Akira does go on to worry if he’s cut out for anything job-wise, but that’s where Shizuka comes in to say something Akira would have said to her a few days ago: So what? The time for needing to obey others who don’t have your best interests at heart is over. It’s time to do what they want. It’s the freakin’ end of the world…if not now, when?

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 06 – Equipment Check

Their rooftop haven is out of water, and Tokyo is out of power, so after visiting the Ginza to try on some watches and suits they’d never get to afford in their past lives, Akira and Kencho pack up and prepare to leave for Gunma, in hopes Akira’s parents are still alive.

Rather than take the motorcycle for the 4-plus-hour ride, Akira decides they need to have a kitted-out RV instead, and head to an RV show at a convention center. They have the same idea as Shizuka, and use her own risk analysis to get her to grudingly join them, since she doesn’t have a driver’s license.

As you’d expect, Akira and Kencho turn into excited little boys at the sight of all the cool RVs on display, one of which costs 23 million yen (or $150K US). But even Shizuka can’t hide how much she loves a sumptuous VW bus conversion, even though a lifted Tacoma conversion meets their needs.

Ultimately the choice of what RV to take is governed by the fact the boys were so loud they attracted a horde of zombies. They pile into a decently-sized Hino Cab-over RV and skedaddle; Kencho retrieves their bike and they head out in a two-vehicle convoy. The highways are mercifully empty.

I was ready to sit back and enjoy a fun road trip, but disaster strikes when both Akira and Kencho hit spike strips that ruin their tires. Kencho is thrown from his bike and injured. Three coach buses quickly arrive and block the way, manned by surly baseball players.

Their leader says “Tendou”, and Akira realizes that it’s his old boss, Chief Kosugi. Kosugi is all smiles in offering medical supplies, fresh tires, and the like. But of course, there’s a catch: Akira has to work for him for two days. And considering how often Kosugi lied to Akira at the office, two days might as well be translated as forever.

Akira, Kencho, and Shizuka have no choice but to accept Kosugi’s “kind” offer, and the latter two notice an instant change in Akira. Even he freezes up and can’t breathe or think when Kosugi is in his face, so traumatized he is by the past abuse.

When Akira tries to pull a fun-loving “new Akira” and chill some beers for everyone, but he’s reamed out for wasting electricity, and placed in the doghouse when the baseball guys think the cold beer is for them. Kosugi also shows Akira his ideal workforce: zombies that are tied up to pull cargo: No will of their own, no need to pay them, and no backtalk. Simply equipment. Chilling.

At no point does absolute contempt and menace drip from Kosugi’s features, nor does he ever miss a single chance to run Akira down, saying he can only hope to be as useful as the zombies. Suffice it to say this is a bad, bad place, and our peeps need to get out of here pronto. With Akira totally under Kosugi’s heel like the bad old days, organizing an escape likely falls to Shizuka, and a Kencho who hopefully heals up fast.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 05 – Forget the Reasons

While sleeping in a tent on a rooftop above a ruined Tokyo, Akira remembers his childhood dream: to be a superhero. He once dressed up like his favorite Super Sentai-style TV hero and protected the weak from bullies, and now he’ll become a slayer of zombies for the people. Kencho, who decides to bleach his hair so he’ll have more impact as a comic, naturally doesn’t pooh-pooh his friend’s dream.

They head to the nearest aquarium to find something, and note how it feels a little naughty to be in the backrooms where normally only employees would be allowed. The episode takes care not to show us exactly what this item is until Akira needs to put it to use: it’s a puncture-proof sharksuit embedded with chainmail, enabling him to fight off zombies chasing survivors on a bus without fear of bites.

He also takes the effort to paint it so he looks more like a cool hero than a guy in a shark suit. As fate would have it, one of the survivors running to the safety of the aquarium is “Miss Risk Analyst”, but while Akira wants to look cool, his cosplay is ridiculous and he’s quickly gang-piled by the zombies. He slinks back to Kencho and the others exhausted, alive, and unable to impress the konbini girl.

That said, Kencho urges him to talk to her anyway, and while she doesn’t deny that he saved people, she doesn’t understand why he’d risk his life to save strangers without regard to the people who matter to him (like Kencho, or his family back in rural Gunma). After refusing yet again to exchange contact info, they’re attacked by a zombie great white shark propelled by the legs of three zombies it ate.

The absurd yet frightening foe cuts Miss Analyst’s analysis of Akira acting out his fantasy of being a hero to mollify his inferiority and self-worth issues short. Everyone runs for their lives, and when she tries to calm a panicking girl down she gets shoved to the ground and left behind.

Miss Analyst believes this to be the end for her, and she reiterates her hatred of working big groups. But before the shark thing can pounce on her, it’s mounted like a bucking bronco by Akira, saving her once again. When she angrily asks him why, he tells her to forget about the reasons.

Just as someone hungry will eat or someone will want to talk to a cute girl, a hero doesn’t need a reason to save people, even strangers. Realizing this isn’t a world where analysis and logic alone will necessarily save her (again, she’s being chased by a zombie shark with six zombie human legs) Miss Analysis relents.

Knowing full well Akira doesn’t have a strategy, she comes up with one: using batteries to disable the shark’s Ampullae of Lorenzini. Akira buys time while she locates batteries up to the task, and when he falters, Kencho buys him time by once again stripping down to make an enticing target for the monster.

Somewhat disappointingly, even after going through all this, Miss Analyst doesn’t join Akira and Kencho as they head to Akira’s family home in Gunma. She cites irreconcilable differences in their methods: they want to do things before becoming zombies, and she wants to prevent becoming one altogether. It’s a fair assessment, but there’s also room in the middle.

That said, I love her reaction to Akira telling her she’s precious to him now and he’d save her even if he wasn’t trying to be a hero. Her mask truly cracks, and she shows that she’s not immune to certain charms. And even though they part ways once again, she still gives Akira her contact info at the end, revealing her name as Mikazuki Shizuka.

She says, with a wry smile and the wind catching her hair, it’s fine to give the info to him because it’s because it’s unlikely they’ll see each other again. But c’mon…they’re definitely seeing each other again.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 04 – Perfect Attendants

Akira and Kencho have a pretty sweet setup on their Shinjuku rooftop, gathering everything needed for stay-at-home camping, an item on Akira’s list. The episode begins with a harrowing FPS shooter picking off zombies, but it’s just Akira playing video games.

Since his list is well short of 100 (only 33), he decides to add one of his own bucket list items: becoming a stand-up comedian. He also wonders if Akira is being realistic with the “wine and dine a flight attendant”—maybe score a date with a woman first!

After the two look down at the available women in the area—all of them zombies and one of them quite flatulent—Akira sticks to a more readily achievable item: playing video games on a super-big-screen 8K TV. They head out on the motorcycle—the perfect vehicle for transporting giant TVs.

When the path to the Ikebukuro electronics store is blocked by wreckage on one side and another runaway zombie Truck-kun, this one a tanker, stars to bear down on them from the other, Akira remembers how Shizuku saved him from the konbini Truck-kun and decides to go for the gusto.

Revving his motorcycle, he races towards the oncoming tanker, using another upturned car as a ramp to leap over it, then escaping the resulting conflagration by motoring down into an underground mall. Unfortunately, they’re immediately in danger again, as a horde of zombies dwells in the mall.

They manage to race to a store and lower the shutter before the zombie mob can get to them, and before they know it someone is shining a flashlight on them: more survivors! Specifically, an older salaryman who is scared out of his mind (constantly muttering “It’s all over”) and three women.

When Akira and Kencho assure them they’re not infected, one of the women (Reika, voiced by Hikasa Yoko) breaks out the booze, while the other two (Maki and Yukari) gather snacks. Just like that, Akira and Tencho have stumbled into a post-apocalyptic…mixer?

But here’s the real kicker: Reika mentions that they had just got into Tokyo from LAX—the three of them are flight attendants, which means Akira’s item of “wining and dining” can technically apply. That said, Reika is a lush, and the other two don’t seem to be having much fun.

Akira, so inexperienced in things not related to his exploitative job, manages to ask Yukari if she has a boyfriend, which…not the best time dude! However, when he sees how well Kencho is getting along with Maki, Akira decides to try raising everyone’s spirits…by chugging a bottle of tequila.

I love how Reika, so surly up to this point, gets a kick out of this and joins in. Before long, everyone’s trashed, Akira is passed out, and Kencho is naked and doing his stand-up routine.

Akira eventually comes to and has to run for the bathroom to pray to the porcelain god. To his shock, Yukari, the victim of his boyfriend question, comes to check on him, and even pats his back while he boots so he’s more comfortable. Meanwhile, it’s revealed the salaryman in glasses is infected, and he turns just when Reika is alone with him, drunk out of her mind.

She initially thinks he’s trying to get with her when he jumps on her, but she is very soon disabused of that notion. Kencho and Maki, having hooked up in the mattress store (as you do), hear a faint scream, and while Kencho is curious about what’s up, Maki wants to go another round.

Unfortunately, when Kencho and Maki check back on Reika, she leaps on Maki like a lioness on a gazelle and rips her throat out. When Reika then turns on Kencho, he has no choice but to use lethal force, which fucks with him even though Reika had become a zombie.

While this carnage is happening, Akira is feeling better, and Yukari talks to him about how it’s her third year too, and the job is not the glamorous thing she dreamed of. Akira can only speak from experience, but he believes his production job was a “borrowed” dream, not one that came from his heart.

If Yukari truly dreamt of being a flight attendant, she shouldn’t let something like the odd irate passenger ruin that dream. In the middle of having this very pleasant, gentle chat about their lives, the salaryman pounces on her, and bites her in the neck.

Akira punches the zombie down the stairs, but the damage is done. Nevertheless, in the minutes Yukari is still Yukari, she gives Akira a hug and tells her she remembers now why rubbing his back felt so nostalgic. On her first flight as a kid, she was extremely airsick, but a flight attendant helped her feel better by rubbing her back.

From that point on, Yukari wanted to be like that cool lady. And so she’s confident it is her real dream: she’s a flight attendant. Peoples’ lives are in her hands on a daily basis, and that’s how she wants Akira to remember her as she pushes him out of the way and tells him to run while the salaryman prepares to jump her again.

Akira runs, and is, as you’d expect, incredibly messed up by having to do so, and having to say goodbye to someone as gentle and sweet and courageous as Yukari so damn soon. But in this new world where death is always around the corner, one can’t let oneself become consumed by despair.

Akira reunites with Kencho, who is now being chased by Maki and tells them they need to get out of there. But they won’t be leaving without a giant 8K TV, which he happened to pluck in the meantime. The fact that Kencho did this for him launches Akira into a bout of cry-laughter.

After the absurd image of the two carrying the very tall, wide, and thin TV on the motorcycle, the two best buds are back on their rooftop campsite before sunset. When Akira dies again in his video game, now writ large thanks to the 8K, he pauses and thinks of Yukari’s words to him, and decides to add another item to his list: Remember my childhood dream.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury – 20 – Who’s Allowed to Live?

As Norea watches the carnage unfold on earth, she gets even more worked up and filled with an unquenching thirst for vengeance. Guel and Kenanji head to the school for evidence of Shaddiq’s treachery, but Shaddiq already knows what he’s up to, and he and Grassley House intercept them. Finally, these two are facing off in mobile suits, but it’s no longer a school duel, nor a game.

Martin reports his progress to Secelia, but she and Rouji are more concerned with why Aerial is on Earth wreaking havoc. Martin, of course, has no idea. Earth House watches helplessly as what’s left of GUND-Arm’s reputation goes up in literal smoke. Lilique tells the others to shut the news feeds off and leave it to the president.

The Earth Housers are left wondering if they should just be good and go back to attending class, as Suletta is doing. That said, she’s not paying much attention, as she’s understandably preoccupied with just what the heck is going on with Miorine. Petra offers Suletta her notes as further thanks for saving Lauda. When Suletta asks if Petra is in love with him, she bristles, but doesn’t deny it (obviously).

When Cathedra, Dominicus, and Guel in his Darilbalde are barred from reaching the school by Shaddiq and his fellow Grassleyans, it doesn’t take long for Guel to play the only hand he has and accuse Shaddiq without evidence. But Shaddiq doesn’t care what Guel hurls his way if he doesn’t have hard evidence. That evidence is about to be moved, as Henao is overseeing Sarius’ relocation while Shaddiq buys time.

However, Kenanji and Dominicus manage to slip through and land within the school environment. That’s when the door to the holding area is unlocked and Norea heads out like a revenge-fueld missile. Elan tries to stop her, first from leaving their quarters and then from entering the cockpit of her Gundam, but fails on both accounts.

Norea won’t be denied. But while she has her singleminded mission to take as much away from the wretched Spacians as they took away from her, Nika is also suddenly free, and her look of determination indicates she’ll be making a beeline for Earth House.

I knew Norea would be one of the series’ most volatile wild cards, and she goes absolutely feral on the totally undefended Asticassia. She blasts and blows up buildings, vehicles, and people without any rhyme or reason. She simply wants to let it all burn. In the process, she ends up blowing up her fellow Earthians hangar.

Petra leads a stunned Suletta through the increasingly distressing amounts of wreckage and carnage, and each of them carry an injured classmate on their backs when Norea fires on their location and they’re both obscured by smoke, dust, and debris. Considering Petra’s quite blatant death flags earlier about making Lauda take her out to lunch and dinner, I didn’t feel good about her chances.

Meanwhile, Lauda listens in as Guel and Shaddiq battle both with words and souped-up mobile suits, and then the inevitable happens: Shaddiq lets slip that it was Guel who killed their father. Lauda had been a loyal and trusty younger brother to this point but that’s probably over now.

There’s no more damning sign that Things Will Never Be the Same as watching a Front security mobile suit crush what looks like Miorine’s greenhouse. And while the camera doesn’t linger on any crushed tomatoes, it doesn’t have to use symbolism; students are being crushed and killed.

At first, Felsi’s campus-calibrated mobile suit is the only thing standing between Norea’s rampage and utter destruction of the school, but then Secelia, Rouji, and Martin arrive at Earth House (that’s right, Secelia is running in this episode) and offers Chuchu (the only pilot around) her prototype mobile suit.

The suit still needs to be calibrated for Chuchu, so who should show up right on time to do just that but a contrite Nika, ready to help. Apologies and forgiveness are put on hold—everyone has work to do. That said, Chuchu tells Nika to tell her everything “from A to Z”, otherwise she won’t know what she’s forgiving her for.

As Shaddiq and Guel continue to duel in space, Shaddiq condemns Guel for getting Miorine’s hands dirty, and he and his Grassley comrades tell him a boy who grew up with a silver spoon knows nothing of the struggles they’ve faced, and the choice they’ve made as a group of orphans to break the “unjust peace” that’s been forged by taking the power from the Spacians.

Henao needs just five minutes to get Sarius safely to the rendezvous point with the Assembly League…but she doesn’t get it. Guel defeats both Sabina and Shaddiq, telling them if all they do is take, they’ll never gain anything, which I thought was a great line. While Guel technically wins the battle against Shaddiq, it comes at the cost of his mobile suit…and very possibly Lauda’s loyalty as well.

Elan sorties in Sophie’s suit to try to stop Norea one more time…and he actually succeeds, tenderly taking her suit’s hand into his and promising that he’ll stay by her side come what may. If she’s scared of dying, of the things in her sketchbook, he’ll help her find a way to live, because they’re both allowed to live.

Unfortunately, Elan stopped Norea far too late. The damage she did had been done, the people she killed aren’t coming back, and under such circumstances, the security forces are shooting to kill. Just as she tells Elan to tell her his real name later, her suit is shot through the core and she is obliterated in the explosion.

Norea isn’t the only major loss this week. Petra doesn’t survive either. She died having saved Suletta when she was a deer in the headlights after the attack, and in the process of trying to save the student on her back. May both Norea and Petra find the peace she couldn’t find in life.

In the aftermath, there are rows of dozens of dead Asticassia students. Chuchu slams her fist on her cockpit display, bitterly wishing she could have done more. But both she and Felsi definitely saved an even greater number from being added to Norea’s butcher’s bill.

That night, as security drones hover over the ruined school, the members of Earth House and Nika are reunited with Suletta. But before Nika can say anything to her, Suletta interrupts. Her hands are covered in cuts and bruises as she scratches and heaves and moves the mass of stone and metal rubble before her.

She simply asks that everyone help her. There are still students trapped under this debris, and some of them may not be beyond help. It’s only a glimmer of hope in an episode called “The End of Hope”, but it’s an important one. Suletta’s meager request galvanizes Earth House not to worry about what they did or couldn’t do, but focus on what they can in the here and now.

More importantly, no one is telling Suletta to do what she’s doing, and she’s doing what she feels she needs to do. It’s another first for her, and even if it wasn’t on her wish list, both that and more firsts like it will be essential in the days and weeks to come.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 09 – Cause for Worry

After the camping trip, Chise stops by home so Mini-Elias can be re-merged with Elias and Silky can even out her fly new short hair. But back at the College, Lucy remains in the infirmary, unconscious for ten days. Chise is worried about her, leading Elias to ask what “being worried” means.

When Chise explains it, Elias admits he was worried about her on the trip, but she did what a mage should have done, and nothing he wouldn’t have done. Chise too is worried about the power that awoke under the lake, and a visit to the always sleepy Cartiphilus, who confirms the voice came from inside her and kept her from getting killed.

What she doesn’t tell him is that it is the voice of a dragon gone mad after cursing her, and there’s now no going back. Not only that, when she uses her blackened hand to place a cloth on Lucy’s head as she starts twisting fretfully in her sleep, she has a vision of a young Lucy at the edge of a mass of corpses lying in a sea of blood. Then Lucy suddenly comes to.

When she does, it’s shortly after Seth Noel arrives. Chise knows Seth, but didn’t know he was Lucy’s brother. Lucy loses it upon seeing him, telling him she doesn’t need a “loser like him” to worry about her, and telling him to buzz of before passing out again.

Seth commits to staying by Lucy’s side so Chise can take a break. While on the stairs she can smell the potpourri she gave Philomela, and sure enough, Philomela lifts her cloak of invisibility to talk to her. She tells Chise that she’s not used to talking to other people, but it’s okay when it’s just the two of them. Like Lucy, Mela is gradually growing from an acquaintance to a friend.

As for how Lucy ended up the way she did, the College president convenes a faculty meeting to report that a forbidden tome called The Testament of Carnamagos was found crumbled into dust in it’s storage unit. The book, which Elias admits he’s read (an extreme risk for a normal human), can take the life force and magic power of others.

The latter happened to Lucy, so it tracks that the crumbled book was a fake, and the real one was stolen and is being used for nefarious purposes.

Tory introduces Elias to the other teachers, who are excited to meet a mage and impressed by his transformation abilities. Among them is Simeon Paladilhe, who tells Elias (and us) the story of the Webster family, who used to make a living making and copying books with the help of silk-producing spiders they kept.

Eight years ago, the entire Webster family was killed except for Lucy. As for Seth, since he lacked any magical power he was cast out of the family before its demise. Shortly after parting ways with Elias and Tory, Simeon is attacked with the missing book.

By the time Lucy wakes up again, Seth has fallen asleep while sitting on the stool beside her bed. She sees him and the gift he brought and cannot fathom why he’s there, as he must hate her (he probably doesn’t).

When a colleague who is waiting for Seth gets out of the limo, he’s quickly impaled through the chest by a mysterious masked creature with doglike legs and claws wearing human clothes. The creature tosses the slain colleague off a bridge, and is then joined by a second creature. With Seth’s protection eliminated, Seth is their next target.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc – 06 – Fifth Wheel

So Genya didn’t suddenly turn into a mindless demon, he’s just…really jazzed up on rage? So much so that he’s drooling profusely? Genya is also determined to become a Hashira first by defeating an Upper Six. To his, Tanjirou, while being choked by Genya, bucks shounen hero conventions and says “Fine, whatever, become a Hashira! I’ll help you…just don’t slash my little sis!”

When the four emotion demons regenerate and the one with the leaf blows the smell of the hot spring’s sulpher away, Tanjirou can smell a fifth demon, one they’ll have to kill in order to truly defeat the others. As he and Nezuko fight the other four, Genya chases the fifth, who is tiny and quick as a Cactuar…and also strong enoguh that Genya’s blade snaps when he strikes him.

The episode is then paused with one of the bigger demon’s staffs inching closer to the back of Genya’s head, and Genya thinks of his incredibly tragic childhood, when his tiny mother became a demon and killed all of his and his brother’s siblings. When he saw his blood-covered brother standing over the dead corpse of their mom, he accused him of being a murderer.

Then we get a flashback within the flashback, which really is a bit much, to show what we’ve already been told: that after their dad was stabbed, they promised to protect the family. This was evident when they nodded without words before the brother went out to look for their mom, and a rare instance of showing and telling too much.

It’s repetitive storytelling, especially when we consider that our protagonist Tanjirou also had his whole family be killed save one sibling. Add to that some action sequences that aren’t quite as flashy as last weeks, the demons keep regenerating and have grown stale, Okamoto Nobuhiko’s tired shrill yelling shtick, and a complete lack of Mitsuri (and barely any Tokitou), and this was not Demon Slayer’s finest outing.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 16 – The Next Generation

Eve’s Rainbow Shot not only beat Mizuho and Kaede and gained her and Aoi the All-Japan Girls’ Tournament trophy. It also cut through a memory block she’d had since she was eight years old. She remembers who she is and who her parents were. This causes Aoi’s mom Amawashi Seira to go down memory lane to when she, Amuro Reiya and Hodaka Kazuhiko were brought on as ambassadors for her father’s new golf company Athens.

The three were rivals in golf but friends in life—and in Seira and Reiya’s case, lovers. We learn that Amawashi intended for the leadership and legacy of Athens to carry on when he passed, so he decreeds that Seira would marry whichever man won a new Athens-sponsored Japanese leg of the pro tour. Reiya was was ahead of Kazuhiko until he suddenly collapsed and had to forfeit. Kazuhiko went on to the pro tour.

Seira is informing her father that she’s pregnant with Reiya’s child when a disheveled Kazuhiko returns. Her father wants her to get rid of the child, but Kazuhiko vows to marry Seira and raise Reiya’s child as if it were his own, including teaching it how to play golf. It’s an arrangement Seira’s father accepts. The child born is Aoi, and Kazuhiko is true to his word: both he and Reiya teach her their golf.

But the truth is, Aoi was led to believe that the wrong man was her father. Kazuhiko returns to Nafrece whenever he can to see his true love, Eleanor, and his daughter, Evangeline. Eve and her mother live a simple, quiet life. Kazuhiko teaches Eve golf, and comes to believe she’s even more talented than he is.

But while on a family luxury cruise, this family is shattered in a shipwreck. Kazuhiko and Eleanor perish at sea, but Eve washes ashore with a head injury and with amnesia. The rest we know: Eve ends up in a new family with Klein and Lily, works on-again, off-again as an underground golfer for Rose, and was finally able to rise out of that whole mafia mess and escape to Japan with her sweetheart and top rival, Aoi.

Hearing Eve say her father’s name is Hodaka Kazuhiko weighs on Aoi, until she finds Eve on a rooftop just as it starts to rain, and tells her that her father once went by Hodaka until he married into the Amawashi clan. If Kazuhiko was both their father, that makes them sisters. But Eve doesn’t believe it, and Aoi insists it’s true. Eve concludes if neither of them are lying, someone else is…and the only one of their of their parents still alive for sure is Aoi’s mom.

A rain-soaked Aoi confronts her mom that night, but Seira has lived this lie for nearly a decade, and isn’t about to own up to it now. She assures Aoi that Kazuhiko is her one and only father, and that her mother wouldn’t lie to her (even though she has been). In any case, Aoi needs to rest up; Seira has big plans for her to become the youngest tour pro.

Aoi begs her mother to let Eve play in that tournament too, unaware that many years before, the two most important ment in Seira’s life were pit against each other in a similar manner. But Seira forbids it; she now knows about Eve’s mafia entanglements, and wants neither Aoi, Athens, or the Awawashi brand anywhere near it.

Just when it looked like our golf girl sweeties were about to take the next step, everything seems to have blown up in their faces thanks to this new question of paternity. But one thing is certain: Aoi and Eve are but pieces in a game of chess their elders have been playing for too long. To flip the board over and start anew, they’ll need to cease being pieces.

Tenten Kakumei – 09 – A Warm Hand

It was always held out before him: an invitation to fun, trouble, or both. Algard never quite knew exactly what he’d get when he took that outstretched hand, but he still remembers how warm it felt in his, and that he knew no matter what, he wouldn’t be bored. And yet, a time came when that very same hand felt as cold as ice.

Now Al wields ice in bullet, spear, icicle rain, and hammer forms in order to stamp out the sister he loved so dearly. Never again can their hands touch; not while both draw breath. A fight ensues between the unstoppable force of a super-regenerating vampire against the immovable object of a magicologist blessed with dragon powers. It starts out a stalemate. Yet Al can tell Anis is holding back. He might be too?

All this time, Euphie, the one person who could turn the tables in an increasingly brutal duel, is still busy trying to keep Lainie from dying of a stolen heart. Once she’s healed enough to speak, Lainie reminds her healer that as a vampire, she needs blood to wield her own magic. Euphie prepares to cut herself, but Ilia stops her, bites through her lip, then delivers her blood to Lainie mouth-to-mouth, healing her completely.

Now Euphie is free to intervene in the sibling fight just when both it and tempers are getting well and truly out of hand. By continually healing the wounds Anis causes and throwing everything he’s got her way, Al gets Anis to a state where she thinks killing him for real is the only way to stop him. And yet, she’s still able to hold back her killing blow when she sees the look on Al’s fast-approaching face is no longer rage or resentment, but resignation and even relief that his wretched existence is about to end.

Anis doesn’t like that face one bit, while Euphie knows Anis doesn’t really want to kill her brother, but is just doing it because she thinks there’s no other choice. So she creates another option by plucking Anis out of midair and tacking her to the ground, tells her that she and her brother are acting like a couple of damn fools, and they both basically need a good long time out.

Anis’ attack did enough that Al is lying in a defeated heap on the ground. He recalls a beautiful day when he looked up and found Anis up in the sky above him, smiling on him, before reaching out with that warm hand. When the two of them broke out of the castle to go on an adventure, they encountered a monster. Anis told Al to run while she dealt with it, and he obeyed, hiding in a tree hollow.

Al idolized Anis more than anything at this time in his life. But then horrible rumors spread that Anis was trying to off his brother to consolidate power, and Anis unilaterally decided the best way to prove to everyone that she had no desire for the throne was to renounce it and bestow it on Al. Little did she know that was the last thing Al wanted.

Both the day he slapped her hand away in response to her rash decision, and every day since, he resented her for giving up a throne that was rightfully hers, while cursing a world for being so cruel to her that she felt she had to. He hated this world that rejected his sister so much, he believed destroying it and starting over was the only way.

But Al shot his shot and failed, and accepts the consequences. His only “defense” to his father the king is that he was a fool, straight up, and will accept any punishment. His father disinherits him and exiles him to the borderlands to work for the kingdom until he “turns to dust”. His mother tries to bear some responsibility, and perhaps she does, but he says his sins were his own. Rather than her being a bad mother, he should have been a better son.

Anis also feels responsible for creating the monster that was Crown Prince Algard, saying if only she’d “lived a normal life” in this world (which we know to be an isekai for her) maybe he wouldn’t have suffered so much. Of course, during their battle, she said all she could ever be was herself, so she’s being too harsh on herself here. This time, Al holds out his shackled hand, and a tearful Anis shakes it to make up one last time.

In the following days, Lord Chartreuse and his son are executed for their role in the attempted coup, while both Anis and Ilia remain bedridden. Lainie has fully recovered, and she and Euphie are the only ones up and about the day Algard is shipped off. Lainie takes the opportunity to tell Algard that she’s convinced there’s true kindness in him that she was lucky to experience, she also won’t forgive or forget what he did to her.

When Euphie approaches him, he tells her not to put up a front, even if it’s second nature so the duke’s illustrious genius daughter. He gets in some final, half-joking barbs about her fitness as a fiancée, and then she gives him a well deserved yet oddly formal slap across the face that Al accepts happily, as he was just as deplorable a fiancé.

Here the two are able to be simply a man and woman, realizing that they were always terrible for each other and it was a wonder they were engaged as long as they were. And then, Al asks Euphie, quite solemnly, to please take care of his sister.

Just as only Anis can be the next queen, even in a kingdom where nearly all the nobles condemn her as a heretic, only Euphie can be the one take care of her. With Ilia still recovering from her injuries, Euphie makes nursing Anis back to health her primary responsibility. When she hears Anis muttering in her sleep about Al and being sorry, Euphie tells her to dream happier dreams, and kisses her on the forehead.

Even if the ill effects of the dragon tattoo eventually clear, the fate of Algard will continue to weigh heavily on Anis like a ball and chain. In that regard, her and Euphie’s roles have now fully reversed: Euphie is now the freer one, with her clean conscience and strong sense of purpose. That’s why it’s absolutely crucial she stay by Anis’ side to help her climb out of the deep dark morass, just as Anis helped her. Euphie must take her warm hand in hers, and never let go.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Akiba Maid War – 06 – The Batmaid

Rather than a stinger that shows some kind of absurd situation our Oinky-Doink maids find themselves in, we get some narration about the delicate balance struck between the Creatureland and Maidalien groups. Ranko’s slaughter of Wuv-Wuv Moonbeam upset that balance.

When Crimson Supernova returns from seven years of prison to Maidalien’s HQ, she smells weakness and smashes it with her red bat. Whoever wiped out Wuv-Wuv will also taste that bat, which is why it’s ironic that she hits it off with Ranko at the ramen spot they both love.

Because Wuv-Wuv also wiped out Maid Sheep (never mind the sheep started it), Creatureland’s brass instructs Tenchou to take on Maidalien … all by themselves. It’s clearly meant to be a mission that will result in Oinky-Doink’s destruction, but they’ll also be destroyed if they refuse.

The increased tensions ripple through Akiba’s streets, and even Nagomi and Nerula are on edge; the distance between them symbolizing their allegiances to the opposing sides of the coming war. But when Tenchou lays out the situation, Nagomi refuses to fight Nerula.

Tenchou suggests that Nagomi and Nerula take an Oath of Sisterhood that will bind them together. For a moment I was worried Nerula would reject Nagomi’s outstretched hand, either out of loyalty to her group or fear of reprisal, but she turns out to be true blue, and before the ramen guy and Tenchou, they take their oath and exchange name cards.

When Tenchou tries to persuade Nagomi into spying on Maidalien through Nerula, Nagomi is truly disgusted … but Nerula takes the initiative, warning her new sister that her group is coming for Oinky-Doink, and even tipping off the cops to her violent new “acting” boss Manami’s plan.

Nagomi is terribly worried when Nerula goes to ground, but thanks to the ramen guy she and Ranko manage to find her hiding in an alley, not far from where her fellow Maidalien maids are hunting for her. Nerula is happy to see her sister “one last time”, a phrase Nagomi doesn’t like one bit.

But like Ranko (and unlike Nagomi), Nerula is clear-eyed about what it means to be a maid in Akiba. She betrayed her group, and is ready for the consequences when Manami and her right-hand maid show up to deal them out.

Only if Nerula is going to go down, she’s going to go down trying to take Manami with her. Manami is nothing but an agent of chaos who wants to flood Akiba’s streets with blood (never mind that Ranko kiiinda already did this in the first episode, thus creating Manami’s motivation for going after Oinky-Doink).

Nerula doesn’t let Nagomi interfere as she lunges at Manami with a dagger, hitting nothing but air. When Manami beats her down with her bat, she gets back up, which is when Manami pulls a gun and puts several bullets in Nerula’s midsection.

Ranko pulls her sidearm and reminds the Maidaliens of the code, and Manami and her colleague depart before the coppers come. But the die is cast and the war has begun, even if the first casualty is not from Creatureland. None of that matters to Nagomi in the moment; she’s just trying to stop Nerula’s bleeding.

Nagomi is heartbroken and devastated when Nerula raises her bloodied hand to her sister’s cheek before breathing her last. Ranko warned that oaths of sisterhood don’t always work out, but if there’s any consolation to Nerula’s death, it’s that she died never having to fight her sister.

AMW is no stranger to goofy, absurd, over-the-top climaxes to its episodes, but this is the first one that’s played absolutely straight for drama, and it succeeds. Could this tragedy be what finally motivates Nagomi to take up arms to prevent anyone else she cares about from being taken?

Or will Nagomi take Nerula’s last words to heart, resolving to stay the maid she is: a maid of peace and non-violence? Whatever path she takes, the goofy fun times are done.

Rent-a-Girlfriend – 24 (S2 Fin) – Dream On

All of Chizuru’s aspiring acting peers marvel at how hardworking and dedicated she is, but the truth is she’s a surging ball of doubt and anxiety. If she doesn’t pass auditions and get this next role, her dream of having her grandmother Sayuri see her performing on screen before she dies is in serious jeopardy of never coming true.

One night, she gets one more friendly rejection text, cries in her dark apartment, and asks the picture of her late grandfather Katsuhito to stop smirking and tell her what she should do. We then go seven years into the past, to when Chizuru was a surly seventh grader with no real driving force except “men are idiots”.

Chizuru’s gran was once an up-and-coming actor, and when Chizuru watches a rented DVD of her performance, that’s it: the dreamless kid suddenly has a dream: she wants to be an actor too. Her gran starts warning her just how goddamn difficult that will be, but her gramps is all optimism and gumption…remind you of someone in her present day life?

Chizuru spends her years of middle school and high school learning how to act, and seems well on her way, until Truck-kun claims her gramps’ life. Remembering how her grandparents told her the name “Chizuru” comes from a thousand paper cranes and that she was meant to be a talisman of good luck, she runs up and down the local shrine one hundred times to pray for Katsuhiro’s recovery.

He doesn’t make it, but he is conscious long enough to say his last words to her: dreams always come true. He knew this would be the worst moments of her life, and wanted her to know that she couldn’t give up no matter what; no matter how much frustration and tragedy and pain got in the way. But now, faced with yet another rejection for a role and her gran growing frailer by the day, Chizuru is wavering once more.

Enter Kazuya, who blessedly had no screen time or lines for over half of this episode, the better to make this all about Chizuru and not him (for once). He comes to her door with a proposal: crowdfunding a movie for them to make and for her to perform in. It technically would fulfill her dream, and there’s actually a better chance of pulling it off than of her getting a role in the same two-month time frame.

Chizuru retreats to her dark apartment to mull it over while Kazuya returns to his and wonders if he just made a huge blunder once again. Naturally, Chizuru sees in Kazuya the same idiotic optimism as her grandfather, but also realizes that his gramps happened to be right: dreams only truly die if you give up on them, and now life is offering her a chance to revive it just when she thought it was all but dead.

Kazuya hears Chizuru’s door open and close, her footsteps in the fancy shoes of her rental girlfriend outfit she has yet to change out of, and then a ring on his doorbell. She has one question: Can you really do it? And after thinking about it and saying that he, that they can, Chizuru has to cover her face to hide the flow of emotion. Her dream, now so cracked and fragile by the rigors of reality, is suddenly mended into something she can carry once more.

Kazuya, who took a suggestion of Sumi’s and rode with it, fully understands the hard work he’ll have to put in. When her gramps was injured, Chizuru knew she could do more for him than sitting around and crying in the hospital, so she ascended the shrine stairs one hundred times until her feet were scratched and black with dirt.

And in the end, the result of that effort was only fleeting—her gramps woke up for only a moment before expiring. Whether she’s conscious of it or not, the same qualities in her gramps are apparent in Kazuya seems like big part of why she’s falling for him as a romantic partner. But it could also be why she’s so hesitant to go down that road: what if she gave her heart to Kazuya, only to lose him? Truck-kun is still out there…

Getting a movie funded and actually making it is sure to make that running up and down the steps barefoot seem like a gentle walk in the park. Kazuya knows it. Chizuru knows it. It could end in failure too, but failure is all but assured if they give up. Kazuya (via Sumi) gave Chizuru the “loophole” she needed to scale down her dream into something more manageable than becoming a movie star before her gran dies.

Will that cause the already nascent feelings she’s developed for him to grow? Will they merely maintain the increasingly sturdy friendship they’ve forged this season? Whither Ruka, Sumi, and above all Mami, the last glimpse of whom is her smirking and asking herself if she has a life (she doesn’t)?

Will Kazuya get them involved in this “let’s make a movie” venture? Finally, who is that fifth girl, apparently moving into the same building as Kazuya and Chizuru? (At first I thought it was Ruka, but this person has an ahoge, and the blue in her hair is color, not a bow.)

We’ll have to wait for a season 3 to find all this out. Until then, I’m glad the focus was on Chizuru for this final episode, learning the full story of her dream, and that the Kazuya we get is a man who proposes strong and achievable action, not moping or fumbling about with his myriad romantic prospects in his head.

Engage Kiss – 04 – The Last Girl

Ayano and her AAA strike force go in guns blazing to deal with a D-level Demon Hazard, but she recognizes one of the men tangled up in the incident, who is then carted off to the hospital as his lover cries out in the crowd. Ayano then meets with Linfa to again ask for her help out with the police, and we learn that they’re old friends to the extent Linfa can tease her about dating the “younger” Shuu, literally tripping Ayano up.

The next day, Kisara snaps a picture of what looks like Ayano meeting some dude at a love hotel, but she and Shuu learn that Ayano is working with an Anti-Demon Bureau detective to learn more about the whereabouts of the mafia member Tony Rossi, who then ended up murdered in his bed in an apparent gang war retribution.

That night, Shuu tracks down Ayano and suggests they pool resources and work together, apologizing when it seems she’s pissed about something, but that’s the straw that breaks the camels back. Ayano unloads about how Shuu is always apologizing without compromising or listening to her opinions or feelings, and only seems to trust the demon girl.

Ayano also brings up the night of his birthday when she was preparing a party but waited all night and he never showed, eventually doing his apology schtick when he finally did. When Shuu apparently can’t recall this clearly important memory, an exasperated Ayano runs off in tears.

It isn’t Shuu who tracks her down, but Kisara, who has decided it’s time to tell Ayano that Shuu is the way he is now because those precious memories only exist in her head due to his contract with her. During a sober but cordial meal, Ayano laments how Shuu is now someone without a past or a future, and if he keeps this up, he won’t be Shuu anymore.

Indeed, that’s already happening, as he has lost the memories that tied him more closely to Ayano, and is stuck having to apologize for things he can’t remember, all due to the supernatural factor of his new “relationship.” Ayano is committed to not letting Shuu die (either in body or soul) while Kisara is not only fine having a partner who will never love her like he loved Ayano, but fine being his “last girl” at the end, when Shuu can no longer even be called Shuu.

The main draw this week isn’t the gang war between the Italian and Hispanic mafia, both of whom seem to be using demons in their scuffles and causing even more chaos than they normally would…although it’s a good story with lots of clues and twists, especially when it turns into something totally different, stemming back to that woman crying out for Tony in the cold open.

Instead, it’s the dynamic between Shuu and his “first” and “last” women in his life, the impossible choices he made to fulfill his dream of avenging his parents, and the present and future fallout of those choices. He, Ayano, and Kisara form a truly tragic trio where no one will really come out 100% happy.

To add insult to injury, the fact that Tony’s lover Maria has become a demon with blades for arms and is looking to murder everyone involved in Tony’s death creates a parallel tragic romantic route between our protagonists and the ostensible antagonist. The show also makes excellent use of mirrors and reflections to highlight how there are multiple perspectives in play and no one is 100% right or wrong (it also looks cool, especially in the mirror-filled bathroom).

Ayano and Shuu’s work and life are now colliding rapidly, as Ayano is Maria’s next target for elimination. In a testament to the complex yet tight writing, it makes thematic sense that an Ayano distraught over hearing the horrible truth about a man for whom she still cares a great deal, has isolated herself and is thus more vulnerable to attack than she otherwise would be.

While Ayano is clearly in a pickle here, I don’t expect the show to take her off the board just five episodes in. That said, Shuu may well have to give up even more of himself (and memories of her) to save her next week. It continues to be a shitty deal for all involved. This is a much darker and more brooding series than I thought it would be (especially with the upbeat OP and ED) but I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

Engage Kiss – 03 – What He’s Losing

Before greeting the day, Shuu has a dream about his parents and sister Kanna being killed by demons—Kanna while begging her brother to save her. This is apparently a frequent dream, and he reacts to it as he probably always does: with a kind of grim gratitude. Clutching a photo of his family, he tells them it’s alright: he still remembers them.

There’s a new caterpillar-like demon crawling around Bayron City’s ever-important energy production sector. They mayor’s office learns of this prior to any auction, while Shuu receives a photo of the demon to show Ayano. They meet in a park of some significance, and she makes a point to dress as cute as possible, but also points out all the times he’s betrayed him when asked.

Nevertheless, she recognizes that Shuu should have leave to take this new demon out. He wins the auction to do so by underbidding everyone, but his winning bid is nullified when new info suddenly comes in stating that because the demon is holding a core equivalent to a week’s worth of the city’s electricity, it is not to be eliminated.

Since Shuu doesn’t have the resources to capture, the job falls to AAA. Through Miles explaining the situation to detective Mikami Tetsuya, he once fostered Shuu, and Shuu became the city’s best and only true hope at demon extermination thanks to his contract with a demon. That said, the government only grudingly recognized his new company.

Ayano leads the AAA operation, but the effort to capture the demon goes pear-shaped when the huge caterpillar transforms into a huge moth that shoots powerful lasers. One by one, Ayano’s support is wiped out. Shuu calls Ayano’s mom, who quickly signs him to a contract to clean up the mess. To do so, we see that Shuu has to do more than simply make out with Kisara.

For one thing, we learn definitively that Shuu doesn’t love Kisara; even she knows that. We also learn that due to how “troublesome” this foe is, Kisara’s going to need something extra. Shuu thus decides to sacrifice another set of memories—the ones from when he an Ayano happily lived together—to give Kisara the power she needs.

The kiss is merely a conduit through which Kisara receives and consumes his memories. No sooner do their lips part does a mass of rubble start descending upon an injured Ayano, only for Kisara to save her at the last moment. The soundtrack gets down to business as she takes the fight to the big moth, dodging its laser beams and delivering brutal blows to its thorax.

Shuu wakes up very out of it, but is reoriented by a note on his hand (“Aim at Kisara”) and a locket containing a photo of the family he lost. He readies his rifle, aims and fires where his note told him, which is at the core Kisara already cracked open. It takes not one but two of his fang-bullets to shatter said core and defeat the demon.

In the aftermath of the battle, Ayano limps to where Kisara is inspecting the corpse of the demon moth, asking if she has to thank her for saving her life. Kisara says no…but she feels she should apologize to Ayano. After all, she took Shuu’s happiest memories of him and Ayano together, which he willingly sacrificed in order to keep Ayano safe (and to further his objective). Watching flashes of these memories hit me hard.

Earlier, we learned from Kisara that the outfit Ayano wore at the park meeting was the same one she wore on her and Shuu’s first date. As the keeper of Shuu’s stolen memories, these latest ones related to her “rival” Ayano, it’s no surprise Kisara has adopted a kind of vicarious romance with him. This is not your usual love triangle, and I really dig this dynamic.

The last two episodes established what an unappealing, miserable wretch Ogata Shuu is, while this latest one went a long way towards explaining, if not excusing, why that is. He’s not only “the worst”; he’s the product of a lot of shitty circumstances: the loss of his family, the city government’s combined dependence on and disdain of him, and most importantly, the fact he’s just not the same Shuu anymore.

He’s lost more than his family; he’s lost parts of himself. I daresay I sympathize with the guy. He, Ayano, and Kisara are tragic figures: him because of what he’s lost and will continue to lose, Ayano because she in turn lost (most of) the man she loved, and even Kisara because Shuu will never love her. It’s kind of a bummer, but I respect the show going to these dark places while also delivering top-notch action.