Gushing over Magical Girls – 12 – Playtime is Back

Utena is now Supreme Commander of Enormita by unanimous vote of the other girls, but morphing Lord into a kid took a lot out of her, and she’s worried about Tres Magia and Azure in particular. When she hears from Matama and Nemo that not only are Tres Magia just fine, but Azure has developed a new ability that was able to crush Lord’s goop monsters, she’s over the moon.

The heads into town where Tres Magia are rebuilding, but without her transformation star, so that there’s no chance of her cover being blown. Azure recognizes her classmate, but has to pretend not to. Utena, barely keeping her composure, offers Azure an innocent back rub that soon gets entirely out of hand(s) when she goes below the equator. I have to think Sayo won’t look at Utena the same way next time they cross paths in class!

Since Utena and Kiwi are essentially Korisu’s parents, they take her to a toy store to treat her to some new toys to replace the ones she sacrificed in the battle against Lord & Gigant. While there they encounter Haruka with her adorable triplet sisters, who proceed to play with Korisu. Haruka notes that it would be nice if days were always like this: quiet and peaceful.

Alas, it’s neither Utena nor Kiwi who ruin the peace, but a Neroalice excited to play with her new toys: a Godzilla-like lizard she blows up to the size of a building, and a magic wand that she uses to similarly size up Magenta once she responds to the disturbance. Unable to stop Alice from having her fun, Baiser and Leoparde join in, climbing up into Magenta to mess with her.

Azure and Sulphur head in to help Magenta out, but having four tiny magical girls crawling all up and down her body have the opposite effect. Everyone eventually gets too overheated to keep fighting, and gravity sends them down into Magenta’s panties, which then tear. Having had quite enough of this, Magenta blasts Utena and Kiwi into the sky, then reverts to her normal size.

All’s well that ends well, with Haruka reuniting with her sisters, who report that they saw Magenta’s butt, but she was still really cool. As for Korisu, after having fun with her toys and Tres Magia, she falls into a peaceful, satisfied sleep beside Utena and Kiwi. So begins Utena’s reign as Supreme Commander, whose standing order is to have fun messing with Tres Magia, not eliminating them!

Gushing over Magical Girls – 11 – Asserting Dominance

Having surprised Sister Gigant by revealing her three stars (along with most of the rest of her body), Leoparde proceeds to beat and bomb the shit out of her huge opponent in a rude profanity-laden assault.

The slime hearts are a nice touch

Even when Leoparde starts to cough up blood from overuse of her power, she’s revitalized by her boundless horniness and the promise of a hotel liason with her beloved Magia Baiser. She also uses her brain, creating cracks in the pavement beneath their battle that eventually swallow up Gigant and make her cry real tears of utter defeat.

Korisu has Lord’s slime monsters pent up in her dollhouse, but when she falls asleep, shes transforms out of her Enormita guise Matama and Nemo protect her, they’re soon surrounded. That’s when Tres Magia makes a stylish entrance, and because everyone is in street clothes they don’t recognize them as enemies. Sayo takes on the slime monsters herself and vaporizes them en masse with her nifty new powers.

Meanwhile at Macht Base, Utena is struggling in her battle with Lord Enorme, but due to lack of motivation and boredom with her schtick. Noting that Lord talks about world domination like a kid, she starts to visualize her as a little brat, and suddenly all her accumulated wounds are healed and she reveals a new, even gaudier form, with what looks like eight star tattoos on her face to Lord’s mere four.

By the time Matama and Nemo arrive with a still-tuckered-out Korisu and a heavily bandaged Kiwi, Utena has things well in hand. She turns Lord’s own slime monsters against her, uses them as restraints, then tears off Lord’s clothes starts giving her a spanking. It’s no longer a battle, it’s punishment for Lord’s misdeeds. Lord begs her former allies to help her, but they want no part of what this particularly unhinged version of Baiser is dishing out, thanks!

After sufficient humiliation has been doled out, Utena finally gets a tearful, blubbering apology from Lord Enorme, who seems to have been relieved of three of her four stars. Turns out Venalita let her borrow the other three all along unlike everyone else, who gets their power from within. But her use to Vena has come to an end, so he has Gigant, who was working for him all along, finish Lord off, which presumably means death.

All’s well that ends well. Kiwi is eager to get her hotel date with Utena started as soon as possible, despite being in no condition for any kind of physical exertion. She even looks Matama and Nemo’s way as if inviting them to get a room themselves; they respond by blushing in unison. Korisu clearly looks like she could nap for days.

As for Utena, Venalita makes her the new Supreme Commander of Enormita, and her response is very Utena-y. Apparently Lord Enorme going rogue was all part of Vena’s plan to make the other girls more powerful, and it appears to have succeeded. The question for the final two episodes of this bonkers show is where Utena and her friends go from here.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story – 15 – The Swing Within

When Eve’s Orange Bullet holes the ball and gives them the win, Eve has to be told it happened; she must’ve gone into a trance when using Orange, which is probably why she hasn’t used it until now; it’s a last resort. As for Aoi, she passes out and remembers her father training her and telling her he wants her to not just win, but keep enjoying golf with a pure and innocent heart, for “hearts too sharpened by conviction can sometimes shatter”. That’s a great line.

Despite hearing news that her daughter is in the hospital and they can’t find anything medically wrong with her, Seira still can’t be bothered to cancel a business meeting to go see her. Real Mother of the Year shit! But she also knows that Aoi is going through the same “thing” as Kazuhiko, only earlier in life (he was in his 20s), which is concerning.

Fortunately for Eve, Aoi comes to in time to treat her to all the hamburgers she can eat, and the next day they watch Nadaminami’s Oikawa Kaede and Himekawa Mizuho trounce their semifinal opponent. Eve makes a throat-slitting motion to Mizuho, who is looking forward to facing off against a real opponent.

There’s no rest for the weary on the eve of the final against Nada, as Coach Reiya takes Aoi to the driving range, not to teach her anything per se, but simply to “put a spell”, which he accomplishes with three swings. Aoi recognizes his first as her mother’s then her father’s. She doesn’t know the third, but it comes with lots of sparkles, as any good spell should.

Reiya tells her the third swing is the one still within her, which has been waiting until now to be unlocked. Amane, watching from the bushes, notes that it’s far more advanced than even the most ideal swing Aoi’d been working on, and after just a few swings, she already has it mastered. After leaving Aoi to practice, Reiya himself collapses after just those three swings, and a concerned Kinue comes running.

On the subject of special golf attacks that take a lot out of you, Ichina has been over it over and over and can’t find a way for Eve and Aoi to beat Nada…unless Eve can pop off two more Orange Bullets. Eve, a picture of confidence as she lounges on her bed, tells Ichina she’ll shoot all the Oranges in Florida if that’s what it takes to win. And so we enter the finals with both out Gold Girls relying on new and unpredictable weapons.

The change in Aoi is instant and shocking to everyone watching, from her suddenly frustrated Nada opponents, to her mother (who finally deigns to arrive to watch after her daughter already finished eight holes), and Leo and Date watching on TV. Klein and Lily are also tuned in at their classy bar. But just when they’re just one hole from beating Nada, Aoi can fell that she has just one more swing left in her.

After taking it, she’s unsteady on her feet, but Eve is there to support her and to take it from there…but won’t commit to a kiss, which is important due to what comes next. As expected, when Eve begins to execute another Orange Bullet she experiences a mental shock, and suddenly her long-buried memories of her childhood, and the identities of her parents, are suddenly unlocked.

Just as Aoi changed as a golfer after Reiya’s spell, after the rush of memories and emotions triggered by Orange, Eve unleashes a Rainbow Shot, identical to that of the late, great Kazuhiko. A rainbow shot means the club is swung without any hint of uncertainty in one’s heart.

An astonished Aoi, still conscious and leaning on her golf bag, approaches Eve after her shot, and Eve declares her real name: Evangeline Burton; her mother’s name, Eleanor Burton…and her father’s name: Hodaka Kazuhiko. Since that’s the same father Aoi has, that makes these golf girls half-sisters by blood.

And while I’m glad Eve finally knows who she is, and I love the postcard memory of her family to close the episode, I am a little disappointed, since this revelation confirms that Aoi and Eve will never be a romantic item. Unless, ya know, Birdie Wing goes and does something weird and crazy, which, as we know, it has never done in the past.

Or hey, maybe Kazuhiko isn’t actually Aoi’s dad. Hey, one can hope. And even if Eve x Aoi isn’t to be, there’s always Eve x Vipere!

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk – 16

While the last couple weeks were a bit of a rest going into the Li Twins battle, this is definitely all battles—the end of one and the beginning of another—with the slightest of breaks in between.

While that makes it a bit disjointed (I prefer episodes that start and end with one battle), the action, taunting, and over-the-top explosive tactics were all there, and the fact I knew the Li Twins battle would end this week (this show doesn’t spend long chains of episodes on single battles after all) I felt I could kick back and enjoy the carnage.

Until the climax of the Li Twins battle, Ayato is simply meditating in the corner whil Julis acts as his shield, enduring attacks from both twins, who seem more interested in torturing her than snapping her badge and ending things quickly. One look at Shenyun’s increasingly twisted face and you know the guy’s a sadist dick. Shenhua, less so, since she’s not shown piling on the way her brother is.

But all of Julis’ suffering isn’t for naught: Ayato finds the key to unlocking the next level of his sister’s seal, enabling him to store far greater amounts of prana and go longer in battles. He says it doesn’t result in any significant powering up, but I’ve gotta wonder, after the destruction he unleashes with ease on the twin’s carefully constructed web of traps, talisman bombs, and invisible strikes.

Ayato basically takes a bi ol’ Ser Veresta to all that, blasting Shenhua then delivering a well-deserved bone-crushing fist to the face of Shenyun, ending the fight. Julis gives the thumbs-up (the fanservice on her torn uni is kept to a minimum), while the Twins’ tiny prez looks approvingly at Ayato’s performance, and looks forward to meeting him (i.e. fighting him, probably) someday.

With that, Ayato and Julis are in for some well-deserved rest before heading to the semifinals. Claudia, making a rare appearance this season, wants to not only offer her thanks to the partners on their great win for the school, but also thank Ayato personally, in her room, at night. Hmm…could she be talking about sex???

Julis doesn’t stand by and let Ayato be dragged off; insisting he stay with her to “go over strategy.” C’mon Julis. You don’t want the kid sleeping with Claudia. Simple as that.

That leads to the week’s second match: Saya and Kirin versus the Allekant robots. Aldy and Rimsy give another one-minute grace period, but both girls are tired of being mocked and looked down on for being weak and organic.

Kirin uses a bit of old-fashioned samurai sword skills to show Aldy he’s wrong about his defense being perfect, because he cannot hope to reach the sensitivity necessary to fight Kirin. For that, you have to be human.

Her attacks make Aldy pull out his weapon before the grace period is over, which combined with scoring several strikes on him, are all first in the Festa. Meanwhile, Saya stands by during the minute, choosing not to attack Rimsy until she’s coming at her with everything she’s got.

When she does, Saya breaks out some badass-looking flying battle armor that suddenly makes her a good match for Rimsy. And like Kirin, she scores the first hits of the Festa on Rimsy. Things are looking good, but while watching the match in the stands, Flora gets kidnapped…probably by someone working for Dirk at Le Wolfe.

I guess the Festa fights aren’t the only thing our guy and gals will have to contend with…not that I doubted that would be the case!