Jun10
Guardian Stones, Gymnastics, Canceled Wishes, and Belly Dancing!
Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride – 10
The return of Yoshihiko
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Can always count on Juubei
The evil qi returns
It’s infodump time, people! All the exposition that’s been missing throughout the whole season got shoved into this episode. Not that it was bad, because I like exposition and infodump episodes, but it pretty much relegated this episode to three locations: The evil spirit thing yakking at Kojirou, Yoshihiko yakking at Muneakira and his top Samurai, and comic relief with Kanetsugu. We got the explanation of the Guardian Stone, a spiritual stone under Mount Fuji that evens out the flow of qi through Great Japan. We got the explanation of the Dark Samurai, who are trying to disrupt the Guardian Stone. And we got the explanation of the Samurai Bride, when a General who has 7 Master Samurai (hmmm, Muneakira has 7 Master Samurai…) has them all dump all their qi into one of the Master Samurai, through the General. But we also know that if all of your qi is sent to someone else, you can die.
They finally know what’s going on
Will this be the fate of everyone? I am thinking it won’t be. They might try to make someone the Samurai Bride, but it’s going to end up with everyone being happy ever after. That’s the way this show works. The only person they could kill is Juubei, and she’s already been killed once and come back. But we also have the ominous Gisen, who seems to be regaining her powers, albeit slowly. Will she act against the Yagyuu dojo girls? Or will she save the day?
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Photo Kano – 10
This is my blackmailin’ face
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Oh, hello there!
It’s Sakura time. Even though we’re a bit past April, this week’s girlfriend is Sakura Mai. The diminutive first year is still training hard in Rhythmic Gymnastics, but finds plenty of time to bring some reversed karma onto Kazuya, repeatedly blackmailing him about the ecchi mags she caught him with (and took with her for ‘safekeeping’). Of course, the things she blackmails him into doing aren’t that bad: eating food and describing it for her, since she’s been on a cucumber and miso sandwich diet for years.
This episode, even more than most of these single-episode endings, moved pretty fast, with Mai having a breakdown during her qualification, being upset, going to the pool with Kazuya (after Kanon faked a fever to set them up on a pool date), getting pushed down by Kazuya in his room (about as contrived as ever), and finally confessing. This was probably my least favorite of the finishing episodes so far, and I have to admit that that’s not in small part to not being a huge fan of Mai. I thought it did some things well, like having Mai actually fail in her routine. It was good to not have her be perfect, and she did have some down periods after that. It also gave Kazuya a chance to step up and be supportive.
And the winner for most contrived pushing over a girl… Kazuya Maeda!
One thing I wish the show had done with Rhythmic Gymnastics, but I can understand why it didn’t, is use the ribbon apparatus. IMO, the clubs are the worst of the available choices, but they’re probably second easiest to animate. I just find the ribbon to be far more beautiful (bonus points to me that Kanaeva is using the same music Mai did). I’d have even preferred the ball, which would have been easier to animate.
Next week, we get Yunoki Rina, who we’ve seen almost nothing of so far, so we’ll see how the show handles another girl who has had no exposition so far.
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The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat – 09
Clearly the most logical interpretation of a wish to make those swimsuits go away.
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So Tsukiko doesn’t even get the first kiss. Is she just the mascot character at this point?
The Hentai Prince actually turns out to be exactly the person you want to run into you in this situation.
So I watched this episode twice over the weekend, and I’m still not sure I follow everything. Emi is a real girl after all, one who Youto knew and made some promise to a long time ago, but actually she’s just a creation of the stony cat who was granting Youto’s wish for Tsukushi to go to Italy? Also Azusa was possessed by the stony cat following her wish to become someone else, but that stony cat is also malevolent and almost kills Azusa? With Youto kissing Azusa making everything better? I can follow the sequence of events, but I feel like I’m missing a big piece of a puzzle.
Not a whole lot of fanservice or gags to make up for the poor storytelling, either. Come on, they couldn’t think of any more fun antics for a school full of swimsuit-clad girls who all think Youto, the so-called HENTAI prince, is the greatest? Tsukiko dealing with her dissolved swimsuit was cute, but what was the point of her racing Emi? At least we got to have a kiss scene, which looks to be pushing in some direction Youto’s relationship with Azusa. I continue to enjoy the show’s fast pacing and surprisingly complicated story, but it needs to devote some time with the lighter stuff, because drama isn’t what I watch The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat for.
I’m very happy that whoever is in charge of the mid-ep swipes appears to be a fan of tan lines.
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High School DxD – 14
And this is just a foot massage…
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Koneko wanting to punch the perversion out of two guys with one fist
😀
It’s time to start up the hype train for the NEW season of High School DxD which is gonna start in the Summer ’13 season. This bonus episode was included with Vol. 15 of the light novel series, and just like in episode 13, the girls are caught in a situation in which they are tied up. Ep. 13 was sillier than this episode, but this one played up Issei’s perversion oddly enough through possession. I also enjoyed the “Peace Time” segment which the usual innuendo type stuff.
(click for full size panning shot)
New season’s new girls, Xenovia and Irina
A parting gif
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We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
So, this kids mind is ate up?
Wow, I am really starting to feel sorry for the MC of Henneko. Just how many wishes has he had to sustain?
I am rather liking the slow build they’ve taken in the fantasy element. They’ve connected the dots from Barbara’s collar, to the “tickle my belly button” scene, to the “make me someone else” wish in Azuzki’s character. It gives me the wonder about what someone else has wished that has totally screwed Yokodera’s mind up. That is now the selling point of the show for me.
I think fanservice has been one heck of a distraction for this show. And for the better…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
High School DxD – 14: So there was yet another extra episode for the first season. I went and searched for the download the minute I saw the post and now my mind is ready to endure the corruption of the new season starting next month.
Issei always manages to get in the most sticky and perverted situations. I’m amazed that even though he knew that sorcerer was up to no good that he didn’t go along with his demands when he knew a handful of freebies were in his grasp. I guess he is completely consumed by perversion.
Once again, Rias and Akeno prove to be the sexiest and well endowed girls around. I can’t decide which is better: Rias’s belly dancing dress or Akeno’s bondage suit. How does Issei manage not to have his heart skip a beat around these two?
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 175 comments
stony cat – twist we got give youto got memory prob is one thing yet stony cat itself got involve & body hi-jack azusa?
yea with all this wonder what other twist it got.
& DxD ova 2 indeed the dancing egypt rias & with s2 on corner indeed we’re entering the summer of pervy yuji kaji.
(oh Funi’s DxD dub also coming in august to must hear Marchi’s version of rias on it)
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I’m really starting to get lost with HenNeko. Plans within plans, wishes layered on wishes intertwined with wishes.
The only good thing about it is that everyone in the show is just as confused as we are. I do wish it would get back to more harem romance, tho. But Youto seems pretty intent on not being romantic (despite how the OP looks).
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Why does that sound like Inception?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I’ve never seen Inception, actually. But it just seems like if wish intermediaries can make wishes themselves, how are we supposed to have any hope of following along?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Dunno, before 2010 we just called it an intricate plot. Rather or not it was handled well, was up to the story.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
HSDxD 14: That was about perfect, the Hyoudou Issei I want to see. I really hope that’s a portent of things to come in this coming season. Issei really is a good guy, his major problem is that he lets his H side get a little too much control. But this episode really rode that balance well.
From being both suitably interested and a little embarrassed when tagging along with Akeno, to dealing with being possessed, where he wanted the same things that the mummy did, but still realized it wasn’t the right thing to do. He even apologized in advance to Koneko, even when it was Rias who told him to use “that”.
That’s the kind of characterization I want for him, not taking the side of boob sucking monsters or clothes eating slimes.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I found the episode rather perfunctory. Which is perfect for an OVA that leads into another season. At the very least they hung a lampshade on the entire “oh goodness, here we are hoist by tentacle things and are now helpless” angle. If the show really wants to expand, then this cast needs to do drills on how to avoid or escape such things. Isseki is the perfect man to lead the drills, of course.
Because by hanging the lampshade, they’ve pretty much said the tentacle trap is as solid as breakfast lunch and dinner.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
The more I think about it, the more that I think this (moreso than the other OVA) was pretty much an extra episode for the upcoming season. They get to put a *skosh* more fanservice in because it’s an OVA, they get to do a completely off the map story, but they also get to revisit everyone’s powers, they get to reintroduce the characters and some abilities, and they get to do some character development which I hope they keep up with. Conflicted Issei (granted, he’s conflicted about the motive for motorboating Akeno, not the motorboating itself) is a lot better than “Issei whose brain flies completely out of his skull when he sees boobs”.
I could easily see this as episode 6 in a series, and it would fit in as a ‘filler’ or ‘breather’ episode. They took the opportunity to actually tell a story with it.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
And for some reason, I find ‘bondage’ a lot less problematic than ‘tentacles’. Actual realistic difference? Not a lot. Perceptual difference? Feels like a lot.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Perhaps it’s because tentacles also imply bestiality. Unless the bondage is extreme I think I have to agree with you on this. Now I have to go find Ep 14.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Actually inspecting my thoughts more, I think it’s more like tentacles imply further violation, especially non-consensual, that bondage does not. Nobody wants to be tied up, but there’s something extra with tentacles (the two instances that come to mind immediately for me are Samurai Bride last week, and Dakara Boku H when Lisara was caught by that trap. That last one really went badly over the top).
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Bride – 10: I don’t really like how the plot is going. It’s going to feel rushed and in my opinion, the information around the Guardian Stone should have been revealed about two episodes back to have reasonable breathing room.
The conditions of becoming a Samurai Bride are very steep and they should be. Did the girls really think they could achieve something so rare without paying some kind of price. Everything is give and take and the outcome depends on your willingness to act. In retrospect, it’s highly cliché because a lot of us can guess the Samurai Bride will turn out to be Juubei.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Photo Kano – 10: “Did you forget? About those porn mags I’m onto for you.” Karma is a bitch, eh, Kazuya? That’s what you get for taking so much pleasure in blackmailing others. Considering what she’s making him do, I wouldn’t mind trading places with him.
I really feel sorry for the athletes and models that have to constantly sacrifice the simple things they like just to maintain their composure. They might look happy and confident in front of the camera but boy, they must surely be miserable behind the scenes.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I doubt they’re surely miserable. There’s some number who are, and there are quite a lot of people who aren’t. There are costs to decisions, and that’s one they bear. I do tend to think that women’s gymnastics is at the top of the ‘not worth it’ pile, tho, especially given its nature of “you need to work really hard and get good at this before puberty… and then see if you “win” the lottery for continuing afterward when you can actually do something with it.” It’s slightly less pressure for rhythmic gymnasts, but not much.
Something I’d like to see a little more of in anime is a little more aggression from girls, especially when it’s in a situation like they found themselves in in this episode. Chances that Mai walked into Kazuya’s room knowing his mom wasn’t there and that they ‘should’ go downstairs = 100%. Chances that Mai didn’t want to leave the room and was not all that unhappy to be pushed down? 100%. I’d just like to see something like that scene, but where Mai reaches up and kisses Kazuya. Then have Kanon walk in. Almost the same effect, but it has a gender role message that I’d prefer.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat – 09: Whoa, too many twists here. I had trouble following. So all this insanity happened because of Azusa’s wish and Emi’s a real girl but got pulled into things just to go along for the ride. The stony cat continues to be a mischievous entity with wishes that bite back at you but with possessing people, it’s sunk to a new low. The subject that demands more focus is the reason behind Youto’s amnesia.