Strike the Blood – 21
Someone needs to tell Natsuki that she really doesn’t need an umbrella indoors.
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Alchemy seems pretty easy in the Strike the Blood world. They didn’t have to draw a circle, clap their hands, ramble about equivalent exchange or anything. …Alchemists in anime need to become more mainstream so there are more things to compare to than FMA. Though one of the Atelier games (I’ve never played them) is getting an anime adaptation apparently, so maybe they’re on the rise. |
The death of one teenage girl almost compromised the entire island. Maybe Kojou does need an observer.
In a plot twist to end all plot twists, Asagi is miraculously still alive BECAUSE NO ONE MAY LEAVE THE HAREM. It’s not like characters frequently die and come back to life on this show or anything. …Nagisa took Asagi showing up covered in blood pretty well too. I wonder how they explained that. Anyways, as expected, it was Nina who saved her as well. Nina seems like an interesting character personality-wise (or at least the fact that she’s been asleep for a long time seems like it could hold some comical value), and if she doesn’t turn out to be as interesting, at least she works well as an exposition character. Apparently Nina seems to know Kanon enough to be glad that she’s doing well, so that should be more interesting plot exposition to look into later. It’s probably a good thing that Nina is around though since Kou is a bit unreliable in explaining what is going on. …Because he’s kind of insane.
So what is going on? Not much. Kou is obviously rampaging around, Kanon/Yukina/Nagisa are hanging out on a boat, and Kojou plans to do something about this (with Kou, not the boat), but nothing was really accomplished this episode. They’re still setting up the plot pieces before anything big happens. Kou seems like he’ll (probably) be a formidable enemy, since he seems pretty damn hard to kill, but it doesn’t seem like he’s planning anything quite on the scale of the complete destruction of Itogami. Yet. Plus apparently Wiseman is being resurrected or whatever, so that will probably threaten the stability of Itogami and whatnot. If blood is the ultimate substance for alchemy, then large scale human sacrifice seems like a good goal to aim for.
Yukina doesn’t seem all too concerned about Kanon or the fact that there’s a psychopath after her. The trip doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime fast (and quickly turned into an implied yurifest as is required by anime law if groups of 4 or more female characters gather together in the same place and engage in any form of female bonding), which gives Kou the perfect chance to screw everyone over before they can reach wherever the boat is heading. Perhaps it wasn’t even Kanon who killed everyone, since Kou said he started some sort of tragedy a couple years ago. But in any case, Yukina will probably wish that she brought Sekkarou with her once Wiseman’s blood reaches the boat. Though Kojou will probably arrive there as well soonish somehow. …And then if the preview means anything, he’ll die again.
…Maybe they’re just lulling us into a false sense of security. Maybe one day they’ll really, honestly, truly kill off a main character and we’ll never see it coming because we’ve become so accustomed to Kojou (or one of the harem members, since that seems to be becoming a trend) “die” and come back to life through the miracle of fanservice. And knowing how much this story loves Kojou and the harem, it will probably be Vatler because the plot be damned if any of the other male characters get attention. They apparently made Yaze grow fat and bald in the side story. Vatler is totally screwed. Though he’d probably get some sort of heroic death, so maybe it’s not all that bad. I actually don’t have much to say about the episode, but hopefully this is all worth the extra episode in the arc. …If they’re even going to use the extra episode for this arc. Maybe they’ll wrap this up in 2 episodes and end the anime with some sort of fanservicey prologue or something.
But first, more fire and destruction. Because Itogami hasn’t been damaged enough in the past 21 episodes.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Because Itogami hasn’t been damaged enough in the past 21 episodes.
Sounds like a great place to live. Seriously, they got disaster relief down pat.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I heard STB’s ongoing grand plot implies Itogami Island actually serves as a magical altar to summon some kind of great evil.
I’ll need to look around some more in my sources, though.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
So that means the island has a direct connection to evil Kensei was telling Yaze about after Kojou saved Kanon from being an Angel Faux in the “Amphisbaena” arc.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Seeing how everyone hasn’t vacated it yet, they must be doing something right.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Maybe it’s all the “excitement” of living in Itogami Island. There’s never a dull day.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought the non-normals pretty much HAD to live there…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It is a refuge for supernatural species of all kinds but she’s most likely talking about the humans that are somehow willingly putting up with these near daily occult disasters. Like Nagisa who is deathly terrified of demons but hasn’t made any complaints about living basically in the same area as them.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
If I remember correctly, they all lived there due to discrimination or something, so it’s not too compulsory…. So I think they have a choice between the city being destroyed once a month or dealing with the rest of the world.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Strike the Blood vol 2 sales figures show a total of 5350 for its 1st sales week Feb 24-Mar 2.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5036259&postcount=1698
Fingers crossed the STB anime production committee, director and LN publisher are interested in making a Season 2!!!!! 😀
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
My fingers have been crossed for a while now!! I really like this series and it’s good to know it’s getting notice thanks to the sales. In an unrelated note, Strike the Blood is actually the second two-cour series Silver Link has worked on.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Vol 10 of STB has just been released, and is selling pretty well.(21,233 copies in its 1st week.)
Synopsis:http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5004347&postcount=1218
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Wow, those are some devoted fans. The stores selling them must have been packed.
So if there is a second season (and probably will given the rising popularity), we won’t be able to have a chance to see the Third Progenitor, the Chaos Bride, until the fourth arc if the second season starts from the 7th volume. And there’s a place in her dominion called the “Chaotic Territory”… Nice.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I think what makes Kojou so different from other male harem leads in most anime is the chivalrous masculinity of his character and behaviour,unlike the passivity/softness of others(ie, Takamiya of Witchcraft Works) .
When you couple that with the usual aspects of heroism, selflessness and bravery associated with harem leads, I can see why all the girls flock to him(plus homosexual vampire lords). (^_^)
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Whuuuut? There’s *nothing* different about Kojou as far as being a harem lead, unless he’s significantly changed in the last 4 episodes after I got tired of the series (and nothing indicates he has). There are plenty of masculine chivalrous harem leads. Probably about half of them. That’s generally a leading characteristic. That was the big thing that Takahiro in Walkure Romanze had. And that’s what Issei Hyoudou has too, especially as his harem grows later in the books (he gets really beefcake). I despair to compare Issei to Koujou, tho. It’s like comparing Larry Bird to Kurt Rambis.
Personally, I wouldn’t even say that Witch Craft Works is a harem at all, because everyone knows you don’t get attached to Honoka. The only one who is defying that is Kasumi, using imouto power. But it’s pretty obvious that there’s OTP there.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Sorry, I haven’t actually watched a lot of harem shows to make a proper comparison. :p I did say ‘I think’, as a psuedo-legal disclaimer.
The last one I saw was DXD, and I will admit Issei’s pretty cool. Although I don’t recall Issei having any interested homosexual vampire lords on the periphery of his harem, unlike Kojou and Vatler + Vatler’s male harem.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
There are times in DxD when Kiba gets a little uncomfortably doting on Issei, but generally BL isn’t a thing in the DxD ficton.
One of the things I think makes Issei *the* best harem lead is that he acknowledges that all the girls are into him. But he has reasons why he won’t make moves on most of them (there are a few times in the books and even in the anime when he’s ready to get busy with Akeno and Zenovia, always at their instigation, only to be stopped by Rias), and number one reason is that he’s only got eyes for Rias.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Ah, I see. I really apologize if I made a bad comparison there with Kojou though. I have little to no experience watching harem.
DxD and STB are the only ones I’ve ever watched.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten up in arms so fast. You don’t need to apologize. I’ve just argued with BB before about how terrible a harem lead Kojou is (like, Ichika Orimura terrible). The characteristics that make him terrible are obliviousness to all the girls liking him, not actually doing specific things to make the girls be interested in him (they just get googly eyed when they first meet him), and not even trying to make any progression in any relationships.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
@Highway: You’d have to talk to STB’s author, Gakuto Mikumo, about this, seeing he wrote Kojou that way.
Although there is a recently released side story by Mikumo which implies that in the future, Kojou DOES make up his mind and takes both Yukina and Asagi, having 1 vampire daughter with them each.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Sadly, I think the amount of internal monologue that got cut is affecting a bit since I remember at least one scene that he acknowledge his feeling towards Asagi.
But personally, at least he isn’t Makoto tier of terrible.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, the existence of other bad harem leads that sell well, like Ichika Orimura, means that there will be more like him. I can’t exactly blame the author, although I can complain about his decisions and the people who like it.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
@Highway: Ah, but the one thing that defeats this entire debate on both sides after thinking a little while is that Strike the Blood isn’t even a harem series. It doesn’t have the tag for it, not even the manga/LN but looks so because maybe subconsciously, it’s what most want to see and might also be something the author is teasing with.
DxD and IS do have the “harem” tag, however, so Issei and Ichika have to act like harem leads (Though the latter fails horribly and miserably) but Kojou isn’t necessarily obligated to do and that could make his slight density almost irrelevant. He’s a lot like Index’s Touma Kamijou and while both go on with their adventures, one way or another; they encounter women at every turn. Besides, with the fact Yukina is on the cover of every LN volume plus the side story that states she has a daughter with him, it confirms he does make a move (He even has a daughter with Asagi). Moreover, the story is still ongoing so there’s no reason to rush.
Here are the genres/tags for certain anime via MAL to prove the point.
Infinite Stratos/Infinite Stratos 2: Action, Comedy, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Shounen, Harem
High School DxD/DxD New: Action, Comedy, Demons, Ecchi, Romance, School, Shounen, Harem
Toaru Majutsu no Index/Index II: Action, Magic, Sci-Fi, Super Power
Strike the Blood: Action, Ecchi, Fantasy, School, Shounen, Vampire, Supernatural
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
With at least 5 girls chasing after Kojou, I think the presence or absence of a “Harem” tag on MAL is pretty irrelevant.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
But it doesn’t seem like Kou’s planning anything quite on the scale of the complete destruction of Itogami.
Some of Kou’s actions so far seem to revolve around an agreement Kou has with the the Wiseman(‘s soul? spirit?) in the metal staff. Remember Kou was telling the Wiseman to fulfil the promise between them once it got its body back. I wonder if this is related to what Nina said about Kou being overly attached to his physical body.
Perhaps it wasn’t even Kanon who killed everyone, since Kou said he started some sort of tragedy a couple years ago.
I definitely think Kanon is innocent in this. I strongly suspect Kou caused the deaths of everyone at the monastery, and like a psycho serial killer, now intends to finish Kanon off to complete his tally.
<And knowing how much this story loves Kojou and the harem…
I heard the story, readers and LN publishers definitely love Yukina. Japanese fans apparently voted Yukina as their top character(I’m guessing they like incredibly loyal, somewhat yandere partners), and as noted by commenter d-Lan, the publishers use Yukina for ALL LN covers. They even refused Gakuto Mikumo’s suggestion for using Natsuki as the cover girl for the Witch arc LNs.
In a plot twist to end all plot twists, Asagi is miraculously still alive…
LN spoilers say this is related to the grand plot that is still ongoing in the LNs, and Asagi is implied to be closely connected to it all.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yukina is probably my favourite out of the “official” harem (mostly because nobody else seems to show up as much). The fact that she’s apparently a bit of a yandere certainly makes me like her more as well. So I have no problems with them sticking Yukina on everything.
Huh. So Asagi is actually somewhat important to the plot. Maybe this is why she and Kojou have a kid later.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Kojou’s harem thus far:
-A yandere Sword Shaman
-A tsundere War Dancer
-A superhacker best friend
-A cheeky foreign princess with spiritual powers
-A tomboyish witch,also childhood friend
Orbiting his harem:
– Kojou’s loli teacher/witch/attack mage(comes with 1 free expressionless homunculus girl)
-A shy middle schooler, the princess’s younger aunt
-An overadoring male vampire lord from Vatler’s harem
-A (tsundere?) male vampire lord from Vatler’s harem
-5 horny female political hostages
-A battle-crazy, very likely homosexual vampire lord
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Isn’t it sad, zztop? You are pretty much the 70% of the comments in STB article lol.
I recently got the urge to read Kagerou Days LN so I’m getting lazier at reading the source material of the stuff I ady watched lol.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I have other sources of info re the LN details, so I just feel I should contribute back to Metanorn with what I know. As a thank you to the posters who take the time and effort to do an episode summary every week.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Also so anime only viewers here can find out what happens in the LNs, given they havent exactly explained a lot of mysteries yet during the show’s run.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Thanks for the consideration because after comparing the “Right Arm of the Saint” arc, manga and anime wise, I saw the anime cut out a considerable amount of stuff. They didn’t even include the part of Kojou creating a ball of energy in the palm of his hand, almost like Naruto’s Rasengan, crackling with electricity, ready to use on Rudolf like he did in the manga. And the actual scene of Kojou’s first familiar funning loose after getting attacked by Astarte in their first encounter was cut. All we got was the aftermath in the next episode.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Nah, I wouldn’t call it sad. That’s bona fide dedication!!
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
That one way to view it I guess 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
At least that view is friendly.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I get the feeling this last arc of the series is going to be 5 episodes long. It feels dragged out compared to the others.
He almost turned Itogami into Ground Zero over Asagi. Just imagine how bad the situation would get if anything ever happened to Yukina. He already let himself get decapitated to save her once.
I knew Asagi wasn’t going to die because in this show, if a character doesn’t die, they end up with a more twisted fate. Nina may not be a malicious consciousness but it doesn’t mean she might not be causing harm, unknowingly or not. The trouble with such situations is, two minds in one body so there may also be a fight for control given that both are alternating randomly and there’s also the chance the longer Nina stays, the more Asagi gets eaten away.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Well, it ended with 22, so I have noooo idea what’s coming up next to be honest.
I imagine he would be just as upset over Yukina, though he doesn’t seem to favour her over Asagi or anything. Though Kojou doesn’t seem to favour any of his harem members over the others (as far as the anime has shown thus far).
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I guess the next arc will cover that side story of Kojou and Yukina’s daughter time travelling. The girl in the preview looks like Yukina.
To me, out of the girls, Kojou shows more attraction to Yukina and Asagi.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I imagine she had a body of her own before being sealed in the core lodged in Asagi’s chest. She probably knew her beforehand. Kou destroyed the monastery five years ago and Kanon is the only survivor.
Whatever Kou is after, it apparently involves Kanon a lot. He went after Kensei but failed and told Kojou he needed her as sacrificial material so the common point is their bloodline. Wiseman must not be fully awakened yet and needs to absorb a rare type of blood to do it.
That almost yuri kiss between Yukina and Nagisa raised tension to a considerable level. Personally, I think these truth or dare games are more dreadful than any battle. The penalties are unspeakable and are mostly created by those with their minds deep in the gutter. Their friend was disappointed they didn’t lock lips.
While this is all well and fine, some of the focus should go to Yaze’s interactions with Asagi’s AI Mogwai. He’s suspicious as hell and far too free willed to be a program. Even being capable of keeping secrets from Asagi and planning behind her back.
Side note: Kou, as a character, must be playing the polar opposite of everything that makes Kojou who he is. Their names are almost alike:
– Akatsuki Kojou
– Amatsuka Kou