OP: “Kūsō Rumba (空想ルンバ)” by Kenji Ohtsuki – Holy crap! I was expecting the change this time, but this was still probably the best revision yet. I loved the paper dolls, as well as all of the other frantic action. There were also guest vocals differing from the usual Zetsubou girls this time around.

Summary:

• Nozomu and the students tell 100 stories, but instead of the usual supernatural themes, they use rather typical situations in their tales. This leads to some very humorous possibilities.
• On white day, two otaku present their gifts to a waitress. Although the two boys both declare themselves as better, Nozomu appears to call them both losers. This leads to Nozomu and the class describing many situations where two arguing parties both lose, until Kafuka appears to reverse the situation as usual.
• In the past, Nozomu had reached high school hoping to start a very positive student life. However, the first sight he met under the falling sakura petals was that of four men having hanged themselves from the nearby trees. Further more, while Nozomu hoped to meet a girlfriend at the school, all of the girls he met only presented him with letters to pass on to his other family members. Believing the source of his problems to be his glasses, Nozomu eventually came across a group known as the negative club. The group quickly gave Nozomu a new set of glasses, which caused him a great deal of pain whenever he said anything positive. With the negative club’s new teachings enveloped onto him, Nozomu’s life would be far from normal from this point on.

Impression:

More than a week late, but still faster than the subs right? Well, that’s it for the Goku part of Zetsubou Sensei. It’s hard to say if Shaft will produce more OVAs or series at this point, but the manga certainly isn’t finished yet.

The first two parts of this episode were humorous as usual, but they just weren’t as laugh out loud-worthy as some of the past episodes’ segments. A lot of the little easter eggs in the background were really fun though, and I’m sure a lot of fans have had a lot of fun rewinding to look through those already. I couldn’t help but recall one of my favorite xxxHolic episodes during the play on hyakumogogatari kaidankai, and the bon festival parody had me spending a few minutes researching some culture as usual. The whole ideology around winning and losing in the second part of this episode was the usual awareness parody, but as great as it was, it’s really hard to say anything new about this type of stuff anymore.

The third part of the episode was easily the most entertaining, with a look at how Nozomu came to become how he is in the present. Who would have thought Nozomu could be such a cliched and positive character? A loli Kafuka is win either way you look at it too. Better watch out, Ushio.

Now several days closer to being on time!

Summary:

Rin wakes Reiji in the morning, and while presenting breakfast to him, she constantly reminds him that she is in the fourth grade now. Reiji notices that Rin had prepared his meal splendidly, but hers burnt, causing him to internally find her extremely cute. In other places, Kuro and Mimi prepare for the fourth grade in their own unique ways. When Reiji sees Rin in a particularly revealing outfit, he worries about Aoki’s seeing her in such a state. Because of Rin’s usual charm though, he ends up allowing her to wear it. This causes trouble as he walks her to school, with even the police mistaking him for a molester.

Reiji meets Aoki at the school gates, leading both of them to undermine each other in their minds. Rin gives Reiji a kiss on the cheek before leaving him though, seemingly giving Aoki’s rival the upper hand. When Aoki asks Rin if she always does this with Reiji afterwards, she teases him in the usual way. Aoki clearly sees that Rin would be trouble again, but as he had already decided to understand her, he decides to do his best from here on as well.

Aoki asks for volunteers to represent the class in homeroom, but the students only express their reluctancy. When the majority of them pick out Mimi though, Rin steps in to volunteer. Aoki and the others are surprised by this action, but they settle in agreement by the end. Aoki continues to ask why Rin would do something so suddenly afterwards, but she only replies by saying that she wanted to try it. Aoki doesn’t seem confident despite Rin’s responses while in the teacher’s office, but when he starts to ask for Shirai’s advice, she tells him to take care of his own class. When Hoin sees Oyajima and even Aoki agreeing to Shirai’s beliefs, she falls into the usual confusion.

Daisuke has the class cook in a later class, but Rin’s usual playing causes him a lot of panic. Rin eventually gets Aoki to say that the class can make whatever they want, exciting the class and leading them to make various dishes. Rin further reverses a prank that Kuro plans, making the class an overall success. Mimi later asks if Rin had become representative for her or Aoki’s sake, but Rin denies by claiming that it was for her own sake. As she was able to relay things that the students and Aoki were unable to, she would be perfect for the role. As the girls separate for the afternoon though, Mimi can only wonder how exactly this benefits Rin.

The next day, Aoki is impressed by how much of a leader Rin is able to be. When he finds the classroom empty in the afternoon though, he suspects that she had the class leave like she did in the past. When Rin meets Aoki, she quickly sees that he does not trust her. She runs from him because of this, and as Kuro and Mimi return to the school, Aoki realizes that Rin had actually convinced the students to do cleanup together for more productivity. Ridden with guilt, Aoki quickly searches for Rin around the school. He eventually finds her on top of a cherry tree, but even after apologizing, this leads to a very embarrassing situation. As Rin greets her friends afterwards though, things seem to return to normal.

Impression:

It’s amazing to see what all I was missing with that dreaded censoring in season one. No really, as I was far too lazy to check out the dvd versions of the first season, some of the scenes in this episode really came off as shocking to me…. And by shocking, I mean hilarious. Despite everyone being in the fourth grade now, and the new position Rin has, this episode felt very much like most of season one. There were plenty of laughs, a little bit of drama, and the usual underaged goodness that we all love. I don’t think I can say much more though, besides that this was 20 minutes of great fun. The manga readers already know what to expect, of course, and fans of the anime will only be getting more of what they want.

Notes:

• They chose to use the same OP/ED from the first OAD special, which is great.
• Hadaka aprons…an essential for wifu status.
• Do fourth graders really cook like that in Japanese schools? Yikes.
• Is it bad that I will always associate cherry blossoms with B5C now?
• Reiji is still a lolicon.

OP: “sofa” by Suga Shikao – Track 11 on Funkaholic, guys! Shikao is back, as he should be, and all is right in the world. There isn’t much to the animation, which is kind of expected from an OVA, but there’s a little more going on in it than there was in the Tsubasa OVAs.

Summary:

Watanuki sees Yuuko underneath falling cherry petals, but he soon realizes that he is within a dream. At the elderly fortune teller’s house later, Watanuki teaches Kohane how to cook. This leads to a great feast, which Doumeki also enjoys with the group. Doumeki and Kohane eventually leave to retrieve glasses, and alone with Watanuki in the meantime, the fortune teller notices how much he has changed. Surprising Watanuki though, she also mentions that Yuuko has changed because of his involvement with her.

While Kohane is with Doumeki in the storeroom, she takes the chance to ask about his relationship with Watanuki. Despite the appearance that they have been getting along, Doumeki expresses his usual annoyance with Watanuki. However, he goes to to recall what lead him to be concerned about him. On a rainy day, Doumeki passed Watanuki holding a dead kitten. He then overheard him mention his belief that he would die alone in the same way. With this, Kohane realizes what it was that was different between herself and Watanuki when they first met. Though they were similar, Watanuki was not alone. Unlike on that rainy day, Watanuki now had several people around him. Doumeki agrees, stating that Kohane is also one of these people.

Watanuki and Doumeki part ways with the fortune teller and Kohane that afternoon, and while walking to Yuuko’s house, Watanuki finally takes the chance to thank Doumeki for his involvement in helping him during his accident. He attempts to hide his embarrassment afterwards, which lasts even after they enter Yuuko’s house. While with Doumeki later, Yuuko also expresses how much Doumeki and Watanuki have changed because of their meetings. There were three people who payed the price for Watanuki’s savior. The first two were Doumeki and Himawari, but the third was unknown to the usual group. Yuuko recalls when Syaoran visited her shop, as she transported him with his price already having been paid. Before he left, he told Watanuki not to disappear.

Watanuki again meets Haruka in his dreams, and after their usual conversation, he is given a task in exchange for Haruka’s helping him earlier. This leads Watanuki and Doumeki to the shrine’s storehouse. The two find a book inside, but this causes the two to enter a series of dreams. The two go from fishing to seeking cover from the rain, until they eventually find a hotel to take shelter in. Before entering, the girl who greets them seems to take special note of Doumeki. The boys rest for awhile, but with the girl’s warning, they soon realize that the rest of the hostesses inside are something other than friendly. Watanuki and Doumeki flee from what appear to be birds in disguise, until Doumeki distracts them with food. When the boys finally awake, they realize that they have found what Haruka was searching for. Doumeki recalls his seeing the particular book in the past, before making Watanuki panic by mentioning his previous hearing about things happening in dreams becoming reality. To Watanuki, this meant that he would have really died if he were killed in the dream they were just in.

ED: “Cherish” by Azu – Despite this just spanning a still, I loved it simply because of the art. The song itself is fitting for xxxHolic, and upon a little bit of research, I found that it is a track off of the artist’s first album “As One.”

Impression:

Woo~! I have been waiting for so long. When stuff like this appears, it doesn’t take me long at all to remember how huge of an xxxHolic fan I am. The main portion of this episode covered chapters 158 through about 160-ish, but they shifted a lot of events and included arcs that happened in earlier chapters. Mirroring the previous production of the Tsubasa OVAs, the animation and art quality of this episode was spectacular. Though I’m not too surprised about that, considering how much of an upgrade Kei was when compared to the first season already, this episode also mirrored actions taken with the TRC OVAS by sticking closer to the manga. Can you say, “Tsubasa crossovers.”?

Anyone keeping up with the manga knows that xxxHolic wouldn’t have been able to go on much longer without avoiding crossovers, but I’ll leave the (huge) spoilers out for those who only watch the anime. As for the actual stories presented in this episode, though they weren’t the most exciting out of the wide selection of xxxHolic stories, I still appreciated them for the reasons I always do. These arcs followed Kei in representing the greater parts of Watanuki’s character development. The themes of friendship and his growing as a person in general have always been a huge part of what keeps me coming back to xxxHolic. The other part would be CLAMP’s ability to make me feel as if I’m in the very world they are presenting, not unlike the bird story that was presented in this episode. I can only image how much research the team does to produce so many great stories for so long!

But, yea. I can’t wait for the second OVA, though I’m not exactly sure when it is supposed to be released.

Hit up Tenka Seiha for more caps and the OP!

OP: “Guilty Future” by Eri Kitamura – I’ve been listening to this single ever since it was released. The style is similar to the non-anime single that Kitamura Eri put out previously, and it’s quite catchy. The OP animation has some stylish touches that I like, but otherwise, it’s kind of standard.

Summary:

Rin has become the class rep upon reaching the fourth grade with her friends. Aoki notices that she has become much more mature because of this, but this doesn’t stop her from giving him a bit of service every once in awhile. Kuro implies her jealously about this later, but when the girls suspect this of being her way of appreciating Aoki, she becomes flustered as usual. In the meantime, Hoin argues with Shirai’s announcing that there will be activity cuts for the children. Hoin starts to despair upon seemingly losing to the “cool beauty” afterwards, only causing awkwardness between her and the male teachers.

Kuro eventually meets Shirai after hours, then expressing her fondness of her. She had been a fan every since she substituted for Aoki in the previous term. This leads Kuro to start following Shirai everywhere, referring to her as “Shiro-chan”. Shirai approaches Aoki after becoming extremely annoyed by this, but he can only express his amazement towards her for making Kuro act in such an attached way. Kuro continues to meet Shirai throughout the following days, eventually presenting her with a hair pin with a white rose on it. As Kuro is wearing a darker one, this would be a sign of their friendship. Shirai guesses that this would never look good on her, however, as she recalls a time from the past.

When Shirai was still in school, she took note of a popular girl named Chika. Her mother warned her not to get close to her because of her showy demeanor, but Shirai knew that Chika was quite popular because of her personality. Shirai one day overheard Chika and her friends talking about her though, insulting her for being the daughter of two teachers among other things. While Shirai recalls this, Kuro meanwhile spends her time in her room at home. She becomes excited upon hearing her mother return, but is disappointed when she states that she has only returned to retrieve some documents. Reminding her that she has been spending too much money on clothes, but refusing to take the card, Kuro’s mother leaves her daughter in loneliness again.

Kuro returns to her friends in class after being absent recently, just to find Rin excited about the upcoming sports event that has been organized by Aoki. Kuro only agrees to participate if Rin would kiss a girl, and though this surprisingly seems like a lucky chance for her, Rin simply kisses Mimi on the cheek. This has Kuro running out in the halls to meet Aoki, but when he expresses his excitement about creating posters for the event, she kicks him in the nuts. Kuro meets Shirai again next, expressing that she likes her for not treating her specially as a kid. When Kuro implies her love for Rin though, another girl, Shirai only tells her that she would eventually grow out of such feelings. As this was like Shirai was calling her abnormal, Kuro runs away in anger.

Shirai returns home thinking that this is what she actually wanted. When she listens to the messages she has received throughout the day though, she hears from her mother that Chika would be getting married. As Shirai had not gotten a boyfriend or anything of the sort, she suggests that she take this as an example. Shirai is enraged by this hypocrisy, but this only reminds her that she had hurt Kuro in the same way earlier. As she had not even dated once despite being as old as she is, it was not as if she could judge someone of being normal or not.

During commencements at the school the next day, Shirai surprises Kuro by showing that she is wearing the hair pin that she had given her. Kuro quickly puts her matching one on in excitement, but when she overhears two boys insulting Shirai for such an action, she quickly turns to beat them up. This causes a panic for Aoki as well as the other staff and students, but to Hoin’s surprise, Shirai only smiles while watching. In her mind, Shirai could only wonder how her life would have turned out if she had a girl like Kuro at her side in the past.

ED: “1, 2, 3 Day” by Little Non – I don’t really like Little Non at all, and the animation for the ED isn’t anything special, so the OP is definitely winning this battle. How bout that fourth grader fanservice???

Impression:

OVAs and I don’t really get along, and I practically only blog Kodojikan for three people, but hey….Why let those three people down, right??? In all honestly, I hadn’t been keeping up with this series at all ever since the first season ended. Though I definitely considered myself a convert after watching it, I just couldn’t find the motivation to pick up the manga. With promises of the second term being announced awhile ago though, I had no problem with continuing to be lazy and wait to watch the animations. The first of the batch was hella fun, though I really wasn’t expecting such a big focus on Shirai. Kuro is easily one of the more fun characters in this series, and her play on “black and white” made for a pretty good story. I would say Shirai could have used more development than she actually got in this episode, but I suppose it’s not like she wouldn’t be getting more in the future. Watching slightly older Kuro slap a b was really awesome too.

Oh, and a shout out to Doutei, haha! Totally watched this version because it had more seeds out of reverse fan loyalty!

Notes:

• Cutting activities because of academics……or a falling economy!???
• Hoin is always the bomb. A megane Hoin is fine too.
• Mimi knows the truth. Unfortunate that she must be the least likable out of the three.
• If Shirai had a friend like Kuro, she would have obviously become a super “cool beauty” idol.
• ……and a lesbian.

OP: “Tenshi Ranman Love Power” by Halko Momoi, Sakura Nogawa, Rika Morinaga, Eri Kitamura – I’m loving that they’re actually putting effort into making these new OPs. Again, the single for this was already released quite some time ago. Digging that swinging motion.

Summary:

Through a ridiculous turn of events, involving her sneeze destroying a large piece of property, Akeno is forced to work at a maid cafe to pay for the damage. When San and the others arrive at the cafe to see her there, the girls offer to help Akeno as her friends. Of course, with San in a maid outfit, Nagasumi and Gouzaburou both become jealous of others as well as won over by her appearance. Luna suddenly appears in a maid outfit as well, then using her large gathering of followers in order to make business quickly. Although the leader of her fan club is ready to sacrifice anything for her, he soon finds that the order Luna wishes for him to make is far out of his budget. When Luna’s father arrives with a large sum of money, and only asking for a smile, even he fails in having Luna agree to such a thing.

Satori eventually shows up to the delight of both San and Nagasumi, but she surprises everyone by revealing that Saru is her older brother. Satori goes on to win over Gouzaburou, and when the cafe’s manager allows her to be a waitress as well, a big competition starts between herself and Luna. Making the situation even more interesting, Gouzaburou and his associates eventually order from San’s special menu, which she performs in the form of a song. Not wanting to lose to the power of San’s music, Luna replies with her own. In effect, however, the cafe starts becoming quite damaged from the chaos. Akeno is unable to hold in her anger for any longer, but in effect, she completely obliterates the cafe with her power.

Because of their studies, Luna and Nagasumi end up staying home while San and the rest of their families go out to party one night. Luna becomes extremely frightened after watching parts of a scary movie, and despite Nagaumi’s attempt to calm her down, she shows him that she was once involved in a ghost photo with San. Nagasumi eventually gets a call from San, informing the two learn that she and the others wouldn’t be returning for the night. This leaves them alone for the evening, as frightening events start happening around them. This scares the two out of their wits, and Luna eventually brings up a time where San was hesitant about talking about the ghost photo when she showed it to her. Apparently, there was someone who wanted to meet San. The two soon receive an extremely frightening phone call, and Nagasumi even sees a creature grab onto his leg as Luna runs out of the house in fear.

The next day at school, Luna does her best to explain what had happened the previous night. When she tries to convince Akeno, the class learns that she is clearly afraid of ghosts. As the spirit that appeared before seems to show up at the school as well, several of the usual students attempt to discover its identity. This only results in the students disappearing one by one, however, until no one is left but Luna. San arrives to the school late, meeting Luna in her frightened state and finally meeting the culprit who has been causing all of the panic. This is someone named Sa-tan, an old friend of San who had been wanting to meet her for quite some time. When San looks up at the school ceiling, she sees that everyone had been captured in seaweed rather than having truly disappeared. San eventually sees her old friend off, then making a promise with her just as they did as children.

ED: A slow song by SUN and LUNAR. It’s pretty fitting for the ED, but this really isn’t something I’m used to after hearing so many high tension singles from Momoi and Nogawa.

Impression:

A scared Luna is c….cute!!! The first half of this episode had me running out of breath laughing, but Nagasumi alone with Luna in the second half made my night. I mean, come on. The scary movie thing is like one of the biggest cliches of awesomeness ever….and it’s almost never used in anime. This show wouldn’t be the same without songs though, and the first half definitely provided that (at complete random). By the end of this OVA, the last out of the two that would be released, we really just got what we always have from Seto no Hanayome – high tension humor.

I can’t say I would ever become attached to either of the two new minor characters that were introduced in this short series. Satori kills my ears, and we didn’t see enough of Sa-tan to really get a fell for her character. (Also, Sa-tan? Is that an intentional pun? Am I understanding this right?) The OVA brought back most all of the good memories I had for the series when it first aired though, with even better animation and production value. When I look back on it all, I’d definitely have to say that Momoi Halko and Nogawa Sakura easily made this entire series worthwhile. Without them, I’m certain this would have ended up being another bad gonzo adaption. It looks like this is the end of SnH for awhile, but at least we’re going out with a bang!

OP: “Kūsō Rumba (空想ルンバ)” by Kenji Ohtsuki and Zetsubō Shōjo-tachi – The same trippy stuff we got last time, with a few slight differences here and there.

Summary:

Chiri is alerted that Nozomu will be seeing her for a house visitation, but when he finally arrives at her house, Nozomu simply leaves after a glance. Chiri wonders if he wouldn’t be inspecting the house, but Nozomu confirms that he has certainly seen enough already. Chiri expresses her belief that the visit was made useless because of this when the two meet at school the next day, but this only brings Nozomu to discuss the various changes in attitude that Japanese people have as they grow older. This brings the students to recall many different things that Japanese society prefers, from Maria’s disillusioned vision of what men prefer in a woman to Kudo’s observation of what people like at the end of a story.

As the class visits town, they further confirm the Japanese’s love for their home after seeing things like Nami’s eating in a ramen house. Not wanting the students to simply observe, and wanting them to properly represent their home as well, Nozomu goes to Kiri in belief that no one wants to see a hikkikomori in their home. This makes him mention that there are occasionally times when people break out of their stereotype. Of course, this brings the students to suggest that even Nozomu have a change of pace. Chiri takes revenge on Nozomu, and the officers questioning her in the aftermath refuse to accept her simple excuses.

Chiri one day walks into Nozomu’s house to see him in a very sloppy state. Nozomu credits this to the news dealing with an earthquake, believing that leaving the house will not amount to anything. Chiri wonders if he actually believes something like this, but Nozomu then replies with his belief that everyone secretly believes it. Chiri is shocked to see the rest of the class in unrefined states afterwards, as they all refuse to do anything. Nozomu then states his realization that he does need to do something, just as many people in Japanese society do in different situations. This brings the students to all suggest their own need to do things even thought hey know it is in vain, such as buying tickets to an event that they know they will not actually be able to attend.

As many things will not be preformed, Nozomu and the students then bring up various pieces of material that they were looking forward to reading. As no one will be doing anything anyways, many possibilities of things that typically wouldn’t be possible are brought up. This even brings Kafuka to suggest that Nozomu practice love, and when a partner is searched for, Ai is chosen. Ai initially doesn’t have confidence, but she agrees anyways after being told that such things would not really follow through. Making her quite angry though, this brings Chiri to meet Ai in a very threatening way later.

As the reading of books has declined quite a bit recently, the library committee requests an opinion from Nozomu to see what he believes would increase the activity. With this, Nozomu suggests changing the titles of some books. Looking at various influences from different nationalities among other things, Nozomu begins to suggest very drawn out names. Upon Nami’s suggestion though, Nozomu begins to brainstorm simpler names. In the end, the committee wonders if it even matters what kind of name is displayed on the front of a book. This leads Kino and Kudo to have a challenge, leading the two to give different names to various books that Nozomu picks out. As the committee watches to see which books everyone picks out though, they find that no one will start reading a book simply because the name has been changed.

As Kino wishes to continue his challenge with Kudo, Nozomu leads the students to a change of location in the form of a video and audio rental store. As there are many deceiving titles which had previously failed to meet Nozomu’s expectations, Nozomu recalls the many cases where the label on an item would be completely wrong. When Kafuka appears, however, she decides that titles must wonderfully display what they are meant to represent. Chiri soon appears in annoyance that she was not called to such an important meeting, then mentioning that Nozomu has not been in despair recently despite the name of the series being “Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.” Of course, this leads to a misfortunate fate for him.

Impression:

I have to go to work, but Aroduc wasn’t going to leave me alone if I put this off any longer. I’ll put up a proper impression when I get back tonight, or later depending on how exhausted I am.

Notes:

• The words for the day were “katei”, “jishin”, and “henjo.” None have truly direct translations to english (as usual), making puns somewhat hard to come across to those who do not understand Japanese. (What’s new?)
• I absolutely loved the parody in styles, with the third segment being almost too pretty for me to take. Mmmm…prettiness.
• Seeing all the characters and their usual quirkiness never gets old.
• Lots of cameo appearances as usual, with Clannad, Lucky Star, Negima, and Zettai Karen Children parodies being very obvious among others.
• The ending that didn’t make its appearance until the end of Zoku, “Omamori,” finally made a second appearance at the end of the episode.
• Kafuka, you will always shine more brightly than Ranka.
• Naked Rin…..ogawd fap fap fap
• Yea, I was here since the beginning. What. Try to be more Shaft fanboy!!!

EDIT: As much as I would like to talk about things like national pride or what there is in a name, I put off revision for so long that I don’t feel like I can return to this post without putting in a considerable amount of time. Leaving the post as it is!

OP: “Zettai Otome” by SUN&LUNAR – Yea!! The OP wins! I’d call the animation lazy or unoriginal during some points, but this is definitely fun to watch. It’s also notable that the single has been out for awhile already.

Summary:

At the start of the new semester, Nagasumi and the others notice that they have become third years. All of the usual friends then learn that they are in the same class together again, with the exception of Nagasumi. Obviously due to Gouzaburou’s work, Nagasmi finds himself in a broken down classroom full of thugs. Some of the students express surprise and annoyance when Fujishiro shows up as the new teacher for the class, but they are quickly disposed of. Fujishiro then suggests that, for class that day, the students would draw weapons contained in their desks to fight each other with. Meanwhile in the other classroom, Gouzaburou introduces a new student to the class. This turns out to be Luna’s Papa in a sailor uniform, and when he gets into a usual fight with Gouzaburou, the students are forced to retreat.

San and Luna meet Nagasumi during his one sided battle, and Luna quickly has her forces appear to battle the thugs chasing him. This is enhanced by Luna’s song, but San then counters this with her own melody. When San makes everyone realize that they do not truly want to fight each other, they are all touched. Nagasumi soon notices a particularly threatening individual send an attack towards San, but before he can connect, Nagasumi transforms into his large protective self to defeat him. The girls then realize that Gouzaburou and Luna’s papa have not ended their fight yet, but Nagasumi volunteers to stop this as well. He trips over his previous “weapon” on the way, however, sending him to the nurse’s office at the start of the semester.

On a latter day, Nagasumi and San have a date at the movies. Nagasumi can hardly hold in his excitement, having planned out the perfect plan already, but he is surprised when San implies that she wishes to see a different movie than the one he had picked previously. Nagasumi settles for this, but while walking through the theater, he is run into by a young girl who drops ice cream on his jacket. San becomes attached to this girl when she finds that she is also a fan of the character from the movie they will be seeing, causing a loss for Nagasumi as they part ways. Nagasumi surprisingly meets Masa next to him during the movie, and the young girl from before appears to be in the seats in front of him. With a little interference from Maki, Nagasumi’s movie turns out to be a bit different than desired.

When the group exits the theater, a truck suddenly crashes into the nearby building. San quickly moves to help those around, but she soon realizes that the girl from earlier is still in the building on a high floor. Inspired by San’s acts, Nagasumi can only run back into the building to help the girl. Nagasumi saves the girl through numerous obstacles after meeting her, and with the help of San’s song, he is able to bring her to safety. Until the end, the girl continues to insist that Nagasumi use the heroic lines that were in the movie they had just watched. San scolds Nagasumi in the aftermath, expressing how worried she was about him, and the young girl is delighted to learn Nagasumi’s name as he leaves with the others. When the young girl returns home, it is revealed that she is actually Saru’s younger sister.

ED: “Mirai e Go” by DEKABANCHO – Woah! So chaotic!! Like most of the other singles this series has produced, I do like the song. The animation is just kind of “meh” to me though.

Preview: Akeno!!!

Impression:

LOVE POWER!!!! Oh man, this was 30 minutes of pure hilarity and greatness. It was awesome to see all of our favorite characters return, and hearing them was even better. The episode was much like every episode of the original series: full speed and high tension. The Battle Royal-like event from the start of the episode was simply hilarious, and the songs’ return just added to that. (Gotta love those sakura petals.) The second half of the episode was just as good, though I can’t say I really liked Saru’s sister that much. It wasn’t that her character was bad, but I cannot stand the voice actress that plays her. I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of her, so maybe my impression will change by the next episode. I loved Nagasumi’s mention of the use of explosions and the such in modern movies too. I facepalm every time I see a movie become a blockbuster because of its mindless action. (Also, make sure to note the Dark Night and 300 parodies on the surrounding movie posters.) Besides that, there wasn’t that much to actually talk about in this episode. Just watch it and enjoy it. Can’t wait for the second episode.

OP: “Kūsō Rumba (空想ルンバ)” by Kenji Ohtsuki and Zetsubō Shōjo-tachi – This is the trippiest and most awesome OP I have seen since…..Zoku ended. I love you, Shaft.

Summary:

While the a few of the girls are out in town, they notice that Valentine’s Day is soon. When Nozomu appears as usual, he wonders if it wouldn’t be better if holidays like this only happened once every four years. Like the Olympics, it could be possible that people would be more excited about the events when they happen. In the classroom on a later day, all of the girls give Nozomu Valentine’s Day chocolate. Chiri’s is notable in particular, as it is a properly shaped heart. Nozomu suddenly questions if this is a “honey trap”, something that will suddenly reveal all of his secrets while he is weak. In response to his wonder, Kafuka introduces Nozomu to a team that cannot fall into honey traps. Because this group of men has been exposed to things such as eroge games, they are not effected by the lure of women. Kaere is put on display to prove this, and the men show a fairly uncaring response as expected. When another organization attempts to break this team of otaku with an alluring woman, they are surprised to see the strength of their resistance to the honey trap. Even when they attempt to imitate anime goods to trap them with, they still find that they fail.

Matoi one day finds Nozomu watching a boring program on TV. Though she expresses that she is uninterested in the program, Nozomu reveals that there is much more going on beneath the surface of the show. This brings the two around the city as usual, as Nozomu gives several examples of how many things happen underneath what seems to be the obvious surface. In class, Rin mentions that Nozomu has his own secrets that he doesn’t reveal. When Chiri hears this, she decides that she must properly find out what this involves. When Chiri follows Nozomu into an exercise facility, she discovers that he has been training the muscles in his neck. When Nozomu runs out in fear that his secrets have been revealed, Rin further reveals that the items in his suicide box are not as lethal as they look. In reality, he did not want to die. While Nozomu is outside, he learns even more frightening secrets from Kafuka and Chie. After watching a display between Chiri and Abiru, he also learns the true meaning behind the injuries the girls seemed to have earlier.

Nozomu is invited to a Halloween party later, but when he arrives, he finds that none of the attendees are dressed in traditional Halloween attire (with the exception of Chiri). This puts him into despair, as he mentions several other things that no longer have the same meaning they had originally. When Matoi leads Nozomu to a secret meeting over this type of thing nearby, he further despairs. After seeing a few seemingly proper Halloween costumes, Nozomu meets an Indian who is not pleased with the curry of Japan copied from his country. When Kafuka appears with a new hairstyle, she suggests that things are simply making progress. Giving Nozomu examples such as chocolate that is closer to its original, she reveals that there are many things that were not that good in their original states. Still wanting to see things in their original state, Nozomu even follows Abiru to a jungle to find animals that no longer exist anymore. Though they do not find these, they meet a soldier who had been lost in the wilderness for quite some time. As he returns to Japan, he despairs at the state it is in. When Nozomu sees Harumi complaining about the loss of originality in manga later, he reveals the reason why change had to be made.

ED: “Marionette (マリオネット)” by ROLLY and Zetsubō Shōjo-tachi – This is unchanged from the original with the exception of Nozomu retaining the face he had at the end of the episode. The chorus of this song always pops into my head at random, so I’m glad they used it for this episode.

Impression:

Oh man, I am overjoyed. When this OVA was announced a few months back, I’m pretty sure I had a “told you so” moment. The end of Zoku really wasn’t an end at all, and I’m sure Shaft already knows how great of a great fanbase they have for this series. Being an OVA, this episode was packed with hilarity, references, and just everything we love about Zetsubou Sensei. There are probably too many to list (especially during the Halloween costume scene), but the Kyoani, Sunrise, and self references were all obvious as usual. I always like to see this as Shaft throwing out their challenge to the bigger studios, using originality as their weapon. They’ll never lose in my eyes! The Michael Jackson and Indian scenes were hilarious too. I love how this show just isn’t confined to Japan in all of its cultural displays.

Speaking of which, it was awesome to return to the “Zetsubou sociology and psychology lessons” that I have come to love so much in the past year. My favorite in this episode probably had to be the topic of loss in originality. Taking a look around my room, and I can already see several things that wouldn’t be that good in their original states. Skateboards, Computers, and phones would be a nightmare to use if they retained their original states throughout all these years. Nozomu’s reference to bands using the same name despite losing their original members was genius too, since it’s something I feel like I’ve seen way too much (Seeing the Halloween costumes made me want to play a Misfits song!). Chie gets points for making the “proper heart” too. I always love seeing how symbols become embodied in people’s heads, despite how abstract they are.

Seeing all of the characters return was definitely nice too, since there’s just about none that I dislike in this show. Hearing several of my favorite seiyu was just as pleasing, as this show has had a strong cast from the very beginning. Miyuki Sawashiro using her signature voice during the television scene caught me off guard in this episode, and it’s still hard to believe that she plays Maria. Even though seeing Kafuka with long hair was nice among other things, I feel like some of the characters (like Meru) didn’t have enough time at all in this episode. Seeing that there is a second episode coming though, I suppose I can only look forward to seeing more.

Yea, I’m blogging Bleach again….what? ………..What!?

Summary:

During the transport of an item known as the King’s Seal, the couriers of the item are attacked by mysterious masked individuals. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya confront these members, but the two quickly escape. Hitsugaya is soon impaled by a particularly powerful enemy soon after, who refuses to let him remove his mask. When the culprits escape with the King’s Seal, Hitsugaya chases after them. Matsumoto and the others, however, only watch as he disappears. Ichigo meanwhile finds a border somewhere in town, cutting it open and stepping into an alternate world. Ninjas quickly surround him, but he finds that these are members under Soi Fong. Ichigo questions what happened while looking around at the corpses laying in the area, but he is shocked at Soi Fong’s explanation, When Ichigo is forced back to his own world, he meets Ishida who had entered the area. To both of the boys’ surprise, Hitsugaya soon shows up to collapse in a weak state.

Back at Soul Society, Matsumoto is shocked to find that Hitsugaya has been labeled as a suspect due to his suspicious activities during the seal’s robbery. The 10th Division’s Zanpakuto are forcefully removed afterwards, concerning a passing Renji and Rukia. The two learn the situation from Matsumoto, but before seperating from her, she requests that they investigate something for her. Matsumoto believes that the masked man had some connection to Hitsugaya. Otherwise, he would not have taken such action. In the past, a boy named Kusaka Soujirou approached the supposedly genius Hitsugaya. The two quickly became friends, as they both worked hard to become shinigami. One day, however, Soujirou was seemingly killed before Hitsugaya’s eyes. When Hitsugaya wakes from this dream of the past, he finds himself in Ichigo’s room. Without giving any explanation to Ichigo, he only asks for more time to rest for his injuries.

Hitsugaya attempts to leave without Ichigo’s knowledge early the next morning, but he finds him waiting for him after traveling shortly down the street. Ichigo questions Hitsugaya’s true intentions, and even after he attacks him, Ichigo still only expresses his hopes for Hitsugaya’s well being. This conversation is interrupted by two of the individuals from the Seal’s stealing, Ying and Yang, demanding for Hitsugaya while sending attacks in the two Shinigami’s way. Hitsugaya surprisingly attacks Ichigo, but with a more subtle intention in mind. Ichigo is able to fend off his two attackers despite his damage, but after they disappear, he is only left to faint at the sight of Hitsugaya following. When Ichigo wakes, he sees Renji and Rukia attempting to wake him. Later arriving in his room, Ichigo explains what had just happened and Hitsugaya’s mention of the name “Kusaka.” Renji is sent back to Soul Society to investigate this name, and to give Matsumoto Hitsugaya’s robe.

When Urahara hears the news from Ichigo and the others, he volunteers to investigate the matter as well. Renji meanwhile gets permission to see Matsumoto with the help of a passing Kyoraku and Ise. None of these people know anything about Kusaka, but they soon decide to investigate the individual. In the past, Kusaka had called upon the power of Hyorinmaru. He was overjoyed upon receiving its power, but even more so after finding that Hitsugaya had obtained the same abilities at the exact moment. Seireitei did not believe that two Shinigami with the same power were needed, however, eventually leading to Kusaka’s demise. After quite a bit of research, Ise finds that there certainly was a Shinigami called Kusaka in the past. However, he had supposedly died. Kyoraku leaves Ise to walk outside, and when he does, he finds that he is being followed. Kyoraku confronts the masked individual that he finds, but after seeing the abilities from his Zanpakuto, he quickly looks to see who is under the mask.

After hiding for quite some time, Hitsugaya finds that he has been surrounded by Shinigami. He walks out to confront Shuhei and Izuru, and although they and the other Shinigami seem to be able to overtake him in his weakened state, he eventually escapes them with the use of his Bankai. Kyoraku is hospitalized in Soul Society, causing distress for Ise. Ukitake comforts her when he arrives at the medical center, but after hearing news of the recent events, he can only worry. Byakuya and Renji investigate the scene outside as well, with no mistake that the ice around had been caused by Hyorinmaru. Ichigo and the others are also alerted of the news, but they decide to return home before investigating further. The next morning, Rukia receives a call from Renji who describes that Hitsugaya’s situation has become more dire. He also reveals what he knows about Kusaka, but a large attack is sent in Ichigo and Rukia’s direction shortly afterwards.

Ukitake and Byakuya worry about the conditions of Kyoraku’s condition, seeking out Mayuri to research the possibilities of two possessors of the Hiyorinmaru. After a bit of investigation, Mayuri certainly finds that he is looking for. Ichigo meanwhile engages combat with Kusaka, seeing parts of his memory when his sword clashes with his. Kusaka and Hitsugaya were forced to fight when it was discovered that they possessed the same power. Despite Hitsugaya’s resistance, he became the one to defeated Kusaka. With this, several members of Seireitei surrounded and killed Kusaka. Ichigo is overtaken by Kusaka, then becoming encased in ice. He then meets Zangetsu, however, who then confirms that the visions he saw were real. Ichigo soon realizes that Kusaka is similar to his old self, and that Hitsugaya also had the same eyes that he did in the past. With this, he realizes what Hitsugaya’s true plans are.

Hitsugaya finally meets Kusaka, who reveals that he certainly has the King’s Seal. When Kusaka uses its power, he and Hitsugaya are transported to the Soul Society. Describing the Seal’s abilities to Hitsugaya, he asks for him to cut it. Before Hitsugaya can learn exactly what this would result in, members of the 11th squad and Renji confront the two. Meanwhile, Ichigo in his Tensa Zangetsu form battles against Ying and Yang. The two girls unleash a large amount of hollows against Ichigo and Rukia, but Ishida appears to take all of them out with his bow. When the girls continue to send a large attack towards the group, Chad appears to send a counter attack as well. With this, the group gives Ichigo and Rukia the chance to enter Soul Society and save Hitsugaya.

The majority of Seireitei surrounds Hitsugaya and Kusaka, but Ichigo and Rukia appear just in time to stop them from attacking the two. Although Ichigo is not able to convince Seireitei from stopping, Shigekuni’s appearance is more than enough to do so. With the him is Kyoraku, who had finally waken. Kusaka does not give the First Captain a chance to negotiate, quickly describing his wish to reform Soul Society as its king. Hitsugaya stops Kusaka by attacking him, however, expressing that it wasn’t his wish to help him at all. Rukia finally realizes that Hitsugaya had believed that it was his fault that Kusaka was killed, taking all of the current responsibility upon himself. Ichigo refuses to let Hitsugaya fight his battle alone, bringing up his own similar past. Though Ichigo had tried to hide his sadness when his mother died, his family wished that he would express his feelings more honestly to them. This is when he realized that, although he was trying to be strong, he was the weakest of all those who were suffering.

Hitsugaya is finally convinced, but his attention is still on the threat before he and the rest of Seireitei. With the Bankai that he wished to achieve with the King’s Seal, Kusaka takes the form of a large ice dragon. When an eager Kenpachi fails to do much damage to Kusaka, the Seireitei realize how powerful their opponent is. When a damaged Ying and Yang return to Kusaka, he absorbs them in a large casing of ice. The Seireitei all attack the growing Kusaka, but his Reiatsu continues to spread throughout Soul Society. In what has become Kusaka’s castle, the surrounding Shinigami are forced to decisively battle their way through hollow and what have become monstrosities of Ying and Yang. With a path made for them, Ichigo and Hitsugaya are able to fight their way up the tower that Kusaka has made for himself. Hitsugaya traps Kusaka with his own bankai, allowing Ichigo to send a direct attack to his core.

With his ice coating finally shattered, Kusaka is given the chance to have the deciding duel against Hitsugaya. In the past, it was actually Kusaka who had made the first move against Hitsugaya. Despite his desire for Hyorinmaru, it was Hitsugaya who was able to call on the power to defend himself. Hitsugaya is the one to finish off Kusaka, but as he fades away, Hitsugaya tells him that they would always be friends. With this, the King’s Seal is returned to its previous state. Ichigo takes the chance to suggest to Hitsugaya that Kusaka probably did not have any regrets. There are things that some people may not be able to achieve in their lives, but it isn’t decided unless they give it their all to find out. Kusaka had his final duel with Hitsugaya, not because of an order, but to find out for himself who was worthy. Hitsugaya gives Ichigo his thanks, then again reminding him that he should be calling him by his proper title. Afterwards, the two simply walk on.

ED: “Hikaru no Rock (光のロック; Rock of Light)” by Sambomaster – I was actually listening to this single quite a bit when it first came out. I probably like it better than the first movie’s Aqua Timez song, but Sambomaster is still not a band that I listen to on a regular basis. After the ending credits, there is a scene showing Hitsugaya and Matsumoto paying their respects at Kusaka’s grave. All is back to normal after that.

Impression:

I can’t blog Bleach? So, even though I’m constantly picking up and dropping the main series, I was actually anticipating this movie in the back of my head for quite awhile (Maybe those freaking OP advertisements made it harder to resist…). Some of you may even remember that I blogged the first movie when it came out almost exactly a year ago. As far as the second movie goes, I’m not sure if I can say I enjoyed it more than the first one. The animation was certainly more fluid this time around, which was something I complained about slightly in my past post, but the story wasn’t as appealing to me. It just seemed much more linear than the last one, which had a lot of other themes to go along with it besides searching for a new character to battle. Still, this movie wasn’t a letdown. The fights in particular, were very fun to watch.

Hitsugaya as the main focus of this movie was probably extremely appealing to the several fans of his character. I did enjoy the background story that was introduced for him, as it seemed to flesh out his character even more than the main series has. I loved the imagery of his casting aside his captain’s cloak in favor of a ragged cloth, as well as things like his bowing to show his gratitude towards Ichigo early in the episode. It’s small things like this that make a character really appealing. Kusaka wasn’t a bad character either, and I certainly liked him a lot more than the clowns who showed up in the first movie. His mirroring Zanpakuto was very interesting, though the fact that they constantly tried to hide that he was the masked culprit just made me laugh. Kusaka’s seiyu, Akira Ishida (Saburo in Keroro Gunsou, Kaworu in Evangelion), is definitely one of the more high profile male voice actors in the industry today. I can’t say he beat out my favorite Chiwa Saito from the previous film though. I liked Ying and Yang as well, but they were obviously made to be cast aside easily.

The worst part of the movie for me probably had to be the end, with Kusaka practically turning Soul Society into his own little “last stage of a video game”. His form of bankai honestly looked really silly, and I hated how Ying and Yang were degraded to statues who fired balls at Shinigami. Surely there could have been a better way to make a final battle without introducing throw-away hollow for the hundredth time. The writers obviously just wanted excuses to show off everyone’s favorite Shinigami go Bankai and wreck stuff. I won’t lie though, seeing Kenpachi rip down tall buildings will probably never get old.

In the end, despite the flaws that Bleach always has, this movie was a pretty fun one to spend three to four hours on (an hour and 30 minutes for the sane). Whenever things like Ichigo’s past show up in this movie though, I always remember how good Bleach really was when it first started. Ah, but I guess it’s far too late to complain about such things. Possibly surprising, or possibly not surprising at all, a third movie called “Bleach: Fade to Black – Kimi no Na o Yobu” has already been announced. Considering that I probably won’t be able to watch it for another year, I’m not sure if I will follow up and blog it as well. I guess only time will tell. For now, I guess I’ve had another return to Bleach fandom for at least a short while.

Megumi fans rejoice!

Summary:

After recalling her status in his head, most importantly her currently being single, Akira approaches Megumi during her usual checks on campus. Megumi wonders why there are so many students breaking policies, but Akira easily states that this is because they are looking for love. Not having experienced this sensation before, Megumi denies the need for such a thing. When she hears about the movie that Akira is making, she further becomes angry with him. When Mitsuki shows up to speak with Megumi, however, Akira is able to escape. Megumi is surprised when Mitsuki agrees that people need love in their lives, and when even Mao suggests she should find love, Megumi is forced to ponder this later. Megumi attempts to reassure herself that she is not mistaken while meeting Asuka, the younger Nana and Narumi, and even Eriko, but she is shocked to find that even these people have interests in love. With these thoughts in her mind, Megumi struggles with her usual activities that afternoon.

Megumi changes her hairstyle a bit the next morning, but arrives slightly late to school because of it. She attempts to apologize to Tomoko when she sees her, but when even she begins to discuss her adventures of love, Megumi is forced to escape to the classroom. While watching the boys play soccer in the afternoon, Megumi wonders what kind of person she would like if she were to find love. After running into trouble with Kazuki during the practice, Megumi decides that a person like him wouldn’t work. She observes Eiji after following him through the halls, but when he starts to play the sax, she decides that this is impossible for her as well. Megumi finds movie tickets in the hall later, returning them to Kouichi when he appears to be looking for them. Megumi is delighted when she finds that Kouichi has similar interests in movies as her, but she leaves when Yumi appears to greet him. While listening to the two talk for a few minutes, however, she becomes very annoyed with their inability to get to the point in their conversation.

When the usual group discusses the differences Megumi has been displaying at the udon shop later that night, Akira easily guesses that Megumi is attempting to become a normal girl. Megumi wonders if she cannot find love when she arrives at school the next day, but after Mitsuki talks about the fiance and circumstances she has, Megumi becomes assured that she can find love in her own way. When Akira appears to ask about Megumi’s progress, he finds that she has quickly returned to being herself. Megumi declares that she will find love at her own pace, then getting back to her usual duties.

Impression:

Wait….there are Megumi fans? Needed more E-RI-KO screen time in my opinion. Okay, I’m kidding…kidding. I was waiting for this special in the back of my mind ever since it was announced shortly after the last episode of the original series, but I wasn’t expecting it to be an episode focused on such a minor character. It was a really great decision though, since it finally made Megumi’s random blushing towards Akira at the end of the series make sense. It also fleshed out her character quite a bit, since she didn’t have much of a role before. I really started to appreciate Megumi’s character after this, especially after watching her silly research dealing with love. I do wonder if girls are really always searching for love though. I wouldn’t know since I’m like….one of those meanie-head guys.

Seeing the rest of the cast return was pretty fun too, especially without having to deal with all of the angst. And since this was an after ending special, we didn’t even have to deal with a huge peak of action in the last five seconds of the episode! But ah, what else is there to say? Definitely a good watch for those who kept up with the original run, and totally worth 20 minutes of your time. You might want to skip past the frogs though…