FoleyisGood149

Regarding your spoiler post...

Less old, but still not current. DBS - Those eliminations for the 9th Universe came in rapid succession. I acknowledge 18's cleverness in eliminating the person she did in a subtle fashion, i.e. not with a lot of yelling and a huge energy attack, like the combined Final Flash and Kamehameha, which I think were overkill at that point. No, the 9th Universe wasn't destroyed. It was erased. There is a difference. For one, there was no cataclysmic doom suffered by everyone. They simply lived their lives as normal up to the end, and then, from one moment to the next, suddenly they no longer existed. There would also, thus, be no mental distress over the process of dying. Only those who knew about the Tournament and its consequences would know what danger they faced, and only those in attendance at the Tournament would've known in the moments leading up to erasure that it was coming. Most people in the 9th Universe wouldn't have known anything unusual was going to happen, or had happened, because once it did happen, they would no longer exist to know anything had happened. Boruto - It took me a while to realize this was a flashback to the night before and day of Naruto's inaugruation as Hokage. I think that Boruto learned a valuable lesson in being a good older brother here (tear Himawari's doll, pay the price). It was astonishing that she used Byakugan and delivered a chakra node attack instinctively. Of course Hinata recognized what it was and got in contact with the others about it, so Konohamaru could improvise and be a stand-in for the ceremony. It was some nice father-son time for Naruto to take Boruto to Ichiraku. Depending upon the vegetables, I'll grant that a restaurant ramen bowl like that could be a more balanced meal than a hamburger. The ramen possibly has less fat and cholesterol, though it likely has more sodium. I'm fine with an eating contest between Choji and Cho-Cho. When they mentioned a "Legendary Queen of Gluttony," I thought that it could've been Tsunade (recall how much she ate after coming out of her coma a few months back), but then I thought it could be Anko (even though dumpling skewers are more her thing), but I didn't imagine it would be Hinata. MHA - If we remember back to the Sports Festival, one of the images involved in the explanation of the Cavalry Battle featured All Might as the rider of a team. Here he noted how much heavier the weights made him, and that's only adding half his weight, so just imagine how hard it would be for an actual team to carry him in that scenario. While it was fun to see Bakugo see how great the difference in his power and All Might's power was, I had mixed feelings about Izuku and All Might fighting. All Might's attacks were in the same vein of toughening up Izuku represented in the initial training in clearing the beach and the sparring with Gran Tornio, but it was a huge mental hurdle for Izuku to overcome to use his power to attack All Might, though needing to do so to get Bakugo out of All Might's grasp probably did help resolve that conflict, since it triggered Izuku's inclination toward helping someone in need. The teamwork did okay for them, once Bakugo swallowed enough pride to admit he couldn't pass the exam without Izuku's powers and efforts working in concert with his own. I knew Koga was an h.s. student, but I didn't expect her voice to be that high. MP 100 - I haven't watched them yet. SAO: A - So, there was a timeskip in the game world. It's a little strange that Kirito's friend doesn't recognize or remember him, and he has only a vague recollection. Of course Kirito still has sword skills, but not enough experience points or whatever they call it to control the mystical sword without being injured by it. Um, villagers? If you're so concerned about this giant tree being bad for your crops or whatever, have none of you ever thought of trying to burn it down? Surely you have fire and know of combustible materials you could slather on the trunk to try to kill the tree that way. Yeah, yeah, uncontrolled fire when it falls. That's why you would need to clear an area of forest up to 1.5 times it's height, in case it falls, but in coniferous wildfires, a remarkably large number of the trunks remain standing, but with all the foliage burned off and a lot of charring to the trunk and limbs. It may not kill the tree, but it should deplete a lot of its durability points. MB - I haven't watched these yet, either. JoJo: Diamond - Once Jotaro figured out that Heart Attack was a heat-seeker, it was clever for Koichi to have Reverb make the "sizzle" sound effect for Heart Attack to chase. When the other efforts failed and after Reverb evolved again, I was pleased to see the extreme heaviness weigh down Kira's arm. Still, I don't get how Heart Attack could keep detonating like that. It would need Kira to infuse it with more energy constantly, which should be exhausting. A Calorie (food calorie) has the energy of a gram of TNT. Heart Attack detonated multiple times, including blowing up the cobbler/tailor. For it to keep attacking, it would need a constant infusion of energy from Kira. Cumulatively, he's probably supplied it with several hundred Calories in a short time. The enhanced gravity/weight effect of what Reverb did to it aside, he should be exhausted just sitting there. Back in college, I remember it taking nearly an hour between a rowing machine and stationary bike to expend over 500 Calories (I was trying to build stamina and lose a few vanity fat pounds at the time), and while I had no trouble walking afterward, I did feel a bit tired. He should be notably fatigued while doing nothing, meaning an observant server should ask him if everything is okay or whether he needs a doctor. BC - Hm, so the Witch Queen is also the Witch Mama. I'm going to presume there's some kind of magic involved in that rather than her getting knocked up that many times and birthing that many people. Still, that means she is a hot mama. The cloak of invisibility was a nice try, but Zell blew it and got the golem sentry swarm on them. Oh, hi there Ang's proxy character in the show Fana. Your dragon familiar sure has grown a lot since we last saw it in action. I don't think it was particularly associated with this episode, but someone mentioned that Mariella looks like Noelle with dark hair and a different hairstyle. I would add to the differences that Mariella also looks to have bigger boobs. HxH - Oh, so Gon took Pitou to where Kite was. That's okay. What's not okay, though, is what Gon learned. Kite was already dead, and it's entirely possible that he was a corpse marionette ever since they found him scarred and reacting on "instinct." When Gon kept alternating in his mind between blaming himself and blaming Pitou, I found myself thinking, "no, Gon, don't listen to your depression. Listen to your rage. Your rage is factually correct." Pouf impersonating Komugi to play Pitou was a dick move for one Guard to manipulate another. Shippuden - I'm fine with seeing the past from past from Ten-Ten's perspective for an episode. When she explored ways to be legendary like Tsunade, the casino guy was wrong; Tsunade would also be legendary at a casino for losing bets. I'm fine with Ten-Ten producing a heavy metal statue to help Rock train, but I don't understand how he got under it in the water when it entered the water first at the end of two taut tethers. Also, I want to iterate something others have previously mentioned: Rock is not truly a ninja with only taijutsu. Yes, he is a skilled warrior with some chakra control, but he's not ninja without ninjutsu.

Everything is old at this point, just to varying degrees. I've actually had this particular week written for a couple weeks, but I've procrastinated on writing the other stuff, so here it is, anyway. Also, I haven't finished Mob yet, nor watched the last three MBs. DBS - Okay, that was too much action to start the match. It would be like starting a fireworks show with the grand finale: there's too much happening to take in all of it. While I can admit to the strategic value of the tactic, it was a cheap and dick move for the one guy to try to hold Goku and walk both of them out of the ring. Thankfully for Universe 7, Goku powered out of his grip. It looks to me like Top's entire team is composed of Pride Troopers. At least they should have good team unity and cooperation. Boruto - I'm not sure it was a good idea for Ino to take Sakura to the spot of her and Sauce's first date. He's clearly chosen whatever it is he's doing while out wandering over being available to his family. Naruto may be a workaholic, but he does manage to carve out some time for his family, and even when that time is scarce, he's still around if there's an emergency. Sarada, why were you so dumb? You could've just gone to the ticket counter and asked them to call the next stop so an attendant could look for the package and have it there for you. MHA - We knew Nezu was smart, but dang, that's genius-level planning there. However, his laugh at getting the better of his students was plain maniacal. I was in as much shock as Kyoka that Koji can speak. The army of insects would creep me out in Present Mic's place as well. Also, when I read his hero name, I think of it as pre-SENT, like offering or putting forth something, rather than PRE-sent, as in the state of being at a location. It was clever to use Toru's invisibility to capture Snipe, and I can fully believe that he did not intent that contact with his elbow. This is the part I meant that Poke shouldn't watch in the company of others. For starters, Midnight is smoking hot. For another, her costume is very form-fitting, like latex would be. For more, she does have a mask, albeit not an o.t.n. one. It's actually more like stylized glasses, but it works for her. For last, there was her admission of having sadistic predilections, which is part of one of his acknowledged kinks, though the anime seemed to me to tone it down a little. I'm not sure I believe that Mineta planned to trap Midnight with the sticky balls, because one had to hit both her hand and the whip handle for that to work, and that strikes me as a lucky throw. Still, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Speaking of that, Bakugo and Izuku will need to be both to beat All Might. MP 100 - I only got the first two of the four on the dvr watched (episodes 9 & 10), and I'll admit the illusion guy had me fooled, but I can believe that Claw would use murder to cow newbies into obedience. Haaaa, the guy who thought piercing guy was pathetic for having trouble against Mob got trapped even faster. Also faster, Mob didn't mess around with piercing guy this time. This is the kind of damage that Meruem should've suffered when fighting Netero's bodhisattva, but to a lesser degree here. Ritsu also wasted no time with the three guards. I chuckled when the pompadour guy thought that levitating a person with telekinesis would be too much after we saw Mob make the car fly. Teru did well under pressure to change the nature of his barrier to make the pyrokinetic dude broil himself. When Dimple said that he can't possess psychics without their consent and cited natural shielding, it brought to mind something a woman I knew back in college said about a purportedly haunted location in the area. She said that people block perception of spirits and other such entities by default. For most people to see an apparition, it must be particularly potent. However, if the person wills themselves to be receptive, then they can detect the presence of weaker entities, but it also opens them to attachment by stronger ones, and thus she advised against inviting contact. The non-powered lackeys, especially the older guy, recognizing the difference in power was convenient for Ritsu and company. Torture to awaken psychic powers may be the simplest way, but I doubt it's truly the best one for the people involved. Dimple had a good plan for the guy controlling evil spirits, but he didn't expect additional waves of opposition. I expect Dimple to emerge victorious from the spirit jar. Mob probably didn't like being a meanie to the girl by breaking all her puppets. He was also just what the woman said in his reluctance to fight her, a gentleman. The woman was probably also the closest we'll get to a hot babe given the show's character designs. Hm, this ginger kid with no scars strikes me as possibly being the leader guy. He was able to subdue Ritsu and shield himself from Mob's explosion. SAO: A - It's fine that Kirito is playing a new game, but why is he a shota in it? It's never a good sign when Dr. Manhattan appears out of nowhere to spy and snitch on you. Also, that was a real letter of the law interpretation there; a small part of Alice crossed the border and was quickly drawn back after the momentary stun from her fall wore off, but she was guilty of trespassing, despite that over 99% of her body stayed in the acceptable border area. However, I will fault her for being the only one of the three dumb enough to get that close to the Dark Territory or whatever it was called. The Integrity Knights seem like real tools. Sure, they're strong, but they're also jerks. When I saw Alice's restraints, I first thought that it was overkill for use on a loli, but then I saw that she wouldn't actually be riding on the dragon with the knight. Dangling under the dragon like that during flight would require something more substantial to distribute the stresses of her body weight on her (yes, in the v.r. game. I know). It was fun to see the Aincrad crew and Sinon enjoy themselves shooting things up. Of course Asuna would also have lightsaber in the game about firearms and explosives. Silica on the heavy gun made me think of this. I feel like the stuff about the soul being literal light in the brain was an oversimplification of a neurological process. However, picking on the show because I can, I'll point out that since the researchers are defining the soul as something that exists inside a physiological structure, then they would necessarily be denying any kind of afterlife, since the soul, by their definition, would not be able to exist coherently outside of the body. Oh, hey, thanks for bringing up that loose end from both Aincrad and Death Gun by having this guy show up for revenge. Of course he will have missed Kirito by hitting an area of loose shirt where his body isn't present due to his recent weight loss. MB - Ms. Shirato doesn't want either Joe or her brother in Megalonia. I'm not sure she'll be able to get her way in this. How is Mr. Shirato's rig legal? The sensors give data to a program embedded in the rig's control software. He doesn't have to do anything but the footwork. His opponents are, for all intents and purposes, fighting the rig, not the man. Sure, he had to be a programming genius to create that bit of software, but it still seems like cheating to me. Speaking of cheating, Yuri's rig seems integrated into him, like a cyborg enhanced human. I can't say that Mr. Shirato learning about Joe's fake I.D. was truly surprising. I presume there would be professional and legal repercussions for forging an identity document. However, those are the lesser of Joe and Nanbu's concerns, since the yakuza would be after them for not living up to their end of the bargain. In light of this, I can understand Nanbu forfeiting the match, because they can't risk being exposed. JoJo: Diamond - Shigechi may have been greedy and obnoxious, but he didn't deserve to die, and especially not for fighting to protect his parents from a murderer. Deadly Queen (D.Q.)'s ability was certainly overpowered, and it was nothing more than luck that the killer boobytrapped the right door. What the hell, everyone who saw Shigechi as he tried to find Josuke and/or Okuyasu? Shigechi was bleeding badly from several readily visible wounds. He was clearly in need of medical attention, and yet none of them acted like anything was out of the ordinary other than a middle-schooler being in the high school section. Either something is terribly wrong with all of them as people or they have uncorrected eyesight worse than mine. The sign in the hallway about middle-schoolers not being "allowed" past a certain point reminded me of a sign I saw in a renovated building at my alma mater when it was open to the public during a homecoming weekend. When I was a student there, it was the student union, a place for student organizations to meet, and there was a game room in the basement. Since then, a new student union was built, and the existing building was renovated and given to the school of Visual Communications. At least on the upper floors, it was also extended over an alleyway to connect to the radio and television studios building, and there was a sign on one of the floors that beyond that point you leaving one building and entering the other. I feel like either Jotaro or Koichi could've used their Stand on the murderer to stop him or mark him for tracking. S.P. can temporarily stop time, and Reverb could brand either the guy's hand or the jacket with the word "killer" or "murderer." BC - Zell and Asta were way too quick to trust the assassin chick after she said she wanted to leave the Diamond Kingdom's service. Hm, Zell was reunited with his wife. That's nice. Vanessa had a interesting way to announce her return to the Witches' Forest. HxH - Yes, show, we know that Pouf is a sadistic and manipulative jerk. We didn't need him to lie to a blind woman to convince us of that. At least Killua is a good enough person to use his skills to defend a helpless stranger from a known enemy. I take it that Gon wants to fight Pitou in that estate/manor house/mansion. Shippuden - I can absolutely believe that first series Hinata would be able to whup Shino at taijutsu, and thus she was equipped to give him pointers on how to improve. Pre-baby Kurenai in the hot spring was a nice bit of fanservice. PTE - It takes a lot of force to poke holes in the air like the old guy did in Bob Epic Team. I missed the first time that the assassin Popuko complimented about their willingness to withhold information said "thank you" before being shot in the head.

I'm not sure Froppy is the best girl, but she's certainly the best pal any of her classmates (except Bakugo, because he's too angry for friends) could have and a really good collaborative teammate. She strikes me as someone who could work with anyone (again, except Bakugo, who rarely plays well with others). Why, yes, I do enjoy picking on Bakugo. Why do you ask? DBS - It was fun to see the exempt Destroyers spar for a bit. I chuckled when the Grand Minister tasked them with repairing the damage they did to the ring and making it better. Heh, Whis' hand-holding circle for team unity was wholly unnecessary. Frieza and Frost look like they'd get along splendidly. Great, nothing fazes Top's teammate. Chi flight being banned is malarkey. It's a learned skill. It would be like banning throws or holds. I will agree with physiological flight being okay. The ring gravity simultaneously imparts the gravity of the fighter's homeworld to each fighter simultaneously. That's clearly sorcery, meaning the Grand Minister must be a warlock. Boruto - Denki got a lot of unhelpful advice given in terms meaningful only to giver. At least Iwabe was actually able to give a useful tip. Since one good turn deserved another, Denki created way for Iwabe to study effectively. I'm fine with Shino recognizing that what the two boys did at the site of the fire put the skills to be tested into practice. They also showed remarkable maturity and a sense of duty to the Village in coming to aid of those young kids who were unable to help themselves. Good work, Denki and Iwabe. MHA - I forgot to mention it in the stuff for last week, but I've now reached the end of the MHA manga volumes I have (v. 15). Now I'll have to see if others are available to continue reading and supporting the franchise. I know I could buy the dvds, but I want it in manga form instead. While the stresses on Tsuyu's tongue would be great, I liked the plausible physics of Fumikage throwing her, then Tsuyu using his mass to decelerate as she pulled him toward her. They did well to fight off Ectoplasm's Shadow Clones, but I don't see why he couldn't have made more after some were dispatched. I'm also not sure how getting one side of the cuffs on a peg leg counted as capturing him. Oh well, they won, and they deserved it. Iida and Oujiro worked well enough together to reach the escape gate, but I feel like too much emphasis was made on Iida's speed, and Ojiro's outstanding agility at the end was overlooked. Shoto's plan to use Momo as an early-detection system wasn't bad, but it wasn't enough. It's a good thing that she had her own ideas about what to create with the Matryoshkas, because the flash grenades inside did just what she needed them to do. She also had a good plan to use both their Quirks to capture Aizawa, but, not knowing from which direction he'd approach, I feel like they couldn't have set it up from the beginning. They needing to have a bead on him to know where to point the catapult. MP 100 - I'll try to watch these in the coming week, but no promises. MB - Just the old one here. I'm not sure which was the case with Joe when he kept repeating Nanbu's advice aloud. I'm tempted to call it an attempt to unnerve Aragaki, which it did do, but I don't think Joe had that in mind when he first said it. I think he was just trying to keep himself focused on what he needed to do. That it took Aragaki's head out of the game was an added bonus, because Joe wouldn't necessarily have any reason to know that those words would hold personal meaning for Aragaki. However, in an arena with a good crowd, I have trouble believing Aragaki would be able to hear Joe clearly above the crowd noise, unless Joe was speaking clearly with intent to be heard, and it sounded to me like he was saying the words quietly to himself. I work in a noisy environment (so much so that we're required to wear hearing protection), and I will talk to myself aloud at times, and it doesn't seem like the people around me hear what I'm saying clearly, unless I speak up and directly to them, and sometimes not even then. I had the wrong impression of what happened with Aragaki's legs. I thought the prosthetics were about to fail under the intense stress he put on them, but it was that he was injuring what was left of his natural legs. In that case, I can respect his decision to concede the match instead of suffer debilitating trauma by continuing. I very much liked that despite his feelings of betrayal regarding Nanbu, Aragaki kept the losing bet slip, and the positive memories it evoked helped him choose not to end his own life, which is also a serious problem with veterans, and not just those who suffer maiming injuries during their service. Oh, crap. A heavyweight qualified for Megalonia. We know that Joe can take hits, but he's probably no more than a middleweight, meaning he could fight a man who has at least 1/4th again his mass, and likely more. His only hope to win there would be to avoid getting hit at all, but I don't think his speed and agility are up to it at this point. Joe also has the cumulative effect of getting beaten up by stronger and stronger opponents with not much time to recover from his injuries, meaning he'll be easier to daze and moving slower. JoJo: Diamond - Even for the JoJoverse, this was weird. We had Kira's completely detached insanity, the boys bickering over lunch plans and borrowing lunch money, and Kira threatening Shigechi. It was all over the place. Packaged lunches in Japan must have been expensive in the late 1990s, since it would've been $6.25 for what Josuske and Okayasu each got. Dang, Okayasu was loud in the lounge. It's no wonder the P.E. teacher checked the room. Kira identified himself, so Shigechi is marked for death. All this is because of a hungry stray dog. BC - Wait, what? Asta was actually instructed in swordfighting? Huh. I was shocked to read that Ang didn't care for the Diamond Kingdom defector (Fanzell) being a cut dude with a penchant for losing his clothes. It's a shame that his former subordinate decided that murdering dissidents was for the good of the kingdom. She had a nice rack. Really, though, I have no idea how he could lose all his clothes in a matter of seconds. HxH - My primary reaction to this episode is as follows: BULLSHIT!!! The proper way to read what follows is as a screaming/yelling rant, but I'm choosing to forego the all-caps and exclamation points. Meruem was within a few dozen yards, if not a few dozen feet, of a nuclear detonation. The energy of that would generate a shockwave powerful enough to rupture all his internal organs (which should already be mush, for reasons I gave previously, but whatever) and shatter his bones. That means he'd be in no condition to flee any farther than he was the instant after detonation. Then the intense heat, which, if I saw what I think I saw, was enough to melt the stone of the cavern, should've vaporized him instantly. Even if it didn't, his charred body would be left in a pool of lava, which would incinerate his remains and mix what little ashes remained into the the lava. There would be no body for Pouf and Youpi to find, and thus everything else they did wouldn't have happened. To iterate, show, bullshit. Since the story went this way, now Meruem is effectively a cannibal. While Pouf may not be as diminished as Youpi, at least those two Royal Guards should be easier for our team to beat. I would be remiss if I didn't point out that both Pouf and Youpi were telenovela-level dramatic betches there, if not worse. Pouf's plan may reflect what he thinks is acting in Meruem's best interest by removing the "weakness" of his attachment to a frail and vulnerable human, but it's still dastardly. Shippuden - This reminded be a bit of the Amazon myth. I don't mind Naruto inheriting Jiraiya's inconclusive duel, but no, he shouldn't be forced to marry someone he just met. Oh well, at least the filler kunoichis had big boobs. PTE - I don't blame the dude for getting with the brown-haired chick. She did have a nicer rack than the black-haired one. I have such little rhythm that I would be unable to do the haramasukoi (sp?) Just saying.

That would require her to know of S.D. and it's power, which I don't think she does. Koichi, however, does, and he should've offered that as an alternative to Yukako, but he clearly spent all the time since the kiss thinking with his dick instead of his brain. That would be the smart play, and Gon, unfortunately, doesn't always do the smart thing. Poke: One of the storyboarders for MB also did some key animation for SC, but I'm not sure how much stylistic influence he'd carry from one project to the other since several other shows intervened between those two shows. I can dig black sclera. They remind me of Shirosaki, and that makes me smile. Yukako's version, though, makes her look almost like a ghost. Yes, I know the show has an actual ghost, and she looked perfectly normal. DBS - I feel like Goku wasn't bothered so much by Frieza taking out the hitmen, but rather that Frieza took such pleasure in doing so. I was impressed by the dog hitman. A fake-out shot was to be expected, but the double fake-out took me by surprise. I don't think Frieza truly expected it either, but his reaction time was fast enough to fight it. Tangentially related to reaction time, I feel like that was part of the difference between how much Frieza and Goku struggled with the Destroyer energy. Frieza's guard was up, and Goku's wasn't. The other part was that Frieza was already in his powered-up state, whereas Goku was in his baseline state. Frieza was primed and essentially ready for the attack, and Goku wasn't, but Goku still wasn't instantly annihilated. I think Frieza was too busy being pleased with himself and scheming for his survival to notice that. Still, Goku should've expected Frieza to double-cross him with the Destroyer energy. I expected it, but I didn't expect the betrayal to come so quickly. I thought he would keep it for later use. Maybe Goku would've eventually contained it, maybe not. Since Beerus intervened to resolve it, we'll never know. I liked that even the "depraved" 9th Universe gods were aghast at Frieza's cold selfishness. Boruto - Naruto just can't win with Boruto. It seems like his son finds some kind of fault or shortcoming in everything. Give the criticism a rest, kid. Remember, Naruto may be the leader of the ninja corps, but he's not the sole leader of the village. There is a civilian authority with which he must work, and beyond the village, he's also subordinate to the feudal lord. He doesn't necessarily have final say in everything, so he can present the case for leniency for Sumire, but the final verdict on her future in the village could be out of his hands. I'm fine with the students forming their own teams, but different ones than their last squad-based exercise. Letting Shino see who works well together and who doesn't will help him compose effective teams, and not only will that help with mission success going forward in their instruction, but it also helps them see who is more likely to survive missions without their jonin needing to save them constantly (excluding unforeseen Zabuza-style opposition, like Kakashi had with the old Team 7). Shino putting Sarada in charge of recording results in his absence while he went to check on Sumire says to me that he considers her to be reliable, like a class rep. Oh, hi there, Sauce. I'm not sure why Naruto would need to consult him on the contents of the scroll, but evidently it has to do with his knowledge of obscure high-level jutsu, and I'm willing to credit him with knowing that from his training under Orochimaru. These new people talking about harvesting planets says to me that they're aliens, in that they didn't originate on Earth. I know more due to reading what amounts to Shippuden and Boruto spoilers, but I'm intrigued to see it play out. MHA - I grinned and chuckled my way through most of the episode. It was so fun to see this animated. I eagerly await the rest of the fights Aizawa devised. Momo was so pleased to have friends over to study. I preferred the way the manga had someone call her Momoyao versus the anime calling her Yaomomo. The first one flows better to my consideration. It's easy to forget with Bakuko's horrible rage issues that he's also good at academics. Weighing down the teachers to limit them is a sporting handicap, but I must wonder how that would work with Ectoplasm. How could he copy the weights for his Shadow Clones? I love that Kendo just hits Monoma to keep him in line. Regarding Midnight's original costume, da-yum doesn't even come close to doing it justice. She did have a point, though, that some Quirks, like hers, function better with more exposed skin, since her sedative pheromone would enter the air in higher dosages with more of her skin in direct contact with the air. The catfight between her and Mt. Lady was the stuff of Mineta's dreams. MP 100 - Still haven't watched these. MB - Haven't watched this yet either, because someone in the house keeps watching Hallmark movies, leaving me little time to watch what I record, and then they complain about all the stuff I have on the the dvr. *Insert Charlie Brown yell here.* JoJo: Diamond - First and foremost, what the crap, Koichi? Why would you not immediately flee from both Rohan and Yukako?! One mind-raped you, with physiological consequences as well, and the other went Misery on you. The sensible course of action would be to stay or get as far away from the both of them as you reasonably can. I understand that brusquely leaving either's presence would be considered culturally unacceptable rudeness on its surface, but you would be doing so for very good reasons based in each's past actions toward you. The beautician lady was pretty and had epic boobs, so that was nice. Of course she was also a Stand user, but, like Tonio, not exactly a malevolent one. I think I get what she meant when she said Yukako's face was a bit harsh. She did have cross eyebrows. Show, stop showing us how shapely Yukako is. You have a grown woman with a bombshell body as the only other person in that room. Show us more of that instead, please. The beautician was very clear about the lipstick directions, but every half-hour is ridiculously frequent. It was a bit disturbing that the skin of her face and hands disintegrated like that. Given how hostile Yukako has been throughout the episode, I can't completely bring myself to blame the beautician for presenting Yukako with the false choice of the multiple faces. Koichi was observant and a remarkably good person to see past Yukako's deteriorating visage and recognize her demeanor. When Yukako put the choice in his hands and he asked to be blinded if he was wrong, that was extremely selfless on his part. I'm glad the beautician gave her the right face for his sake. It showed that she does have a good heart motivating her. I, like Koichi, must remind myself that Yukako is crazy. I want him to have a girlfriend, because he's a good guy and deserves a good girlfriend, but not Yukako. Sure, she's singularly devoted to him and pretty, but she's very close to being cute-but-psycho, if not there. She strikes me as being one step away from Yuno Gasai. BC - Of course everyone was back to their usual antics. I could actually tell what Gordon said in one place, but it wasn't the same as the subtitles. The meaning was pretty much the same, but the wording was different. The meat feast party was fun, and I think that Luffy would approve of such a celebration. They had reason to do so, since they finally got out of the red on the achievement star board tally. The next one will put them into the black, bad pun fully intended. It was swell of Yami to take Asta to see the finest magical healer in realm. I'm not sure, but it looked like his magic was able to regenerate Fuegoleon's lost arm. It sucked for Asta that there's an ancient curse on his arms. I'm okay with Finral overhearing the prognosis and telling the others quietly. It's perfectly in character for Asta to remain undaunted, and it's fully in character for the others to go look for some way to remove the hex. It's also completely in character for Asta to be dumb enough to overlook the obvious solution. If my understanding is correct, the ancient curse is magical in nature, and he has anti-magic swords. He's even used one in the past to nullify a continuous-bleeding spell. All he needs to do is call forth one of his swords and cut each arm (maybe each section of his arms and his hands and fingers) with the edge. I wouldn't think that he'd necessarily need to be holding the sword for it to work, but since he showed he can hold one in his mouth, then he could have a teammate move his arm to the blade to cut the appropriate places. Once the hex has been dispelled, which the healer guy could confirm, then the process of healing the damaged bones could begin. He may not be able to heal both arms simultaneously, but it's far better than the healer writing him off as a lost cause because Asta didn't give him all the pertinent information. This is why a physician needs to know about all a patient's medications, current and past conditions, and ongoing treatments. Asta telling the healer that he has a sword with anti-magic powers which he'd previously used to remove a different curse would probably have had him recovering, if not fully recovered, by the end of the episode, but the story is relying on us not remembering that to generate dramatic tension. That's a narrative failure right there, author/writers. HxH - The world of HxH has a version of suitcase nukes, but even smaller, yet it looked to be every bit as potent as a larger weapon. The fact that they are proliferated among Bad Actor nations and terrorist organizations is a reminder that the world of HxH is worse than the world we have for the people living there, since they have suffered proper nuclear terrorism. Gon was observant to call Pitou's stalling. I get his rationale in wanting to fight Pitou alone, in that it would deprive Pitou of the chance to take a hostage, but I'm disturbed by Gon actually threatening Komugi, who is an innocent person compelled to be in Meruem's presence, to force Pitou's compliance. At least Palm can watch to see if Gon gets in real trouble. Pouf's real face was scary. I can understand that sight unnerving Knuckle a bit. We can't be sure, but it looks like Netero's spiteful fail-safe might have worked. It's hard to praise a guy who used the equivalent of a suicide vest, but he did it to (try to?) take out someone who posed a threat to humanity, so there is that. Shippuden - Konohamaru was rather annoying. Moegi was right to chastise him for wanting to be placed in action during the upcoming war. Sure, he faced one of the Pain bodies, but all he had to do was fight a person. She had to save a helpless civilian from a giant centipede, meaning not only was it stronger than her, but it wasn't limited by human range of motion, and her life wasn't the only one in the balance. When Konohamaru tried to prove himself against Temari, he clearly wasn't thinking. Not only is she the kind not to suffer fools, but had Shikamaru not stopped him, he would've been the instigator of an incident that left a Suna diplomatic envoy badly injured by an operative of a supposed ally village. It could've threatened the alliance. Stop being dumb, kid. We know from Boruto that it works out, but no one in the story had any idea of that at this point. PTE - Bob Epic Popuko carries on the fine tradition of teenage girls having access to Hammer Space with those traps. Not even the Manager's Specials on raw meats at stores around here get anywhere close to $0.50 for any kind of cut. They do get to about half-price though. As long as it's cooked thoroughly within a day or two of purchase, it's fine. It's like Chad's friend in early Bleach said about the sell by date on things - just a suggestion.

That's not really a difficult accomplishment. You might have to go into Nazi vampires and their allies to find worse people than Sauce. Ang: MHA spoiler - A year of Kirito shenanigans? I'm not exactly thrilled, but I'll probably watch anyway. DBS - I'm glad I get along better with my sister than 17 and 18 get along. Still, he is an uncle, and he really should get his niece's name right. The military defectors thinking that 17 taking vacation was their chance are in for trouble if they try anything. At least the one guy who suggested they think twice since they saw the boys flying was paying attention. If they do invade the preserve, I think 18's comment about Krillin being surprised by Marron's strength was telegraphing her walloping at least one of them. I remembered before Master Roshi mentioned it, but him training again with Master Korin meant that the former had to climb the tower to reach the sanctuary, because Roshi never learned to use his chi to fly. That took young Goku several days back in DB, and Roshi had said that Goku had surpassed him in power at that point. This means that Roshi at this point was able to climb the tower in under a day. If the 4th and 9th Universes' Destroyers didn't send at least one hitman of Hit's caliber, then they were wasting their time and at least one hitman's life. I smiled when Baba called Goku's present a re-gift and hoped the receipt was still in the box. Oh, hey, it looks like the ring construction is finally making progress and not simply being a recycled animation no jutsu segment to have something on the screen while the narrator talks. Boruto - I had forgotten that Boruto, Mitsuki, Sumire and Nue went into a pocket dimension. Good, talk no jutsu worked to convince Sumire that revenge for her family being persecuted due to her father's affiliation with the Foundation was pointless. If anything, it would've proven that the Foundation and it's legacy were dangerous to the rest of Konoha. I didn't expect Sai to step in and offer to advocate for Sumire, but it is fitting that he would, because he's someone who was able to overcome the stigma of his Foundation past. I'm willing to grant that Nue could've impressed on Sumire. Thinking about it, I'm not sure why it's spelled Sumire rather than Tsumire. MHA - We have a bit of a Michael Keaton Batman moment here, since All for One forcing a stolen power-up Quirk on his supposedly Quirkless brother made it possible for the brother to create One for All in order to oppose his brother's criminal schemes. I do like that this is a legacy of conflict which Izuku didn't know he was joining when he gained One for All. He has now inherited the struggle that none of his predecessors could finish. I liked the moment when Gran Torino asked who Izuku was and made him realize that he must own his hero name. It's that confident declaration that he is there. MP 100 - I still haven't watched these. MB - I didn't expect a story highlighting the plight of maimed veterans and their struggles with P.T.S.D., but here it was. Nothing I can say about that would do justice to the topic, so I'll leave the show's treatment to stand on it's own merit. I feel like Nanbu had some depression as well after hearing that Aragaki was k.i.a., which probably contributed to the failure of his gym. Aragaki having Gear that compensates for his reduced mobility may be lesser in power, but it still packs a wallop. I think Joe will be able to beat the ten-count. I was glad to hear the audience cheer for both sides. It means that Aragaki has respect for fighting on equal terms despite his prosthetics, and Joe is building a fanbase for the skill that his gimmick requires. I don't think I've mentioned it previously, but this show gives me an SC vibe, though I can't quite put my finger on what about it reminds me of that show. JoJo: Diamond - I don't understand why the boys had to claim the ticket at a bank. Maybe that's just how lotteries in Japan are run. As to the troubles they had in claiming the money, they should've been honest that they found it on the ground. Unless the same aspect of Japanese law which requires amounts greater than 100 Yen to be turned in to the police would prevent them from claiming ownership of a found winning ticket, meaning that it would revert to the person whose name was on the ticket or the State, then they could've claimed it without trouble. However, since a name and telephone number were written on the ticket, then that would be a problem, since it would be claiming a specific someone else's money, i.e. stealing from that person. Also, had they read the ticket thoroughly, meaning looking on the back for a name, first, then they could've avoided a lot of trouble by changing or erasing (part of) the name. However, that would've meant that they would've knowingly been stealing a prize that rightfully belonged to a specific person they could've tracked down. As it worked out, we could attribute Josuke's actions with C.D. to panicking while trying to avoid getting in trouble. I don't understand why Josuke and Okuyasu didn't swat Harvest away with their hands. As Stand users, they should be able to hit another Stand. The power and energy of their Stands comes from them, after all. With that in mind, Harvest shouldn't have been able to injure them so badly, and especially not Josuke's eyelid, which might require stitches to close the cut. I recognize the cleverness of the trap Josuke set for Shigechi in tearing up the ticket get him to send Harvest after it, leaving himself defenseless. However, there was a better way to play that out. Had Josuke held onto one fragment of the ticket, then they wouldn't have needed Harvest to bring them back after smacking sense into Shigechi, because C.D. restoring it would've brought back the other fragments. I feel like Okuyasu doesn't use The Hand as well as he could. Unless I missed some detail that The Hand can't move beyond a certain distance from Okuyasu, then its limited range shouldn't be as big an issue as it was made out to be here. Taking the above into consideration, the only reason the boys had as much trouble with Harvest as they did is because they willfully fought it stupidly. BC - The Bulls teamwork against the slime general was good, but I laughed when Asta pulled a Zoro with his blade. Shameless, show. The argument between Charmy and Sylph was a bit tedious, but at least Charmy was able to introduce herself properly to Yuno. Get him, girl. Vangeance having a burned face doesn't convince me that he isn't Licht. Think about it. Licht uses light magic. What do human eyes detect? That's right. Either the disfigured appearance or Licht's flawless appearance could be accomplished with a spell to project the light of the desired disguise. Whichever one is his real face doesn't matter. HxH - MAL had already spoiled me as to the C.A. King's name being Meruem, so that was no big deal to me. What bothered me was that in the battle of attrition between him and Netero, Meruem should've sustained massive damage. Each impact was capable of damaging a stone pillar. Sure, Meruem could use some of his nen to shield himself, but the impacts were enough to move him at great speed. On top of that, he was already moving at great speed under his own power, and he was changing direction rapidly with each impact from Netero's Bodhisattva. That means his body was experiencing tremendous G-forces. He may be strong, but his internal organs are (presumably) still composed of squishy flesh, and they're encased in his very hard bones. The only way to reduce those stresses on his vital organs is to slow down the changes in direction, and that looked like exactly the opposite of Meruem's strategy to learn Netero's move patterns. He may have a lot of power, but he's still made of flesh that can and should've suffered catastrophic damage from simple changes in momentum. He may be dying more slowly than Netero, but he should still be dying. It doesn't matter that he had the nen of hundreds of people infused into him. He's suffered enough trauma to counsel kill each lifeforce that went into him, even if we count it that way, which we shouldn't, because he only has one physical body, which should be liquefied internally by the end of the fight, including the brain he used to analyze Netero's movement patterns. Netero showed some seriously freaky muscle control. I think it was in character for him to give his life to (try to?) kill Meruem. Shippuden - Naruto's imposter was a liar and on the dumb side, but he had a good heart. His accomplice/friend made a mistake in the fake headband, since the leaf was angled the wrong way. I wouldn't have noticed right away, but the crudeness of the gouging made me compare it to the actual headbands. I can't blame the mercenary ninjas for trying to abduct the impostor for ransom, but they should've known that was too easy and have had at least a description of Naruto's attire. Surely word-of-mouth regarding the increasingly-famous Naruto would mention how his orange jumpsuit doesn't look anything like other Konoha shinobi uniforms. PTE - The first time this episode aired, I missed that Pipimi arm wrestled not only not!Robocop, but a Terminator was next after that. Bob Epic drum solo truly was epic. I can't understand much spoken French, but I think I'd be able to read a menu well enough not to order something I'd be unwilling to eat.

At least the ink didn't ruin Selkie's favorite pillow. She does have that effect. It's nice to feel for a moment like we aren't as cold and dead inside as season 5 Dean Winchester. I'm not far enough in my reading to know who the character you named in your earlier spoiler is, but spoiler: Another twofer. I haven't watched last week's MP 100 yet, so it's just the old episode there. DBS - When I looked at the scheduled recordings, this was set to record, but when I got up a little before midnight, it wasn't on the dvr, so I had to C-roll it. Interesting. If Buu sleeps for more than a few seconds, he's out for months. That may have played a part in Bibidi being able to seal him way back when. Aw, that was cute. It was fun to see Goten, Marron and Trunks eager to see baby Bulla. I'm not sure about the wisdom of letting Pilaf be part of the babysitting crew, though. Eh, Mai and Shuu probably keep him in line. Yep, Goku's lies found him out. I'll agree that Krillin probably would've agreed even if he knew the truth from the start, but it was funny to see Beerus threaten him into it. Had Bulma not stepped up to cover the cost for 18, a grateful Mr. Satan probably would. Aside: Sometimes a co-worker will play some hard rock or metal cds on the in-area stereo system, and another co-worker will call it devil-worship music. I correct the latter one, saying I'd never heard the phrase "hail Satan" in any of the songs, and since the former co-worker likes anime and is familiar with TFS's abridged treatment of DBZ, I said we have that as a little joke that only he and I get. The next time the latter mentions it, I think I'll say, "what? They haven't said anything about Hercule." Maybe I'll term it Videl's dad or Pan's grandpa. Hooray, I have options. Wait a minute, Universe 3. You've specifically built or modified robotic warriors for the fight. I feel like that verges on disqualification-level cheating. Sure, there's nothing forbidding robotic warriors, but if the Zenis don't determine them to be truly alive, then the other universes' fighters can destroy them with impunity, should they be capable of it, without fear of disqualification. When we have fighters that can blast holes in hillsides (or mountains), I have trouble believing that machines will be able to stand up to the abuse headed their way. It seems like a losing strategy to me. Now, if almost all the inhabitants of Universe 3 are robotic in nature, then that's different, because that's what they'd have available for the team, but otherwise, I think flesh and blood fighters would be the wiser choice, provided they aren't vastly weaker than the robots. Caulifa's training into how to go Super Saiyan was quick. While it took righteous fury for Goku and Gohan (well, for SS2 for Gohan, anyway) and the threat of imminent death for Vegeta from something as unrelenting as a meteor bombardment of his location, it turns out that a careful analysis of the way the energy flow felt for Cabba was enough to tell Caulifa how to do it. I feel like Kale will be able to do it as well, provided she stops being too timid to try. So, yeah, Kale was able to pull off Super Saiyan, but she was more like the overwhelming berserker of old which Frieza feared enough to attempt genocide on the Saiyans. It might be the greenish tinge to her aura, or it might be her bulking up, but she reminded me of Brolly. Frieza would find the "no killing" rule to be bothersome, but holding out the possibility of getting to wish himself back to life as incentive was shrewd on Goku's part, even if he did say Frieza would have to be the tournament m.v.p. to get the Super Dragonballs. Boruto - I'm not sure whether Mitsuki was a clone grown in a tank or just genetically altered, but he's clearly not a purely natural-born human. I guess I can understand Boruto's point about the Hokage. Being Hokage is something that absorbs all of Naruto's time and attention, so Boruto hates what that position has taken from him - the loving dad that spent time with his actual family. However, we must remember that, as an orphan, Naruto doesn't really have a proper frame of reference for what balance between work and family life would be. When he was just a ninja of high-level skills (in the present of Shippuden, he has at least jonin-level skills, but he hasn't properly gone through the rank promotions, so he's technically still a genin), he would've been involved in missions, planning meetings and report writing, but now he has to go through everyone else's paperwork, has more meetings, and must maintain diplomatic relations with the other Villages, and that simply takes a lot more time. I didn't count the time elapsing, but I feel like it didn't take over 50 seconds for Boruto to make his clones and boost Denki and Mitsuki to catch Denki and pull him up to the top of that wall. I feel like they could've finished as a team in the time limit, and thus been the only ones to pass the team exercise here, but they needed to make everyone feel like the inexperienced beginners they are. We know that ninjas other than Naruto can make clones, so I'm a bit surprised that it isn't commonplace to leave two clones at the office and go home at the end of the day. When the justu is released, the user would know everything the clone knew and did. I feel like this is a cheat that Kakashi would've mentioned to his successor as Hokage. It's a bit disappointing that Naruto doesn't use it more often to have more family time. I was disappointed to learn that Sumire was behind the Ghost attacks, and I don't understand why she, who has lived in the peace following the Fourth Great Shinobi War, would be dedicated enough to her father's Foundation cause to do this. My guess is that there was some serious indoctrination/brainwashing in her early life. I hope that Boruto is skilled enough at talk no jutsu to bring her around, but she'll still face serious consequences, i.e. intense interrogation and imprisonment, for her multiple attacks on citizens of Konoha. Of course Mitsuki would be willing to take the easiest resolution method, killing Sumire. He clearly hasn't spent enough time around Boruto yet. MHA - I can understand the doctors not sugar-coating Iiida's diagnosis so he wouldn't be surprised if he does have nerve damage to his left hand, but there's still the possibility that he will recover fully. We can hope for the best. As for his selected course of action and the motivation behind it, yeah, he did accept that his heart was in the wrong place, and he needs to better himself as a person before he can truly be a hero. That was a creepy video. I suspect that this All for One that All Might and Gran Torino discussed was also at the scene (in a building? On a building? I'm not sure) gathering video surveillance for both intelligence purposes regarding the next generation of heroes and for what we saw in the video, i.e. a propaganda piece, which, judging from the end of the episode, has worked to draw more recruits for the League of Villains. I don't think Handy would have the maturity to plan for the media coverage to focus on Stain in order to guide other like-minded people to the League, so I think it's more likely that his superior would be behind that plan, even if he wasn't at the scene recording the last rant from Stain personally, which I think he was. In the manga, I was left with the impression that Stain had pre-existing burn scars that he got from Endeavor at some point in the past, so I'm not sure how much of his burn injuries are fresh and how much are delicate tissue that was irritated. I can understand the official government position of needing to control dangerous Quirks, and I can understand the need to investigate situations where non-licensed Quirk-users do use them and damage to persons or property occurs. That's a very real consideration in the world of concealed firearms for personal defense: you are accountable for every round you fire, so you must be certain that the use of potentially deadly force is justified, and even then you'll still be subject to arrest pending investigation. If the use of force was within legal parameters, no charges will be filed, but you'll still be in custody or on bond until that determination is made. However, I fully support Shouta's position that Iida's intervention saved the life of Native, i.e. someone under attack by an armed assailant, and both Izuku and his (Shouta's) actions kept the same assailant from overcoming Iida and killing both him and Native. The use of Quirks by these three students accomplished the defense of life from an armed aggressor's actions. If Japanese law makes no provision to use violence to defend another from an aggressor, then that, to me, is a problem in the law. It flies in the face of the natural right to defend one's life or safety and the extension of that principle in intervening on the behalf of another who is incapable of accomplishing it alone. Yes, there is the legal wrinkle that it is difficult to determine whether the person in need of aid is a faultless victim of the other party's violence, but in this case, Stain's history of deadly violence and his present rants about killing frauds made it clear that he was the aggressor. Yes, Izuku, you did talk to a girl on the phone, and a cute one with a great personality at that. Your mom would be so happy if you got Ochako as a girlfriend. "Woof." Public relations is clearly not Bakugo's thing. Gunhead did a good job saying each part of the movement as he did it and what its purpose was. Ochako has found herself a good instructor in this internship. Some internships (Kendo and Momo with Uwabami) were more glamorous than others (Kirishima and 4x Tetsu with Fourth Kind), but I do remember them being shown at least briefly in the manga. Tsuyu's story, on the other hand, I don't recall at all, but it was fun on the whole. I don't like that they kept calling the antagonists "stowaways," though. They were looking to move goods illegally, and that makes them smugglers, if not pirates (possibly both), MP 100 - It was a little painful to watch this episode. Emotionally, there was Ritsu's rejection of his brother early in the episode, but I was glad to see that when Mob was getting thrashed, Ritsu did show that he still cared about his brother by offering to go with the guy so he'd stop hurting Mob. It was also tough to watch Mob, who is a genuinely nice guy and a likeable person, get beaten so badly as he tried to protect his brother, which was a commendable thing to do when we saw that Ritsu, even with his new powers, couldn't defend himself from his attacker. Wow, Mob is a tough guy. He took a serious beating, but kept trying to protect Ritsu. I'm not sure how an aerosolized sedative was able to get through his telekinetic barrier, but whatever it is that lives in him and seeks to use his power lived up to the scary name White Tee Poison, which I thought was actually Whitey Poison, but that's my mistake of mis-hearing things. I feel like there are shenanigans to be called here. Yes, both Mob and the dude were using their powers not only to block the other's attacks, but also to cushion their impacts against hard surfaces, but the way that Mob's face got bloodied when hitting the ground and the dude lay slumped in the wreckage of the wall says to me that both of those impacts were enough to overcome the cushioning of their powers. A year or so back, I walked out my front door and down the steps when they were icy. I slipped and hit my face on the concrete. It wasn't the first thing to hit, and so it didn't take the full force of the fall, but I still had a scrape with swelling and a bruise. That was just the force of gravity, and it still took me a moment to start getting up slowly. Mob's face was much more damaged than mine. He has no apparent history of being toughened up though fighting, so this should've been every bit as shocking to him as, if not more than, my fall was to me. I also don't have a history of fighting, but I do experience bumps to the head by heavy, moving metal objects at work at a rate I would describe as more than infrequently, so I do know what uncomfortable collisions are. Then there's the dude and the wall, which was broken by the force of the impact. Yes, it was spread across his whole body, but he sure looked unconscious there. Maybe his cohort was in telepathic communication with him to "shout" him awake, but I feel like he was back in action far too quickly after experiencing car-crash-level forces on his body. MB - To the surprise of no one, Yuri handled Jnk (I'm not sure whether I'll stick with this name or call him Joe. We'll see) with relative ease. Jnk may be better than the rest of the guys he (Jnk) has fought, but Yuri has what looks like actual skill and talent and has real, quality training. I spotted that Yuri looked at Jnk's feet as he approached to know what he'd do. Now, just because I'm aware of the concept doesn't mean I'd be able to apply it through correct interpretation or reacting quickly enough, and that's what I mean by Yuri having actual skill and talent. Still, I can't deny Jnk's toughness and tenacity. He got up, albeit once not in time for the ten-count, and was ready to keep going. Jnk played a dangerous game with his and Pops' life by throwing the plan out the window in k.o.-ing that guy right off with one hit. The yakuza guy made it clear that while repayment would be preferable, death would be an acceptable consolation prize if Jnk's future matches in Megalonia don't pay back the debt several times over. A forged identity, while it looked relatively easy for the forger, isn't the kind of help that comes cheaply. Jnk needs to pay more attention when he's out riding. I got a bit of a HxH flashback to Netero challenging Gon and Killua, but saying he'd only use, if memory serves, one leg in evading them, but Gon did make him use the other leg by the end of the night and called that a win. It was at least a moral victory for Jnk that he made Yuri use his right hand to block, and I feel like that stung Yuri's pride a bit that he wasn't able to make good on his boast. The street urchin kids were crafty, but clearly being cheated, so good for the one kid for stepping up to help Joe. Joe was a good dude to repay the unrequested favor by knocking out the thug. While it's preferable that the new gear overloaded and caught fire while not on Joe, I feel like they didn't do enough research or study of the manual if they put incompatible power units into it. Joe's first fight was rough, but he got to where he needed to be mentally for his gimmick to work. It shows that while he may not have as much power, he is more maneuverable, and he's still punching dudes in their unprotected (by helmets or pads, that is) faces/heads with what are still, presumably, armored gloves. Well, crap. It looks like the next guy will be out not only to win, but also to hurt Nanbu by mauling Joe. JoJo: Diamond - What the heck, Koichi? Why would you willingly be around Rohan after what he did to you? I'd advise you to stay as far away from that guy as you can. He can solve his map problem on his own. I'm not sure whether to call it a time slip or a dimensional pocket, but Koichi and Rohan got themselves into trouble going down that street. I'm not sure why none of them thought on their own to go back the way they came, but maybe it's good that they didn't. The girl was cute. It's a shame she was murdered when Rohan was a young kid. I can understand him possibly blocking himself from recalling such a terrible thing when he was so young, but it did reveal a strange wrinkle in Heaven's Door's limitations, that it can't tell him things that happened when he was involved. Rohan having history with her did explain why she called him "little Rohan." Regarding whatever supernatural force that would try to keep people from leaving, it sounded a lot like Eurydice having to follow her husband Orpheus out of the underworld, but if he looked back, she'd be trapped there forever. I thought I saw that force grab Reverb and pull it out of Koichi, and it would be part of his spirit. If that's true, then he may no longer have his Stand. The murderer still being around Morioh is creepy, and when I saw the car almost hit (I think?) Koichi, it was obvious that the driver would be the murderer. It got even creepier when the guy was talking to the trophy arm section like it was a living person. Shigechi seemed like an okay dude to start, but that changed when an appreciable amount of money was in play. What I really want to know is what the deal is with his head. That's not hair. Those were spikes on his head. What kind of horrible environmental contamination is around this town that caused that kind of mutation in him? I presume he was born by C-section if he's had those from birth. Hm, Japanese law requires amounts of found money equivalent to a dollar to be turned in to the police. The only part of Josuke's plan that would work in America would be finding a winning lottery ticket, since the cash value of coupons is typically 1/20th of a cent. BC - They mentioned the Spade Kingdom, and this is the second attack by the Diamond Kingdom in the show, so there should also be a Heart Kingdom out there somewhere. I am curious as to what happened to the stone that Asta remembered the bird finding back in Saucy village. It sure would suck for everyone if Midnight Sun got it while everyone but Gordon was gone, meaning they'd have more stones than the Clover Kingdom thinks they have. Wait. I thought Yuno's familiar was named Sylph, not Bell. While it may be at least partly in reaction to Yuno's coldness, she seems to have a harsh personality. Yeah, just send Yami. He's got the whole back-up thing covered. Huh, Yami's only 28. Haaaa, Julius mistook Charmy for Yami's child. Also, Charmy's ploy to get closer to Yuno worked. Get him, girl! Poor Gordon. Everyone thinks he's mad, but he's really mostly sad about being left behind. It really hurt his feelings, but no one can hear him well enough to hear him say it. I don't remember much beyond Mimosa, Klaus and Yuno interacting briefly with Asta before having to get back to healing/protecting civilians, Vangeance (yeah, that name's not suspiciously close to "vengeance" or anything >.> ) trapping a bunch of Diamond Kingdom mages with Wood Style tree magic (I might have seen part of Fern Gully, but I'm not sure about that, so I'll take Ang and Poke's word on the comparison here), and Yami asking Vangeance to take off his mask. Oh, wait. Finral's brother sure has the smug jerk vibe down pat. Flawless execution there, guy. HxH - It was strange to see Killua get emotional over Gon's recent traumatic experiences, but his heart-to-heart with Palm talked some sense into her eventually. Her hair armor reminded me stylistically of Alucard, and that's a good thing. I forget exactly why Gon chopped ten minutes off Pitou's time limit, but I do remember it was in response to something Pouf did or said. The problem here is that Pitou's not the one who will be disadvantaged by this (well, Pitou thinks that's the case, because the C.A. King's wrath is what Pitou truly fears here, thinking there's no way Gon will win), but rather Komugi. You know, the wounded woman/girl whose survival hinges on Pitou repairing her surgically. That means Pitou may not be able to save Komugi's life after all, meaning the whole effort will have been in vain and Gon will have waited for absolutely no purpose. That's both cold and dumb, Gon. The fight between the C.A. King and Netero doesn't look like it's going the way Netro would've wanted. If he's going to rely on heart, then I don't expect a good outcome for him, since he isn't the protagonist. I'm a bit curious as to what Kurapika and Leorio are doing during all of this, but I don't expect we'll see them again in the show. Shippuden - Lots of recycled animation no jutsu in this one, but Shikamaru was able to figure out the traps in the bay, because he bothers to think things through. No, Hinata. I'm willing to give you and Neji credit for you improving your skills. Naruto may have inspired you to get stronger, but you had to put in that work, and your cousin worked with you as well. Congratulations on being placed in charge of the deployed Hyuga units, Neji. Drunk Tsunade was fun to watch, but I feel like it'd be a little terrifying to be around her on a night out like that. Poor Shizune. PTE - What's not to hate about giant rodents? I mean, if you hunt or raise them for food, that's okay, but otherwise, ew, giant rats. I like the Devil Volcano girls' look. I'm not sure how the flower/flour joke would work in Japanese. Maybe it was completely rewritten for the dub, like with the majority of Shin-chan. Popuko's rage being powerful enough to resurrect her is only slightly more amazing than her funeral portrait. Lupin - There's so much wrong with Jigen and Lupin's bet. For one, they're horrible slobs to let garbage pile up in their living space like that. For two, it would be far more difficult to break into a bank than to pick up the garbage in a room. For three, Lupin could probably forge Jigen's drawing on another 100 Euro note, unless Jigen memorized the serial number. For four, there's no guarantee that the note would even be in a vault. It could still be in a teller's drawer, or it could've been given to another customer who cashed a check, meaning it would be in someone's pocket or purse and not in a bank at all. Thus, Lupin winning the bet is malarkey. Talk about plot armor. I feel like even in Italy it would be illegal for the police to open fire on Lupin and Rebecca with automatic weapons when all they could see is that Rebecca had a weapon on her person, but her hands were nowhere near it. It would especially be a problem to do so as they fled when no violence had been used or threatened against them. However, it would also likely be illegal for Rebecca to own an automatic rifle of her own. Speaking of illegal weapons... ARRRR-PEEEE-GEEEEE!! Awwz yeahz, Robson. It's tough to tell the difference between Goemon being asleep and simply sitting there waiting for something to happen which is worthy of his attention. Even if it were a forced dream, I have no idea why Jigen wouldn't dream that he had his trusty revolver on his person. Having now seen the episode before the two-part finale, I feel like that was a set-up to Rebecca being the only one of the principal cast not to best Leonardo, since she required Robson's intervention and Lupin's assistance to escape with her identity undiscovered by the police. Just remember that were this induced sleep to happen all over the country, there would likely be hundreds, if not thousands, of automobile crashes, with a fair portion of them being fatal, and quite possibly, depending upon how far into the air the induction transmission went upward, more than a few airline crashes. It wouldn't surprise me if Leonardo's stunt here killed thousands of people, and since that would be a foreseeable outcome of his deliberate action, he would be the single greatest mass-murderer ever, because he personally enacted his plan unassisted. Rebecca may be no Fujiko, but she's still a darn pretty woman and a good personality match for Lupin.

Spoiler because what I've written is not something everyone would want to read/think about: Congratulations.

JoJo: Diamond - 1: Hair betch is crazy, yos. I sure hope Koichi knows the top piece of relationship advice any male could ever know - you do not put your dick in crazy. Regarding her Stand, I'm not sure how she could extend or regrow her hair as quickly as we saw. It's a physical part of her body. I can buy it moving at her will through the energy of her Stand, but growing more at high speed is a cellular process that would need to be accelerated dozens, if not hundreds, of times. As to trying to burn green uniform girl's hair, for the hair to catch fire like that would require one or both of the girls to use excessive amounts of flammable product. My hair is oily, and I've burned trimmings of it before, and it did nothing like what we saw in the episode. Hair can burn, but to produce the huge flames we saw there would take the presence of something more than only hair. 2: Reverb's metamorphosis looked like it was influenced by Cell's development. The lasting sound effects are a neat power-up, though. Koichi is a good kid who deserves a nice girl who won't try to murder him. He also deserves a better haircut than Jean had. Yes, I understand Koichi did it to sever the chick's implanted hairs, but I'm not a fan of the new look. Cape Boing sounds a little suggestive. 3: The effects of Tonio's cooking, with its Stand-powered tomatoes, were astonishing (re-growing teeth in seconds whaaat??) , but not as amazing as Okayasu hamming it up. I'm not sure, but I think what Tonio did when looking at Okayasu's hands would be classified as palmistry. Tonio had a point. He must maintain a clean kitchen for the health of his customers. How exactly that would happen with the blood and entrails spewing from the dog and Okayasu in that side room and the kitchen, respectively, is beyond me. Sucks for Josuke that he got roped into cleaning that mess for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was refreshing to see a Stand user who used his power for the benefit of others without having to be set right by a Joestar first or being an associate of a Joestar. 4: I will agree that the juice in a 12V motorcycle battery wouldn't sustain Chili Pepper's offensive capabilities for very long, but the buried power lines were too convenient for the enemy. Chili Pepper was right that Jotaro would, if he knew where his user's body was, would just attack his less capable physical form. I'm not so sure about how S.D. recovered Okayasu. Yes, the rest of his body was there when his arm was severed, but what, other than that timeline fact, would prevent his arm, the smaller portion of his anatomy, from going into the power line to reconnect to wherever his body was? This seemed a little too convenient for our heroes here. Ms. Higashikata has great parenting skills for use on her teenage son. 5: Chili Pepper's user looked older than 19 to me, but eh. The guitar strikes me as too inconvenient to carry all the time, and I call shenanigans on him fixing his broken finger through the grip strength of it alone. Josuke should've taken a page from Jotaro's playbook and attacked the user directly even after the broken finger didn't stop him. The problem I saw with encasing Chili Pepper in the tire was that the wheel itself, which Chili Pepper could touch, was a metal. It would've been easy enough for Chili Pepper to arc out of the tire that way. The voices for Chili Pepper and its user were close enough, which has been seen before in the show with Jotaro and S.P., that Okayasu should've been able to determine who was the user between the user and the actual Speedwagon Foundation employee. We've been shown that Okayasu is on the dumb side, but he really should've noticed it. Wait. What was with the drop of blood after Joseph removed his mechanical hand? Joseph's dying of something, isn't he? Given that it would've taken around 6 decades in the show for it to take effect, I'm not willing to attribute this to Ang's curse, and especially not since the curse already claimed someone else (Avdol) from the show who was her next boyfriend after young Joseph. 6. In other words, the invisible baby owes her life to Joseph's worsening senility, because without him getting on the wrong bus, she likely wouldn't have been found, and being at a roadside like that, she very easily could've crawled in front of oncoming traffic and been killed because the driver couldn't see her. Sure, it's possible that a driver would swerve to miss what would look like a pothole in the road, but just because the tires would miss her doesn't mean she wouldn't have been fatally struck by some other part of the car. Thus, Joseph probably saved her life twice, once by sheer happenstance and once by intentional action to help rescue her from an imminently deadly situation in the water. In the interest of worsening the situation for Josuke, I'm willing to round the bill up to 137,000 yen for use in this calculation, since I know it was notably over 136,000, but I don't remember the last three digits and I had already deleted the episode when I wrote this. Joseph said something about an 80 yen to the dollar exchange rate, so in 1999 dollars, that would've been $1,712.50. In today's dollars, that means it could've been over $2,000 (no, I don't know the official inflation over those 19 years, and I don't feel like searching for it, but simple increases in prices of things makes me believe we could've had 17% inflation over that time as judged by real purchasing power of daily things which are deemed "too volatile" to include in the official calculations [i.e. the kind of things that people buy the most with their truly discretionary spending], so I'll stick with my guesstimate, and if I'm lower than the actual amount, so be it, because then the reality for Josuke would be even worse than my make-it-look-bad-for-Joseph scenario). 7. I know that I'm posting this on a fan-operated forum for subbed versions of Japanese cartoons, but regarding Koichi and the other short dude, my initial reaction to their fanboying was "nerrrrrrrrds!!" Yeah, cutting open a spider and licking its blood was creepy and very gross. As for Rohan's initially stated inspiration process, I'll grant that plausible, which is a term that must be used loosely in regard to the JoJo-verse, situations and events would make for more compelling horror stories because of the relative realism. Still, when he ripped pages out of Koichi, I feel like that's the kind of thing which would create conspicuous gaps in Koichi's memory, since the events detailed on those pages would've been removed from him. It could even change his personality, since something on a page could've been very pertinent to forming his character, the kind of person he is. I didn't expect the removed pages to manifest an actual reduction of his mass. While Koichi is very short (the doorknob was only a little below eye-level for him), if he dropped 20 kg, (44 lbs), when his starting weight would've been about 39.5 kg (almost 87 lbs), then that's a drastic enough change in his weight to be life-threatening, since his bones and vital organs would be more than half of his total weight. He may not actually have had enough strength to move, let alone carry his school bag. Now, it's possible that the loss of mass was proportionally distributed across all his body's structures and systems, but decreasing the mass of his bones by just over half would leave them dangerously brittle, since their size would remain the same, so they'd necessarily have just under half the density. That could compromise their integrity to the point that simply walking could cause something to break, which would cause him to fall onto even more of these brittle bones, creating even more breaks. Then there's his heart, which would be supplying only around half the cells, but it would be doing it with less than half the muscle mass to push less than half the volume through nearly the same length of blood vessels. That means to keep the pressure in the vessels high enough to be able to get the veinous blood back to his heart, since that is largely a fight against gravity, which would not change, his lesser cardiac muscle mass would need to push harder and more frequently, meaning that while his systolic pressure would drop dangerously due to the suddenly decreased volume, his pulse rate would skyrocket. Yes, he'd rapidly replace blood volume once he started drinking liquids, but he'd be exhausted and on the verge of a heart attack for several days while he did replenish the lost fluid volume of his blood. The point is, this memory theft was not only a heinous assault on the sanctity of Koichi's mind, but it had grievous physical consequences as well. The slightest accident or a notable agitation could injure him severely, or even kill him. It's not quite truly analogous, but Rohan effectively raped Koichi here, but with the ultimate ruffie. The poor boy can't even remember he was accosted, and it looks like he was brainwashed into returning for more assault sessions. If Koichi can ever remember the scope of what happened to him, I'd be fine with him getting some natural justice on Rohan. While it's quite probable that Josuke will be involved in giving Rohan his comeuppance, I would find it more satisfying if Koichi, while trying in the next episode to attack Rohan, takes hold of the margin area where the word "cannot" is in Rohan's insurance policy phrase and tears it out, freeing Koichi to bombard Rohan with Reverb's powers. Oh, and Koichi's sister is pretty. 8. That is some malarkey, show. Koichi speaking against Rohan is not attacking him. I reject the premise that harsh or critical speech is violence, so no. Just no. It's too convenient for Rohan. Koichi was lucky he didn't break a lot of bones falling down the stairs. Thankfully for Koichi, Josuke and Okayasu found something suspicious about what was happening in Rohan's house and investigated. Unfortunately for Okayasu, he didn't use The Hand's power to obliterate that manga page Rohan held up toward him. Even more unfortunate for Okayasu was how quickly Rohan used a pen to put an insurance policy on his arm. While it wasn't Koichi getting his own vengeance for what Rohan did to him, Josuke's rampage while in a literal blind rage was thoroughly entertaining. The flashback to the why of Josuke's sensitivity over his hair gave us some information, like learning that lil' Josuke did come down with the Stand sickness, but it raised an even more curious mystery. I will admit that the pins on the collar of the young man who came to the Higashikatas' assistance don't match the ones Josuke currently wears, but I believe that actually was the (near?) future Josuke intervening in his past through some kind of time-travel shenanigans. We could hear lil' Josuke's labored breathing, and we could hear Ms. Higashikata's spoken words. Evidently she could hear the words of this helpful youth, since she did as he "said," but his words weren't spoken dialogue for us; they were text on the screen. There would be nothing unusual about this in the manga, but in the anime, there would need to be a reason to hide his voice from us. The obvious answer for why that would be is because we would recognize the voice were we to hear it, and I think that's because it would be Josuke's voice. I have no idea how or why Josuke goes/is sent into the past to help his younger self, especially when we know that medical science could do nothing to combat the Stand sickness, so he wasn't truly helping himself, but he did help alleviate his younger mom's distress over being stuck in the snow. Well, I guess that means he did help himself by helping lil' Josuke and his mom not be stranded on that road in winter, potentially for days, which could easily be a life-threatening situation. 9. What the crap? Why would the dude use the Stand Arrow on rats, other than to see if he could hit such a small target? Also, no. The Stand Arrow is, to a rat, an enormous projectile that would create a massive gaping wound. Sure, rodents have high metabolic rates, meaning they heal more quickly than a human would, but they also have a comparatively tiny blood volume in their bodies. Guess what other rate is high in rodents? The pulse rate. That means their hearts would blast the small amount of blood they have out these catastrophic wounds at a rapid rate, and thus the rats wouldn't survive the injuries to gain Stands, let alone two separate rats gaining Stands that are almost, if not exactly the same in their general form and powers. Thus, no, show. I reject the premise of these enemy Stand users being able to exist at all. It's not that animals can't have Stands. We and Jotaro know they can, because we've all seen it during Stardust Crusaders with Iggy, Pet Shop, and the rape orangutan. What I reject is that this species could survive the trauma caused by the process depicted to awaken a Stand. I also have serious doubts that the rats would be able to use their Stands, since gaining a site picture, aiming and pressing a button to fire the flesh-melting projectile are all things the rats would need to learn or be taught to do, because none of those things come naturally to a rat, and plotting a ricochet hit is especially beyond their concept of what to do. The Stands would've needed to impart at least primate-level, if not human-level intellect to the rats, and I have trouble believing that. As for the rats and their powers, all I can say ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ewwww! That was skin-crawling gross there. Good work learning to fire projectiles, including rifle rounds, so quickly, Josuke. While we didn't see it happen, I'm going to presume he also made good on his idea to use C.D. to restore that unfortunate old couple. Yes, Jotaro knew Josuke could repair the damage, but it still took courage and determination to put himself in a position where he could be hit and endure that painful melting process.

MB - Just the first episode for now. I'll admit that I've never watched the Hugh Jackman movie Real Steel, but what I can recall of the premise there seems remarkably similar to what we have here, only they add the peril Lee Marvin's character chose in the episode Steel from The Twilight Zone of putting the human in the ring to get demolished instead of having robots duke it out. I like Jnk's confidence and scrappiness, but he seems to have a huge chip on his shoulder. I'm not saying that attitude isn't justified by his life experiences, but I feel like it'll bite him several times in the show. As for the sport itself, yeah, it strikes me as taking boxing and making it even more dangerous. Looking at Jnk's rig, I think that it would have both pneumatic and hydraulic pistons. The pneumatic would be for quick motions, and the hydraulic would be engaged for blocking. There are obviously trans-dermal sensors which quickly process the motions of the boxers into commands for the pistons to accentuate the power of the motions (unless there's a part of the rig in the back that actually taps into the spinal cord itself and processes part of that electrical input). Still, there's no armor to protect the boxers other than on their arms. It's a sport that prominently features attacks to the face and head, and there's no armor for the head when, as judged by the sparks, the gloves are now sheathed in metal to protect the boxers' fists from hitting the armor on the arms. Any punch is like getting hit with brass knuckles or a fist with a bunch of rings on it. That's plain savage. I can see why Jnk thinks of it as nothing more than a brawl, and especially when he's forced to keep taking dives. You'd have people with Rocky's cranial and neurological damage in the first two years of their careers, if not sooner. Okay, I'm willing to grant that Jnk may not have seen the sign about the construction ahead because of the rain, and thus he'd have no reason to suspect there'd be a person. let alone two, standing in the middle of the highway. In that case, I can understand him blaming the woman for his crash (though I guess he actually should thank her for causing him to stop before he crashed into a barricade). However, he really should've seen a person in white sooner than that. Also, what kind of crappy signage protocols do they have in Japan that one warning of the road being closed is deemed enough? On interstates here, which are multi-lane, divided highways, like we saw in the episode, we usually get 1 mile, half-mile, 1000 feet and 500 feet warnings to construction-related lane closures, and this was the whole highway! Where were the signs saying all non-construction traffic must exit? That's a failure of protocol to me. Anyway, I can understand him rejecting her offer of "charity," which see probably saw as an effort to avoid bad publicity and civil litigation. I can get his attitude rubbing Yuri the wrong way to the point he'd pay off some local fighter to get his spot in this match, but I doubt his boss would like him taking out the cutting-edge model in public before the tournament begins. I like the repair guy. He strikes me as a more affable version of Doohan. I smiled when he said he felt sorry for the bike. I caught that wrinkle about the tournament; all citizens may enter. Citizens of where, exactly? If it's a global tournament, then I would presume that we're dealing with a one-world government. In that case, how can there be people who aren't citizens? If we are dealing with a world of many nations, then we may be looking at a future where several nations have a mass-refugee crisis with millions of non-citizen resident aliens. I would like to know more about why some people aren't citizens, show. Who issues original identification documents, and why do some people, like Jnk, not have them? Speculation about Jnk's past: He was born with citizenship documentation, but a down-and-out parent sold it when he was a small child to provide for him. Now all he has is his ring name, Jnk Dog, but I suspect that Jnk is either a vowel-less shortening of his name or his initials. We'll see if that bears out, or whether we learn anything on that front at all. BC - While it was nice to see Vanessa actually do things relevant to the plot, and I'll admit her outfit is fanservice-y, it was also good to see her return to her more typical underwear attire. I very much enjoyed Yami's way of telling Asta not to overthink things regarding a dead opponent's mindset and motivations, because Asta is a (loud) idiot. So, they got the magic stone and a good send-off from grateful citizens. I feel like magic healing for a crushed larynx would take less time than regenerating a leg severed below the knee, which that guy should consider himself very lucky that it didn't make him bleed out. HxH - Ikalgo was reckless with his life, but it scared Welfin into somehow undoing his implanted parasites. Welfin's power strikes me as incredibly misleading - it looks like an explosive attack, but the missiles are just the delivery system for the parasites. I'll acknowledge the creativity it took to concoct that power. The humans on which the King and Welfin were based were brothers. Fine. It's a strange way to think of it, but the King's base dude came out on the winning end there. Plus, I'll disagree with Ang on what we presume to be Palm's C.A. form, because going-on-a-date!Palm was mighty pretty. PTE - I'd never heard that 100 hiccup superstition before seeing this episode the first time. Though Bob Epic Pipimi and Popuko may have been wrong, wearing mirrored shades does make the wearer suspect. I still don't understand how A.I.!Pipimi could absorb ghost!Pipimi. What part of "stop" didn't chef Pipimi understand? Maybe she was thinking of Murata and/or Yano again. Lupin - I still haven't watched the last three episodes, but I think I will before I post about the second MB episode.

I'm disappointed that the block is losing the two prime time hours, but shifting the end to an hour later means we're only losing the reruns of DBZK and Jack, the latter of which has been plunked into the 8:30 P.M. Eastern weekday (at least) slot, so that will be available for those that want to continue watching it. I might watch some select episodes of MSG: IBO 2, which I know was already airing before the lineup changes, but I haven't decided whether I'll comment on any of those. I watched several of these a day or two after they aired, and thus can't remember what happened very well. Also, I watched my backlog of JoJo episodes. There were nine of them, so to keep the comments from blurring into each other, I numbered them from 1 to 9. They're also going to be their own post. Poke: MHA spoiler - MHA - It was good to see Iida realize the error in his way of thinking. Surely there will be other times in his professional career when he must put his feelings aside and act with professional detachment. He may have failed that part of this field test of his heroic mettle, but he has time to learn and grow, because he didn't die today. I knew the panel of Iida and Izuku simultaneously hitting Stain would be a sight to behold in the anime, and it didn't disappoint. The thing to remember, though, is that while Izuku's Smash was enough to knock out Stain so he could be restrained, it was the internal injuries from Iida's kick which truly took Stain out of the fight. Wow, Stain was tenacious, and he was brutal against the Nomu that grabbed Izuku. I feel like the anime played up everyone being intimidated by Stain's ferocity a bit, but it helped make for a gripping scene. I think the grotesque nature of Stain's facial scarring was toned down for the anime. Spoiler: I feel like Iida's multiple blade wounds might be beyond Recovery Girl's capabilities alone. Then there are also the facts that 1. he's far from the campus (presumably, since he's in another city), and 2. he still would've suffered notable blood loss. He should be a while getting back into action after this. Endeavor may be a garbage person, but I can't deny his skills with his Quirk. I think him melting footholds into the concrete side of a building so he could run on it was anime-only, but it sure was impressive. Shippuden - In Naruto's clone dream, I can believe that certain aspects of his personality would manifest in each clone, but that got outright slasher at the end. It's a strange way to depict an existential crisis. Boruto - I don't remember what happened pretty much at all. I think there was something about a person in a mask controlling the Ghost, and Mitsuki allowed her or him to escape, but that's it. Oh, wait. The boss at the post office was possessed and trashed the place before the Ghost was exorcised from him. I actually did record and watch two episodes of the Boruto marathon, and they were both for the same reasons: 1. it was fun to see Hiashi as a doting grandfather, and 2. Hinabi is a pretty lady. Maybe she's not as beautiful as her sister, but she's still easy on the eyes. (There's a Hyuga joke in there somewhere, but I feel like it would be trying too hard to make it.) Speaking of eyes, it occurred to me in the rewatch that Sarada wears eyeglasses. You know, the same Sarada who is the only example (of which we know) of the Uchiha bloodline in the next generation. Yes, the same Uchihas which are/were famous/feared for their powerful visual justu and prowess. That heir wears eyeglasses. Sure, it could be a fake out like Eri Ninamori, but I don't think Kishimoto would put that much effort or thought into trolling the audience/readers. DBS - The planet which descended into anarchy is precisely why "reputable" sources and news outlets would not disclose an approaching globally-catastrophic impactor's existence or that of an approaching hostile alien invasion force. The breakdown of social order would make preparations for the cataclysm's occurrence or aftermath much more difficult. Buu fell asleep, and presumably chocolate isn't waking him like when Mr. Satan needed to rouse him for the exhibition match. My channel guide indicated that we would have new episodes of everything last weekend, but when I checked the first episode recording in-progress (supposedly for MHA), it was the Super episode where Goku recruited Gohan for the team, so I cancelled all the other recordings. I will say that it would take parents of tremendous capabilities, like Gohan and Videl, to care for a baby that could fly at-will. Hm, it just occurred to me that they'll need to encourage her not to fly so she can develop proper core strength and other motor skills through crawling and eventually walking. MP 100 - Looking a the cast page on MAL, it struck me as strange that Max Mittelman (Saitama) voices Ritsu instead of Mob. Yes, they're different shows, so there's no reason he'd voice the protagonist here as well, but it's still odd to me. I thought it was interesting that Dimple can enter Ritsu, but can't control his body due to Ritsu's level of power. However, Ritsu is going down a dangerous path to be even worse than Teruki was. I'll admit that Teruki tried to convince Ritsu to rethink what he was doing through words and a display of power, but it seemed to backfire. At least the council president was convinced of the error of his ways, but I feel bad for Mob and Ritsu (mostly Mob, though) that Mob is going to have to convince his younger brother that what he's doing with his powers is wrong. Reigen sure played those con artists well with his counter-cons, but I'd find it funny if he actually did manage to lift a possessing spirit from the client and transfer it to these jerks. I feel like ONE picked the names for these schools from either a takeout menu or a cookbook recipe page. Plus, the gang leader from Miso was tall. We're talking All Might tall, or maybe taller.

This is for the last month or so, and I barely remember things that I didn't write out weeks ago, so some episode coverage will be briefer than others. MHA - I'm reading the volumes of the MHA manga, and I'm notably past the episodes right now. If Poke doesn't already know about a certain scene coming in the next couple months, he'll love it when it happens and will know exactly which one I mean when it does. The enthusiasm with which Midnight approved most of the names was fun, but I must disagree with her rejecting Mina's original "Alien Queen" selection. It would be a perfect acknowledgement of Mina's not-quite-human appearance and hint at the acidic nature of her slime, even if it's not nearly as strong as the blood of the Aliens. Midnight without her mask looks a little less sexy, but prettier, if that makes any sense. Also, the end-of-chapter character sketch and mini-bio for her says she's 31 years old, meaning she's fully what I'd consider an age-appropriate female on top of being smoking hot. While I'm relieved that Ingenium survived, it's terrible that he seems to have spinal cord damage and associated paralysis. I can understand if Iida wants to take up the mantle of his brother with his brother's hero name to keep his agency going and uphold his brother's professional reputation. However, I do hope that he can resist the urge to seek revenge over pursuing justice. I think that if Bakugo would simply drop the word "murder" from his name selections, they would be okay. I feel like Gran Torino would have not only been All Might's mentor, but also his predecessor in the line of One for All users. He might also have the same blood-coughing/vomiting problem. Okay, I was way off about Gran Torino above, but he was a friend to All Might's predecessor. I'm not sure exactly how much of his senile routine is a ploy and how much is genuine. The part about the frozen pasties in the microwave gave Izuku the perfect image of what he'd been doing wrong and how to use One for All in a way which wouldn't wreck him. However, I was taught to heat frozen pastries in a toaster, not the microwave, so had he been taught the same way, he may never have figured it out for himself. There's something so very, very wrong about Bakugo having combed hair, but setting his hair right with a small explosion was perfect. Well, crap. We couldn't be so lucky as to have Stain kill Handy. As for Stain's driving motivation, there is a certain idealism in it, but he took it to a fanatical and illegal place. I can respect his ideological and intellectual integrity, but I certainly condemn his actions. Double (or rather triple) crap, Handy's superior has more Nomu abominations and let Handy use them. It's a shame Izuku wasn't able to tell Gran Torino some useful insights from the USJ incident before Gran Torino took the fight outside. At least these weren't as powerful as the one All Might fought. Oh, no, Iida. You did the thing I hoped you wouldn't do, and it did serve to mark your immaturity. However, I can't condemn him, since he is the avenger of his brother's blood, seeking natural justice for the grievous injury Stain inflicted. It's that Iida's motivation, while just, isn't heroic. As Stain pointed out, Iida lost sight of the wounded hero in need of saving, focusing on vengeance instead. Izuku, however, was all about protecting a friend in danger and the other hero. Shoto was also focused on taking down Stain to protect the others from him. It was great to see Izuku and Shoto work together. I it's a good thing Shoto was able to make peace with his mom and his hang-ups over his flame powers. Stain's quirk is strange, but I do appreciate that the closer a blood type is to his own, the longer he can exercise paralyzing control over the person. It's an incredibly unsanitary power for him. He'd be almost certain to catch some kind of terrible disease at some point. Shippuden - The pirates who took over the island would be in good company with the malicious pirates in OP. Also, pirate captain guy looked like he didn't age between the invasion and the present day. Of course Naruto had to use some borrowed headband from a dead local man while seeking to reclaim his own from the pirate captain, because it would be too simple to draw Naruto's face without one. Yes, the discovery of the underground graveyard was serious and all, but the way Guy said "what the what?!?" made me laugh. I remember Lee with motion sickness being a dead-ringer for Drunken Fist taijutsu, and I remember Guy and Naruto must've been high a kites on those mushrooms. Plus, there's no way a mushroom would spread that far overnight. I don't remember what the other episode was about, though. Oh well. Boruto - Stalker dude looked a little like the Laughing Coffin spy in the Kights of the Blood Oath from SAO, but younger, and since that aired before this, then I'll absolutely accuse this show of ripping off a terrible thing from that show. As for his declaration being rejected, of course it was, because Sumire has a crush on Boruto. When his messages got ultra creepy afterward, I was relieved to learn it was because the shadow thing possessed him. Chou-Chou resolving things with talk no jutsu was unexpected, though. Sumire's creeped-out and/or frightened expression looked like something that would belong in a Satoshi Kon project, and I think of that as a compliment. Well done, show. Chou-Chou, I can respect that you keep eating the sweet bean chips, even though you don't like them, because you're not wasting food. You're making sure that you have a strong enough memory of them that you don't make that choice again, and that's what I try to do with foods I try and don't like as well. Good on you. Boruto had to beat up an actor, which was kind of dumb. I also thought that the reason Boruto could see the possessing shadow was due to his Byakugan, but if both and Hinabi and Hiashi, using their Byakugans, say that he hasn't unlocked that power, then I don't know what it is. Hinabi has grown into a pretty woman, but that's hardly surprising given Hinata being a looker. I don't get her wanting Boruto and Himawari to call her "big sis" instead of aunt or auntie. I have cousins where there's nearly 16 years between the oldest and youngest sibling. The youngest is still a h.s. senior, and she has four nieces and nephews already from her two oldest siblings. The ones who can talk call her aunt, and she seems fine with it. I didn't expect Hiashi to be a doting grandfather, but he was, and it was wonderful. Ninjas delivering mail seems like filler material to me. Boruto? Just because you encountered the shadow first doesn't mean you can't bring in adults who have more experience and access to more information to help solve this. DBS - Of course 17 and Goku defeated the alien poachers with relative ease. The bomb threat was dumb, and of course it didn't work for the alien captain. 17 agreeing to join the Universe 7 team out of gratitude rather than greed says good things about his character. Gohan and Piccolo training was cool, and Piccolo was right that Gohan needed to keep his guard up until his opponent was truly out of the fight. The cute girl said she was mad about Tien leaving the Crane school, but I think she was also a little mad about him leaving her. Mr. Satan is going to be on the hook for a lot of prize money to make good on Goku's promises, provided Universe 7 isn't erased for losing. Goku being slightly incredulous that the best opponent he could hope to find was his own son seemed to me like a nod to the original intended ending to the Dragonball manga. It was supposed to stop after Gohan surpassed his father by defeating Cell, the enemy Goku couldn't best. The manga was too popular, though, and Toriyama was pressured to keep the story going, which gave us teenage Gohan, Buu, Gotenks and Videl, which I guess isn't all bad. Gohan deserved to find a good woman, and he did in Videl. MP 100 - The smile cult was weird and I'm glad Mob was able to trace it to the leader guy being possessed. Mob's explosion was strange, not because his psychic power didn't rampage like I thought it might, but rather that his personality seemed to shift drastically. Explosion!Mob seemed much more savvy and tolerated no shenanigans. It was remarkably cool of the Body Improvement Club to let the disbanded Psychic Club still gather in the club room, so long as the B.I.C. isn't using the exercise equipment in the room at that exact time. Darn middle school delinquent toughs, making problems for everyone. While no one got more than some minor injuries, had Mob not regained consciousness and control, the consequences would've been far worse. Mob is a good guy, refusing to use his power to harm someone else, even when his own safety was on the line. I don't think I would be that disciplined in that situation. The other spirit in him, however, was more than willing to destroy with Mob's power. This story element holds promise. Ritsu knows there's something unusual about Mob beyond the psychic powers, but he's also jealous of Mob's powers. The mangled spoon would indicate that he might have some power of his own, but he clearly lacks control. That he could see Dimple indicates to me that Ritsu's power is set to grow rapidly. Oh, no, Ritsu. Don't go along with planting evidence against a delinquent. It's a matter of integrity. Thinking about Mob's power and behavior, it seems to me like there's a spirit living in him that takes control of his power. It's like the inverse of Saitama, whose power has no logical source, but one of the H.A. guys said it was almost like a god was living in his body. AoT 3: Third time's a charm - Sasha's food lust during the feast was hilarious. It's like her mind really does turn off. The reasons no one intervened to stop Eren and Jean from beating each other were 1. they knew those two needed to get this out of their systems, 2. so many people thought the both of them deserved it, and 3. everyone knew that if things got really out of hand, Mikasa would step in to keep Eren alive. This fight and the posturing leading up to it are also good examples of why you don't let teenagers drink like that. They were right. It's doubtful that the Scouts have had such a send-off since Armin, Eren and Mikasa were kids. Tangentially related: when I was out of state last month, one of the other spectators at the event I attended was wearing a shirt with the Survey Corps emblem on the back. I resisted the urge to call out to that person and ask if they were fine with being titan-fodder. I don't remember whether there was another new episode after this or not. JoJo: Diamond - Still haven't watched these. There's about two months worth of them on the dvr. BC - I remember that Noelle overcame her aiming trouble and hit Vetto with a powerful attack, but then he upped his power level by opening his third eye chakra and regenerated his lost arm. She put too much mana into the attack and was defenseless, but then Asta stepped in after taking advantage of the breather she gave him. I guess he's too determined/dumb to know when to stop fighting, but maybe we'll get lucky and be rid of Vetto after this and Asta'll have some new sweet battle scars. I call b.s. on one thing regarding Vetto. Between the start of the last episode and the end of the one before it, the wound channel of Asta's sword through Vetto's torso changed from across his torso from side to side to being through it from front to back. The former wound would likely hit both kidneys and damage his spinal cord, meaning he'd collapse and bleed out in less than a minute, since those wounds wouldn't heal with magic. Asta should've had motion sickness to put Guy to shame, but it was good teamwork between Finral and Vanessa. The others ran good interference as well. It was dumb of all of them not to restrain the collapsed Vetto while they had he chance. So, Finral has a terrible family, like Noelle, and Vanessa was a captive in her early years. Again, Asta should have some sweet new battle scars after this. Oh, and thanks for finally busting out, Yami. HxH - Killua did well with his lightning attacks, but he used too much nen too quickly and wisely chose to retreat from Youpi. Ikalgo did okay with his plans to isolate and incapacitate Bloster, but I was a little disappointed that Ikalgo couldn't bring himself to shoot Bloster when the shot was easy. I don't know what's going on with Pouf, but Morel had better have this. This fight against the Royal Guard and the C.A. King seems to be crawling at a snail's pace with very little actually happening in any given episode. When Pouf explained how his division works and claimed to be invincible, my thought was that all it would take to kill him would be one nen user that manipulates flames. Pouf would drastically increase his surface area, which would make him so much easier to burn. Think of the Mythbusters' coffee creamer air cannon. It would be like that, but with hundreds or thousands of tiny voices screaming in pain. Youpi's centaur form was scary, and I feel like Knuckle letting him go by releasing A.P.R. was a mistake. Netero's giant nen creation seemed horribly inefficient to me. PTE - I'm not sure whose anger issues are greater between Bakugo and Popuko, but Popuko's are funnier. I think that Daichi's parents were totally trying to set up their son with Susogu by leaving them alone for a weekend. Whether they knew of her celebrity status or not would provide shading to their motivations, though. I still couldn't see the Popuko and Pipimi under the bench in the recording studio, even though I knew exactly where to look. I would admit defeat to the army of Pop-chins. Android!Popuko would ace the doping test, since it would have no blood. Lupin - Solely for lack of acting training, Robson wouldn't do as good a job in the movie version of the hostage crisis on the train as an actor would. The car Lupin drove, wreck aside, would need a new suspension system after driving over so many rail ties and such rough terrain for so long. Driving across rails would also likely throw it out of alignment, meaning it would be even more difficult to steer during the chase. I still haven't watched the last three episodes. I actually never watched the next episode in the order during the first run of the show, so that will be new to me.

Poke wrote: Bakugo don't discriminate, because he hates everyone equally. - Therein lies true equality. Wait, do butterfly wings actually have scales? - Yes, they do. What's the deal with him calling her "princess" anyways? ... Okay, so it's a condescending title. - Actually, it's partly condescending, partly because of who her grandfather was. I'm sure you know who I mean. Huh, so that's what "you snooze, you lose" means. - Other variations on the same principle are, "victory goes to the swift," "he who hesitates is lost," and, more directly associated with this scene, "first come, first served." Ang wrote: The entire stadium is booing Bakugo and I love it. - I think 90+% of the viewership and readership did as well. Given how big the block is now and how much airs before I usually wake up, I think the days of me being able to post in the same day are gone. The best I can hope for anymore is to get it done before the next week's shows air, which didn't happen, so here's a twofer. Also, I'll be going out of state at least for today, maybe tomorrow as well, so I doubt I'll watch any of this week's shows live. Also, Ang, if I heard it correctly, it's been three minutes since the start of Zeno's Dragon Dive. That doesn't seem to jive with how much time Gon spent yelling and growling at Pitou last episode, but eh. MHA - Yessss, Shouto wasn't thinking about his dad at all during the end of his match against Izuku. That was a great burn, bad pun fully intended. Iida made quick work of Shiozaki, as did Fumikage with Mina, each pushing their opponent out of the ring with relatively little show. Bakugo, on the other hand, was faced with someone who could, at least for a while, withstand his power in Kirishima, but Bakugo took advantage of the nature of his Quirk being centered on a physical substance, his sweat, while Kirishima's power is more like using muscles. Eventually Kirishima would exhaust himself, but as long as Bakugo didn't dehydrate to the point he could no longer sweat, he'd win, because Kirishima was, through constant exertion, doing anaerobic exercise, while aerobic exertion was enough for Bakugo, as long as it was enough to make him sweat. So, as long as Bakugo is in better physical shape than his opponent, he'll have an edge against anyone with a close-quarters combat Quirk. That'll be important for Bakugo to remember in his ongoing training. In the next round, Shouto did well to spot his opportunity for a counterattack against Iida. Bakugo was lucky that his explosions generating light worked directly against Fumikage's Dark Shadow, and Bakugo showed how clever he can be by figuring out Fumikage's weakness during the fight. I can't say I blame Recovery Girl here. She's far older than Izuku, and eventually she will die from old age. He must figure out a way to use One for All without wrecking himself, because eventually she won't be around to help him heal afterward. As she said, she had to operate on him to save his joints before she could heal his pulverized bones, and even then she couldn't heal all of his injuries because of how much it would drain him. Wait, what? All Might was also Quirkless? Now he's even more of a role model for Izuku, because, fanboying possibly aside, he was Izuku. Oh no. That's terrible news for the Iida family. While Ingenium was facing someone known to be a hero-killer, I'm going to hold out hope he was found alive and got medical treatment soon enough to keep him from dying by the end of the episode. Until we're told plainly that he's dead, I'll presume he survived. Stain must have great skill to land a serious strike on someone as fast as Ingenium. It's a bad thing that he appears to be ideologically motivated, because it's highly unlikely that anyone would be able to talk him into surrendering. It's even worse that the League of Villains is reaching out to recruit him. I knew Bakugo was tenacious, but I didn't expect him to be able to blast his way out of the ice enclosure. He is in there with the explosions in a confined space, so he should be badly injured from the pressure waves. Maybe the author didn't think about that. Still, Bakugo won, but only because Shouto chose not to use his fire powers. It was funny to see Bakugo restrained for the presentation ceremony, but it's entirely fitting with his sense of pride that he didn't consider himself the winner. Good, Ingenium survived. He's in rough shape, but he's alive. Shouto going to see his mother may be what he needs for psychological healing, but it could go horribly wrong if her underlying anxiety over her children hasn't been resolved. Plus, yes, this looks more like she's been involuntarily committed to a mental health wing of a hospital or a mental institution than being hospitalized for injuries. We had a bit of an Easter Egg in the show. There was a billboard somewhere with Midnight on it. That picture is also on the back of volume three of the manga, which ends the USJ incident and starts the Sports Festival. The billboard would be advertising a perfume with her as the celebrity endorser/creator for/of the fragrance. Shippuden - I can't say I truly fault the ninja from the small village for wanting to be paid for thier work. It's just Konoha's bad luck that their team didn't get there first. Still, offering most of the crop as repayment for Naruto saving the dude's life, but with the unspoken caveat that Konoha would owe them a favor at some point, wasn't entirely on the up-and-up. The timing of the ghost ship episode worked out reasonably well, since Halloween was Wednesday. However, there were three hints I saw that the kid was a ghost. First, he started out with very subdued colors that gradually got richer. Second, he acted as though he couldn't hear Naruto at all at first, but started interacting with him once his color vibrancy returned. Third, that was way, way too many dishes to be washed to be from one kid that was alone on the ship for long enough that the sails became tattered like we saw, meaning they were left from when the whole crew was alive and died suddenly in that sea monster attack. Boruto - I do feel bad for Shino not getting any respect as an instructor, but it was way awkward seeing him try to be the gregarious host at the welcome party he organized for the transfer student, Mitsuki. Of course it went horribly wrong, because he didn't tell his students first not to touch any of the moving things. If feel like the dark presence possessing people is picking up on some kind of psychological weakness or distress, but if that were the case, then there are likely hundreds of people in Konoha it could inhabit. That would be a very drawn-out plot line. I want to know what it is and who, if anyone, is behind it, but I don't want to wait years for it, show. Mitsuki sure looks like he's either the current host of Orochimaru or a descendant, be it child or grandchild. The line he said about seeing if someone is his son makes me think that Orochimaru is actually inhabiting the body of his own child. Yes, the students were lucky that Shino wasn't in full control, because he could've been way more subtle with his insects and drained them to notable fatigue or nearly to the point of collapse before they knew it. Well, before Boruto knew it, anyway. Still, Shino was sharp enough to see through Boruto's Shadow clone tactic, because he'd seen so much of it from Naruto over the years. The only part that surprised him was the paper bomb. This show even called out BC on its shenanigans of a few weeks ago in that a Lightning style jutsu in water finished the fight. Kurenai is still a pretty lady, and the ED identified her as a Sarutobi, so either she and Asuma were secretly married, or she was accepted into the family as the mother of his child. While that name change is consistent with Boruto and HImawari being Uzumakis, I'm still not sure it's societally correct. While we didn't see all of the walls in Naurto's office, we did see some pictures of former Hokages on the wall. I think the three we saw were Hashirama, Minato, and Hiruzen. While pictures of the others may be around somewhere else, if it's only those three, then I can think of a reason for each. Hashirama was the first Hokage, so it's sensible to honor the man who invented the position. Minato was Naruto's dad, so honoring him makes sense, as does doing so for Hiruzen, who was like a surrogate grandfather to the orphaned Naruto in his youth (that might be a factor in how close Konohamaru and Naruto were when they were younger). Each, through legacy or direct influence, could serve as a source of inspiration for Naruto in what it means to be Hokage. DBS - The conference call of the Kais didn't accomplish much other than showing that they were willing to throw Shin under the bus because of the actions of one of his mortals. The discussion between Destroyers, however did at least get them to recognize, through Vados' input, that Goku proposing the Tournament of Power gave each of their universes the chance to fight for survival. Dispo looks like he could be a younger brother to Beerus and Champa, so that could be a problem in the fight. While it's tempting to accuse Goku of wasting time sparring with Buu when they still have a team to assemble, it did open his eyes to how he wasn't considering the rules of the tournament in his fighting strategy. Now go find 17 already. I'm sure Piccolo will help them fight, but I don't think one day of training will do much to return Gohan to fighting form. Wait, what? Dende can make the Lookout move? While that was unexpected, I do like the detail that Nyoibo retracted to the Lookout from the roof of Korin's Tower before moving. However, I feel like it would be like flying on Nimbus, in that Goku probably could've gotten where he wanted to go sooner flying by himself, but the timing of it did work out for Goku to arrive when the poachers were attacking. 17 inherited the Will of 16. Okay. I feel like Goku is similar, except that 1. Goku on his own would've stood there and stopped the critically endangered animal that charged at him with his hands and pushed it back while talking to it rather than fleeing as 17 told him to do, and 2. Goku would eventually get hungry enough to eat one of the animals in the preserve, so long as he determined it had a healthy breeding population, most likely some kind of fish. While actual poachers are frequently armed with military surplus weapons and/or high-powered rifles to sharpshoot their prey, I doubt that they have fleets of armored vehicles for each person in the expedition with rocket platforms. That wasn't a group of poachers; that was several platoons of military deserters who pillaged the armored vehicle pool when they left. Alien poachers. Really, show? I guess they need to ingratiate Goku to 17 somehow so the latter will change his mind about helping in the Tournament of Power. MP 100 - Mob is an okay kid. His boss is a sleazy fake, but he does have access to Mob's power, so it's not like he's defrauding his clients. I'd be surprised if Mob doesn't work out that his boss has been lying to him at some point. Mob choosing the new club over the one trying to recruit him was funny, but I feel like he'll be disappointed when the girl he likes doesn't take an interest in him after maybe improving his physique a little through participating in club activities. I'll admit I'm curious at to what Mob's explosion will mean. It probably won't be good for him or those around him. Explosions tend to be that way. AoT 3: Third time's a charm - Krista's coronation went over well. While it sure looked like she actually was the one to deliver the killing strikes to her dad, with all those chunks flying through the air, how could they be sure she'd be the one to find the one with his human body in it? They couldn't know. I feel like the narrative of her being the one to kill him was going to be the story regardless of who got him in order to support her claim to the throne. It just happened to work out that it was true. I was a little surprised that she did go through with hitting Levi, even though she looked hilarious working herself up for such a wimpy punch, and he took it in remarkably good spirits. The history of Kenny sure was a thing. I guess the Reiss brother who had the Founding Titan's powers sparing Kenny and offering him work did accomplish one good thing: Kenny kept his nephew Levi from starving to death as an orphan and trained him to fight, meaning Kenny is partly responsible for producing the greatest titan-killer humanity has. I want to know what Levi did with the titan starter kit Kenny chose not to use. Wow, Squatchy was able to beat Reiner. I'm guessing they're in Shinganshina, because the person in Squatchy, who looked a lot like Dr. Jeager with a beard, said that they would wait for Eren to come to them there. Memory lane time with Commandant Keith Shadis (I could've sworn his name was spelled with an "r" in it). He loved Carla, but she fell for the amnesiac Grisha, who Keith brought into Shiganshina from outside the Walls. He recognized that he wasn't cut out to lead the Scouts and asked Erwin to succeed him. He even tried, presumably out of sentimental concern, to save Eren's, Carla's son's, life by sabotaging his harness to wash him out of the cadet program. It seems that very little in Keith's life, personal or professional, worked out the way he wanted. I misunderstood when Grisha injected Eren with the serum that gave him his Shifter powers. I thought it was before the start of the show, but it was after the fall of Shiganshina. Eren is actually practicing with the power he'll need to close the breaches at Shiganshina. Good. Yeah, the dude in Squatchy, who was able to best Reiner's Armored titan in single combat, sure looks like Grisha with a beard. I wonder what the deal is there. Did he regain his memories? Did he defect to Bertolt and Reiner's group? Was he lying all along about losing his memories? What's the deal, show? JoJo: Diamond - Still haven't watched these. BC - I like that Luck and Magna are very determined and friends, and they did provide some fun action, but I don't expect them to beat Vetto. The most I expect is that they won't die. While separating Yami and the chief priest from the others using spatial magic was a good strategy, it's also lame, because it means we won't get to see Yami in action any time soon. At least they're able to communicate with the Bulls and the temple mages to tell them about the incursion, so they'll work together against the invading enemy. It's not surprising that Luck and Magna lost. Things could be going better for Asta and the temple mage, too. You know things are getting serious when Vanessa stops drinking to attend to an opponent. When I first saw the crab approach Charmy, I had forgotten that Gray transformed into a crab. I thought, "no, little crab! Run before she eats you!" When it went to Gauche, I remembered who it was. Teamwork between them was crucial to beating Gauche's opponent. As for Gray's real form being a cute lady (just cute, though. She's not to the level of hot), that's fine, but the OP animation telegraphed that reveal coming. HxH - Okay, I wasn't expecting Silva to drop out of the sky (hey, Ang. You asked for Killua's dad, and here he is. Between that and a lot of shirtless Knuckle, this must've been a good episode for you to wash the memory of the BC episode out of your mind) to kill Cheetu, but that blindside death was even funnier than Zeno killing him with one move would've been. Sooo, not much else happened other than Knuckle waffling on what he was going to do, but I can't blame Knuckle for wanting revenge for his and Shoot's wounded pride. The plan to make Youpi use another huge nen blast is risky, like Knuckle said, but if he can evade it, then that will make APR's job that much easier. Still, I think Knuckle should try to get Shoot to safety first. I would suggest using one of Knov's portals, as long as Knuckle can be sure that he's sending Shoot to an extradimensional waiting room where Knov is present to provide first aid. Knuckle was very lucky. He fell for Youpi's trap, but Killua was there to save Knuckle's life. Bloster didn't mess around. I wonder how he'll get back to the surface, if he does at all, since he has no elevator code to enter. Bizeff was paranoid about keeping his sex slaves secret and protecting himself from having his abuse of power discovered. OPM - It's still hilarious how Goryuganshu (sp?) talked big about his telekinetic powers acting like an enhancement of gravity to the extent of a black hole, and Saitama stood there completely unfazed. Good eye, Metal Bat. Boros v. Saitama is still gorgeous animation eyecandy. I side with the Class S heroes that Amai Mask was out of line in his criticism. Even if he had been outside, what could he have done to stop the volley of shells that obliterated City A? A little bit of jack and a whole lot of squat, that's what. Maybe he could've stopped one shell, but that's all that anyone other than Genos, Metal Knight, or Tatsumaki could hope to do. Since Genos and Tatsumaki were there, they could've helped, but that was a failure on the part of the H.A.'s threat-detection process that the ship wasn't spotted until after the attack. Lupin - As for the car wanting to turn Lupin around a lot, I once joked with my dad that he had his car trained to turn into Burger King parking lots. Even without being owned by a famous person, the car was still a vintage vehicle, so it would've had some value for collectors, even if not to the 5 million Euro amount. Just leaving it to rust was sentimental, which is fitting with Lupin's disposition, but also wasteful. The police woman was a hottie. She's not to the level of Fujiko, but it's still nice to look at her. Da-yum, Fujiko. Even your abs are sexy. Zenigata was right. Lupin may get the fame (or infamy) for his crew's exploits, but each person is very capable on their own, Fujiko included.

I have several bags of candy that I bought for trick-or-treaters before I realized that a collegiate football game I was going to attend would be happening at the same time as my towns Beggar's Night. Most of the candy is based on chocolate, but a there are some sugar candies in a mix bag. I've been eating candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins since back in September, because my local store didn't carry any Halloween-themed Peeps this year.

I thought it was for physical injuries, but I could be wrong. When I get to that part in the manga, it might be clearer. Oh yeah, that's where I've heard about this show. I'm not expecting much from the art, but it should be fun. I'm already laughing at Cheetu. He's this show's answer to "too dumb to live."

BC - The new girl who is evidently associated with the underwater temple (merwoman? Atlantean?) had a nice singing voice. As for wanting to be an idol for the fame and fortune, it may seem a little shallow, but I can't fully fault her for wanting to be successful at something she enjoys doing. After all, if you love what you do for a job, you never have to work a day in your life. Yes, show. We remember that Noelle's siblings were terrible to her growing up. They not only denigrated her for her control problems, but they also blamed her for their mother's death, stopping just short of saying they would have preferred that she would've died instead. Thus, yes, she had no truly good memories to use for a focal point, but her misfit teammates gave her that instead. While Asta's advice to Noelle did result in a powerful spell and a new entry in her grimoire, it was a good thing she did it in an open area when there were very few people nearby, because if something did go wrong, they were relying on Asta's anti-magic and reaction time to protect bystanders, and masses of water can do a lot of harm in a short amount of time. It's been nice to hear Grey speak when disguised as other teammates, but I can't help but feel bad for Gordon. He's sad and lonely with only Wilson-esque rock drawings to keep him company after the rest of the squad ditched him. I don't remember much from the second episode except that Noelle was able to get everyone to the underwater temple safely and Asta broke through some magical barrier. Oh, and the priest of the temple had seafolk mages to challenge the Bulls for the magical stone. Okay, so they weren't seafolk, but rather people with masks. With that in mind, it's a good thing the new girl was able to sing Charmy to sleep before Charmy became an unwitting cannibal. I found it interesting that the new girl said that Noelle's aim issues aren't what she thinks they are. She's subconsciously missing by design, trying to scare off her opponents, because she doesn't want to hurt people with her magic. Wait a minute, show. Luck was absolutely right. A water magic shield, especially one made in a marine environment (which would be an ionic slurry of dissolved substances), shouldn't do anything against a lightning attack. Even when it's chemically pure, water is still a somewhat polarized molecule, meaning it conducts electricity, like lightning, readily. The risk of accidental shock is why hair appliances have labels warning not to use them in a filled bathtub. I know it's a show dealing with magic, but it's magic that manipulates a real, physical substance with known properties, and the show is saying that the magic negates those properties, but if it did, then it would be even harder to get the substance to do what the mage wants it to do, because the molecules of it would then repel one another, making it harder for them to form a coherent shield. So, no, show. Just no. Of course once someone mentioned the Midnight Sun, they had to show up in the same episode. In the new OP, I was surprised to see a Bull with light blue hair. By process of elimination, that had to be Gray. I wonder if that is how he actually looks. HxH - See, Knuckle? With one hit that Youpi couldn't even tell he landed, he paid back nearly half of his total debt. You need to stay hidden until the interest amounts are in the tens of thousands, which is to say no sooner than 11 minutes (well, that long had Youpi not landed the hit on Knuckle). In real time, that would be about half an episode, but with all the thought time, narration time, and shifting to other characters, it'd be at least five episodes, I'd say. Trust that Shoot can hold his own or escape, if necessary, and let your power have what it needs to work: time. Uh oh. Ikalgo called lion dude Hagya instead of Leol, so that might be inconsistent with what dragonfly guy would say. The jig might be up for Ikalgo. If we hadn't already seen Morel's superhuman breath control, I'd call shenanigans on him intentionally not breathing in Pouf's hypnotic wing scales for that long. The C.A. King isn't just taking this outside. He's having Zeno take it to somewhere other than the palace. Ah, good. Killua found Gon. I took Netero's gesture to Gon to mean that Pitou was in the direction Netero indicated. Oh, wait. If Gon goes that way and finds Pitou, then he'll be faced with the moral dilemma of whether to attack Pitou while the conditions are advantageous, meaning while Dr. Blythe is in effect, and raise Gon's chances of killing Pitou outright, which could doom the injured Komugi, or wait for Komugi to be healed and face a fully-prepared Pitou. We know that neither Gon nor Killua have any association with Komugi, and we know that Zoldycks are taught to accept collateral damage as part of the assassination business, but Gon, by having to consider the welfare of this stranger at his own risk, is set to be tested as to how good a person he truly is. Hm, Shoot didn't fare nearly as well on his own as I thought he would, so Knuckle did need to intervene and let Meleoron go do his invisible thing alone. Youpi, all you need to know about APR is that the longer interest does its thing, the harder it is to pay off a debt. Still, I doubt Knuckle will be able to win. The power difference is too vast. Hm, so Ikalgo merely moves the decaying bodies of others. He can't use his nen to suppress the stench of the rotting flesh. It makes sense that Welfin would nearly be floored by the odor, but how do others not notice it? Roadkill stinks, and humans can smell it if they let the outside air into a vehicle, so I don't know how our Hunter group was able to stand being around Ikalgo in Flutter's corpse while they waited to start the mission. Zeno saying a decision should be Killua's showed that Zeno had remarkable insight into the kind of person Gon is. Gon's test of character didn't quite take the form I thought it would, but without Killua being the voice of reason, I think Gon would've failed. Granted, he's more concerned about fixing Kite than letting Pitou finish fixing some stranger, but as far as I can tell, Pitou begging to be allowed to finish Komugi's surgery, saying he'd do anything Gon wanted afterward, could be played by Gon into Pitou willingly fixing Kite. However, Gon rejecting Pitou's request for several hours to fix all Komugi's wounds could set up Pitou to feel like he needs to fight Gon in order to fix Komugi enough for her to survive if she's still in critical condition at the end of the hour Gon will allow. Yes, Killua, your guess is correct. Komugi is the reason the C.A. King maimed himself and required Dr. Blythe's medical ministrations, which made Pitou stop using his en several episodes ago. OPM - Bikini chick with a surfboard was still hot, Mumen Rider was still a brave and good dude, Puri Puri Prisoner was still strong for an ordinary human, and Saitama's serious look at the end was still badass. It's easy to forget amongst Puri Puri Prisoner's "lol!gay" antics that for him to have a life sentence would mean that he was a serial rapist. Either that, or someone died from the injuries sustained during one of his rapes. I don't think I noticed previously that Genos' first punch to TDSK made a hole in his cheek though which his teeth were visible. I'm fine with Saitama resolving to let his advancement in the rankings be based on his heroic deeds only and not public opinion. No, that's not quite right. I'd go so far as to say I respect that choice. The slits on Tatsumaki's dress go really high. I think that in at least one scene, we can see to the level of the point of her hip. That makes me think that if she wears underwear at all, which she really should, given that she uses her powers to fly/levitate, it would be a thong or something very similar. I like that Blackluster Superalloy, one of three S-rank heroes who look to be there for outstanding muscle power alone, was the recurring voice of caution to other heroes about how dangerous it is to upset one another. Lupin - Da-yum, Fujiko. You were practically poured into that green outfit. I also very much liked the shot showing off your corset (something had to keep those "bad boys" in place to hold the dagger). Now that we know that The Greek used aerosolized drugs to induce a receptive state not only in his marionettes, but also in the one church's congregation, it's easier to overlook that the congregants were idolators, worshiping someone other than Christ as their savior. Rebecca may have been cute in her fashion runway outfit, but Fujiko was gorgeous. What I want to know is when Leonardo was able to put up those large portraits. Each one would likely take several hours, and they all appeared overnight. I didn't get the impression they were canvases applied to the walls, but rather painted directly on the walls. No physical media copy of that secret agent list should ever leave or exist outside the U.K., so it shouldn't have been in Italy to steal at all. The fight between Nyx and Percival was still appropriately gritty. CB - I watched both Hard Luck Woman and both parts of TRFB, and when watching HLW, I had the volume louder than usual, and I could faintly hear Jet in the background when Faye was talking to Ed about belonging being the best thing. I'm not sure, but it sounded like he was incredulous about Faye taking off again to go somewhere and wanting to know if she said where to Spike. The expressions on Jet and Spike's faces when they learn Appledelhi is Ed's father truly are priceless. I wonder how much time was spent deciding exactly how they should look and getting it right.

DBS - Oh. So that's why he's called Top. Okay. Dude was tough, too. I think Gohan approved of his speeches and poses because they reminded Gohan of his Great Saiyaman routine. As for Top's ally, Jiren, being stronger, it's bad news for the other universes, but it should be good fightan' eyecandy. Goku had a point. 40 hours isn't much time to assemble a 10-man team. Of course, all the universes are under the same time constraint, so at least it's nominally fair in that regard. Thinking about how four of the universes were exempt from the consequences of failure due to having a high enough average power level, the easy way to consider that is what the show wants us to think: that there are lots of really strong fighters there. However, there's another way to get that: have very few weak people. Throughout DB and DBZ, Goku has been saving weak people from stronger aggressors. He's even used various wishes to bring back large numbers of dead weaklings. Especially with Cell and Kid Buu, they were set to go on galactic, or even intergalactic, rampages, but Gohan and Goku stopped those killing sprees. If we think of the Seventh Universe having a lower average power level, it could well be because Goku has been too good at stopping nefarious parties who would've killed planet after planet, star system after star system, or even galaxy after galaxy, meaning there are billions, maybe trillions, more beings around to count in the average, which would likely trend it downward. So, in a way, at least the Seventh Universe is in danger because Goku fought to protect the weak, which he wouldn't have done without that brain-scrambling blow to the head when he was a baby. If not for that rock, the Seventh Universe could've been safe as a whole, but with billions or trillions of more dead within it killed by residents of it. I laughed when Yamcha thought that Goku would recruit him. Whis is the best maternity ward nurse/doctor/midwife. That was even easier than being put under for a C-section. Now Vegeta can fight in the tournament. Be a good big brother, Trunks. Yep, Krillin is crafty, but he did fly for the maximum Solar Flare. I think no flying is a crap rule in the tournament. It's something they can do by mastering their energy, not due to some external device. You're a bad liar, Goku, and 18 will surely see through you before long. She did catch the detail of the prize money amount changing. I trust that if Universe 7 survives, Mr. Satan will be stuck with 18 and Krillin's bill. I'm cool with game warden 17. FLCL: Alternative - I have all of them, but haven't started watching them yet. I actually hadn't watched all of the block's episodes from the night of the 13th, let alone last week's stuff, until this Friday. AoT 3: Third time's a charm - Okay, so an ancestor of the Reiss family was the titan who could do the crystallization trick so well that it made the Walls to protect humanity. Fine, but I have no idea how getting some injection and eating the current sucessor of the Founding Titan transfers that titan's inherited memories of how the world formerly was. Also, how did the Reiss family discover that this transfer was possible? You gave us some some whos, whats, and whens, but not much in the way of hows or really any whys, show. My impression is that someone created the titans to be the common enemy which would cause humanity to form a united front, so they would stop having "petty squabbles" and wars amongst themselves (which clearly didn't work, judging by the number of humans suffering and dying at the hands of other humans this season), but the titans were too powerful. The intention may have been good, but we know what road has that pavement. Krista had a valid point. The Founding Titan and the heirs of its knowledge supposedly could've used its other powers to eradicate the titans at any time in the past century, but none of them did. Her dad didn't even have the courage to take up the power himself, forcing one daughter to do it in his stead and now trying to get another daughter to do it again. Good on Krista for refusing her dad's plan. I'm not sure what terrible consequence we'll have now that her dad did lick some of the injection fluid for part one of the process, but I presume that Eren, who was going to wimp out to Krista as "atonement" for what Dr. Jeager did, will fight her dad. Whether he'll complete the process to harness all the powers and memories of the Founding Titan remains to be seen. Thanks to that "armor" vial, Eren can do the crystallization trick as well now. The breaches at Shiganshina may be able to be closed, and we may finally get to learn what's in the Jeager basement. I think that both Armin and Mikasa expressing their belief that Dr. Jeager wouldn't have killed those members of the Reiss family without good reason did a lot to help Eren's state of mind. Maybe the punches he gave himself did the rest. Here's hoping he won't whine so much from here onward. Dang, Krista's dad's titan form was huge and grotesque. I can believe that such spindly limbs wouldn't be able to lift that huge torso off the ground without grabbing something sturdy, like a Wall, to help pull itself up. I was a little surprised that it couldn't lift all of its face off the ground as it pulled itself along, though. When it did stand up to reveal its face, it was very gross and more than a little unsettling, though believable, that it didn't actually have one, because the ground abraded it away. Still that made Eren's part with the many barrels of gunpowder easier, since it didn't need to open its mouth. I'm glad that Krista was the one to find the piece containing her dad. Presumably, his spinal fluid could still be used to give Eren all the Founding Titan's powers, if they want to do that for some reason. Yes, I can believe that the Scouts couldn't engage Krista's dad's titan without a plan when it was putting off enough heat to ignite green trees in a lush landscape, meaning not under a drought. Hange was on it, thinking up a plan while still wounded and in a transport wagon. When Erwin described her injuries as not being serious, I noted that this was coming from a man who was still shouting orders with one arm in a titan's mouth last season, so his assessment should be taken with at least a teaspoon of salt. Kenny sure was wrecked. Here's hoping that injection isn't the same thing that gave Eren his Shifter powers, or Levi might need to be quick on that trigger. When Mikasa called Levi a smug runt, I don't think she realized she was talking about some kind of cousin. Krista may be the last member of the Reiss bloodline. If so, she has no one to teach her how to erase memories, so if she can't or doesn't choose to figure that out on her own, then that power would be lost from humanity forever, given that she's unlikely to have children of her own should Ymir ever return to be with her. JoJo: Diamond - All I remember about the first of these three is that there were telltale peg or dowel ends readily visible on the Josuke version of the puppet which Jotaro should've spotted instantly and thus known it wasn't actually Josuke. I still haven't watched the last two JoJo episodes, but I need to get this posted. They and FLCL: Alternative will be in future posts. Hopefully the JoJos will be with tonight's shows, but I have no idea when I'll start on Alternative.

Since the block was well underway by the time I posted the last threefer, I decided to take a nap and listen to Coast to Coast AM instead. The slated guests covering the topics of the origins of Halloween, empirical methodology toward ghost hunting, and stories of werewolves in Britain made that decision easier than it could've been. Now for another threefer. MHA - In the last couple weeks, I've started reading the MHA manga. Here are some things which struck me about it so far. When the slime villain was trying to take over Bakugo, the expression on Bakugo's face right before Izuku sprang into action looked different than what I saw in the show. In the show, it looked like he was angrily struggling, but the expression in that manga panel conveyed fear and panic, because he realized he couldn't save himself. Another thing was that when Izuku mutters while taking notes or thinking through something out loud, the speech bubbles are ringed with repetitions of the word "mutter." Two things about Ochako are that 1. the lack of shading on her hair makes me think that her hair should be lighter than the shade of brown she has in the show, and 2. her name is fully appropriate for her usual bubbly personality since it translates to "tea girl pretty day." Tsu is short at 4' 11", but Mineta is downright tiny at 3' 7". Contrast that to All Might's hero form, which is over 7' 2". Two Minetas stacked on top of each other are still shorter than All Might's hero form. The map of the USJ training ground showing who was where clarified who people are by some trait, such as Aoyama being bellybutton, Shoji being octopus, and Momo being sexy girl. Last, for now, is that I think "young Midoriya" works better than "Midoriya, kid." The other matches were quick compared to Izuku's. Fumikage pushed Momo out of bounds before she could formulate a plan. Mina also made short work of Aoyama. Iida v. Mei was hilarious, because she used it to showcase her inventions to support company reps. Kaminari was completely overwhelmed by Shiozaki (vine girl). I had a big smile on my face when one of the characters noted that Kirishima v. 4x Tetsu was going to take a while. I was ready for Bakugo v. Ochako at the end, but I was also nervous for her, like Iida and Izuku were. I was impressed that she turned down Izuku's offer to assist her by providing information about Bakugo's Quirk and fighting style, choosing to take him on with only her powers and strategy, for her pride as a heroine. Oh, so Mei does have a quirk. Seeing a great distance (up to 5 km) with Zoom is presumably a simple visual magnification that she can control. For one, this Quirk probably helps her in creating her devices, since there are doubtlessly many small components that would be easier to place when she sees them enlarged. For another, at the genome level, if the genetic component of her Quirk could be identified, then it could be useful in enacting gene therapies for nearsightedness. The interaction between Mt. Lady and Kamui Wood outside was fun, with Kamui Wood chastising her to focus on her duty of crowd control instead of watching the matches. Bakugo v. Ochako was good, and her plan wasn't quite what I thought. I noticed that it looked like Bakugo's explosions were doing more damage to the ring than to her, so I thought she was going to levitate the portion on which he was standing, since it was no longer firmly attached to the rest of the ring. I, like most others in the show, didn't notice that there was too little debris in the ring. Aizawa saw it, but I feel like his elevated seat in the booth gave him a better chance to see it, since it was clusters of stuff floating up from out of the smoke clouds, which we didn't have the chance to see. However, it was a gamble, because we know that prolonged use of her Quirk makes her nauseous and fatigued, so her collapsing from overdoing it after the plan didn't work is fully plausible. She took away a good lesson about the need for thorough planning, but we also saw the limitation of Recovery Girl's power, in that she can't heal an exhausted person. Recovery Girl's power uses energy/stamina from the injured person's body, and if it isn't there to use, then it can leave them worse than they were by draining them into a coma, or perhaps merely into hypothermia, which in Ochako's case would've been worse than the majority of the cuts, scrapes and bruises she had from fighting Bakugo. It was funny that Kirishima and 4x Tetsu's proper match ended in a stalemate, presumably because there's a time limit on the matches. Settling the bout with arm-wrestling was okay. My recording didn't get the first five minutes of Izuku v. Shouto, but dang, that was intense. Izuku was determined, but it was gruesome when he reused broken fingers and utterly pulverized them. I can fully believe he'd scream in pain when using a Smash with a hand of already-broken fingers. When he finally convinced Shouto to use his full power, I can appreciate that it was a sign of respect, but it also showed how much behind Izuku is with mastery of his power. One thing didn't jive with me from Shouto's side, though. More than once, he used ice backstops to stay in the ring, but ice is very slick (since the ice was made of large, rapidly formed crystals, I doubt he had time to make the surfaces heavily textured for additional traction), and the crystals were angled up and in the same direction of Shouto's travel. Given the speed at which he would've been moving, it's quite believable that he would've slid up what was essentially a steep ramp and continued on out of the ring. Shouto's home life when he was younger was not the horrible incident of guilt I imagined, but it was bad both for him and his mom. She was trapped in a loveless, arranged marriage with someone who was emotionally and physically abusive, and all she could see when she looked at her children, especially Shouto, was the product of the plans of her awful husband. While it was terrible that she snapped and scalded Shoto's face, it was also bad that Endeavor beat her into hospitalization afterward. He's a garbage person, a worse husband, and an overbearing father. I very much disliked that he got the satisfaction of seeing Shouto use his fire powers in the match. When Izuku and Shoto demolished all the barriers Cementos and Midnight put between them, that was amazing, and I can fully believe that the blow-back would propel Izuku out of the ring. The hits Izuku did land on Shouto and the several times he smacked into one of his ice backstops probably left him with injuries he'll need Recovery Girl to heal before his next match. While we know that Izuzu was banking on wearing down Shoto's stamina, I like that Bakugo spoke of the principle at work in Izuku's plan; Quirks are part of a person and using one wears down the person physically. It's a good reminder that Bakugo isn't always consumed with rage and grudges. The outcome of the match could be much like in YYH's demon-world tournament, where someone who could've won it all was so exhausted in an earlier match that they lost to someone notably weaker in the next match. We know that Izuku avails himself of Recovery Girl's powers for his wounds, so I must wonder why Aizawa hasn't been to her for his broken arms yet. It has been many days, if not weeks, in the show since the USJ incident. Surely he could've gone back to her for his arms several days apart. Yes, he did use her to save his eyes, but surely, even as tired as he looks, it wouldn't take so much of his stamina that he couldn't have gone back for additional treatment by now. Shippuden - I'm fine with the "key" on Gerotora being able to tighten or loosen seal on the Nine Tails. The fact that the seal was designed by Minato to let some of the Nine-Tails' chakra escape (this could be the reason for Naruto's "whiskers" ) so Naruto could get used to it and eventually master it says to me that Minato thought that Naruto would need this power at some point to protect Konoha. If memory serves, one of the toads (Fukasaku, maybe?) said the Nine Tails' power is generated by mixing its chakra and its Will of Hate. I forget if it was mentioned in the show yet, but the number of tails on a Tailed Beast reflects its relative power. The Nine-Tails being the most powerful one means that hate is the most powerful will amongst the Tailed Beasts. Jiraiya and Naruto seeking to overcome the hate in the Ninja World means they were/are seeking to find a power greater than it. Thus, for Naruto to be able to separate the Nine Tails' chakra from its hate means he must be motivated by something stronger than hate. Naruto accepting the key was okay, but mostly for the discomfort of the storage process, including Fukasaku kicking Gerotora down his throat. Oh, so this is what Jingles meant about Kabuto and pants snakes. Of course Kabuto would learn the reanimation jutsu, but what I want to know is from where he got the DNA samples to convert several murdered people into bodies for the slain Akatsuki members. Because of spoiler knowledge, I can think of two people who could've been in last coffin to persuade Tobi to ally with Kabuto. Kabuto wants Sauce in exchange for his cooperation, but Tobi will only give Sauce up after he has played his part in the coming war. I feel like Sauce would be far from okay with that arrangement and would stop cooperating with Tobi were he to learn of this agreement. Yes, Anko and her team tracked Kabuto, so they got a lead on the Akatsuki's hideout, but why would he lead them there? It sounded to me like two people on Anko's team, one Hyuga and maybe an Aburame, were both voiced by Shikamaru's v.a. I don't remember the next episode very well, but I do remember that Killer B and Naruto were both sent on their way to an island so the former could help the latter gain control over his Tailed Beast. Plus, Kisame got some useful information whilst hiding in Samehada, but I don't know how he could send it to the other Akatsuki members from inside Samehada. The swordfish with a literal sword for a nose felt like a filler story. Still, when I saw the animal's eye, it looked like it was under Rinnegan influence, but somehow the eye was red instead of a pale purple. A red eye makes me think of a Sharingan, but it was like none we've seen yet, but we know that Uchihas excel with shuriken, and Sauce even used a Demon Wind one back in O.G. Naruto, so Imma go ahead and blame this rampaging beast on some dead Uchiha. However, if this animal has blockaded this port for 15 years, then that's long enough that I would think the sailors, shippers, and fishers would've abandoned the town years ago, since this creature made it impossible for them to pursue their livelihoods. Boruto - Ino's kid is brutally honest. The purple-haired class rep is clearly smitten with Boruto, and I want to know whose kid she is. Shikadai is almost a clone of his dad - he even stole Shikamaru's phrase. Boruto was second on the basic physical skills assessment. Okay, but the top kid is on his third time through, so he should be the best, since he has had taijutsu and ninjutsu instruction twice already (maybe genjutsu as well?). The boys fighting during lunch could be fine unless sparring is prohibited by school rules, but it did spill over into class time. Boruto was on the nose that the dude failed the second time due to not learning from his mistakes from the first time. The dude using his weapon despite saying he wouldn't broke his own rule. I do like that Ino's kid intervened at that point to make the fight fair again. We should remember that this was a potentially deadly match between preteens with kunai and shuriken. Of course Boruto was able to convince the dude to apply himself and impress the other students with his skills. Hinata was a good home-schooling mom, since she made Boruto study a lot every day of his suspension. I must wonder how Hinata and Naruto didn't learn from the Uchihas' mistakes. Hinata and Naruto taught Boruto taijutsu and ninjutsu, including Shadow Clones, before entering the Academy. Too much pressure to excel was part of what made Sauce a dick. Sure, the major part was the murder of his clan, but the pressure to live up to Uchiha standards was part of it too, and especially so once he became the only one left to uphold those standards. I'm unclear on something about Boruto's name. Should it be Hyuga? I know that part of giving Naruto the name Uzumaki was to hide his relation to Minato from him, but I thought that families bore the surname of the mother in several Eastern countries, including Japan. Thus, while he has the surname of his grandmother Kushina, I feel like Boruto and Himawari should properly be named Hyuga. Metal showed his skills when he was possessed by the shadow snake. It took the teamwork of three classmates and a clever deception to stop him. I don't know why he's self-conscious about his ability when he's watched, though, because he has great skills and impressive physical power. Thank you, Boruto. It only took two instances of your Byakugan activating for you to ask your mom about it (I can support the adult Hinata getting more screentime. She's a pretty lady). At least you realized what it could be after it happened twice. Temari doesn't just wear the pants in the Nara home. She also makes the men wear frilly tutus. Yes, the idea of boys v. girls was a drag, Shikadai. Boruto was dumb to try a jutsu before he knew how it works. I was a little surprised that he could make use of a scroll which was obviously for Enma, Hiruzen's summon. This is a possible spoiler, so... I saw an obvious solution to Boruto and Sarada fighting over the last yakisoba bun once Chou-Chou arrived: either Boruto or Sarada could've offered to buy Chou-Chou something else she wanted in exchange for one of the sandwiches she had. I saw one way for the capture the flag contest to end very differently with the same outcome. Shino said the other team had to do what the winner said, but since the timid class rep was the one who actually secured the flag, it could be determined that she, individually, was the winner, and she could've told the boys to be quieter and more focused during school hours. That would be a win for everyone, but especially the teachers. Poor Shino gets no respect, but I'm not sure that a bunch of preteen girls fawning over Konohamaru is any better for him. That would make for a lot of awkward class time.

AoT 3: Third time's a charm - Oh, so the "king" is a vaguely senile old man being used by the nobles as a figurehead to grant legitimacy to their ruling council. I hope he is simply sent somewhere to live out his days in peace. Hange's plan to elicit a public confession was risky for the murdered man's son, but it worked. I feel like this would work in concert with the nobles' reaction to the fake report of W. Rose being breached to get the public to support Zachary's military coup. I just hope that word of Zachary's perverse tortures don't get out, or there may be a popular uprising against the military rule as well, which would likely result in a lot of dead people, especially if units of the anti-personnel ODM rigs are deployed. Jean put on a convincing act to test the defectors' loyalty. Ah, so the positive human interactions which made Krista into a well-adjusted kid were from her half-sister coming to spend time with her regularly. Okay. What the crap, Doc Jeager? You juiced yourself with something that made you a hairy titan (sure looks like Papa Jeager is Squatchy) and killed Krista's half-siblings and their mom. I don't know what your motivations here were, but they'd need to be really compelling for you not to come out looking like a bad guy. Also, if you somehow weren't in full control of your actions, like Eren's early Rogue, and you knew this could happen, why would you inject Eren with something that would put him into the same state? We're going to need more information, show, for Doc Jeager not to look villainous. As for the Reiss (sp?) family's power to erase memories, I'm curious as to why it worked on one of their own if there exist other families, like the Ackermans, who are completely immune to the power. Speaking of the Ackermans, Levl is Rorschach and Kenny's nephew. Mikasa might be a second cousin or something. I'm not sure. FLCL: Alternative - Still haven't watched them. At this point, I think I'll end up watching once all six episodes are on the dvr. PTE - The first time through the horror story was okay, but I feel like it was mostly set-up so we could enjoy the dude doing running commentary in part two, which was great. However, I'm not sure about whether g-g-g-g-GHOSTS!Pipimi and Popuko were also slain in the resort at one point. Something truly hardcore would've needed to happen to take out Popuko. Plus, what kind of reckless resort keeps loaded firearms on the wall. Unless they have serious bear, wolf, or yeti problems, that's grossly irresponsible. Oh, and the slim guy was a complete dumbass. He was getting it on with one of the two chicks, and he tried to get with the other one in front of the first one. It may have been a mercy that the fat dude killed him with the axe compared to what the first chick or the both of them would've done for revenge over his player ways. Good work untangling the bird mayor, Popuko. I think one of the early French segments had subtitles, but not nearly enough of them did. The hamster that acted like it was abused probably deserved to be smacked in its lying mouth. Those sure were words that the shadowy group said, but yeah, epic battles with different outcomes for post-fusion Pipimi were entertaining. I'd watch another season of this show. JoJo: Diamond - I barely remember most of the older two episodes, but I shake my head in dismay over the changed names. Keicho's uniform even had the words "Bad Co." on it, so how they could justify changing his Stand's name to Worse Company is beyond me. It's also irritating that C.D. is being called Shining Diamond, because it's harder to see the reference to this nine-part song (part one fades in slowly, for anyone wanting to give it a listen. There's nothing wrong with the upload; it's just really quiet for the first 20-odd seconds). Josuke did well to turn the missiles against Keicho. As for the dad transformed by Dio's flesh bud, ew. That was gross not just in his appearance, but also his older son's brutal treatment. Still, if the boys were abused, I can't fully fault Keicho for living what he learned. I remember that Keicho died and I think power lines were involved, but I don't recall how Josuke and Okayasu dealt with the guy that killed him, or even if they did. Con artist dude was cruel, and the glaring problem with his Stand would come in the form of facing someone pitiless like Jotaro. He wouldn't think twice about blaming the guy for his "cat's" demise, or being too clumsy not to fall in a way that didn't knock out a tooth when he definitely deserved to be struck, or call him out on his clumsiness for hitting the teacup or teapot (we didn't see whichever one it was) and getting it spilled on himself. Jotaro would also be clever enough to mention how strangely specific his recall of the receipt details was and look for other things in the wallet which would identify it as the guy's or his own. In other words, the only way this guy and his Stand's power were an issue at all was that he didn't go against a Joestar. Still, Koichi did find a way to best him with his own Stand's unusual power. HxH - Younger Netero doing his 5-6 seconds cycle for 10,000 punches was a lot, but it would technically be possible by the time available in a day. The point is that he's really fast and has been for a long time, as shown when his counterattack to Pitou occurred withing a 0.1 second window and was too fast for Pitou to detect. That it looked slow is clearly some kind of time dilation effect of Pitou's En being so very focused. Just how old is Netero anyway, if he was old when Killua's grandfather was a baby? Dragon Dive looks like an area devastation attack, which is fitting for Zeno. It wouldn't matter to him if he kills a lot of nationals if he hits one or more targeted individuals in the process. I like that Killua recognized it as it rained down around them. Knuckle imparted an initial 280 nen to Youpi, and he wondered how long it would take for APR to convert into IRS. If memory serves, APR compounds 10% every 10 seconds. To deplete Knuckle's estimate of Youpi's nen (700,000), nen consumption aside, it would take 83 intervals, or 830 seconds, or 13 minutes and 50 seconds, provided that APR's announcements use time while it makes them. Youpi can only repay nen by hitting Knuckle, so the obvious way to let APR do its thing is to get out of there and hide somewhere nearby. Knuckle would want to be far enough away that he'd be hard to detect once Meleoron takes a breath, but still close enough that APR would continue to work. Well, crap. Komugi got hit, but at least she didn't die. It can't be a good thing that the C.A. King wants to take it outside. The only thing I remember clearly is that it looked like Ikalgo was going to be a distraction to give Killua time to run and seek others from the group. BC - I don't remember much about the two older episodes, but Third Eye dude clearly was the interrogator, framing the fat, masked captain. Granted, fatty was guilty of other crimes for which he could be stripped of his rank and punished, but he wasn't Licht. One of these magical stones being in an underwater temple or some such place makes me wonder how it came to be submerged. Noelle looked nice in her bikini, but she was no Vanessa. Also, ease up on the tsun and own the dere, Noelle. You know you want to jump Asta's bones, but you don't want to admit it to yourself. I like that Asta being shirtless shows that he is accumulating scars from his battles. Poor Gordon (Mumbles) was ditched. Shippuden - Sauce is a criminal and should be held to answer for his criminal actions. Also, the eye transplant happened and he's recovering from getting Itachi's eyes. I doubt the exhausted Sauce would've thought to take them, so I'll credit Tobi with recovering and preserving them before they started to die cellularly. Guy and Kakashi's manly challenge footrace between rivals was fun, and it actually looked like Kakashi genuinely enjoyed it as well. When Naruto talked about going to meet his love, it was obvious to me that he was going to Ichiraku's temporary ramen stand. Yeah, I'm with scroll toad here. Giving Naruto access to the jutsu that his father used to seal (only half of?!?!) the Nine-Tails' chakra in Naruto may not be the best idea, since it would enable him to open the seal. Also, where is the rest of the Nine-Tails' chakra? I can buy Tsunade being hungry and needing to replenish her chakra after being unconscious for so long. She can't eat when she's asleep, after all, and I'm uncertain as to whether medical science in the Ninja World has glucose suspension I.V. bags. OPM - Yep, Genos is smarter than Saitama, but that doesn't matter much when the air blast of his pulled punch can level a mountain. Snek was lucky that Saitama only tapped him during the hazing. In the complaining woman's defense, Saitama running around the previous day would be startling and at least a minor public danger due to people reacting to this fast-moving person by stopping and gawking for a moment, making it possible for someone to run into them as they would become an instant obstacle. Tatsumaki is still cute, but Fubuki is still hot. Yes, I remember that Tatsumaki is actually the older sister. I just thought of Saitama telling people to blame the meteor, and imagined some person finding a piece of meteoric debris and yelling at a rock or hunk of ore. It made me smile. Genos had a point that actual coordination of efforts between S-class heroes and Saitama could've resulted in much less damage. I think we can call that an organizational flaw with the hero system. Still, the H.A. is only around three years old, so they're still figuring out this stuff about effectively utilizing the heroes available. Lupin - While Lupin may not have ownership rights to Fujiko's new house, she should at least let him stay there free of charge, since his efforts were integral to her delivering for her client. Yes, clone!Leonardo should be able to paint a convincing replica of the Mona Lisa, but I have my doubts he'd be able to do it from memory alone. The bomb plan was dumb. For one, yes, other insulators would work instead of a diamond. For another, just go to the police, teachers. Plus, as I said the first time, mafioso dude was walking entirely too close to the chairs if Marco standing was able to jack the criminal's jaw, and the criminal not only was unaware of his surroundings, but also had a laughably slow reaction time not to be able at least to start moving away from that collision. That was one sexy catch there, Fujiko. Josephine clearly ran away before her owner encountered Fujiko, or else, with its appreciation for the fine female human form, it never would've left. Remember, kids, always check the fuel level in your vehicle before leaving on a trip. Just go with the pizza, Goemon.

Another threefer. Some things (guess which) I wrote around the time I watched the shows, but others I only wrote today, so my recollection is poor for a lot of it. Even if I do watch episodes of Jack and Kai, I won't comment on them on a regular basis. MHA - Bakugo's explosive rage (pun fully intended) was fun. I like that we got some insight into how Dark Shadow works, but it's exactly opposite the way a real shadow would manifest, being more intense in its contrast during the day and faint or non-existent at night. Still, good work, Fumikage, on snagging enough points for your team to advance. That was terrible, Endeavor. You had an arranged marriage for the purpose of producing offspring more powerful than the professional rival you couldn't outshine. That means you considered your wife and son (Shouto) to be tools for accomplishing a goal, which makes you a terrible person. Since Shouto knows this, I can't say I blame him for not wanting to use his inherited flame powers in combat. It would be admitting that he needs them, and I doubt he liked that he did reflexively use them to counter Izuku's powered punch. Wait a minute. When Shouto uses his ice powers, it looks like it's his left that gets covered in ice, but he said that was the power of his right side. It's strange to me that it would manifest across his body like that, unless he's encasing his fire-left to be sure he doesn't use that power. I can admire Oujiro's sense of honor, not wanting a slot that he felt he didn't earn. He was also a complete bro to tell Izuku about mind-control guy and how his power initiates. Mineta pulled a fast one on Momo and the other girls in the class, but they were cute in the cheerleader outfits. I am glad that Midnight was there for grown-woman fanservice as well. Mind-control guy's power is supreme hax, but it would be highly useful, if he could implement it with its bizarre requirement, in apprehending super-powered criminals with little incident or property damage. I found it interesting that Izuku can detect traces of the former wielders of One for All, and they really came through for him here. If memory serves, Shouto did use his fire powers during a class in the first season to thaw out his immobilized classmates and the building. He might decide to use his fire powers to do the same after his overreaction here. Boruto - The timeskip to an older Boruto looks like it has been rough both for him and Konoha. Wait a minute, show. There's no reason for Boruto and Himawari to have whisker marks on their faces. That is a physical manifestation on Naruto's skin of the presence of the Nine-Tails' chakra in him. It wouldn't be a genetic trait to pass on to his children. Boruto's Byakugan eye, however, would be something he could have from his mother's genes. Topknot kid was pretty psycho with the train stunt. I'll blame whatever that shadow thing that attacked him was. Boruto missing the rail switch with his thrown kunai posed two problems. First, he needs practice throwing, like he would have as part of his training at the Academy. Second, why would a child have a weapon like that prior to being formally trained to use it? We can consider that questionable parenting by his workaholic father. It's a shame Ang refuses to watch this, because it looks like it would give her more opportunities to dump on Naruto and how terrible he is, but this is more as a father than as a ninja. DBS - Yes, Buu's ability to absorb damage and regenerate make him truly formidable. Evidently the Universe 9 fighters are wolves rather than foxes. Anyway, the Universe 9 guy taking the mineral supplement isn't that different than eating a Senzu bean, but the Z fighters tried to use them only after a match was over or during battles to the death when the fate of Earth and/or other planets was on the line. I'm glad that the Grand Minister assured us there will be formalized rules for the proper Tournament of Power, but some clarity on the rules for the exhibition would've been good. Yeah, poison breath is tough to fight, but Gohan figured out some good work-arounds, even if they did come back to bite him. I say that the Grand Minister's ruling was flawed. Lavender was rendered unconscious by Gohan's pile driver. Lavender didn't stand after that attack. Gohan did get up and stand. Yes, he collapsed from the poison shortly thereafter, but he did rise to his feet after the impact from which his opponent couldn't stand. Thus, I would credit Gohan with a win. Calling it a draw is malarkey. Oh, that's some more malarkey right there, Grand Minister. The Zenis were ostensibly responsible for creating the 12 universes. If they didn't create them equally, then how can they justify putting only some of them on the chopping block? Exempting four of the universes from threat of erasure based on some arbitrary power averaging criteria is being partial, since clearly not every universe is inhabited by versions of each person. Look at the Destroyers, for example. One looked like a pink elephant. Another was a juggalo. One looked like a taller version of a medieval fantasy dwarf. Clearly the Destroyers are not all members of the same family spread across the universes, just Beerus and Champa, but do you know who is? Because of my spoiling co-worker, I know, and y'all likely have figured it out based on two revealed relationships. We know that Whis is Vados' brother. We also know that the Grand Minister is their father. Since the other attendants of the Destroyers all have the same blue skin and some kind of halo around part of their bodies, we can infer that they are all part of the same family. If the supposed difference in guiding inhabited worlds toward strength, judging by the argument between Beerus and Shin, is intervention by the Supreme Kais and the Destroyers, then it could be claimed that at least the Destroyers acted differently based on the counsel of their attendants. Guess who is exempt from erasure from the losing universes? The Destroyers' attendants. If the attendants could be claimed to have a hand in the outcome that put their universe at risk of erasure, then it would only be just for the attendant to face the same consequences as their universe. As I said, malarkey. Yeah, I figured Goku would make the wolf guy big enough that the ring would become an issue once we learned he could grow in size from the energy of impacts or chi attacks. However, I see another problem with that ability: heat. The wolf guy would need to be able to convert the attack energy into thermal energy as well as matter, or his body temperature would drop drastically, since the new mass would seek to equalize with the temperature of his body. If he converted all of the attack energy into mass, then the matter would be likely no warmer than the ambient environment, which would, in the case of the rapid growth that we saw to many times his height and even more times his volume, require vast amounts of thermal energy which it would take from his extant cells. If he didn't impart some of the energy of the attacks into the new mass as thermal energy, he would quickly collapse into a hypothermic coma. Alternately, if he did save some of the energy for heat, but kept too much, then he would also quickly succumb to heat stroke, since the ratio of his volume to surface area would increase, making it harder for his natural cooling mechanisms (panting, if his species is very much like Earth Canines) to regulate his body temperature. If he didn't get the balance right, he'd be an easy, unconscious target for an opponent. Of course Goku missed the obvious opportunity to lose and save multiple universes from the consequences of losing in the tournament proper. Sure, he'd need to put on a convincing show, and such deception is a foreign concept to him with his ingenuous disposition and intense competitive drive, but he could've saved likely trillions of sentient lives from being ended abruptly by losing though the wolf guy capitalizing on a "mistake" or opening presented.

Poke: I think Ang was talking about the woman with the fire salamander familiar being so devoted to Licht in the first sentence you quoted. Either that, or she meant Rebecca needing standards in regards to Asta. I'm not sure which, because either is plausible. Regardless of which she meant, the part about Yami was an unrelated thought. Ang: You're forgetting about Fuegoleon. He is handsome, only somewhat arrogant, but also a fair and honorable man who believes in teaching his subordinates and leading in battle. He also has fire powers. Also, yes, I'm fairly certain the mistress (or was it prostitute? That was the episode I had to C-roll, and I don't remember exactly what I read) and the teacher Kenny mentioned killing to Levi were Krista's bio-mom and Erwin's dad, respectively. While I didn't have work, I did interact with diurnal people on their schedule on Saturday, so I slept in until 1:00 A.M. Eastern and chose to listen to Coast to Coast AM live instead of watching the block and set all the shows, minus CB, to record. Thus, this is just the stuff from last week. MHA - Thank you, Ochako, for breaking Izuku out of his over-analyzing and/or fear paralysis to figure out how to make an evasive team. It's easy to forget that Tsu isn't very tall herself, so she could hide in Shouji's arm enclosure with Mineta. When the grabbing potential of her tongue is taken into account, they did devise a good plan as a team, even if it was contingent on Shouji being able to carry them the whole time. Mei (gadget girl) was a good addition to Izuku's team to make the "super run away" strategy work, and Fumikage's shadow powers were very effective defensively. The snobby guy and his team were able to capitalize on the distraction that Izuku's team provided by merely being in the competition. I can't say it was the most sporting approach, but it was shrewd. If we extend the idea to fighting villains, it would be far safer for the hero and any bystanders to blindside a distracted villain than to announce their arrival and go at the villain head-on. It's wild speculation time: Something Shouto said made me think that something horrible happened in the Todoroki family past. He said he doesn't use his fire powers in combat. Every time I've seen Endeavor, he's had a stern expression on his face (though that could just be an intimidating effect of the flames over his face), even when watching his son compete here. For Shouto not to want to use his fire powers against another person, I feel like he may have done so, whether intentionally or inadvertently, in the past and horribly wounded someone. Standard tragic shounen backstory would make it most likely that his mom was hurt, possibly even killed, by an unintentional use of his fire powers, but it could be worse. As the son of a high-ranking hero, he could've been pushed to train with his powers at an inappropriately young age, and it might be that when training with his mom, she encouraged him to use his fire powers, but she underestimated the power he had and was unable to block or evade the attack. Yes, this is a very pessimistic speculation, and I hope that I'm wrong and Mrs. Todoroki is alive and well, but the scenario I laid out being true wouldn't surprise me. DBS - Yes, Grand Minister, lay all the blame on Goku for the impending dooms of 11 universes. It's not like the Zenis, who presumably came up with the idea to impose consequences for failure rather than rewarding success, are the ones who will blink those universes out of existence or anything. Though, I suppose that's not as bad as destroying those universes. It's the difference between being actively killed and going through the process of dying versus being alive one moment and then no longer existing in any form the next moment. The erased universes and any denizens thereof wouldn't know anything had happened, because they wouldn't even have ghosts to go to an afterlife. They would simply no longer be. The real horror of losing would be upon any competitors who lost if they aren't immediately erased, which would mean they'd have time during the other fights to ruminate on what was going to happen to them and everyone they knew and loved. Yes, Buu takes a while to get going, but now that the fox dude kicked him around for a while, he should be good to go, judging by that smile at the end. AoT 3: Third time's a charm - I have serious doubts about Erwin's plan. He intends to dethrone the "king" on the basis that someone else is the true king. What is his proof? How will he persuade the public that what he says is true (especially from a jail cell)? Even if the current "king" knows what Erwin says is true, and perhaps especially so, what's to keep him and his supporters from lying and claiming that Erwin's proof is nothing but forgeries and lies? If the "king" is a usurper or the heir of a usurper, then he would absolutely fight, including mobilizing the M.P.s, Royal Guard and even any standing military they have to preserve power. The Scouts are already being rounded up and detained so there would be no organized, armed force to set in motion when these claims are made. The bloodless coup Erwin wants is wholly dependent upon the honor of the "king" and his subordinates, including those of low moral character, like Kenny. Keep in mind that it was said that Krista had the blood of the King. The same thing was said of Ymir decades ago, and when the cult that worshiped her was discovered, they were either killed or forced to titan-shift by being stabbed and thrown off a Wall. I say we should have no doubts that the ancestors of the regime which killed or functionally disappeared those professing a rival claim to power would do the same as their forebearers. Hange strikes me as not only intelligent, but also sensible, so I feel like if anyone can put things in motion to support Erwin's objective while he's in custody, it would be her. She also seems like she would be a capable commander of the remaining at-large Scouts. Regarding Krista and her past, wow. Daily life on the farm may not have been objectively bad, and it was likely normal in most senses. I would suspect that whatever other adults interacted with her likely did so in a positive, perhaps even healthily-parental way, given that she seemed to be a well-adjusted child. The problem was with her bio-mom. Years ago, I think it was the Discovery Channel that had a special on the process of pregnancy, and I think it was in that show that I was exposed to the tidbit of information that a woman who is heterosexually active (I don't recall the frequency of what constituted "active" in this regard) and doesn't avail herself of some method of birth control is likely to become pregnant in the span of a year, underlying fertility issues aside. That said, if this woman was going to be the true king's concubine every night, then it should come as no surprise that she would get pregnant. Since she said that she was too much of a coward to kill "it," meaning Krista, then evidently abortion is a thing in the AoT universe, but it doesn't seem like contraceptives are. Anyway, it seems to me like Krista's bio-mom blamed her child, who was simply the fully-foreseeable outcome of the bio-mom's actions, for the life of exile and near-isolation she was compelled to live. Thus, the resentment toward Krista was unfounded, and the bio-mom's reaction to a surprise hug was not what I'd call a shove; that was a palm to the face forceful enough to bloody Krista's nose. While the bio-mom was a non-parent to Krista, she still didn't deserve to die just for bearing a child to the wrong man. Neither did Krista deserve to witness such a thing, have her life threatened, and be forced out of the life she'd known up to that point simply because she existed. During the second season, I speculated that having the blood of the king meant that someone had the potential to titan-shift. When we consider the discussion between Bertolt and Ymir that eating someone with shifting powers was how Ymir was able to regain her human form and take into account the ED image from the second season with someone regal-looking presiding over smaller people eating what looked like flesh, then it would seem that the king gave titan-shifters of the past the power to return to their human form by feeding them flesh of other titan-shifters. Now, whether that was a portion of his own flesh or one of their own being sacrificed to give them that power, I can't be sure, but I can't help but wonder how that process was discovered. I would think it was by accident, but without information about the past, we can't be sure. Speaking of information about the past, Erwin's dad was onto something in that a population ignorant of its past is easier to control, because there's no cultural frame of reference for what is and isn't proper for the government to do or say. Now, it's sad and all that young Erwin, when discussing his father's theory(ies?) about the contradictions in the textbooks in public, got his dad killed, but I don't recall him relating to Pixis that his father said not to talk about these matters outside the house. Yes, it was foolish for an otherwise bright boy to speak carelessly, but that just shows he was ingenuous back then, and this was his first, and hopefully hardest, lesson on the need for subtlety and guile when talking about the government, which to me is a sign of a tyrannical regime; public discussion which challenges the government is met with murder and disappearings. Plus, I, like young Erwin, would like to know more about the history of the AoT universe. I'm aware that there's a spin-off manga, Before the Fall, which looks back at that point in time, but I'm hesitant to jump in there before the end of this season, which I doubt will cover all of the AoT manga proper. Now that we know how dirty Kenny's hands are and who some of the surviving family of his victims are, I expect Kenny to be dead by the end of the season. Call it karma. Call it natural justice. Call it revenge. Call it whatever you want, but one thing can't be denied - Kenny deserves to die for the lives he has unjustly taken. FLCL: Alternative - I haven't watched it yet. PTE - My understanding of hostess clubs is that the clients are paying for a very chauvinistic "girlfriend experience" of being attended with food and drink (mostly drink) by an attractive woman at the end of a long workday/-week, but getting fresh with a hostess will get you roughed up by security, tossed out, and forbidden to ever go there again. Thus, Mama Pipimi wasn't a whorehouse owner. She was just a woman who worked her way up though the club and was successful enough to buy out the previous owner. I was disappointed that I didn't get to see bat-wielding Popuko attack the horseback guy for hating on the manga. Dandy's rejection of deification was longer and had better rationale, but since this offer was to be the new Slacker god, the laziness of this rejection was completely appropriate. If memory serves, wagyu beef is just like it was shown, super-fatty. Yeah, it would taste good, but think of your poor arteries. JoJo: Diamond - Wait, wait, wait. I don't buy The World coming from Dio being hit by this Stand-inducing arrow. No. That goes against the idea of Dio's insidiousness reaching out to the Joestar family and overcoming them, like Holly, in the form of the Stand sickness because of the genetic connection to Jonathan's body. Now, if the arrow activates a latent Stand already present with the body, and I would presume that The World was dormant at the time of Dio and Jonathan's fight on the steamship, then that's different, and I'd be okay with that from a narrative standpoint, but the arrow bestowing a Stand where none existed would fly in the face of there being a genetic line of Stand-potential in the Joestar family which was realized by Joseph and Jotaro (and Josuke eventually, but probably not at the time of the events of SC), but not by Holly, which is why she suffered from the Stand sickness. It may seem like parsing words, but those similar words have subtle differences in their meanings which give rise to notably different consequences. I feel like Okuyasu overreacted when Koichi looked inside the open gate. Plus, once Koichi's head was pinned in the gate, he couldn't leave, and realistically, he may have been ready to pass out from the blood flow to his brain being stopped or at least restricted by the gate doors pressing on the sides of his neck when he was shot with the Stand-inducing arrow (I think I'll call it S.I.A. for short when it comes up again). Okuyasu also has a formidable power, but I feel like it goes beyond being overpowered, since not only does it remove matter from this dimension and send it to another one, but it also creates a dimensional gap in the world that closes after the transportation. He's literally making parts of the planet move. After that many swipes, there shouldn't have been a street remaining, since the swipes were, if memory serves, in a swinging arc that at least partly coincided with the ground. I feel like the author didn't fully think through the implications of this power. Anyway, Okuyasu insulted the hair, and Josuke has a friend to save, so I'm sure he and C.D. will find some way to beat Okuyasu. I'm not sure whether Joseph should be flattered that Ms. Higashikata mistook Jotaro for him or Jotaro should be insulted that she though he looked like a man in his 70s (Joseph was a teenager in the 1930's, and this is set 60-ish years later, so he should be in his 70s in the present of the show). However, there's a simple explanation for the mistake - Ms. Higashikata needs glasses and is too proud or stubborn to wear them except for reading. HxH - I feel like everyone in all their maneuvering, speculation, and analysis of who did what and why was overthinking things. Sure, it meant the C.A.s were able find how far Knov got, but they were completely wrong that he was "still" in the palace. Sure, he came back and brought others, but he hasn't been evading them under their noses for days, so the doubt regarding Pitou's En was inaccurate. As for the wolf guy trying to scheme to take over the human administrators role, I doubt the wolf guy has the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job, which I think would get him killed in fairly short order. As for our Hunters speculating on what happened to Palm, they should be glad that the C.A. Queen was the one interested in breeding an army. The C.A. King is all about conquest and domination, or rather he will be as soon as he's done playing a board game with Komugi. Regarding Palm's actual fate at this point, either she's already dead, she's hiding somewhere in the palace, she's in a holding cell somewhere after being captured outside the palace, or she already successfully escaped. BC - In other words, what the story is telling us through Charlotte's infatuation with Yami is what lesbians truly need/want is a serious deep-dicking. Anyway, I can ship Charlotte and Yami. Yami razzing the other captains was fun. Remember, Yami, that Asta was only introduced to the idea of ki/qi/chi within the last half-hour of time in the show. It shouldn't be surprising that he'd forget that he's supposed to use it to observe here, especially when we consider that he's a loud idiot. Still, since the others focus on mana when fighting, it was a crafty idea to send Asta through the chaos to smash Licht with his larger sword (Licht named them, and I think one of them was the Demon Killer, but I don't recall what the other was called, nor which was which). It's too bad that the anti-magic power of his sword removed the sealing spell on Licht. In a way, that makes it a bummer that Yami wasn't able to beat Licht's full power when they fought. Regardless of Licht's mana boost, he would still have just sustained a massive blow from a heavy metal object, meaning someone as slim as him should have multiple broken bones, ruptured organs, other internal bleeding and possibly even a damaged spinal cord. Mana boost or not, he'd be down from those injuries for a while until he could repair his broken torso with a recovery spell, which would require him to be conscious to cast, which he may not be for very long after such a strike. That is, unless Licht had some serious armor on under his robe to spread out the force of the impact, which wouldn't necessarily jive with his movements when fighting Yami earlier. If Rebecca were to learn upon whom Asta really has set his heart, I'm not sure whether she'd be relieved that it isn't Noelle or disturbed that he's fixated on a nun. Hopefully by the end of the show, one of these two pretty and age-appropriate-for-Asta young ladies will manage to win his heart. It's the only way Sister Lily will ever have peace in life. Shippuden - Well, crap. Kisame is still alive. As an infiltration plan, it was effective, but now he'll not only have to subdue Killer B, but also contend with the majority of the Hidden Cloud's ninja forces and the Raikage if he moves to abduct Killer B. That seems like it would be far more difficult than dealing with only Killer B, the Raikage, and their two security details. Mabui, the secretary/personal assistant to the Raikage, was pretty, but it's tough not to stare at Samui's epic boobs when they're around. I'm presuming Kakashi is also only an interim Hokage. Wait, Sai. I thought you said the thing on your tongue was a seal, not a curse mark. I mean, either could stop him from talking about Danzo, but a curse mark carries the implication that something bad would happen inside his mouth if he were to violate the conditions of the curse. I would imagine it'd be something like his tongue exploding or melting, either of which could be deadly, but one more quickly than the other, since the exploding tongue could have the force of a paper bomb, but inside Sai's head. OPM - It's easy to forget amongst the beheadings Sonic did that the Paradisers, as a group, probably killed or wounded at least dozens, if not hundreds, of people when they knocked down the wrong high-rise. Thus, in a way, Sonic simply saved the justice system time and expense. There are two problems with your communist/socialist views, Paradisers. First, eventually you'd run out of other people's money. Second, there would eventually be a revolt by the true proletariat in your vision, because they'd see little benefit from the fruits of their labor, since much, if not most, of it would go to supporting others who, in Hammerhead's own words, didn't want to work. Few people are truly so magnanimous that they eventually wouldn't bristle at that situation and say, "screw you guys. This is mine. I worked for it. I earned it, and I'm cutting you off. Work for what you want yourselves." Even the U.S. tax code recognizes this, since charitable giving can be claimed for only up to 50% of adjusted gross income in a year, meaning it isn't expected that people can or would give away more than half of what they make to others and try to live on the rest. Lupin - I'm pretty sure I mentioned this the first time, but dang, Fujiko's surveillance guy certainly got the good assignment. I feel like Lupin's hair shouldn't have grown that much in only six months, but eh. I doubt Zenigata was in the cell for more than a day or two. I expect that he had some sort of communications check-in scheduled at least for every other day, if not every day. When he missed the first one, there should've been a standing order to go to the island and look for him.

I think you called him Captain Sexy at one point, but I'm not certain, so it's not a far leap of imagination to concoct that scenario. I had work last Saturday night (work is the reason I can't make time commitments days in advance for the weekends), meaning I wasn't able to watch the block live (well, I usually sleep in until 11:50 Eastern, so I do need to record the first four shows anyway, but you get the point). Since I haven't watched all the episodes yet, this is just the MHA marathon and finally the last couple episodes of JoJo: SC. MHA - While Mrs. Midoryia is still on the cute side in the present, she was hot when Izuku was 4. Plus, I would think that the advent of quirks would be some time in between the 1880s and the 1920s, since she confirmed she was a fourth-generation quirk-user. We don't know how long it took for quirks to become really prevalent in the world, but I wouldn't think the first quirk-user would be much more than 50-ish years before the first Midoriya user. Acting before your brain has a chance to think about it is usually bad, unless it's a reflex. Izuku's willingness to rush into danger for the sake of another, while admirable, is more likely at this point to turn out poorly. Sooo, did Izuku get that discarded truck running to help him remove the garbage (as in he'd load it on the truck, then he or All Might would drive it to a proper dump for Izuku to unload it)? If so, good for him and his mechanic skills. I feel like Endeavor would be more handsome if he wouldn't have the fire over his face. Unequal consideration, judges. Ochako saved Izuku from an impending demise every bit as much as he saved her. She should've had at least as many rescue points as he did. Bakugo might need some pharmaceutical assistance with his rage issues. I feel like there should've been some deactivation protocol for the "nuke." Ochako simply grabbing it didn't seem like enough to properly secure it, especially with a mostly-unscathed opponent still in the same room. Now that I know what Momo's power is, her team having the materials to barricade the door makes a lot more sense. "Emergency Exit" Iida is still a fun nickname, but a demolished security gate at the main entrance was a bad sign. I think that the flames in the fire disaster area would be gas-fed and flowing around things that aren't typically considered flammable, like with artificial fireplaces. There are times when Handy doesn't have the fingers spread on the extra hand over his face. How can he see what's happening when not looking through spaces made between the fingers? If Shouto were willing to be more of an anti-hero than Aizawa, he probably could've taken out The Monstrosity by freezing it as hard as he could, and then All Might breaking free of its grip could've shattered it, brain included. By now, all of you have likely figured out that I ride the conspiracy train so often that I have a prepaid pass. I want to be wrong in this speculation, but I feel like the inside man/one of the inside men in the hero community is Endeavor. He may be frustrated at perpetually being considered lower in the hero hierarchy than All Might, and he's reached the point of desperation so that he was willing to help (at least conceptually) in the creation of The Monstrosity in order to take out his competition. JoJo: SC - Since it's been several weeks since I saw these episodes, my recollection of the events is very poor. Here are the main points I remember: 1. I really don't know how both Dio and Jotaro were levitating. It didn't make sense to me. 2. What the crap happened to Dio after he "drank" Joseph's blood? His hair changed, he got skinnier (Jonathan's body was a brick wall), and his color scheme changed. He looked more intimidating before becoming completely integrated head-to-body. 3. Yes, Dio gained longer time stoppages (these were even beyond Namekian seconds as well), but Jotaro was a quick study to not only use S.P.'s time powers, but to even freeze time in a time freeze, if I remember what happened correctly. 4. After the massive trauma to Jonathan's body, most of the blood would've spilled on the ground, so there wouldn't have been enough blood volume to make Joseph's circulatory system function, even if Jotaro could use S.P. to pump Joseph's heart, but that's not the only problem with reviving Joseph. There's also the fact that he wasn't just dead from wounds inflicted by Dio and The World, but he was warm and dead for several minutes (even accounting for time stoppages), meaning there would've been no preservative effect of cold on his brain, meaning his brain would've suffered massive cellular death due to the hypoxia. Even if an adequate blood volume could be put into his body and his circulatory system restarted, he would have catastrophic brain damage, leaving him most likely only able to operate his autonomic functions (breathing and heart beating), if that much. He could be so far gone he'd need life support machines just to stay alive. As much as I was pleased to see Joseph survive the show when several others didn't, nope. It wouldn't have worked just from the plain medical science standpoint. 5. What were you thinking, Jotaro? You should know from first-hand experience not to get on an airplane with Joseph. 6. I wonder what Joseph told Kakyoin's parent(s). It's unlikely Noriaki left without telling them with whom he was traveling, so they would be right to blame Joseph for failing to keep their son safe. 7. Hooray, Holly recovered, and I guess lil' Josuke did as well, if the Stand sickness hit him at all. 8. In all, it was a good installment, but parts of the Egypt Arc seemed to drag on, as if they needed to make a certain amount of content last for a set number of episodes, when that part of the show could've been three or four episodes shorter. Oh well. I was glad I watched it.

I never noticed that about Jotaro's old hat. Hm. Just the old stuff for now, minus finally finishing JoJo: SC. That and MHA marathon should be before Saturday night. Should. No promises. MHA - This was soooo much fun to watch. In a way, I'm glad I didn't watch this on the television, because my cheering may have gotten too loud for someone else who was sleeping in the house that Saturday night. Both Shouto and Bakugo showed that they had good control over their quirks and were able to use them to accomplish the objective of getting through the course quickly. However, Izuku was observant, opportunistic (in a good way), and clever, using the robot armor to ride the cumulative shockwave of the mine explosions. Yes, the science of 1. the kind of explosion it was, 2. the materials of the armor, and 3. the human body's reaction to large, sudden forces mean we would be more likely to have a shrapnel-riddled, internal organ-liquefied Izuku than a flying one, but eh. I really liked when he used his trained muscles to put himself into a position where he could use the other two as leverage for one last blast to clear the minefield. Regarding the others, I was surprised that Iida finished 6th. I feel like Momo's power is essentially transmutation, but she must start using things other than her clothing for source material if she ever wants Mineta to leave her in peace. Plus, she was absolutely right to hit him when he was clinging to her. Ah, so the support course is for those looking for employment around the hero community, but they don't necessarily have or use quirks in constructing their inventions. Hooray for those who likely excel in math and hard sciences. I liked Aizawa's insightful comment about the USJ incident survivors turning their fear into action, and his comment about the rate at which Class 1A was represented in the group that advanced being more about them firing up themselves than anything he taught them was good. I'm not sure why Midnight took off her mask/stylized glasses for a few moments, but okay. As for the cavalry battle coming up next, I'm fine with team-based events, and I'm also fine with a graduated point system, but I feel like the valuations are off. For the lower places, the values went up by five points for each ascending place. Going by fives, that would make Izuku worth 210 points, but Shouto and Bakugo would be worth 205 and 200 points, respectively, meaning scoring from any of them would be of great benefit. For Izuku to be worth ten million points says to me that at some position, the scoring system changes drastically. It makes me wonder what the other nine of the top ten are worth. Yes, it paints a huge target on the obstacle race winner, but it could be possible for a team with the race winner on it to win, even if the winner is taken down, if they can get enough of the other top ten. We'll see how that goes. DBS - Wait. Were the Zenis playing a "board game" with planets? If I saw what I think I saw, the lost "game pieces" were destroyed. While the planets in question weren't necessarily inhabited, some of them might have been. In that case, we're talking about millions, or even billions of sentient lifeforms, let alone the potentially trillions of other non-sentient living things, dying for a game. I know that Zeni is supposed to be dispassionately detached from the lower realm (the ordinary physical universe where the Earth and other planets are), but this strikes me as depraved indifference; the Zenis know that the planets could be inhabited, but they don't care whether they and their populations are destroyed. To me, that approach should be more in line with Beerus and the other Destroyers. There is hope, though, since the Zenis could also restore the planets when the game is done. We didn't see that happen, but it is possible. I know from reading and the end of Kai that Trunks would have a younger sibling, so Bulma being pregnant isn't a complete surprise. As for the timing of it, we haven't seen her in a crop growing season (Goku sparred with Gohan just after tilling the fields, and now he has a crop ready for sale), so it is possible she was pregnant the last time we saw her in the show, but she wasn't showing yet. I will say "good man" to Vegeta, both for staying with his wife when she's close to delivering instead of running off to train with Goku and for admitting through actions that Bulma is still a good-looking woman. This Tournament of Power sounds like a good excuse for a lot of battles, but I know from a co-worker spoiling me on some things that Beerus is right to be concerned regarding the details. Goku's battle addiction is about to have serious consequences for people he's never even imagined could exist, let alone met. AoT 3: Third time's a charm - My dvr messed up and didn't record this like it was supposed to do. When I looked earlier in the day, it even listed it as set to record, but when I got up at 11:50 pm Eastern, it wasn't on the list of recorded shows (neither was MHA, which also showed that it was supposed to record). Thus, I had to C-roll the sub (same for MHA, but I watched AoT and wrote this section first), and I feel like I would've liked some of the English V.A. performances for this episode, but unless it reruns (which I suspect it eventually will), I won't get to hear them (at least for a while). Biggest revelations of this episode to me were about familial relations. Levi's family name is Ackerman. I don't know whether that means he's Mikasa's cousin or a long-lost brother, but I guess outstanding physical prowess runs in the family. We also learned that Krista's dad is the true heir to the monarchy, meaning she's a princess and not just part of some Noble house. Now, whether that means that her dad is the brother of the king, who has no heirs of his own, or the "king" is a decoy figurehead to take pressure off Krista's dad, or if the "king" is some usurper who took power by some kind of coup, I don't know, but I hope we do learn those answers before the end of the show. In the eyecatches that Toonami usually doesn't show us, in "information available for public disclosure," we learned that Kenny and his team were outfitted with gear specifically designed to combat people equipped with ODM gear. Part of that is the armor plating we saw on Kenny, but the rest was 1. a detail about the ODM rig that it makes their users move faster, which I take to mean at greater speed through more forceful propulsion in the form of gas canisters that can hold higher pressures, and 2. that the hand cannons they have appear to be magazine-fed with a capacity of six shots. It actually read, "six shots magazine x 2." It also pictured in the same section as that quote something that looked to me like six gas canisters rather than six cartridges. Now, I'm not sure whether that means that each hip rig holds six canisters or each canister can fire six times, but, in the latter case, the way compressed gas works would mean that each successive shot would be slower than the one before it, because there would be lower overall pressure in the canister. However, something I saw when a group of three guys were chasing Levi made me think that those may actually be cartridges in the picture, because it sure looked like the shots the guys fired had muzzle flashes. If these are actually firearms and not air cannons, then between the power of gunpowder and the size (diameter) of the projectiles as determined by the bore of the barrels, those would be horrible weapons to fire. Imagine firing a shotgun with one hand, but, unlike Levi in the bar, without the full mass of a long gun to mitigate the recoil. It would be a hand/wrist-breaker. If the military does truly have magazine-fed firearms, and those weapons are intended for use primarily against other humans, then the projectiles wouldn't need to be nearly that large. I can think of only two reasons for such large projectiles. First, large-caliber bullets could also be used against titans to slow them down, if necessary, and that's the positive interpretation, even though that "positive" scenario would mean titans had reached the interior, which is to say inside W. Rose. Second, and with no positive interpretation, is that the weapon isn't meant only to kill, but also to shock and terrify any nearby comrades/cohorts/associates of someone shot with it. It reminds me of a scene from the show Stargate: SG1. In it, the main team including Amanda Tapping and Richard Dean Anderson's characters, were training rebel Jaffa in how to use automatic firearms (if you don't know the show and the overarching story, go read about it yourself, because it would take too long to explain here). The Jaffa didn't see why they needed these new weapons instead of their energy staff weapons. To prove the point, Anderson's character asked them to fire at a suspended target log for some duration of time and counted the number of hits (three, if memory serves). He then instructed Tapping's character to shoot at the log with what I think was an FN P90 automatic rifle, but added the difficulty of telling one of the Jaffa to set the log swinging before clearing her to open fire. I don't think the log was fully severed, but it sustained dozens of hits in less time than the Jaffa with the staff weapon had. At the end of that comparative demonstration, Anderson's character said of the staff weapon that it "...is a weapon of terror. It's made to intimidate the enemy," and then said of the P90 that, "this is a weapon of war. It's made to kill your enemy." Given a later revelation by another character, I feel like the people designing the anti-ODM rig and its weapons more likely had the second motivation in mind. Whoever this serial killer Kenny is, he's good, and it seems like he's quite familiar with Levi. That strikes me as something which will be problematic in the coming episodes, and that's going beyond his group succeeding in finding and abducting Eren and Krista to deliver them to her dad. I would like to know more, show. It was said that barkeeps are allowed to own firearms for personal protection, which makes a degree of sense, because drunk people get in fights that can get out of hand, and the barkeep needs a way to keep things from escalating too far for their own safety and that of other non-belligerent patrons. However, specifically identifying barkeeps as being permitted to have firearms carries the implication that not all non-felons enjoy the same consideration from the government. If memory serves, we've seen that people in the rural areas have them for hunting purposes, but I want to know if firearm ownership is limited to people that the government determines have a lawful need or use for them. Now, if my speculation regarding the reason for the caliber of the anti-ODM rig sidearms is correct, then I would say the majority of law-abiding citizens have such a need, but I doubt the show's government would agree. PTE - Armwrestling champion Pipimi taking on and beating not!Robocop made me smile. The cowboy drawl for the second-half mayor was fun, too. Love being a hug is fine, but why was friendship a slap? Maybe it's because real friends will intervene to stop their friends from being obnoxious. I take it that blurry!Bob Epic Team Popuko is capable of fast-dodging. JoJo: Diamond - Ms. Higashikata was sharp to spot that the one milk had been compromised, but I was amazed that milk delivery was even still a thing at that time in Japan. The criminal called her hot, and I guess she's okay, but I'm not sure whether it's the shift in art style or her sour expression that makes me think she doesn't look that pretty. No, show. The sanitary sewer system, the plumbing to which the drain would be connected, would not meet up with the supply lines for municipal water unless there were underground leaks in both. The only way for the water Stand to get in the pipe for the sink would be for it to come out of a drain in the house and make the jump through the air into a faucet. Crazy Diamond's (C.D.) power to repair damage or restore things is quite useful, since it enabled Josuke to exorcise the water Stand from his mom. It does make sense, though that it couldn't revive his dead grandfather, only repair the mortal injuries to his body. In that case, Josuke didn't act quickly enough, because it would seem that he could heal mortal wounds, like the hole C.D. punched through his mom to blast the water Stand out of her, but because his grandfather was already dead, it was too late. Still, given the shenanigans Jotaro pulled with Joseph at the end of Stardust Crusaders, he has no room to speechify about Stands being unable to revive the dead. That's logical and narrative inconsistency there, author/writers. Josuke truly is a Joestar, coming up with a crazy plan to use C.D.'s power to trap the water Stand in a reconstituted rubber glove after it entered him. No, criminal guy. You are completely wrong. You attempted to use your Stand to kill Josuke and Jotaro, and you were a deadly threat through the power of your Stand. One tiny leak or tear in that glove, and your Stand would be back in the fight. Deadly violence against you would be justifiable. In the case of Josuke, there would also be the factor of him being the avenger of innocent blood, seeking natural justice against his grandfather's murderer. Thus, yes, they both, but especially Josuke, had the right to kill you, and I would say that Josuke did by encasing him in the rock. The criminal wouldn't be able to attend to his physiological needs, so he would die within days. HxH - Our group of Hunters emerged pretty far from the Palace for only having ten minutes until the sorting started. Yikes, Knov. I didn't expect your hair to shock white from the stress of the nen you felt in the palace. While you won't fight, at least you are going to help the group use your portals, and I can respect that. Good luck finding Palm alive and getting her out safely, Ikalgo, though I'm not sure that she'd trust the word of a C.A. to escape with him. Morel estimating his power to be at 35% almost certainly spells his doom. It's impressive that Killua was able to work out that Pitou had to heal the King from the fact of Pitou's En subsiding during Knov's infiltration. Poof's scales inducing a hypnotic state on the citizens is strange and rather convenient for their purposes. BC - The three other Midnight Sun members were okay, but I don't think I buy them being stronger than captains. I mean, Yami alone fended them off for quite a while. Sure, the numbers game eventually would've caught up to him, but the other three captains (I agree with Finral about enjoying Charlotte's eyecandy) arrived to take the burden off him. I feel like the defector from House Vermilion (well, I presume that's what she is, since she has red hair and fire powers) is Ang's proxy character in the show, what with the multiple declarations of hatred and trying to kill characters, but there is one notable difference; Ang wouldn't fight Yami unless he offered to remove his clothing if she could defeat him. Shippuden - Wow, show. Even more flashbacks? Really? So, Naruto is still resolved to return Sauce to Konoha. Sauce is still resolved to get revenge for his slain family, even though the majority of the clan was planning a revolt, and Itachi taking them out could be considered a preemptive strike. Sakura still couldn't get the job done alone. Kakashi was still the most competent one of them all, even knowing what was happening to Naruto when he really started feeling the effects of Sakura's poisoned kunai. Ah, Sauce was going completely blind and will need an eye transplant to keep his sight and eye powers. Of all the Uchiha eyes available, Itachi's would likely be the most compatible since they were from Sauce's brother. OPM - Missing bargain day at the supermarket is a big deal, and especially so for someone on a limited budget like Saitama. Genos destroying the building did save them time in the form of removing the choice to go up seeking Dr. Genus, considering one might suspect he'd be on the top floor. Lupin - Lupin's brain must be better at synthesis than Rebecca's, since he put the information together in one night when she couldn't after probably weeks of solid study over the years. While spies may be more of a danger to any one person, Shadow People are still more terrifying, because spies will only go after targets of value, whereas Shadow People are indiscriminate. Curse your photographic memory, Nyx. Millions of people get mind-hacked by Leonardo because of what you learned here.

Shippuden - I can only presume there was some kind of production delay or public emergency when this episode was made, because it struck me as 80-plus percent flashbacks. The only notable new development is that Naruto disobeyed a direct order when he chose to pursue Sauce, Sakura and Kakashi, in reverse order of how he'd likely encounter them. At least Kakashi made sure the people Sakura drugged weren't dead. I'm probably alone in this, but I'm glad he saved Sakura from Sauce's cowardly attack. I have no hatred for her, so I don't want to see her die. Back to Kakashi, he may not be an Uchiha, but he is a practiced and skilled Sharingan user, so he was able to survive Sauce's Susanoo attack, but Kakashi is lucky that Sauce has used his eye hax extensively and thus reached his limit, making him at least temporarily blind. Sakura, what the crap? Not only did you hesitate to kill a wounded person when it would've furthered your mission to kill Sauce by (maybe) earning his trust, but you also failed to take him out when he was blinded. Seeing the multiple bite marks on Karin, I must wonder how often Sauce has gotten thrashed. Also, some of those marks are in rather suggestive areas. If Sakura knew that Sauce biting her heals him and restores his chakra, then she'd be right to question what they were doing when some of those bites happened, but then she'd get all insecure and jealous, and we don't need that. I did watch the most recent one live, but I was very tired (being up for over a day and only getting a few hours of sleep before the shows makes it really easy to fall asleep during a show and need to rewind repeatedly) and didn't write any notes in Notepad, so I have very poor recollection of what happened. That said, two jonin and someone with jonin-level skills shouldn't be having this much trouble with one jonin-level ninja whose ninjutsu are largely visually-based when that one ninja is almost (temporarily) blind from overusing his special eyes. I do remember Kakashi used his Mud Wall jutsu at some point, and I do like his Hokage Mountain-styled rendering of his Ninja Hounds on it. It's a nice touch on his part. SD - Wait. I know we're dealing with a multiverse, but this contradicts the racing episode of the first season about Dandy being deified on some planet one billion years in the future. For one, Dandy rejected the opportunity to be a new god, so he shouldn't have been deified in the first place. For another, the Super Halkaider subjected all universes to both the Big Rip and then the Big Crunch, meaning there wouldn't be planets, much less habitable ones, yet. Since the rough age of the multiverse in the present of the show is 14.8 billion years, then even if this is set in the future of the Bebop-verse, it's still over 1 billion years in our future. That means that the Bebop refrigerator lasted that long. Sure, in the vacuum of space, there wouldn't be much to cause it to degrade by rust, but it would still be susceptible to damage and erosion by micrometeorites during its interstellar (but not likely intergalactic) journey. Oh well. It was still a nice nod and corroborating clue that this is in the future of the Bebop-verse. OPM - The brat with the big chin probably needed some therapy after seeing Crabalante's innards gush out of his eyestalk hole. The fire in unemployed-jobseeker!Saitama's eyes showing up again in his dream about fighting the molemen was nice, but I must wonder if he has some kind of precognitive power, since he dreamed about the invasion before it happened, making him ready to thwart it with one kick. Genos still looks cool, yo. Here's my take on Genos' ≤ 20-word backstory: rogue cyborg killed his family. Scientist made him a cyborg. He has been seeking vengeance for years. I feel like homeowners', business or rental insurance would be impossible to get in the world of OPM. Lupin - Goemon may be a killer-for-hire, but he was chivalrous to try to keep a young girl from killing herself in the past and even more so in the present to save a woman's life. Just because the assassinated dictator was evil and corrupt doesn't mean the Italian politician wasn't both of those things to hire the assassins to kill the dictator for the politician's personal and professional benefit. If anyone is a true victim here, it's Zora. He was paralyzed in the process of using violence to protect his employer from a deadly, premeditated attack, and he was later murdered to further a corrupt politician's plan to eliminate witnesses. I still find it hard to believe that no one recognized the wine guy. All he did to change his appearance was trim his beard and lose weight. I refuse to blame Lupin for being blinded by his desire for Fujiko and agreeing to accompany her after agreeing to attend with Rebecca. I'm not sure how Lupin impersonated Percival's voice. I feel like a modulating device or program would be involved there. Remember, spies will abduct or kill anyone necessary to complete the mission, even the rich and famous.

HxH - Wow. I'm not sure whether the nen Knov sensed was that of (one of) the Royal Guards, the C.A. King, or both, but it freaked him out completely. He didn't even bother to grab his shoes as he left. Also, it's more than a little gross that the one unfortunate C.A.'s head and decapitated body are just lying around in one of Knov's pocket dimension spaces, presumably beginning the process of decomposition, which they will continue to do until Knov goes there and removes them. Morel and Leol share taste in music. Okay. Here's hoping Morel doesn't hesitate, especially when he and we have no idea what borrowed power Leol is about to use. Yep, administrator dude wanted sex slaves. Here's hoping Palm doesn't get caught, because if Pitou takes control of her and uses her power to spy on the boys, Knov, Knuckle, Morel, and Shoot, then they're all in even deadlier danger. Dang, the slave in the red dress was really tall. I know Palm needed to infiltrate the palace to gather intelligence, but I really hope she didn't actually let the sleazy bureaucrat have sex with her. If she did, I really hope he wore a condom. He seems like the kind that wouldn't want the complicating factor of his sex slaves getting pregnant on him, so I would think he'd use protection. Regarding her sneaking around, I think someone detected her. That aura cloud looked like it was coming for her. Oh, hey. Ikalgo stayed with Killua. I like that all Killua needed to do to pay his bill was call in an EFT. I also like that Killua clarified what it means to be friends to Ikalgo. I want to call shenanigans on Morel using carbon dioxide poisoning to disable Leol. Unless Morel can somehow selectively breathe in only the oxygen, which would be even more hax than his superhuman breath control already is, then it would take quite a while for the carbon dioxide Leol exhaled to reach the concentration which would make him dizzy, give him a headache, and make him pass out, given the size of that chamber. As for Morel knowing whose borrowed power that was, I feel like his indignation over that made him try to end things more quickly than he otherwise would've. The actual way to spell Poof's name is d-r-a-m-a. Yes, after several days of non-stop playing, the girl should be very tired, about to die of thirst, and famished. It wouldn't truly count as winning if she collapsed dead during a game, so letting her tend to her body's needs is only sporting. We know the Hunters' plan won't go smoothly, but here's hoping at least Gon, Killua, and Knuckle make it out alive. I'm fine with Morel and Palm surviving as well. I don't expect Ikalgo, Meleoron, or Shoot to survive though. Actually, I don't expect Knuckle to survive either, but I would like it if he does. BC - I looked up the crazy glasses woman, because I need a shorter way to refer to her, and I figured her name might work. It's Sally. I'm not sure I'll remember it right away, but I can try. Anyway, dang, was she bringing the fanservice. Also, I'm not sure how she was able to get near her superior (Licht, which I think literally means light... Oh no. No, no, no. Surely we're not about to have another pretentious and self-righteous villain named Light. Please, no. I know it's been more than ten years, but we're surely not due for that kind of douchebaggery again). He always does that blinding light thing, so unless her back is to it, she should also be unable to see to approach him and his spatial magic portals. Good on you, Marie. You understand your brother's professional, and I would say ethical, obligation to help the abducted children, as well as his duty to his colleague. Yes, I get that unscrupulous nobles took advantage of your trusting parents and arranged their deaths in order to gain their assets, but being forced out of your home and made to fend for yourselves doesn't mean he gets to shirk his duty as a magic knight to protect citizens, like these children, from malevolent users of magic. Furthermore, I would say that the laws of the Clover Kingdom need some examination for reform if an orphan stealing food for his young sister to eat immediately constitutes a crime against the kingdom. Also, I'd totally support Gauche using his status as a magic knight and any resources available to him in that capacity to investigate his parents' deaths. If he can prove the unscrupulous guy(s?) were behind those murders, absolutely take that to the justice system (well, at least copies of the proof, with more copies left with powerful people he can trust, like his captain, maybe Fuegoleon, and Sister Theresa (the old nun) and the originals hidden in a place known only to him and Marie), and try to have the schemers prosecuted and their ill-gotten gains restored to his family. When Gauche wondered whether Asta, upon saying he'd rather die than give up on protecting the children, was insane or stupid, my thought was, "oh, he's definitely both." I think that combination tends to make Asta more entertaining on the whole, but there are times when it can be wearisome. Gauche using his mirror magic to create multiples of Asta must've been Ang's worst nightmare for this show, and of course they were all yelling. From an in-universe technical standpoint, though, I doubt the others were true copies. It would make sense for Gauche's copy to be able to use the same kind of magic that he uses, because he could impart some mana to it. I highly doubt it would be possible for magic to replicate the anti-magic effects of Asta's swords, and thus the copies would've simply been hacking at the mud monster with purely physical attacks. It's a bad thing that the one mage here who can use recovery/healing magic is badly wounded. Get Sister Theresa to medical help a.s.a.p., guys. I wrote regarding one of the previous episodes in this stretch that it felt like filler, but if both Asta and Gauche got new abilities in their grimoires and we got to see that Licht has a four-leaf clover grimoire, then this might actually be mostly canon. That means Rebecca trying to start a relationship with Asta could also be canon. Let the awkward pseudo-harem hijinks begin. BWAHAHAHAHA! Hi there, Yami. I was glad to see you actually fight, because dang, were you awesome. Your backstory was okay, but it was made better by the way you told it. I enjoyed you actually trying to teach Asta how to be a better close-combat fighter, like a real military superior would, and it was more than a little surprising that Asta started picking up on your ki-sensing technique so quickly. There's a show on the CW called The Outpost, and I feel like there are similarities between that show's M.C.'s past and revenge motive and Licht's, but that character doesn't seem like she wants to overthrow a national government and supplant it: she just wants to kill the individuals who killed her people. I'll admit that Yami not being able to come up with a plan and shrugging it off as Future Yami's problem made me smile. Good, Theresa is probably going to survive. Angle of reflection aside, I can't see any particular problem with the idea of using a mirror to reflect the energy of a light magic attack. The physics could work. However, regarding the concept of dark and light magic, I feel like light should be the stronger of the two, provided the mages have relatively close mana levels, because darkness is simply the absence of light. As soon as some light is introduced, it's no longer truly dark. Around here, it only takes about 7 - 10 minutes from the first traces of the eastern sky lightening until there's no sign of black night sky on the western horizon.