FoleyisGood149

AoT 3: Third time's a charm - I'm cool with the plan to use Eren's Rogue to plug the hole at Shiganshina. Then the humans could start working toward reclaiming the lands between W. Maria and W. Rose. Hange was great when she went to investigate Pastor Nick's murder. She all but accused the MPs of the deed right there, but the way she said it was such that they couldn't, with a transcription of her words, say that she did so. Yeah, if we have a government, or factions within it, that would order soldiers to murder a man to keep him from sharing what he knows with other soldiers, then that's a government in need of reform or replacement. I recognize that if the public were to learn that the Walls contain titans, there would be panic. However, I feel like that could be mitigated at least somewhat by sharing Hange's findings about the association between sunlight and titan activity patterns. These titans have been deprived of light for decades, so they are no danger as long as the Walls are intact. The bigger problems are what to tell the populace about the history of the Walls, what connection these titans have with the history the government has tried to suppress, and how long the government knew what it knows. Preventing public panic is only a convenient facade for keeping the secrets of the Walls secret. Hm, so they went with Team Decoy again. That's wise, but I still don't get why Eren calls Jean "horse-face," but there's a bigger problem. That problem is Armin being molested by that sleazy kidnapper. For one, it's very bad that the skeezer thinks he's molesting a teenage girl and sees nothing wrong there. For another, I feel like if he did discover Armin's sex, either he'd get mad, beat Armin, then possibly rape him anyway, or he would be unfazed by the revelation and continue with the molestation and/or rape anyway. I gather from Levi's flashback that he was once a criminal. Whether organized or not, I don't know, but I would speculate that he was caught and given the choice of military service or prison. The problem with prison in this show is that it likely doesn't exist for serious criminals. Either they would use the death penalty or exile them beyond W. Maria, which would effectively be a death penalty. I take issue with Kenny. My biggest issue isn't with the government employing a known murderer to make bothersome people go away; we know the government is packed with corrupt sleaze like that. My issue is his (and his associates' ) weapons. Those things were huge, veritable hand-cannons. Granted, they appeared to be air cannons, but still hand-cannons. Those likely would use an entire ODM gas canister per shot, which is likely why they had a quick-release and quick-mount system like we've seen for the swords. That's my problem - this is a world where gunpowder firearms exist. Granted, back in Trost when the cadets needed to kill a room full of titans in order to recharge their gas canisters, we're talking about black powder muzzleloaders, but still firearms. I feel like if the technology exists to pressurize gas for propellant, then it would be a society which could've invented cartridge firearms with magazines as well. The only reason for Kenny and co. to use the weapon system we saw was for the speed of reloading. The drawbacks, though, would be that the weapon system 1. would be much heavier, and 2. offer the capability to carry far fewer shots, as well as 3. the projectiles likely being much slower, which means 4. the projectiles would need to be much more massive to deliver lethal force. The heavier barrels would also mean that 5. it would be more difficult to aim. Thus, I feel like the weapon system would be inferior, on the whole, to firearms. Even if Kenny and co. had to carry several loaded pistols, that would likely be lighter and faster to switch out for the next shot. FLCL: P - No, Haruko. Don't you dare dis Jinyu's sweet Kamina shades. In other words, N.O. could be the secret to efficient space travel. However, it might be like Knov's portal power in that the sender must know the place where a payload or crew is being sent. I wonder which has a greater influence on someone's N.O. potential between stress-associated compounds and ordinary puberty hormones. We know that both Haruko and Jinyu have strength above the human norm, but I wonder if their guitars are composed of some super-dense material which would make them far heavier than an electric guitar should be. Ide's trouble swinging one makes me think it's heavier than it looks. Canti gets all the ladies. It's a shame that Hidomi and her mom had to have their heart-to-heart through the medium of a girl who presumably has been augmented with M.M. technology (Canti was originally one of M.M.'s robots). At least Aiko appeared to be a blank conduit at the time and thus would be unlikely to remember the touching conversation she facilitated. Haruko OUT! PTE - The tower of shogi masters was okay, but I'm really not sure what caused the Pipimi A.I. to explode after the furious exchange of moves. The rehash of Popuko's furniture ambushing her to cause her to go back to sleep seemed like it was trying too hard to top the first time they did this bit. No, I'm not talking about the difference between the first and second half of the episode. I couldn't tell what they were making, but that much sugar going into it struck me as this being analogous to people using a lot of condiments at restaurants giving rise to the smart-alec question, "hey, do you want some fries with your ketchup." I preferred the Greg Ayers version of Popuko getting mad at a game, playing some more, then rage-quitting. I would've fast-forwarded through the second version of Hellshake Yano, except I heard Ian Sinclair, and I had to hear his mouth guitar here. Surely manatee is more expensive than beef in Japan. I mean, it's illegal here (as far as I know), but who knows about there. The best part of the yakuza story for me was when Pipimi brought in a hater to resurrect Popuko with the power of sheer rage. At least, that's the scenario I would like to believe happened. It could've been a case of Popuko surviving the hit on her and faking her death to lure her and Pipimi's enemies into one place to kill them all in one fell swoop. Don't believe the lie, Bob Epic Team!Popuko. That dance or whatever it was will never catch on. Its movements are too large and powerful. I usually bake meats to cook them, because that's what's easiest for me, and I will usually let sausage links or patties (which are close enough to bacon) sit for 10 or 20 minutes after removing them from the oven before I use paper towels to absorb some of the grease out of them. Thus, I don't have the problem the bacon guy had with grabbing the meat while it's still very hot. JoJo: SC - I'm far too tired to write about this right now. I've been up for over a day at this point, so I'll get around to it sometime. JoJo: Diamond - I can't say that I'm fond of the shift in art style, but it won't drive me away. It just looks a little more... cartoony. This criminal with a Stand is bad news. I expected deadly violence, but I didn't expect to see imagery suggestive of him raping the woman before killing her. Um, Josuke? If you don't want people to mock your hair, perhaps you shouldn't be wearing a pompadour in the late 1990s. It's irrational to choose an odd hairstyle and then flip out when people comment on it. What the crap was with Jotaro's hat? Even before Josuke used his Stand, it looked like the sides of the hat gave way to Jotaro's hair in the back. In other words, had the Stardust Crusaders failed, we did have another hope waiting in the wings in the form of pre-schooler Josuke. Joseph, you scoundrel.

Regarding things Ang wrote, I'm not sure which of the people Iida brought made me happier to see between the gunslinger and Midnight, but both were good work on Iida's part. There's no such thing as too much sugar. No. Such. Thing. As to Dio's sex appeal for Ang, once again, Jonathan Joestar. Only the head is Dio's. The body, and the Stand which stemmed from it, are Jonathan's, just under misappropriated new ownership. Remember that fact every time Dio talks about his power; it was stolen. Straight up hijacked. Sure, he had to learn to use it, but it wasn't his until he stole it with Jonathan's body. Dio didn't even know he was taking it. This was all just a bonus for him. Do you not remember Kenpachi? Yachiru called him Kenny all the time, and he was at least subjectively terrifying. As for Poke's musings, I'm pretty sure Dio's OP shenanigans are the only reason we got a full OP here. I don't think we've had one before this. As fanservice-y as Sally was, I reminded myself of the single most important piece of relationship advice (for a male) I've ever heard: you do not put your dick in crazy. Another threefer not truly broken by episode. DBS - Yeah, Barry was unsavory and had seeds of evil in him, so the escaped alien powering him up that much is understandable. Good on Videl for seeing through Barry's petty motivations and noting the highly suspect nature of the photographs even existing. Also, she was right that Gohan didn't kiss the singer girl; the singer girl kissed him. Aw, Pan said "Daddy." That was so cute! Regarding Gohan fighting monster!Barry, I can fully believe that Gohan would still be tough enough to take whatever punishment was dished out, and it would be difficult for Gohan to limit his offensive output to be just sufficient to disable monster!Barry and render him unconscious. I feel like the director was styled after someone, but I'm not sure who. Plus, the director was astute to spot the opportunity to record a different big battle that woud cost very little from a production standpoint. That is, unless the studio was put on the hook for the property damages that resulted from monster!Barry's rampage. Wait a minute, Goten. How would a movie version of Gohan as Great Saiyaman be cool, but his live, in-person version be dorky? Make up your mind, kid. Chi Chi feels me here. Or was it Goku? I forget. Yes, at the Super Saiyan level, Gohan can provide Goku with some decent sparring, but destroying the fields took it too far, even though the fight did look cool. In other words, Krillin is having his mid-life crisis a little early, but the nostalgia is good, and it has the added benefit of making Marron proud of her daddy. He did have a point that in his fighting shape, he wouldn't have been hit by that shot at all, but the others did neglect that he saved the life of a fellow officer. Also, point of realism (I know, I know), the cabin of a car would be concealment only against automatic rifle fire, not cover. The engine block might stop some of the rounds, but don't count on it if you find yourself in an active shooter situation, but the engine block is likely to stop most handgun rounds. So, if I remember correctly, Goku's secret to beating the magic apparitions was not to fight, and Krillin had to muster the courage to face those who've killed him previously without the aid of Goku. Okay. It was weird to see Krillin with a shaven head again after seeing him with hair through the Final Chapters of Kai and all of Super up to now. Nimbus! ♥ MHA - The teleporting villain was right about All Might bluffing, and Izuku's intervention was timely. Regarding an exchange between Izuku and Handy, I feel like the disintegrating effect of Handy's quirk would take longer to engage than the almost instantaneous transmission of overwhelming force from One for All. I'm glad that the gunslinger hero was able to sharpshoot Handy's hand away from Izuku, though, so Izuku only suffered self-inflicted injuries in that exchange. Related, I very much dig that there is a hero who is a gunslinger, but with astounding accuracy. I'm not sure what his quirk would be, but it's still satisfying that the show admits that even in a world of superpowers, firearms can still be effective. It's completely logical that the villain with electricity powers was unfazed by the electricity kid's attack. It's good that the other teachers are aware of All Might's secret limitation to his powers and are ready to act to protect it. While Izuku's injuries may have been within Recovery Girl's ability to treat, I feel like All Might being there was also to protect his secret. All Might's assessment that he may have reduced his capacity to use One for All is bad news, but I did expect it. The Monstrosity complying with police orders says to me that one of its primary personality traits, be it genetically imparted, learned, or both, is obedience. It seems that as long as a command is issued with an authoritative tone, it will obey, unless it contradicts a prior order. The group of villains were sent by a shadowy group of superiors. That doesn't sound good. It sounded even worse that one of them seemed to have inside knowledge of the happenings at U.A. As much as All Might asking Izuku to have lunch with him made me smile, that didn't last long when we learned how much using Plus Ultra shortened All Might's ability to keep his hero form. I didn't expect All Might to write a letter to someone who is presumably his mentor, perhaps even the previous wielder of One for All. The U.A. Sports Festival being a showcase for the students is great for those with professional hero(ine) aspirations, but I feel like the society is being jerks upon hearing how much the interest in the Olympics has declined. Presumably, anyone with a quirk would be barred from Olympic competition, and thus it would be the place to see contests between people who have, through thousands of hours of practice and training, honed their skills at their events to the pinnacle of human capability (well, the pinnacle of humans without some happy accident of birth granting them specific powers which would enable them to excel at something). Ochako wanting to go pro to make money to support her parents is admirable enough. It's better than Izuku wanting to be like All Might and Bakugo wanting to show off how badass he thinks he is. Bakugo is an ass, but it was fun to see him piss off the other class and the entire stadium audience, with the possible exception of any of his family members in attendance. It can't be said that Shouto wasn't using good strategy when he used ice on the other competitors. It was a jerk move, though. The squad of giant combat robots was unexpected this soon in the competition, but I'll be interested to see how the rest of them are taken down.

Shippuden - So, Danzo is using a Sharingan hax that can save the user's life, but if used to full extent will cause the user to go blind in at least one eye. Given this intended purpose and the sheer number of slain Uchiha's, I would say that Danzo and evidently Orochimaru would've been fools not to try to preserve as many eyes as possible, be that in specimen jars or, more likely given the nefarious nature of these two men, by implanting them in other subjects, either for those individuals to use or just as living containers to keep the eyes alive should Danzo need to replace some of his after a serious battle, such as this one. Danzo can use Wood Style like Yamato, and it was said that Danzo could do this because he had some of Hashirama's cells implanted in him, presumably by Orochimaru. This could mean that Yamato was also a test subject for Orochimaru. While Sauce may not be as good at genjutsu as Itachi was, he was good enough to trick Danzo into thinking he had one more use of Izanagi than he actually did, and it worked to make a mortal wound take. I'm not sure how biting Karin works to heal Sauce's wounds. I guess he's an energy vampire, both literally and figuratively. Danzo was wily, having the sealing jutsu ready for his moment of death, but he still seems like a cowardly, pale imitation of Hiruzen, both now and in the past. I should've paid more attention in the flashback to see what emblem was on Karin's headband back during the chunin exam. I forgot how desperate and clingy Sakura was back when Sauce left Konoha. I'm going to disagree with Ang on Sakura's chances. Sure, the likelihood of killing Sauce would be higher if she hadn't sedated all her teammates, but she's still going into this confrontation fresh, and he just finished a fight against a ninja skillful enough to wound him several times, and that fight required Sauce to use several justus which use a lot of chakra. Thus, her chances may not be objectively good, but they're not as bad as they would typically be. SD - At 750 Wulongs/hr, going with a seven-day week, Dandy would've been paid 126,000. Even if we grant that he'd only be on the clock for 12 hours a day, that's still 63,000. I'm not sure how long Scarlet would need to work to earn that take-home, but given how crazy, possessive, and violent Dolph was, I would call it money well spent. It still stings a little that Dandy and Scarlet never really got together. Curse the timing of that train or multi-sectioned truck, whichever it was. The lines "Paul, you bastard," and "I can't marry a rectangle" still make me smile. Regarding the Aloha Oe's giant scissors, I'm not sure why they didn't get drawn into the 2D universe upon contact. I also have no idea why they would have them. Maybe they were fabricated onboard with a 3D printer. It is thousands of years in the future, so maybe that kind of technology is as widespread then as indoor electric lighting is now. What kind of terrible legal system doesn't even make sure the defendant is awake during a trial? Yes, the red hair plays a part, but dang, Rose is a beautiful woman. The life insurance policy on her husband should've come to both the defense and prosecution's attention during discovery. I can believe that no pet shop would buy Meow. Not only is he sentient, though an idiot, but he'd also eat way too much for a shop to want to care for him until he would be sold, which, since he's not adorable and tiny, could be a very long time. CB - I only watched Black Dog Serenade in the last few weeks, because I love that episode. I noticed something that didn't occur to me previously. On the show The Expanse, they give a very realistic portrayal of space travel and the physics and technical considerations. In the most recent season, they addressed one of the ships being able to generate spin gravity, or centripetal force, and how people would be able to walk around on other ships in zero G with magnetic boots. We know that the Bebop and the prison transport ship each have a spinning section where people can walk around normally, and we've seen the Bebop crew float in other areas of the ship. We saw in this episode that Udai had slip-on shoes, presumably to deny the inmates access to laces which they could use as weapons. Slip-on shoes would be unsuitable for magnetic footwear, and yet it looked like the inmates stood and walked normally on the flight deck of the transport ship, where the blood from the inmate Udai killed floated in droplets. That technical point is easy to miss in an episode with such an engaging plot, but it's still strikes me as an "oops." A prison colony on Pluto would be as close to escape-proof as possible, because the only escape which wouldn't result in a rapid, frigid death would entail stealing a ship from the dock, and if the dock can be secured, then there's no way off the dwarf planet. If inmates get those neck bar code tattoos to identify them, does the incarcerating authority pay for tattoo removal for those who serve out their sentences? Whitney still had his in My Funny Valentine, but he was a fugitive, so he might've escaped a low-security prison (as he was a non-violent offender, a low-security facility could've been an option for his incarceration) or skipped town, violating a parole arrangement. Lupin - The crooked detective should've been charged with the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. I don't know about anyone else, but I keep my bandages and other wound treatment supplies in the bathroom, not the kitchen. Do other people keep a kit in the kitchen? Am I the odd one here? I wouldn't know, because this is all I've ever known. Nyx's daughters get their looks from Mrs. Person, and they should be glad for it. Lupin sure puts the gentleman in gentleman thief, not only releasing Bridget as soon as he discovered her presence, but also protecting her from incoming gunfire, shielding her with his own body. Lupin is still a good guy to arrange the little girl's remains' burial. Those were some elaborate deathtraps for a castle in the early 19th century, and it's astounding that they'd still work without being maintained in likely decades, if not longer. Mama packing a minigun was just overkill.

HxH - I'm not going to remember all the numbers about Morel's powers, but it looks like he can make nen people like Razor could, but in higher numbers. I don't know what Cheetu did or how he gained this spatial power, but I like that Morel's plan was to try to wait out Cheetu's patience. I like that Knuckle being kind to animals while still respecting their wishes started to win over Meleoron. I feel like to record the blind girl's dialogue as someone who has nasal congestion, the V.A. might've had to hold their nose or stick fingers in their nostrils as they spoke the lines. Those mental images are funny to me. The blind girl is also really good at the game, adjusting her playing strategy to stay ahead of her opponent as they improve. What really impresses me, though, is that she has to keep a mental picture of the game board with her opponent telling her what moves they make. That would take astounding memory and concentration, but perhaps her daily experiences as a blind person help with that, since she would need to know the layout of her home to make it easier to navigate there. This would be an extension of that life skill. Morel's patience paid off, and he was able to use stealth and guile to beat Cheetu. Lion dude's nen power is strange. He can temporarily use the powers of someone else if that person owes him. It's useful, sure, but I feel like he'd need to be much smarter than he seems to be able to put borrowed powers to proper use. I don't recall whether Knov has functional plumbing in his pocket dimension, but I really hope he does. Yeah, the blind girl doesn't seem nearly old enough to have been playing gungi at a national level for that long. She must be older than she looks. Maybe she's like Biscuit, hiding her natural form most of the time. As for the girl talking about betting her life on the outcome, she has a pretty bleak view of the necessity of success. A loss dooming a champion to obscurity is taking "what have you done for me lately" to an absurd extent, but that's H x H's version of North Korea for you. Of course the old dude who actually handles the real business of being the head of the government's administration would be a collaborator. Granted, he was likely given the options "cooperate, or die," but he didn't need to accept the the offer of sex slaves as a bonus for his help. Actually, that may not be the C.A.'s idea to bribe/reward him. That could be a pre-existing arrangement which the C.A.s don't care enough to alter. I hope Palm beats him severely for his sleaziness. The blind girl was quite decent to refuse to play until the C.A. King's wound was treated, but for the sake of the rest of humanity, she probably should've played and given him the chance to bleed out during the game. BC - I'm cool with Klaus admonishing Yuno to keep this gift celebrating his promotion for himself in light of Yuno sending most of his money back home, like Asta does. Regarding the promotion, I presume he was promoted higher than Asta because Yuno was part of the effort to capture one attacker alive (with Charmy also being involved in that capture), while Asta, though he fought more opponents, did not capture anyone. Thanks for the handy rank chart, show, even though it wasn't on the screen for very long. Mirror lasers could be problematic for Gauche's opponents. Also, he must be a preferred customer at the toy store, given the personal treatment he received. Since Marie is in the care of a nun, I must wonder where her and Gauche's parents are. It's funny that this nun called Asta the annoyingly loud boy to clarify who Marie meant when she said his name. Chill, Gauche. Asta was simply entertaining a group of children, and he was right about what Marie said to your over-reaction. That marriage comment is just the kind of thing little kids say, not knowing the full significance. Plus, we the audience know that Asta has his heart set on an older woman in Sister Lily. I like that Rebecca's younger siblings were pushing her to make a move on Asta. What? I can ship him with the cute redhead and also ship him with Noelle. I don't have a super-strong preference here like with other competing ships (such as Hinata for Naruto being my preference over Sakura). This stretch that feels like filler has given Magna the most screentime he's had in months. At least Noelle is starting to admit to herself that she does care about what Asta does and who he goes to see. Oh no. We've got a Pied Piper on our hands, only this mage uses snow hypnotism to abduct children instead of music. I'm concerned not only that the children are being taken by someone who appears at first glance to be mentally unbalanced, but also that they're walking through the snow with inadequate clothing for the environment. So, Gauche was a criminal, and I would presume that his service in the magic knights is in lieu of spending time in prison, because his skills impressed Yami. Since mana can be depleted by use, it would be a kind of energy, and thus it could theoretically be possible to extract and store it. However, I don't feel like it's something that could be permanently taken, because it should replenish with time and rest, which is to say not actively trying to use it. The big dude should have massive internal injuries from that strike by Asta. Oh well. Wounds like that don't matter to a mud monster. Good work, Noelle, on doing the sensible thing and calling for backup for a situation that was too big for the three of you. Poor Sekke. He didn't have a chance, going to the Bulls so late at night to alert them of the mass-abduction. Of course Vanessa was passed out drunk, and Mumbles was the only one fully awake. I liked that we got subtitles of what he said, which was fairly innocuous, but the way he speaks coupled with the atmosphere gave Sekke quite the fright. Since the old nun could use flame magic, it's not terribly surprising that she's an aunt or something to Fuegoleon. I didn't expect her to be a retired magic knight, though. It is neat that her recovery magic can help with the children's cold exposure trauma. I like that Asta was able to figure out that he didn't need to cut the children to free them from the snow hypnosis spell. Simply tapping them with the guard of his sword was enough. Ah, the kidnappers were working for the crazy glasses woman. Okay. I'm torn, though. She's not nearly as much fun as Hange, but she did give some fanservice with her skimpy outfit under her open robe.

FLCL: P - In Hidomi's first post-apocalyptic nightmare, I thought it was strange that her head and torso were covered in blood, but her arms, which were rotting off, didn't look like they were dripping. Mrs. Hibari reminds me of Mrs. Mankanshoku for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on it. It's strange that they didn't dub the thug's dialogue. Hm. Ide's N.O. connection seemed much more under Haruko's control. Maybe she's refined her skills in manipulating the connections. Jinyu called the device on Hidomi's head an enzyme inhibitor. If powerful emotion is a component in establishing an N.O. connection, as the park full of hormonal youths later in the show would indicate, then perhaps Hidomi's flat personality, including her lack of reaction to Haruko showing her what sounded like porn, isn't completely under her control. When she and Ide started laughing about her coming to see him to give him the worksheet, and thus all the madness that ensued stemming from something so mundane, the device looked like it started to cycle up in reaction to her change in mood. Yeah, Haruko had a great rack, but Jinyu is a fine woman herself. Thanks for the grown woman fanservice, show. Stirring a dish together in front of the customer strikes me as unnecessary. Frankly, it would make me even more impatient for the dish, because it would be right there, but wait! It's not ready to serve yet! It must be mixed before we can give it to you. When the food gets to the table at a restaurant, I expect it to be ready as soon as the server can reasonably place the plates on the table. Forget this stirring it in front of me nonsense; if it hasn't been stirred already, just set it down, and if I feel like it needs it, I'll stir it myself. PTE - The story of how the army of Pop-chin's enslaved humanity was funny, as was the hybrid car enabling Pipimi to kill silently. That cuckoo's time is limited. I would think that Popuko's payment for contract killings would be in the form of partial payment to take the job with the rest due upon completion. Eh. That, friends, is how Popuko saved the Earth from an alien invasion. Evil Pipimi slapping down the power of friendship was hilarious. I'm with Poke. The x-ray scans of racer Popuko reminded me of Kikaider. I loved Popuko calling out the creepy, horror-movie caller with her favorite nail-studded bat. The dude with the mirrored shades had a point. They couldn't prove he was looking at them if they couldn't see his eyes. Those twins are going to be horrible to raise. I've never heard of owl feed, and the bird on the box didn't look like an owl to me, but eh. JoJo: SC - Good boy, Iggy. That was quick thinking to use The Fool to save Jean and lure Ice out of his Stand's pocket dimension. Once S.C. could start really landing strikes on Ice, Jean made short work of him. Setting aside that a human Ice would've been killed in the previous episode when S.C. stabbed him through his open mouth, Ice showed all the weaknesses of a vampire here, being killed by being knocked into a beam of sunlight. When we saw the vapor images of Avdol and Iggy look back to Jean, I took that as them respectfully acknowledging that he avenged them by killing the enemy who killed them. Once again, I didn't notice, like with Enya, that something was wrong with the other vampire's hands, but I could tell that something was fishy about the crying woman who wanted to escape Dio. I thought almost immediately that it was a trap, and it was in more than one sense of the word. Good on the trio of Team Joestar members all seeing through the ruse. Even if Jean has now bandaged his amputated toes area, he'd still be bleeding significantly from that and other missing-flesh wounds. Plus, I know someone with several amputations on their feet, and the missing toes impact their stability when standing and walking tremendously. I would estimate that this person can walk no faster than half my normal walking speed. Now Jean is going to take that fresh mobility issue into a confrontation with Dio, which means I don't expect Jean to survive. In other words, Dio was simply toying with Jean by moving him back down the stairs when using his time-freezing power. Regarding the power itself, that's just plain unfair, author. Sure, there's a limit to how long Dio can do it, but that limit is increasing with practice, and as a vampire, it doesn't matter to him that he would age while using the power. See, guys? This is why you should've had Avdol burn the mansion to the ground from the outset. Not only would he and Iggy be alive, but Jean wouldn't be maimed, and you four wouldn't need to flee a vampire at night. Splitting up was probably a good idea, because Dio couldn't kill them all at once. I have no idea where Joseph would carry that much cash on him. His clothes are rather tight on his buff bod. Still, buying the vehicle helped for a while, until Dio threw a Senator into the cabin to make them crash. While Kakyoin did manage to learn the effective range of The World and what its special power is, he died to make it happen. At least Joseph was smart enough to figure out what Kakyoin's dying message was. Oh, screw you both, Dio and the author! You took Joseph from us too! I fully support Ang's dismay here. We're running out of protagonists. At this rate, we'd better hope there's a classmate of Jotaro who learned during the events of this show that she's pregnant with his child. The problem is that that Joestar descendant will only have Suzie to teach him or her about Hamon, Stands, and the threat of Dio. I don't recall Dio being able to OUTRIGHT FLY back when he faced Jonathan. Neither do I recall any other ordinary vampires being able to do that. Even Kars had to shapeshift to grow wings in order to fly. Dio having that ability now out of nowhere is even more blatant cheating, author.

Poke: Asuma was a Sarutobi. The Third Hokage's given name was Hiruzen. A threefer with things not broken by episode, but I am breaking it into multiple posts. DBS - I don't understand something here. Because the wind from Hit's punch couldn't go faster than his fist, how would that impact, which would impart less force due to the comparatively lower mass of the air molecules, be fatal when a punch to Goku in his blue state likely wouldn't? Poor Bulma. Sure, she was well-protected by the airbags during the crash, but she also wrecked that car when she hit Goku. Still, it was funny that a passenger vehicle hitting him didn't cause him to budge at all. You're a maniac, Goku. That's the kindest way I can describe someone who would put a contract on their own life for the challenge of battling the hitman. So, Hit has access to Tobi's pocket dimension. That could be handy. Of course Gohan could do the stunts. Even Yamcha could probably pull off the tank one. I like that Gohan chose to do it not only to spare the stuntman the hardship of the star's unreasonable whims, but also as something to show Pan when she's older. Nice save, Bulma. Of course the singer girl overheard everything and would blackmail Gohan, but a flight home is a small price to pay for discretion. Krillin probably would've had the human robbers handled. Once the escaped alien fugitive possessed the smaller one, maybe not, but things could've been resolved before that without Gohan's untimely intervention. I feel like Jaco could easily be set straight if Gohan were to identify himself. MHA - It was astute for the students to note that the teleporting villain must not have known what each one's powers were, because they weren't necessarily put in disadvantageous locations, like Tsu's powers being a good match for a water area. The principal of U.A. looks adorable, but even from what little we heard him say to All Might, he would bore most people, myself included, to tears. Even though Izuku only broke a finger and thumb, I feel like he should be learning more control by now. At least he knew to use his non-dominant hand/arm for this stuff. Okay, I'm done. I'm through trying to defend purple-boy with semi-plausible excuses. After his poorly-timed comment to Tsu about her bust and even more inappropriate groping, I'm going to accept that he is a shameless breast fan and say this to the latter act: dude! Time and place! This is neither! As for his quirk, it may not have much attack potential, but it looks to me like a good power for disabling villains that don't know what his power does (provided the villain needs their hands to direct their own powers). All he needs to do is hit one with one of his sticky balls, and when they grab it to pull it off, their hand would become stuck as well. At the least, it would distract the villain and give another hero an opening to take down the villain. Dang. Aizawa had some sweet combat moves. I'll admit that I didn't notice his hair standing up when using his quirk, so I will credit Handy with spotting that. Even with Aizawa's skills and power, he was still one man fighting a mob, so it was only a matter of time before the number of opponents overwhelmed him, and the introduction of the monstrous product of genetic science (the Monstrosity) did nothing to help Aizawa's chances. The wounds it inflicted on him were gruesome and I would say sadistic if I were certain that I could attribute intellect to it. It can't be a good sign that it took Izuku's punch directly and didn't flinch. I'm wondering if Izuku's problem all along has been technique. He didn't strike me as someone who got in fights or would've studied martial arts prior to enrolling in U.A., so it could be that he was never taught how to strike. Back in college, I took some karate and tae kwon do classes as electives, and in at least one of those (maybe both, but I can't recall which was the case) we applied our learned skills to break boards. I know the TKD instructor told us that we needed to target a point behind the board for full arm extension in order not to hurt our fists. Izuku was aiming for Handy to keep him from killing Tsu, and the Monstrosity stopped his punch short, meaning that Izuku's point of aim was behind the Monstrosity. Thus, he would've been using proper technique for that strike, and he didn't wreck his hand and arm. It would be funny if the answer was that simple. Iida did well to follow the plan to get reinforcements which would bring more assistance to the battle than he could provide. I'm not sure about what I saw with Momo's quirk. Her quirk could work one of several ways. It might enable her to make things out of energy, which could either come from her own body or the environment. She could essentially be an alchemist, which would explain what happened to her outfit. Alternatively, she could simply have a very particular magic. I'm curious to know more about her power. Bakugo, chimera kid, and Shouto all did well against their opponents, so maybe they should see about rescuing Aizawa while he's still breathing. 13's black hole powers were more than a little terrifying, and even more so when the teleporting villain turned them on 13. Given how drained All Might was earlier, I had a bad feeling about him facing the Monstrosity. Fortunately for him, he was paying enough attention to note that one of the Monstrosity's powers was shock absorption, meaning it didn't negate the force, and thus it could eventually be overwhelmed. Also, there's no way I would've kept count of how many times he hit the Monstrosity. I would expect that Plus Ultra is going to leave him substantially drained and possibly injured badly later. Stop, Handy. Just stop. The key element of moral justification for use of force is whether the recipient of the force has or is actively abusing (the rights of) others. Look no further than this excursion by your group. These students, as a whole, are unlikely to have initiated a wrong against one or more of your group, as the students are aspiring heroes, and thus probably haven't done much in public with their powers yet. Your group arrived, uninvited, and proceeded to use its collective powers to attack the students. Regardless of any perceived wrong by the heroes on staff at U.A., you initiated hostilities against these students. Your stated objective for this invasion was even to kill someone. The goal was murder. The merits of any claim of vengeance aside, mostly because we, the audience, don't know those details at this point, you collectively set out to deprive someone of their life when that person posed no immediate danger to any of you. Thus, this invasion and the force your group is exercising are not morally justifiable.

If only one of the three can be saved, I hope it's Killua. I have no ill-will toward Avdol or Iggy, but I just like Killua the most. Also, Gon might go a little recklessly revenge-crazy were Killua to die, and we don't want anything bad to happen to him either, so yeah, save Kilua first, shows. DBS - Wait a minute. Gohan played baseball at least once in high school gym class back in DBZ, so he should know at least some of the rules. Also, while taking the field with fewer than nine players is unwise, I don't think it's expressly prohibited. Yamcha did well to survive the various strikes and score while everyone else was distracted. He shouldn't take Bulma's praise too seriously, though. She may be a former girlfriend, but she's also a very powerful fighter's wife. No, show. Marron is older than the age where we'd expect her to try to stick a baseball in her mouth. I'd believe Pan would try, but not Marron. MHA - I can respect Iida voting for someone other than himself if he thought that person would be the best. I consider it a sign of integrity. Judging by his story about his family, he has a big legacy to uphold, and I wish him the best of luck with that. After he learned the nature of the security alert, he also showed leadership and quick thinking in how to calm the mob rush. Thus, I can absolutely respect Izuku's decision to hand over the class rep office to Iida, but I will recognize the legitimacy of Momo's mental objection, since she did receive more votes. Wow, that was a brutal, but not necessarily inaccurate, assessment of Bakugo's personality. It's interesting that All Might transferring One for All to Izuku is slowly depleting the amount of power All Might has. Presumably it's continuing to build in Izuku, but that means that he'll need to learn control with that much more urgency. The disaster-themed training center was impressive, but that's a lot of intruding villains for just two teachers to face. I have no doubt that the student's will need to get involved in the fight. I wonder how extensive Izuku's knowledge of villains is and how much help that information will be. FLCL: P - I'm sure I didn't really understand everything that happened. What I mostly took away from the finale was that Hidomi learned that neither the world nor anyone in it is going to just give her what she wants; she had to fight for it. That took the form of both her conversation with her mom about continuing to run the cafe together and her donning robotic armor to retrieve Ide. Haruko's life lesson seemed to be that she can't always get what she wants, no matter how hard she fights for it. For instance, she came across as a clingy ex to Atomsk, and while he did still care about her, he wasn't about to be tied down by a relationship, the chains she tried to use to bind him to her, or the giant cage which M.M. presumably used to hold him back in the first series. I didn't expect her to break down crying over Atomsk to him, though. Maybe that was part of her being "complete" by incorporating Jinyu. Aiko being a transmitter to Canti was unexpected, but it was even more surprising that she was integral to the potted plant neutralizing the M.M. iron and its indiscriminate sticky dough attack, and given Fat Caesar's efforts, she just might actually become his girlfriend after this. I'm guessing Atomsk's powers had something to do with Canti being fully physically restored. Wait, what? Amarao is Aiko's grandfather? That's what I make of the old woman saying Aiko's dad had small eyebrows like his father. Just how far in the future from the first series is this? PTE - The song Pipimi and Popuko sang about loving someone sounded a little crazy stalkerish, and I found it funny. The footage of the V.A.s revolting over a garbage script was funny, but the best part was when the second female was said to have been traumatized by how bad it was and demanding she do impressions, something she'd never done previously. Oh, show. Do you even know what you tried to pull? The zoo, which evidently became Australia, supposedly featured Tasmanian Tigers, which weren't actually part of Felidae, let alone Panthera. Depending on how deep one goes into the weeds on cryptids, there are some trail camera images which supposedly show examples of Tasmanian Tigers in the wild in the present day, but the majority of the zoological community accepts that they became extinct in 1936. So, unless decades of researchers are wrong, shenanigans that our duo would see one that wasn't a taxidermy sample, sculpture, photograph, or artist's rendering. JoJo: SC - Ice's Stand power is formidable, but I don't like that it enables him to be a coward, hiding during most of a battle. I do like that at least the face of his Stand must emerge for him to see his surroundings, since he's in a pocket dimension when hiding. He was lucky that Jean didn't go for a bifurcating slash after stabbing him through the mouth. Jean really dropped the ball there. Iggy's sand-double ruse was worth a try, but it got him beaten badly. Actually, I'm amazed Iggy is still alive. He is a tiny dog, and his hemoglobin is likely low from losing part of his leg against Pet Shop, and now here he was kicked repeatedly by someone who was muscular even when human, but now that attacker also has vampire strength on top of it. I think that even the first kick should've broken several bones and ruptured organs, and the damage to soft vital tissues would've been greater with each successive kick. Iggy should've been killed after no more than five kicks. Jean was clever to figure out a way to detect the void sphere in the room, but he did his lungs no favors in it. I'll admit my initial thought about the search spiral of death was that Ice was trying to make that part of the roof collapse on Iggy and Jean. However, that could be a problem for Ice. Since damage inflicted on a Stand transfers to its User, then wouldn't, say, energetic exposure also transfer? If the roof did collapse on Iggy and Jean, then sunlight might be shining on what was left of the roof of the room. If sunlight were to touch Ice's Stand, then wouldn't it be possible for the effect of that energy to transfer to Ice? Well, collapsing the roof wasn't Ice's objective, so I guess this is a moot point, but it is an interesting thing to consider. Perhaps now that Jean has been taken into the pocket dimension, we'll get to see whether he and Avdol are truly dead. I hope not. HxH - Yeah, yeah. The C.A. King is good at difficult board games. I get a feeling he'll lose to this blind kid repeatedly in this latest game in the coming episode(s). Meleoron's secret power is impressive, and I like that he used his more readily notable invisibility to keep his secret power secret. However, it being limited by how long he can hold his breath is a problem, especially since he's taken up smoking. I do like that he's motivated to kill the C.A. King to avenge Peggy, because of who Peggy's human source material was to Meleoron's human source material. It is an interesting point that he can recall memories of who that human was and identifies as still being that person. Meleoron's point about trusting Gon being different than trusting someone Gon trusts is a good one, but Gon had a good way to address it - talk to Knuckle for himself. BC - Mumbles? That observation diary is more than a little creepy. Asta? Give up on Sister Lily. She doesn't want you, and you've met at least two females who are interested, even though one won't admit it to herself. This episode glossed over that Yuno gained Sylph as a magical familiar. Shippuden - I'm fine with Kakashi looking for Sakura to talk her down in order to save her life. The obvious answer as to where Danzo got all those eyes is from the corpses of the slain Uchiha Clan members. Whether the obvious answer is the correct one is uncertain. I think we still need confirmation from Danzo about it. If Karin and Sauce were in some kind of genjutsu cast by Danzo, wouldn't it be possible for the genjutsu to mess with her chakra detection and reading capabilities so that she wouldn't be able to discern that it was a genjutsu? Something strange must be happening for Danzo to keep coming back unscathed after Sauce delivers a notable wound to to him. I saw it too, Karin. Implanted eyes on Danzo's arm keep closing, as if they're getting tired. I take that as an indication of how much chakra he's using. If memory serves, Itachi's crows were indicative of him using a genjutsu. I don't see any reason the same wouldn't be true of Sauce now. SD - The turntable Dandy used to play his interdimensional record was a good model, since it could rotate in both directions. The stellar wind from Planet Grease's star could've easily blown away the dust and debris from it, meaning it wouldn't necessarily reform at that orbit, or at least as a planet of the same size. Lupin - Even if Lupin was rendered as a zombie for the release of Rebecca's movie, the raw footage would still have his likeness, and there would be at least one person on the digital artistry crew who would've seen and worked with that footage, meaning they would know his visage and could've saved some of that raw footage to give to law enforcement, were that artist aware of Lupin's reputation.

Can you blame him? Her top is revealing, and given that he's drastically shorter than her, he would need to look up past them to look at her face, and even then, they would still easily be within his field of vision and a constant distraction screaming for his focus. Whoa! Whoa. Calm down with the death threats. Yes, the way the (hopefully) deactivated remains of Canti were bound was absolutely a nod to Lilith from NGE. I feel like Arale would play with them if they ever met, but Penguin Village is so small and remote that they'd never be anywhere near it, and she wouldn't feel any need to go looking for them. Even if they did play, one of them would probably knock off her head and the other would take it while covering her eyes until they could figure out how to turn her off. It would be expensive, but maybe one made of kevlar would work. However, it would breathe rather poorly, meaning he'd sweat a lot, thus necessitating increased hydration. This is a twofer, but I won't necessarily break comments by old and new episodes, because I might not remember what happened when. DBS - Poor King Kai, Gregory and Bubbles will just have to wait a while longer. Still, no one can blame Gohan for wanting his child to be made well. Plus, I feel like Porunga held out longer on Namek back in the day. Yes, Arale and Goku did meet back in the DB manga, and it was fun. I thought some parts were particularly funny, like Vegeta's awareness of the genre mash-up in this cross-over, Goku finally being able to recall who Arale was after her head was knocked off beyond simply knowing that he had met her previously somewhere, and Arale telling Goku not to make her wait another 30 years before they would play again. DBZK - Yeah, sure. Goku wants to train Uub to protect the Earth. Whatever. This abandonment of his family, and especially his granddaughter, is yet another example of him being a bad parent and friend. I feel like Pan beating Goten was at least partly him being a good uncle and holding back so he wouldn't hurt her. MHA - That was a mistake, show. You named a chemical compound in association with Bakugo's powers. That is something which, if I were more motivated, I could look up the energy density of it and analyze the explosions he produced to determine the volume of explosive sweat he'd need to produce. My gut reaction is that his hands alone are unlikely to be able to produce that much in a short period of time (especially when he had already used some of it), making me skeptical that he could unleash such a large blast, unless he had been wearing the gauntlets for days, which we know wasn't the case, or his whole outfit could collect sweat and pipe it into the gauntlets' reservoirs. Oh well. Iida did well trying to defend the "bomb" against Ochako, until he was completely overwhelmed by a rubble barrage. I'll disagree with some details of Momo's assessment of the match, in that the rubble would be unlikely to trigger a nuclear detonation, but it could cause an explosion which would turn the device into a dirty bomb. I would be more concerned about Izuku's use of One for All triggering a detonation, meaning he was lucky that the "bomb" was moved to a location which wasn't directly above him. Momo was right that the hero team took advantage of the training nature of the mission to win, but they were much worse for wear and would've been killed by actual villains in the aftermath of their plan. Thus, the main points of her assessment were good. I'm curious about whether she was recommended for admission primarily for intellect, Quirk powers, or the combination of those. We finally got properly introduced to a bunch of Izuku's classmates. Mina is cute, if you don't mind that she looks like a 1960s Star Trek alien. Plus, black sclera can be hot (attention to panels five and six). There are also several classmates with great control of their powers, and those powers have area effects rather than close- or mid-range limits. Plus, the one guy was a straight-up chimera. Wow, Bakugo. Paranoid much? Plus, yes, it would be quite rattling for someone with such an inflated ego as Bakugo to be outshone by the powers of several other students. All Might barely being able to make it through a class without reverting to his base state, when he didn't even need to use One for All, is not a good sign. Neither is a group of villains targeting him for murder. Not from either of these episodes specifically, but the UA nurse being called Recovery Girl, despite her being an aged woman, makes me curious as to how long Quirks have been prevalent in society in the show's universe. FLCL: P - Chipper Hidomi was strange. Brown kid's job testing the viking ride would've killed him when it flipped him were this a show with less toon force. I'm not sure what to make of Haruko consuming Junko, but that was obviously the cause of her "pregnancy." Ide is certainly no Naota with the guitar bat. Maybe his N.O. connection isn't strong enough. The park trying to use the collective N.O. of a gaggle of teens was a nice try, but Terrestrial technology looked like it wasn't up to the task of stopping the giant iron. Maybe they could get some help from whatever presumably alien civilization(s?) that put that enormous immigration processing space station into orbit. Plus, does this mean 1. that a bunch of aliens are now living on Earth, 2. a bunch of Earthlings are going to other places in the universe, or 3. both? It tugged a little at the heartstrings to see Hidomi and her mom fight about how closing the cafe was tantamount to the mom giving up hope that her husband would ever return. This also makes me more curious as to who he is and what happened to him that his family is uncertain as to his whereabouts. PTE: If the following episodes are anything like this one, then the only reason to watch the second half will be to hear the different voices for the characters. I do like that Popuko, the blond one, has issues with anger and violence. Shut up, shadowy guys. Azumanga Daioh was a four-panel manga, and it became a real anime. PTE will do fine. JoJo: SC - Of course D'Arby would have the Devil's own luck that Noriaki's car hit his just right to launch him onto the next section of track over. Jotaro did well to learn/show Joseph how the controls work in a single inning. I was puzzled as to how he could defeat the mind-reading power of Atum, but since he wasn't the one pressing the controller's buttons, Jotaro could think anything he wanted. I smiled when D'Arby asked if Jotaro was going to do the OraOra thing, and his mind practically shouted "yes." Yeah, Cool Ice strikes me as another victim of copyright pressures. I feel like him becoming a vampire would make him easier to defeat, since it's still daylight outside and all they need to do is smash some holes in the ceiling or walls to let some sunlight into the estate. Also, his Stand either is a selective black/white hole or has access to a pocket dimension, like Tobi's hax. If it's the latter, then Avdol may yet be alive, albeit double-maimed and bleeding profusely. If Avdol's not dead, he'll need medical attention in short order. I would like to think of Jonathan's body still trying to reject Dio's head after all these decades as Jonathan still fighting the good fight against evil, even if only on a reflexive level at this point. HxH - All I remember about Gon from these two episodes is that the chameleon guy tried to convince Gon to work with him for some reason, and Gon saying in a matter-of-fact manner that if the guy was lying, he'd just kill the guy. I know that Killua fought an octopus C.A., and kind-of befriended him in the process. I know that Killua killed a breaching shark C.A. I also know that Killua was faced with an absurd level of hax in the Ortho siblings nen powers. Killua showed remarkable presence of mind to recognize the dart game being played and keep a running score as he was being wounded to know where the last throw would be and prepare for the dart. However, shenanigans on the fish darts moving into him. If they materialized from nen the instant before the actual dart made contact with the board, then the fish darts would start with zero velocity and no momentum at that instant, and the actual objects to which they were tied would be decelerating. Unless we're looking at a quantum entanglement situation, then the fish darts would only have that split second to gain velocity, and for someone with tough skin, like Killua, then they wouldn't gain enough kinetic energy to pierce his body. Now, it would be different if they materialized in the body, but that's not what the green guy said. Also, since the last dart didn't hit, then technically wouldn't all the damage revert to the green guy? Oh well. That said, Killua's trap worked, but the damage was already done. Thankfully for Killua, the octopus C.A. wasn't willing to let the good turn Killua did for him go unrewarded. BC - The Sephirot chart with places for presumably magical jewels looks like it would be a lot of trouble, even in the most benevolent, well-intentioned hands, because there would almost certainly be some kind of catch to any intended good it could do, and any malevolent user would have the perk of some kind of bonus misery befalling someone, but likely not the user him-/herself. As for Asta and Charmy both getting promotions, 1. I like that he now technically outranks Magna, and 2. Charmy lording her new rank over several of them was funny. Finral trying to get wingmen for the mixer was okay, and I feel like he did choose those who would provide the least degree of buzzkill to his wooing efforts. Aside from Vanessa being passed out, she might also make the women jealous of her assets. At the mixer, yeah, Asta showing off his probably-stitched-shut wounds would be a turn-off, and Luck is a bit too fight-crazy to hold a normal conversation without mentioning it. However, Luck did do well to compliment the beautician girl on the kind of fine control her magic would require, and Asta was able to bond on a more personal level over their experiences with younger siblings. He even stood up for her when the drunk guy wouldn't leave her in peace. It didn't turn out to be a completely bad date for them, and I want to smack him for being so blinded by his fixation on Sister Lily that he would be unwilling to pursue a relationship with this willing woman. Poor Mumbles will never find love, because no one can hear him well enough to know what he's saying. Shippuden - I was a little surprised that the fight against Kisame only took one episode. I guess it shows what a jinchuriki with a cooperative relationship to his Tailed Beast can do, especially if he gets an assist from a Kage. Also, Samehada infusing the chakra it steals from an opponent into Kisame is totally cheating. Imagine the thrown controllers in a fighting game where one player had a cheat code that would boost their health bar with every hit they landed on their opponent. Ah, good. The Mizukage was able to save her subordinate from death and got his body un-hijacked. I'm cool with Sai's Ink Clone relaying that Sai is starting to understand other people's feelings (and Sakura's plan to find and kill Sauce with the assistance of her Academy classmates). He just may become a real boy by the end of this show. I'm fine with Danzo being ousted as interim Hokake in favor of Kakashi. Tobi's extra-dimensional space access and phasing powers sure are convenient hax to have. I'm curious to learn more about them, as well as what happened with his arm. He just tore it off once the Aburame guy's beetles infested it, and it was kind of pale, like Danzo's arm. Speaking of Danzo, what the crap, man? I can understand Kakashi getting an eye transplant from the dying Obito, but I don't think that implanting them in an arm like that would work. Recall that since Kakashi's Sharingan isn't his own, it uses chakra at a higher rate. If those eyes implanted in Danzo's arm were to do anything in tandem, it would be a powerful jutsu, but it should also leave him almost completely drained after that one jutsu, meaning he'd be nearly defenseless if the jutsu didn't work as planned. SD - "Old" SD: Things could've been really bad if one of Dandy's dropkicks did manage to kill Johnny. There could've been internal strife, or even civil war, in the Jaicro Empire, leaving the Gogol Empire free to pursue their plans for the cosmos. It's tough to top the pryo of a combat mecha exploding to conclude a performance. "New" SD: The music in this was remarkably soothing for a group called Ogre You Asshole. I feel like part of the dialogue of the other residents of Limbo was taken from Shakespeare or some other theatrical writer. Indeed, in at least one dimension, the header onto the console wouldn't have killed Dandy, so for someone who's slipped through dimensional barriers and is infused with Pionium energy, it should be simpler than it otherwise would be to send him to a dimension where he survived. Presumably, though, he did switch places with that Dandy, as seen when suit-clad Dandy returned to Ferdinand, Poe and the sentient motorcycle creature. Lupin - "Old" Lupin: I'm still dismayed that Jigen didn't even try to get with the pretty doctor lady. I've been watching a show on the History Channel called "Hunting ISIS." It's a documentary-style show with embedded filmmakers following several people, most of them from the U.S., who volunteered to work with the Peshmerga, YPG, and local medical facilities in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In one of the episodes, one of the volunteers noted how fewer than ten (I want to say four, but I don't specifically recall if that's the number he said) armed ISIS militants were able to instill enough fear in a village or neighborhood (I don't remember which) to keep hundreds of people from fleeing to safety, essentially holding this area captive through the credible threat of deadly violence. The volunteer's group did succeed in eliminating that threat. In this episode of Lupin, we saw a similar situation in this town with Eric's gang, even to the point that what it took to free the town from the tyranny of the criminals was someone who was a skilled, practiced firearms user confronting the oppressors. "New" Lupin: I still choose to believe that Fujiko both stole and saved the kid. I also still can't blame him for being smitten with her. When she was over him in some meadow, he must have had a terrific view angle of her cleavage.

Then truly Joseph had the greatest teacher anyone could have. That's entirely possible, but the head guy can't be expected to deal with every crisis himself. There are, what, nine magic knight squads? He has to trust that they can handle some things without him. I think the only reason Fuegoleon was maimed was because he was attacked by someone he would have every reason to believe was an ally. Neither he nor Julius could reasonably expect to face a traitor at the skill level of a captain. I read somewhere that early in life, children tend to resemble their father's more strongly, but that can change as they grow. I'll call this Marron taking after her mother, eventually. I may have seen that, but I didn't think anything of it, since it's my native language. It is strange that they would use it when their original, invented text has been the norm. I'm not sure what to make of Pop Team Epic from that promo, but I feel like it'll have very little to generate commentary. DBS - Yes, Grand Zeno was able to eliminate the threat of Zamasu, but he erased an entire timeline to do it, so that could've gone better. Yes, yes, they'll try to time travel and get Whis' help to have Beerus kill Zamasu before he becomes invulnerable, but with the alternate reality version of time travel we have in this show, that's still an erased timeline. Mai and Trunks will simply be going to another one. I dug Vegeta's smirk of respect when Trunks blocked his surprised punch. Stop staring at grown!Mai, lil' Trunks. You didn't like when lil' Mai did the same with your future self, so don't put her through the same self-jealously. Either two Grand Zeno's will be thoroughly adorable and a good thing, or things will end very, VERY badly there. DBZK - This was very padded, but based on canon. The next episode should be the last. I think. Maybe. We'll see. I look forward to Pan demolishing that huge guy. Also, I'm not sure if Super will nullify these events, but Pan here is absolutely older than she is in Super. MHA - Sweet, it's time for the hero outfits. Some were good (Iida, the glasses guy), some were not (sorry, Izuku, but I'm looking at you here. It's mostly the cowl and mask, though. Without those, the outfit would look better). I can understand Izuku getting flustered by how Ochako's outfit accentuated her curves (which I didn't think she would be that shapely), but at least it covered her, unlike the black-haired girl who looked like she styled her outfit after Vampirella. In the team-based combat, of course Izuku would have Bakugo for one of his opponents. Between Bakugo's attitude and his outfit, I can absolutely believe that he would turn one day to be a villain. Good on Izuku for thinking ahead of time about what he knows of Bakugo's fighting style and how to engage him without using One for All. We'll see how that goes next time. FLCL: P - First things first, Haruko and Jinyu looked great, and Haruko looked more buxom here than she did in the first series. I'm fine with that. Hidomi's apocalyptic dreams get stranger with each episode. I did catch the social commentary about disengaged youths having no real friends, just acquaintances. There seem to be a lot of derelict M.M. giant irons around. Are we certain that this is on Earth? Sure, the first series gave us no indication how many of them were on Earth, but it's strange that there would be so many in that small an area, and especially where there would be a low population density. Haruko burying Jinyu in sand and then concrete was funny, but Jinyu's deadpan, even when partly breaking out of the concrete, really sold the gag. I didn't expect that Hidomi's N.O. suppressor would go so far as to anchor itself into her skull. We know that we aren't dealing with real physics and human susceptibility to injury in this show, but yeah, that should've killed her. Wait, what? The patrons of Hidomi's mom's cafe are undercover operatives of some sort. That was unexpected. I must wonder with what organization they're aligned. I was relieved to see toward the end that not only is Aiko, judging by her voice, older than she looks, but also that she was a rented date for the fat blond kid. To me, that is much less creepy than had he actually been courting a gradeschooler, even though he's presumably in middle school. Three or four years may not be much age difference on an absolute scale, but when the younger person would be that young, it's way too much difference. I have trouble believing that the plant will truly be important, but we can never know. I'll admit that it took me several viewings of the first series to really get what was happening there, and I think the same will be true here. JoJo: SC - I'm with Ang on this one; they should just have Avdol burn that place to the ground right now. It's still daylight outside, so Dio, who presumably is still simply a vampire, should be vulnerable to the sun. It would be strange, but highly amusing for terrible reasons, if Jonathan's human body would be fine in the sunlight, and only Dio's head would combust. In that case, Team Joestar could give Jonathan, or most of him, at least, a proper burial over 100 years after his demise at sea. The dolls looked creepy enough without knowing that this D'Arby stuffed human souls into them. Yeah, Noriaki should've just used H.G. to tear off this dude's head. It wouldn't matter that his Stand left some imprint on Jotaro, since the Stand should die with its user, the outlier of Anubis aside. The racing game was tough, but the blind tunnel was just sadistic from a game design standpoint. Also, I thought I saw that they were on lap one of three. In that case, the race wouldn't be over after this first lap, but I don't expect them to drag it out longer than that. HxH - Gon did well against two opponents with greater mobility than he had. I particularly liked the two ways he tricked the bat-girl's echolocation, with the scream at close range to overwhelm it and the "wall" that steered her into an actual wall. Well, crap. Puppet!Deigo made a public announcement to counter Killua's efforts to save the common people from systematic processing and murder. BC - It seemed like we had a notable amount of recap to start this episode. The Silva siblings were jerks, but Captain Silva at least recognized that Fuegoleon fighting and losing was more than they all did, since they didn't fight at all. It's kind of similar to Fuegoleon's comment to Noelle that there's no shame in being weak, but rather in staying weak, which is to say in doing nothing about one's weakness. I liked Julius' advice to Asta, after rescuing him, that he would need to be able to handle situations like this himself if he is to be the Wizard King. Speaking of Julius handling things, wow, did he ever. I'm pretty sure he instantly incinerated at least two of the enemy mages, and it was simply to make it easier on himself to trap the rest of them in one move. I am almost certain that the shiny guy at the end was the shady Golden Dawn captain. Shippuden - Yes, I suppose the news that Killer B was alive could cause A to chill out a bit, which might make him less rash with the lives of those under his command. Thanks for reminding Naruto to keep his mouth shut about what Tobi said, Kakashi. At least, until you can verify the story. I'll give Naruto respect for rejecting Sakura's lie, even though it was something he always wanted to hear. Besides, Hinata's a better lady for him. Killer B v. Kisame could be good, but how is that thing (Samehada) considered a sword? Just because it has a handle doesn't make it a sword. Plus, I don't know why he called that giant raccoon a bear. SD - Sure, Scarlet looked nice in her dress, but seeing Pine-Pine made me think that she should, for the safety of others, never jump. Were her breasts to bounce, they could knock out someone by hitting them on top of the head. Gentle buried the lead when getting outraged over Honey's abduction that they were siblings. It would be perfectly understandable if Scarlet felt she was being snubbed for another woman by both Dandy and Gentle based on their initial reactions. Lupin - When Nyx drove around to head off Lupin, surely there were other exit points either before or after where Nyx entered which Lupin could've used. Something about Jigen not having his hat makes him look even more like he's in dire need of a haircut.

I didn't enter any notes in the Notepad file for this. and my recollection at this point is spotty, so this should be fairly short. DBS - Potarra fusion being temporary in the case of non-Supreme Kais does give us a reason for Kibito and Shin now being separated, but the duration being inversely proportional to the power of the people involved means that the fused Zamasu, who was merged with the extremely powerful Black, which is Goku's body, should also separate before too much longer. DBZK - This was 99% filler (I think the wish about erasing the populace's memory of Buu's rampage was canon, but that was simply mentioned in narration here), but Chi-Chi did look nice in her party outfit. I was surprised that Goku knew the word "pterosaur." MHA - Jerk teacher was a jerk. Sure, he kept Izuku from wrecking himself again on the throw, but threatening students with one of them being expelled for having the lowest score was frankly tyrannical. I'm pleased that Izuku did focus his power more effectively on the second attempt, even though he now has a broken finger. Also, taking issue with the words the teacher used, the student with the lowest score wouldn't have no potential. They might have the least potential of that group, but there would be some potenial, or else they wouldn't have passed the entrance exams. FLCL: P - Hitomi's zombie apocalypse dream was disturbing. I still don't understand why the rest of Hitomi and Ide's class goes crazy when Haruko speaks. Ide has a pretty tough part-time job. Ah, so that's how Jinyu can drive from the back seat - the car is a shape-shifting robot, meaning it likely drives itself. The "headphones" are almost certainly M.M. technology, since they activate to suppress Hitomi's N.O. channel. Perhaps it's part of the measures M.M. took in the past to capture and hold Atomsk, and in the time since the first series, they've caught him again. JoJo: SC - Iggy is a tiny dog with a serious wound. He should've collapsed from blood loss long before he was able to finish the fight with Pet Shop and then lead Team Joestar to Dio's abode. As for Iggy's fight with Pet Shop, trying to hide and wait out Pet Shop was a good idea, but it didn't work. Pet Shop's face meeting Iggy in that void at the end of his escape tunnel would be terrifying for anyone. I applaud Iggy taking decisive action to counterattack Pet Shop while it was preparing the ice missile. I don't know that a bite forceful enough to break Pet Shop's beak would necessarily be fatal, though, unless a different part of Iggy's rather wide mouth also tore into or crushed its throat. Hey there, Noriaki. I'm glad to see that you've rejoined the group, and with healed eyes to boot. HxH - I remember Killua figuring out the C.A.s sorting plan for the humans of East Gorteau (sp?), but that's about it. Angel's albino son is so smart. It's a shame the same can't be said of Gon. BC - Noelle had a good point, Leo. Stop standing there in shocked disbelief and help her try to save your maimed brother's life. As soon as Asta said in internal monologue that his cursed wounds wouldn't stop bleeding, the idea to use his sword(s) on the magic of the curse popped into my head. I probably would've thought of it sooner, but in the other events of previous episodes, I forgot that they were cursed. Ah, good. Yuno defeated his opponent and regained his deprived senses. Shippuden - Tobi gave us a good history lesson about the Tailed Beasts and declared war on the five great shinobi Villages. My order of preference for leader of the alliance is Garra, the Mizukage, Onooki, and A, with A being last simply because he's too rash and would get a lot of the allied ninja forces killed with his non-deliberate decisions. A and the rest of the Cloud ninjas now (or soon will) know that Killer B is still alive and free. Good. Naruto would've needed to sit for a long time in the snow for it to pile up on him like that. SD - Even with that many people on the rope, I think the Munagi would be too strong to be caught. Lupin - Yes, macular degeneration can strike anyone at any age, but Borozzi (sp?) is pretty young for it. I missed it the first time, but I noted when the disguised Lupin commented to Nyx that he must've played chess before when we saw the one thug lose a previous game to him, and, more importantly, Nyx looked like he caught that odd comment as well.

Reply out-of-sequence. DBS - Zamasu's halo thingy made me think of a scene from an Eva AMV. It does have Rebuild 3 spoilers, if any would-be clicker cares about that. One thing I've never quite understood is how the Z Fighters getting stronger and able to output more energy makes their bodies able to withstand attacks which should either shatter bones and rupture organs and blood vessels or, simply by the amount of energy involved, incinerate them. We saw the latter happen to some unfortunate people, and yet both Goku and Vegeta emerged from the same attack connecting intact. They're all made of carbon-based flesh (Earth food would likely be unable to sustain Saiyans if they weren't also carbon-based lifeforms) with large water content. The simple physics and chemistry of their bodies being exposed to large amounts of energy means they shouldn't survive, but they do. DBZK - Yep, a wish is a sufficient substitute for a senzu bean, and adding Goku's strength to the Spirit Bomb did the trick. And that's the last Big Bad of the show. I know there's at least one more episode, but I'm curious as to with what it'll be replaced. MHA - I'm going to lead with admitting I was wrong. The Level 4 combat robot both initiated hostile action and pursued the applicants. At least One For All was enough to help Izuku save Ochako, even if it did wreck his body. Thankfully, she was able to use her power to keep him from falling to his death, and U.A. has some exceptional medical staff which repaired the damage he did to himself. It is strange, somewhat inconvenient, and more than a little dangerous that Ochako must first touch something to be able to use her telekinesis on it. Cool, All Might will be around to help Izuku learn to control One For All. I'm glad that there was an "acts of heroism" category to get Izuku the points he needed, because he was the only applicant who intervened to save another applicant from the Level 4 combat robot. The others all ran from the threat. FLCL: P - Starting the episode with a dream of Hidomi in a wasteland devastated by Medical Mechanica (MM) was unexpected. I can dig a robot sprouting from her head, but it was a more ambitious animation endeavor for her to be surrounded by the robot parts as an armor versus the robot consuming her. Their combined form was powerful indeed. Hidomi's mom is pretty, but she seemed a bit reckless with that knife when urging Hidomi to engage in pleasantries. The mom gets some respect points for both being a single mom and the manager, if not the proprietor, of a cafe. I'm not sure what to make of two things she said, though; Jinyu being cool and for Hidomi to make a spectacular scene of running away should she ever decide to do so, but without wrecking the house. I take it that at some point either Hidomi's dad died or left them, and this is a sensitive matter for Hidomi. It's also quite likely that he was the one who gave her the cat-ear headphones. It's curious that they don't produce any sound even when the "playing" lights are luminous. Now, if that is some restricted MM technology, then it makes some sense that he'd no longer be in the picture. Either he would've been eliminated for unauthorized distribution of MM technology, or he discovered their plans for Earth and gave her this device to help her protect herself and her mom in that circumstance before he was taken out for knowing too much. Whatever happened, Hidomi clearly has strong feelings about it. Ide was clearly Haruko's first target, but judging by Jinyu's intervention and Hidomi sprouting a horn, there's going to be more than one N.O. channel in this series, which makes a little sense if we have two Galaxy Police Brotherhood agents actively investigating the events here. Regarding Jinyu, she was hot, but I have no idea why she'd warn Hidomi away from Haruko, unless Haruko is and has been a rogue operative, which is quite possible, since, in the first series, she was after Atomsk for herself, presumably. Also, I want to know how Jinyu could possibly control that car while sitting in the rear seat. Plus, she was rougher on plates than Cindry, but she sure could rock the maid outfit. Ide seems like a normal kid, but I am curious as to why, when these kids are presumably in junior high, he's the only one with a typical school uniform. Maybe there has been some kind of relaxation of standards in Japan in that regard. Plus, I can respect him being smitten with the new teacher (check out that rack. Is that part of Haruko's disguise, or has she really grown that much? I'm eager to find out tonight), but still being a bit sweet on Hidomi. She is a cute, age-appropriate female for him. Skirt-wearing dude needs to stop manspreading when sporting one of those. I'd be more accepting of calling it a kilt, but then he'd also need a sporran. Um, cafe patron dudes? Please don't letch on the underage girl. Even with the dvr description saying Haruko returned as a teacher, I didn't spot Kari Wahlgren's voice until the second scene with the teacher, which I credit to her range. I don't get the class erupting like that, but okay. JoJo: SC - I didn't expect that Iggy was sentient, but apparently he is. If this is some veiled attempt at a PETA-esque lecture toward the readership/audience about animal rights, then shut up, show. Also, sooooo much hate against dogs in the show, again. Iggy's "dumb dog" routine was tedious to watch. Too bad for his pride that he had to intervene to save the kid owner of the two dead dogs. Speaking of the dead dogs, what the heck, show? Killing them was one thing, but showing Pet Shop traumatize the kid by it eating the eye out of one of their heads in front of him was excessive and, frankly, cruel. HxH - I spoiled myself on the outcome of this episode with some wikia reading, but I was surprised that this fight was essentially concluded in one episode. I'm going to miss Zazan's epic boobs. Feitan having nen armor to protect himself from the effects of his scorching attack is remarkably thorough for the concept of the ability. I am curious, though, as to what in-universe language he spoke before that attack which clued the other P.T. members that he was about to do something very dangerous. Since he killed Zazan, the leader of this C.A. colony, that should make him the interim boss. However, I can't say the idea of Shizuku using Blinky to kill her opponent was consistent. If memory serves, Blinky can only draw in non-living material, meaning it can't suck up a person or animal. The blood from Pike would've consisted of living cells, meaning it shouldn't be susceptible to Blinky's power. However, the fight did give us a scantily-clad Shizuku, so I can't really complain that much. I liked how she thought after the fight of a way that Pike could've thwarted her plan, and she owned up to not thinking through the possibilities. It was right gentlemanly of Phinks to let her wear his outer garment. Yes, Kalluto, you'll need more than just your Zoldyck assassin skills and physical prowess to run with the P.T. BC - I didn't expect that the zombie master would only have the spell to make and control zombies. Since it was someone else's spatial magic which transported the zombies, then they could be actual zombies rather than golems as I previously opined. Yes, yes, we know. The blond witch drains the chakra and mana of others to retain her youth and boost her own magic. When she flipped out at Yuno calling her a hag, that was a one-dimensional response to the dig on her vanity. Yuno had a point. The only reason he didn't get transported with the others was because Sylph got him out of the transportation spell's effective range. He needs to figure out how to work with her. Transporting the various magic knights being about isolating Fuegoleon strikes me as being an indication that the vaguely shady Golden Dawn Captain is going to try to kill him to remove another contender for the next Wizard King. Shippuden - I'm not sure how Killer B (K.B.) is still alive. Sure, he sought refuge in one of the Eight Tails' severed tentacles, but how has he survived with presumably no source of air for at least several minutes, if not hours or days? We don't know when exactly he emerged, but it was enough time for the rest of the Eight Tails' manifested form to burn up in the Amaterasu. We can tell that the Eight Tails' chakra and consciousness survived with K.B., but the way it spoke with him was very different than how the Nine Tails has spoken with Naruto. This was more like an annoyed colleague voicing their irritation with K.B.'s decisions. It's not surprising that Susanoo drains a lot of chakra, but I didn't expect that it would cause Sauce physical pain as well. It would be intriguing if it protected his body from physical damage, but transmitted the pain to his body anyway, because it is made of his chakra, which could be considered to be connected to his body. The Mizukage has some impressive powers, and it might just be Mary McGlynn's voice, but she made attempted murder in a gruesome fashion sound so very sexy. I'm at a loss as well, people who were puzzled as to when Zetzu put whatever that was on them that made more copies of him sprout and leech their chakra. It is odd that all the copies are somehow connected, though. Once they had absorbed some chakra, being able to transfer it to someone else, like Sauce, is at least logically consistent: if it can be drained, then is should also be possible to infuse it. Oonoki's Pumice Grinding jutsu would be a horrible way to die unless it was finished very quickly. Thankfully for Sauce, Tobi intervened with his Transportation jutsu. SD - I have a co-worker who is a fan of the booty, and while I don't think I'd recommend this episode to him, I do think he'd agree with Dandy's appreciation of the female posterior. I have no idea where Dandy and Freckles got that mountaintop view. When we first saw the ship that contained Baverly Hills, there was a cityscape visible through the dome, but no wilderness areas like where the training montage went. Oh well. Lupin - Redheaded Fujiko is still something I can absolutely dig. The bed in Rebecca's 55th home is enormous. Getting through the doorway aside, I think it might, just might, be able to fit in my bedroom, but it would leave very little room for anything else, including walking around it.

This brought a smile to my face for what can only be considered terrible reasons. I didn't watch any of the FLCL marathon, but I do plan to watch the sub version on my dvd this week, because I'm not sure I ever have. As for the previous week's shows... DBS - Sorry, Bulma, but you were barking up the wrong tree with your feminine wiles. Zamasu only gets satisfaction from murder. Of course Goku forgot the seal, but I'm amazed that Trunks was able to learn the technique so quickly. When Zamasu emerged in a weakened state, I feel like Trunks missed his chance at least to incapacitate him by decapitation. He may not technically die, but he shouldn't be able to talk or move his body without intact physiological connections. I'm not entirely sure what the rupture Black opened was either, but re-forming Shadow Clones would be bothersome indeed. Since Black and Zamasu are now merged, I think I'll just call the combined form Zamasu. DBZK - Yes, yes. Goku and Vegeta didn't ask the people of Earth in the right way from the start. Mr. Satan playing into humanity's misunderstanding was quick thinking on his part, but everyone on Earth chanting his name was creepy enough that I tried to fast-forward through most of it. I will give credit to Bora, Upa, Snow, Android 8, Yajirobe, Korin, Lunch and 17 for recognizing Goku's voice, but I feel like there were others who did respond to Mr. Satan who should've responded to Goku, like, if I remember these names, Namu, Gidrah, and Baba's fighters which are styled after iconic movie monsters. Extra shame on Chaotzu and Tien for not offering their energy with the rest of the Z Fighters. Fat Buu came through after Vegeta gave him some time to rest by pinning down Kid Buu so Mr. Satan could get Vegeta clear. MHA - That was pretty short for a ten-month training program, but Izuku did it. He may not be as buff as some of the other applicants, but he sure was cut. I can understand his yell of accomplishment after completing that task, but I am curious as to where exactly he took all that large garbage. All Might's power being able to be transferred sounds strange. Suspiciously strange, actually. I'm doubtful that what he said is completely true, but it would serve as a useful motivator for Izuku. Oh, hi there cute girl with presumably telekinetic powers. You seem nice. I hope you and Izuku at least get to be friends. Regarding the battle skills practical exam, my opinion on why the fourth combat model robot is worth zero points is because it's so much more powerful than the others that the examiners don't expect that any applicant could beat one, so they make it worth no reward to fight it. If there's nothing to gain, then it would be pointless to fight it, but it also is likely there to teach two lessons. The first is to recognize the limits of their powers, and thus know when there's an opponent that they can't beat alone, meaning they would need to flee and live to fight another day. The second is that not every problem must be met with force, since I would expect that the fourth model won't initiate an attack or chase the applicants if they run or simply avoid it, meaning that conflict avoidance - solving things diplomatically - can work at times as well. FLCL - "Old": I probably should've picked this up sooner, but when Kamon mentioned that Monkey-sensei prefers the red jacket, he was talking about the creator of Lupin III. Also, Kamon is left-handed. Canti's respectful and courteous attitude is almost out of place among the other characters. "New": Between Ninamori noting that Mamimi was watching the scene at the river in the prior episode and saying nothing and leaving Haruko and Naota to sleep on the bench, I can't tell whether she was being coldly disinterested or leaving other people to live their lives as they chose and deal with the consequences of their choices out of respect for them. I'm still not sure why Naota was necessary to activate the Terminal Core. JoJo: SC - I'm glad we've presumably seen the last of Mondatta. He interjected "yes," far too many times. It was irritating. The lesson for Hol Horse and the rest of us is that seemingly discrete actions can have unusual consequences. The car crash did give Hol an opportunity, but there's no way he could reasonably foresee that sticking his fingers in Jean's nose would cause the vehicle crash that injured the members of Team Joestar. Similarly, Hol also couldn't foresee that the Jotaro who would be hit by Emperor's bullets would be the one on the page in front of his own face. I feel like the smart move for Hol would've been to go immediately over to the crash and shoot them at point-blank range instead of waiting for the next pages to appear. Hol dying from the returning bullets would've made it definitive that he wouldn't be a problem in the future, but there is something oddly fitting about his altered-trajectory bullets hitting him in the head with a hospitalizing wound rather than a fatal one. HxH - I was curious as to why the P.T. would intervene, but if C.A.s are threatening the place where they live, then it's purely out of self-interest. I feel like the extreme body mods of the boxer guy could easily prove fatal for him when trying to create them if any one of them went even slightly wrong. The frequencies created by the air moving through the holes disorienting his opponent is technically possible, but highly improbable. Shalnark's auto-pilot mode was unexpected, but powerful. It's perfectly logical that such a tremendous expenditure of power would leave him drained and sore. I don't know why Shizuku had her vacuum in hand. As I recall, it only works on non-living matter, so it doesn't seem like it would be much use in a fight. I don't remember Phinks' fight, but his headdress gave context to his name. I also don't remember much about Feitan's fight other than it not being finished and that I kind of hope that he loses, because Zazan was smoking hot. I don't know if it's simply that she's wearing a more revealing outfit now than when she was back at the C.A. Queen's hive, but she looked more buxom than back then. As for her power, being able to convert humans into C.A.s with her venom (if they survive the process) is very useful for creating an army. BC - I don't know whether to be impressed by the chef's control of his fire magic or dismayed by the laziness of using magic to cook rather than simply using and controlling ordinary, readily-creatable fire. Plus, Charmy will eat that whole course before the others return. Fuegoleon (Lion Captain guy, whose name is literally "Fire Lion"), seems like a good dude, and he was technically correct that he is another rival for Asta, since this Captain also aspires to be the Wizard King. I have a bad feeling for him, because he seems like the kind who would confront the vaguely shady Dawn Captain, should the latter turn out to be villainous. and end up dying in the ensuing battle. Yep, there are some fights where Asta's anti-magic can't carry the day, but it can be useful in the battle. It's good for him to learn that and the teamwork lesson built into it. Of course Yuno's takeaway is that he wasn't able to defeat the opponents with enough ease, so he must get more powerful. I liked the bit of world-building we got here. There is a Clover King aside from the Wizard King. The Clover King is the actual Head-of-State, and the Wizard King is like the head of the Joint Chiefs, in that the Magic Knights are answerable to him, but their actual Commander-in-Chief is probably the Clover King. Tangentially related to the Clover King, I wonder what he case with the hotties at each side of him is. Were they both wives? Were they concubines? Was one his wife and the other his concubine? Were they simply attractive attendants with which he has no physical relationship? What gives, show? Shippuden - I can't deny that Sauce has some powerful hax with the Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes. Susanoo chakra armor sure was useful, too. Still, Sauce sounded like he was trying too hard to be edgy, so he hasn't yet earned me calling him by his actual name. The Raikage was determined. Perhaps too determined, since he lost the end of his left arm fighting Sauce. I liked Gaara, Kankuro and Temari intervening to save the lives of the samurai from Sauce's Amaterasu, but I think that it was a little creepy that Kankuro took over the puppet body of Sasori. Sure, it's already a fully functional, powerful puppet, but wasn't Sasori the one who first taught Kakuro about puppet mastery? I like getting more information about the history of the Ninja World and our competing factions. The Sage of the Six Paths having the Rinnegan, like Nagato, was interesting to know, but his sons being the progenitors of the Senju and Uchiha clans sounds important, even if it simplifies the conflict to an extended sibling rivalry over one brother feeling snubbed by their father. It also implies that the Sharingan and all its powers are descended from the Rinnegan. SD - I forgot that Carpaccio's full name described him as being baked or broiled. Now I'm curious as to the planetary history of Planet Girlfriend such that its former orbit was disturbed to throw it into a path that would put it into orbit around Pushy Boyfriend. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - "Old": Batou's decision to trust the present members of his former Section was a calculated risk, but it paid off, because the members of the squad were honorable. "I can see time itsellllf." "New": The Major had a point that a leader can't please everyone under their leadership with all, or most, or even many of their decisions, because of the varied interests of the people. Someone will almost always be unhappy. Regarding the apples, I'm not certain the prosthetic bodies of Kuze and the Major would gain any actual nutrition from them. Maybe simple natural sugars can be processed by their systems. Seeing the subtitles of the Tachis' song made the scene more poignant, because it kept mentioning that they were alive and what they could do because they were alive. The line cut out on the words, "...because we're," stopping there. However, regarding destroying the nuclear missile in the atmosphere, there would still be a need for radiological clean-up, because at that point the missile would be a huge dirty bomb with a wide coverage area due to its altitude. Oh, hey. I'm not sure I'd noted previously that the guy who killed Kuze was the same micromachine-using assassin that took out Serano in the first series. I'm not sure what that was. Did Batou's "personal" Tachi meet up with a Pucchikoma's (sp?) A.I.? Someone who's seen this please give some insight if you have any.

I thought of Olympus Mons, but that is literally Mount Olympus, and the one on Mars, as the players said, is an extinct volcano. Also, if memory serves, it's a shield-type volcano, which is built up by large volumes of, thick, sticky lava flowing out continuously over long periods, as opposed to high-pressure explosive eruptions, the likes of Mt. Saint Helens, Krakatoa, or Vesuvius. DBS - When Trunks hit Black with the Gallick Gun, the damage to the mountain reminded me of what happened when Rei and Shinji fought Ramiel (I think that was the Angel's name. The octahedron one), and one of its attacks melted a mountain. That was pretty badass. So, Vados and Whis, and presumably the short blue guy that attends Grand Zeno, are angels, and if they have no god to assist, then they become inactive. I want Vegeta to be able to beat Black, and it's not just because I like Vegeta. He raised a good point that Black was using stolen power, which he could use, but he couldn't truly get the performance out of the body which Goku could, because Black hadn't earned it. Be careful, Shin. We don't want to lose Beerus because you were killed. DBZK - It's completely plausible that Vegeta would be unable to convince the people of Earth to cooperate. The events of the day and his request/order were too strange for people to believe, let alone cooperate with a voice in their heads. The ease of the human population's return to their daily lives is, if memory serves, an example of the Normalcy Bias, wherein people will act as though nothing unusual is happening/has happened after something thoroughly unusual occurred, because the strange event is so strange that they can't process that something so out of ordinary experience has happened. It's easier and simpler to ignore the odd happening than to process it and change their actions accordingly. MHA - I was close on my guess. All Might's limited ability to use his power is due to a combination of a battle injury and the strain of the power on his body. Izuku blaming himself for All Might losing possession of the ooze dude's container is perfectly understandable, and I can't say I would disagree with that assessment. Thus, his feeling of responsibility spurring him into action to save Katsuki is also understandable, but in light of Izuku doing so without powers, it is also admirable. I like that such a spirit of heroism not only prompted All Might to act despite the danger to himself, but it also looks like Izuku will get help from All Might in becoming a hero. FLCL - I didn't watch this yet. JoJo: SC - Dio is still creepy and now apparently really fast due to Jonathan's body's Stand. I'm not wild about Hol Horse and Mondatta teaming, nor did I like Modatta turning so many statements into prodding questions by adding "yes?" to his sentences. Please, Jean, do your best to keep Hol Horse and Mondatta under control. Letting Hol stick his fingers up your nose is certainly not having that control. HxH - Ah, so it was Shoot's power that made Killua's eye disappear, not an implanted nen trap from Illumi. I can understand if Kite was killed and reanimated that he would move, as Gon thought, like a machine, because his mind isn't necessarily there anymore. I don't hold out much hope for him to be able to return to the man he was when we met him, even if Gon can figure out how to break Pitou's nen puppetry. Ah, good. Knuckle was able to tag the cheetah C.A. with A.P.R. While interest may cease to accrue if A.P.R. is too far away from Knuckle, it does answer my question as to whether A.P.R. can be assigned to a new target while I.R.S. has another target under nen restriction. Gon convinced both the pipe guy and Killua that he was ready to fight to kill, so now he's ready. Good. Yeah, the puppet dictator guy's announcement is absolutely a ploy to find nen users and confine them for either of both of feeding and breeding more nen users. BC - There sure were a lot of named attacks against the golems (the guy said zombies, but unless he's transporting them from remote graveyards as part of his summoning, then I'll stick with presuming they're made of dirt and animated by some variation of his lightning magic). The one that stood out to me, though was Solid (I think?) calling one something about mercury, which would be horrible, because now the ground and any later rain runoff would be contaminated with a toxic heavy metal. That's depraved indifference right there. Yes, Asta having to protect the girl, who likely has little magic power, as determined by Asta's bird perching on her head, put him in a dangerous position, since he could only block rather than block and dodge. It made him an easier target for the named golems with their bleeding and lightning spells. At least he finally did get backup from Noelle and the two Vermillion dudes. Captain Vermillion had a good perspective to share with Noelle. There's no shame in being weak. The shame is in remaining weak, but I would term it as choosing to remain weak. Those two ideas are similar, but there is a subtle difference. Shippuden - Team Taka v. the Raikage and his bodyguards has been fun so far. I'm cool with the fight continuing next episode. Oh boy. Madara was going to tell Kakashi, Naruto and Yamato the story of Itachi. We've already heard it, so hopefully we won't get all that again, just some confirmation from our Leaf trio that they heard it. Danzo has been outed as shady to the other Kage and their mediator. Good. Here's hoping Gaara's willingness to go after the Raikage and hopefully both keep him and Sauce safe for A's and Naruto's sakes, respectively, will leave a positive impression on the mediator. Despite Gaara's comparative inexperience, I feel like he would be a good leader for an allied shinobi force. It goes back to him, after Naruto headbutting the crazy out of him, going through the ordinary service ranks to demonstrate his willingness to fight not only for the sake of the mission, but also for the well-being of Suna, its people, and his fellow shinobi. SD - I think it's an intriguing idea that one who has had a near-death experience, or actual death in several of Dandy's cases, could be considered to have witnessed the River of Time when seeing their life flash before their eyes, and those experiences have left him sensitive to the River's presence in this place where it's especially prevalent. Come play with Ukulele Man. You can be together forever, and ever, and ever. I feel like planets or moons which loom as large in the sky as the ones around the jungle planet would be on degrading orbits, meaning they would crash into the planet eventually. That would be a really bad day for the capybara family's descendants. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - I haven't watched this yet, either.

I feel like the timidity and lack of yelling (so far) make Izuku more agreeable. That would've made the fight too easy. D'Arby wasn't a powerful fighter or have a particularly dangerous Stand, because for its powers to work, the opponent had to make the foolish decision to play D'Arby's game on his terms rather than simply use the offensive power of their own Stand to coerce him into giving them what they wanted. It required willful stupidity and impracticality on our group's part to make the conflict happen, and while we could expect that from Jean, it was a bit absurd coming from the others. Thus, Jotaro's assessment after the game was malarkey. Possibly. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the C.A.s kill him. They tried to pronounce it No-zell, but I'll agree that your pronunciation is at least as valid and more befitting his personality. I loled. DBS - Good luck against Black and Zamasu, Trunks. You did manage some powerful attacks, but I'm not sure they'll be enough. I feel like Goku going missing for a day should be nothing new for Chi Chi, and especially not something she'd bring to Officer Krillin. The Evil Containment Wave could be taught, but I recall from reading the manga that it took so much energy out of Roshi to contain Piccolo Daimaoh that it killed him. Sure, Goku has a lot more energy, but if he's using it on two powerful beings, it could still be a life-threatening maneuver. DBZK - When Goku was dead, he still had his physical body. Now that he's alive again, it's the same body. With that in mind, I'm not sure why Super Saiyan 3 would be notably harder to maintain when alive. Oh well. Fat Buu helping Mr. Satan was fine, but Bee coming at Kid Buu and barking made me smile, because Bee is such a good doggie. Once we get the wishes, lay the rest of your plan on us, Vegeta. MHA - Izuku seems like a good kid, and it's cruel that his dream of being a powered hero seems dashed by his biology. That fact is strange, because if the majority of the population has some kind of power, then it must be a genetically dominant trait, and Izuku would have to manifest the now-recessive trait of being non-powered when both his parents had powers. That genetic expression isn't impossible, but it is unlikely. The way that Katsuki talks and acts makes me think he'd be more likely to become a villain than a hero. I presume that this national school for aspiring heroes teaches regular subjects in addition to classes that train the students to master their powers. If so, then it makes sense that they would allow non-powered students to take the entrance exams. All Might strikes me as a good dude and a positive role model, but I am concerned that he looked like he coughed up some blood. Perhaps his power is too much for his body to withstand for prolonged periods, so he must power down most of the time in order to stay alive. I can understand the bystanders being unconcerned about the clashes between powered heroes and villains, since the populace has had over three generations to acclimate to living with these fights. FLCL - I'm ashamed it took me this long to notice, but the team the Martians would reference ancient Roman gods. With that in mind, they shouldn't explode offensively with the eruptions of Olympus, which is the home of the ancient Greek gods. Canti's kanji when about to pitch his first game read "fire," which is funny given Mamimi confusing him for the god of black flame. JoJo: SC - Jotaro was sharp to spot D'Arby's dirty dealing, but he also was either gutsy or foolhardy to bluff on a hand he didn't even see. It shifted the balance of power when he raised by betting Holly's soul beyond what D'Arby could cover without risk to himself. That made D'Arby question the "safe" bet he had and stress himself into premature aging, judging by his hair going gray, and eventually make him collapse into unconsciousness. While it worked to defeat him as a Stand User and recover Jean and Joseph's souls, they didn't get the information on Dio, his exact location, or his (which is to say Jonathan's) Stand. Had Jotaro lost due to D'Arby cheating with the kid being in on the scam, I feel like D'Arby would've needed to go to Japan to claim Holly's soul, given the range of his Stand. What was with that look to the camera, Iggy? You've done a whole lot of jack and some more squat for the last several Stand Users, so get that smug look off your face. HxH - The fireflies on the tree and the sapling were pretty, but not so pretty that it would be worth sitting around without the sunset to watch as well. I respect Gon being forthright with Palm about his intended course of action regarding Kite, and I think she reacted severely. It's more than a little creepy that she used a mummified rare creature and blood magic. At least her teacher returned, so she shifted her attention back to him. In light of Palm's aggressive reaction, I'm glad for Gon that she effectively dumped him. I don't think I fully understand how Killua overcame Illumi's brainwashing/conditioning. When Killua was able to act against the instructions and dodge the C.A., he did it after plunging one or more fingers into his forehead, potentially even into his brain. Did Illumi implant something physical into Killua which he removed there? Did Killua overstimulate a portion of his brain to override a neural connection? Did he destroy the neural connection, effectively giving himself an impromptu and entirely unsanitary lobotomy? What's the deal, show? Whatever the case, Killua overcame it and beheaded that C.A. rather deftly. I like that the head blinked in disbelief and looked for where its body was. Knuckle and his teacher might have some problems with the cheetah C.A.'s pure speed. BC - I repeat that Asta may have lacked refinement at the banquet, but his outburst was warranted in light of it being in defense of Noelle, who, in addition to Asta, Mimosa, and Yuno, had been subjected to overtly rude comments and, unique to herself prior to Asta's outburst, had even been physically accosted. Birth into a noble family doesn't give the other guests carte blanche to treat others horribly. They exceeded decorum themselves in their actions, and I was glad to see that at least Mimosa's cousins recognized that the others had gotten out of line, especially the Silva family, who engaged in multiple powerful magic attacks against Asta. The younger of Mimosa's cousins even went so far as to admire Asta's pluck and declare him a rival. I liked when he good-naturedly chided Asta that someone can have more than one rival. As for the exiled guy and his attack, it was convenient to break up the tension at the banquet. I'm not sure whether his army were golems or zombies, but I'm inclined to think golems, since I doubt there were people buried under the streets of the Royal Capital. Either way, the Magic Knights and the other magical police would do well to go for attacks that destroy the heads of the swarming enemies. While Asta's plan to go to where it's loudest makes some sense, it only works for Mimosa's cousins to find him if he does his usual yelling once he finds some enemies to fight. I don't know how Charmy snuck in there, but there will be no dessert for the fat Golden Dawn member unless she activates the sheep cooks to make some when they return. Give it up, Charlotte. Sol is never going to remember to address you by your rank. Shippuden - The samurai leader dude laid out some valid points for why the other four Kage could be problematic for troop morale and/or mindset and force cohesion if placed in charge of the allied shinobi forces, but that's not the same as saying why Danzo should be in charge. I'm sure there's at least one reason for him not to be the leader, such as Blum!Mist ninja pointing out that he had a chakra signature of an Uchiha coming from part of his body. We know that he has an implanted Sharingan, which is the likely source of this foreign chakra signature, but the others at the summit presumably don't know that. There sure was a lot of crying and angsting this episode over Sauce and the declaration that he was a rogue ninja. I feel like no more than 50% of it was warranted. My take on Naruto's "suffering" regarding his promise is that while some of it is out of his sense of obligation to keep his word to Sakura, at least as much, if not more, is out of his desire to keep that same promise to and for himself, since that's a matter of personal integrity. Another aspect of it is the feeling, warranted or not, of personal failure in his powers and skills as a ninja to accomplish his objective. I say that it's a waste of time for Naruto to obsess over what Sauce has or hasn't thought relative to his former teammates when Sauce isn't there for Naruto to ask him about it. SD - Goku!Dandy was entirely too energetic. He must've eaten more than the others to keep up that kind of hyperactivity. Underboob referee Honey was still hot. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - I'm not sure that I specifically noted that the special forces guys who were chasing Bato, Borma, Pazu and Saito noted that the equipment our quartet has, specifically the therm-optic camouflage, doesn't jive with the briefing they were given about some SDA regulars making off with the plutonium. Good on those guys for their observational skills. Aside from Superman being the one with super-human hearing, not Spider-Man, it was neat. I hope any remaining Tachikomatic Days bits continue with this.

Yes, the Raikage seems like a decent dude, despite his temper. I would presume that Maker was still stuck on Dream Island, which, if it isn't, sure sounds like an island name that would feature at some point in One Piece.

I think I have three episodes each of FLCL and GitS to cover. Okay. FLCL - Shame on you, Naota. Littering is, if memory serves, a 5000 Wulong fine. Watching on dvd in English, some of the signage in the show is translated with subtitles. Also, the ending credits are in English as well. I didn't expect that. Miyu Miyu is old for a cat at 12 years old. In the aftermath of the fight where Canti first takes in Naota to power up, I don't think I ever caught that Haruko dropped an S-bomb when she heard the police and/or fire department sirens. Haruko is a big liarface. The Little Prince Curry read, according to the subtitle translation, that it was for adults 50x hot. When I think of what constitutes a little kid, I think of a child who is no older than first grade, so I wouldn't call the sixth-graders in Naota's class that, but they are kids. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - Someone with whom I formerly worked (they no longer work there) is a 2nd Amendment enthusiast, and one day they said that it doesn't make sense for reactionary politicians to focus on the AR-15 platform for stricter regulations, considering that variations on the AK-47 have killed far more people worldwide. Part of that is that the AK has a longer history of use. Another part is that the Soviets and their satellite States produced millions of them in that timeframe, and it was in the standard-issue group of firearms for those militaries. Just because there have been regime changes over the decades doesn't mean those rifles went away. They flooded the world market, where they were admired for their ease of use, care, and robust design. In one of these episodes, we saw what sure looks like AK-47s in one of the crates of weapons the refugees had. I can absolutely believe that in the future world of GitS either those rifles are still in new production, or there are notable stockpiles of them available to people with the right connections and money, or both of those scenarios. "It's a Mk-2, so it only make sense it'd be twice as useless, right?" Oh, those Tachis. In all the talking about the Individual Eleven plot and the bomb being fission-capable with the plutonium fuel, it's easy to overlook Borma admitting that in his army service that he was a bomb-maker, which likely included all the EOD training he would need to defuse the bomb in this episode. The "Straight Man" Tachi is right. Standard features don't count as "secrets." I don't know the name of the piece, but the music that plays as Aramaki and the Major discuss giving the plutonium to the U.N. nuclear inspection team still gives me chills. When I see how quickly the refugees resort to violence against the SDA forces after losing Net access, I can't help but agree. Riots and looting have been known to happen during unexpected blackouts, and so many people today are constantly checking their mobile devices that it's almost like one of those ever-present utilities. As I walk to the restroom at work during break times, I see several people at their lockers looking at their smartphones (we're prohibited from having them on the production floor). I would imagine that being able to connect at any time simply by thinking about it like people with cyberbrains can would only make that urge stronger and lead to greater distress when access is lost like we saw when the the signal was jammed by the SDA. Heh, training for lead role tryouts.

I'm excited to see My Hero Academia. From what I've read about it, it should be fun. DBS - Black's immense power doesn't make sense. For one, it's logically inconsistent with part of a prior storyline from DBZ. When Captain Ginyu switched bodies with Goku, his power output from Goku's body was way lower than Goku's, because he wasn't attuned to Goku's body. How would Zamasu, just after taking over Goku's body, be able to muster the power to kill his own divine body, which should be tougher to kill than some ordinary mortal? For another, it seems like every time Goku shows a new level of power, Black gets that power in short order. He didn't ask the Super Dragon for a servant with the powers of Goku; he asked to have Goku's body. That means that, attunement aside, he would only have as much power as he would train that body to have. None of Black's fights with Goku were severe enough to trigger a post-injury recovery power-up, so how could he almost instantly have even more power? It doesn't make sense. Black and Zamasu killing the other versions of himself, and thus eliminating their corresponding Destroyers was consistently evil with their Zero Mortals project. Regarding them destroying the Super Dragon Balls, I'm presuming that was only for the set of which they're aware, the set for Universes 3 and 10. Perhaps we'll be lucky in them overlooking the sets for the other paired universes. I'm glad to see that Trunks is stepping up his power. It looks like he's almost to the level of divine energy which is Super Saiyan Blue, but he's not quite there yet. DBZK - More slugfest, and Vegeta held up his part and kept Buu occupied for way longer than a minute. FLCL - I haven't watched the dvd yet. JoJo: SC - There wasn't a lot of action, but it was interesting to see a Stand that effectively works by the consent of its user's adversary. As for the soulless bodies of Jean and Joseph, it should be possible for them to continue their autonomic functions (heartbeat, breathing, digestion) without being conscious. Comatose people do all those things, as does everyone else while sleeping. They would just need a feeding tube. Of course, that only comes into play if their souls aren't recovered in this encounter. I feel like our group missed their chance simply to threaten D'Arby with violence to get the information they wanted at the outset. Once he started talking about betting souls, that should've been their clue they were dealing with a Stand User. As for Joseph's game, even if the glass was tilted slightly, the leveling would've brought the high side down, which would've lowered the bubble on the low side. I presume Joseph used the bubble on the low side to determine how much to add, but if he happened to look at the high side while adding liquid, then he could've lost by overflowing the other side at that time, meaning it was stacked against Joseph. However, if the glass was overfilled to start, then D'Arby would've needed incredibly steady hands not only to lift the glass without spilling it, but even more so to press the smear of chocolate on the bottom and set the now-uneven glass back on the table. Still, this all relied on shenanigans in that in an open-walled cafe in Egypt during the daytime, the heat would've been enough for the chocolate bar to be a mushy, nearly-melted mess at ambient environmental temperature, meaning it wouldn't have been solid enough to hold up one edge of the glass, even in the "cool" of the shade of D'Arby's body. Thus, D'Arby's ploy shouldn't have worked at all due to the physical properties of the chocolate. Oh well. I'm sure Jotaro will come through for the other's next time. Barring that, we can all hope that Avdol takes the sensible course of action they should've taken to start - threats of or actual violence. He could injure D'Arby horribly with flame powers without killing him in order to coerce him into releasing the others and giving them the location of Dio's hideout. MSG: IBO 2 - I didn't expect Akihiro or Mikazuki to survive, and Mikazuki looked, judging from his right eye, like he would've suffered another feedback stroke, so, had he survived, he could've been a quadriplegic, and he would've felt like a burden to everyone, especially since Barabatos wouldn't have been repaired after this for him to connect to its A.V.S. and have some mobility. I won't say that it's a good thing that he died, but he might've preferred that to being a what he would likely consider a burden to Atra, Kudelia, and eventually Akatsuki. I'm glad that Akihiro got the chance to kill Iok and succeeded. Iok deserved it for his various roles in awakening a Mobile Armor and all the civilian casualties that caused, killing Amida and Naze with rail guns (read: killing more civilians, but directly this time, with banned weapons), and being part of the leadership of the group that killed many members of Iron Flower, surprise, by using banned weapons yet again. That is to say that Iok instigated a civilian tragedy, committed a war crime, and then committed another war crime. He was even party to yet another war crime, firing those railguns at a planet's surface and causing area devastation, when they had every expectation that the damage would kill not only enemy combatants, but also non-combatants who were aligned to said enemy combatants. It was sheer luck that the attack didn't immediately kill anyone, but it did inflict grievous wounds on two people and damaged their mobile suits to the point that they could be overcome by the vastly superior numbers who went to kill them. Death by crushing was a fine way to end Iok, who was ideologically blind to the fact that the actions to which he was a party were crimes. Watching Mikazuki fight at the end, when Barbatos' eyes glowed red, it looked to me like he wasn't trying to destroy the enemy mobile suits. It looked to me like he was targeting the cockpits, meaning the pilots. That was hardcore. As for the aftermath developments, Martian independence is fine, and I liked the coordinated effort between the Earth and Mars to seek to stop the exploitation of orphans of violence. I like that Dante is running an orphanage, trying to give kids like he was a chance at stability, education, and a future. I'm glad that Merribit and Nadi stayed together and started a family. I have no objections to Gaelio surviving, whether he's confined to that wheelchair or not, and he and Julietta having a budding relationship is fine. I'm proud of Kudelia gaining the political power she needed to address the societal issues which spurred her into action at the start of the show. I'm glad that Atra isn't truly a single mom, and her precocious son looks like a little Mikazuki, but with her hair color. I can respect that Ride couldn't let go of the betrayals and crimes Iron Flower suffered, opting to seek and get natural justice on Nobliss Gordon. However, Rustall, a wanton war criminal who engaged in a false-flag operation to "justify" his multiple instances of the same kind of war crime, and even expanded it to using banned weapons on a location which he could reasonably expect would have non-combatants which he prevented from even being able to communicate their intention to leave or surrender peaceably before this attack, lived. Not only did he live, but he gained even more prestige and power as a result of his war crimes. Even more than Akihiro and Mikazuki dying in combat against numerous foes, at least one of which truly deserved to die, this part of the ending left a bitter taste in my mouth. Yes, he did some good with his new power and was part of the reform which was needed in Gjallarhorn, but he was also part of the corruption which he "rooted out," and for his part in the manipulations and crimes he orchestrated and ordered, he was rewarded. Boooo! At least Atra and Kudelia grew into pretty women. In all, I liked watching the show, and I'll rewatch the episodes I have on the dvr at some point, but I don't think I'll buy any dvds for either season. It's too dangerous to my wallet to get into buying Gundam shows. BC - Hooray for the return of Vanessa's wearing only her underwear and cape, as well as for the introduction of Sol and her cleavage outfit. I found it funny that Yami opted to break through the door rather than simply open it. Noelle better watch out. Mimosa, who has a more pleasant personality, is also smitten with Asta. He may not have my proclivities, but Mimosa's red hair and ample bust help to make her an appealing back-up ship for Asta. My biggest takeaway from our dungeon group meeting the Wizard King is that Asta's anti-magic sword saps the mana from anyone who even touches it, making Asta truly suited for it, since it wouldn't do a thing to him. It is strange that the new writing in Asta's grimoire was in a language that even the Wizard King didn't know. I like that in addition to the praise the Wizard King gave to those up for promotion, he also offered them both professional and personal advice on how to be better Knights and people. Speaking of the other Knights being better people, wow, they sure need some work in that regard. Whether they felt that Asta, Yuno, or even, in the case of the Silva family, Noelle should've been there doesn't matter. Those three were all invited and urged to stay by the Wizard King, as were the snooty Knights. The host of all of them determined the trio's presence was appropriate and desired, so the snooty ones were being rude, bad guests by speaking ill of the others. It's true that Asta was lacking in etiquette, and he even was a little unruly when he stood on a table, but that was in response to one of his teammates being verbally and physically accosted, by her own family, even. When another Knight then used magic on him, that was an overt attack, so I don't blame Asta at all for using his sword to defend himself. HxH - If anyone is supposed to represent the Kim regime, it's this king which the C.A. King and his royal guard killed to take his palace. No, C.A. King. Your analogy is flawed. For one, you are not (yet?) a society which domesticated and raised the humans specifically to be a food source for you and the C.A.s. If anything, they're more like wild game to you. For another, the livestock humans consume isn't necessarily capable of understanding their impending demise, let alone communicating a desire to live, and especially not in a language which humans can understand. Lastly, and something unique to this show, cows and pigs are not hybrid organisms which are partly human, so we don't have a semi-cannibalism going on when we eat them like you do when you eat people. Gon has some strange power over Palm to calm her down. Also, she looked like an entirely different person when she cleaned up for their date. I didn't expect Gon to have dating experience, but being one of the few males on Whale Island when the occasional all-female crew came to port set him up nicely there. It looked like he took Palm on a real date. I'm impressed. It's unsettling that she's pursuing a young boy, but maybe she has the decency not to force herself on him and will opt to wait for him to get older before escalating to the physical part of a relationship that might develop. She was willing to forgive his failure to keep his promise, didn't demand eye trauma, and was ready to accept what so far has seemed like a fairly benign action to make amends, so I'm willing to hold out hope that she won't do anything unseemly. I think that Killua might struggle against this jerkwad C.A., but I expect Killua to emerge victorious due to his training and drive to protect the relatively defenseless Gon. See, Hunter Association? C.A.s making it to population centers outside the NGL and killing people at those places is what you get for relying on a small team of Hunters to deal with the C.A.s instead of nuking the whole country while you had the chance to wipe out the C.A.s before they spread. Shippuden - The Raikage let Naruto make his plea, but I don't fault A (Ei?) for not changing his mind. Blah, blah. There was a lot of finger pointing and blame shifting at the summit. I'm not sure about Danzo being the leader of a coalition force to hunt the Akatsuki (why are you trying to kill a small Martian child hundreds of years in the future? Such terrible people here. :p). I have a sneaking suspicion that Danzo cut some kind of deal with their "neutral" host samurai village. SD - I recorded the newest season of The X-Files on the dvr and have been watching through those. One of the episodes featured Mulder and Scully in their down time having a series of bad experiences at the figurative hands of A.I.s and connected/controlled devices. I consider it a tiny bit of synchronicity that I saw that in the same week where a collection of A.I. appliances run amok in this SD episode. Given the nearly perpetual poverty of the crew, I have no idea where Q.T. got the money to buy all that ground coffee. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - I haven't watched the dvd for this either.

Since this is a twofer and I don't remember the shows very well, I'll try to keep things brief. DBS - Old: Beerus and Whis had a good plan to be certain of Zamasu's intentions. That also had to be the Seventh Universe's strongest oven mitt. Lil' Trunks giving his older self tough love was both funny and strange, and I was glad to see it was oddly effective for a lecture from a child. New: The first half seemed to drag out to point of explaining the multiverse theory of time travel for Lil' Trunks' benefit. It looks like Beerus was wrong about his intervention fixing all timelines. When we consider what we learned about the lives of Destroyers being bound to their Supreme Kais, then our trio of Saiyans is fine with sentencing Beerus' Tenth Universe counterpart to death. That is, unless Zamasu already killed him when he murdered Gowasu. It was funny to see Bulma crammed into the time machine with Future!Trunks, Goku and Vegeta. As for who Black really is, I'm not sure how that works. If Zamasu switched minds with that version of Goku, then how would killing Goku's body after that switch not kill Zamasu's mind? Also, how can his mind be in both Goku's and his own body at the same time? That would require an extreme ability simultaneously to focus and to compartmentalize inputs in order to control both bodies effectively, especially when faced with combat. I'm going to side with Vegeta on it being strange that Goku has never kissed Chi-Chi. Also, what Trunks did was more like a mother bird feeding one of her hatchlings. DBZK - Old: Goku and Vegeta had a good plan to lure Buu to them and save everyone on Grand Kai's planet in the process. Once the fighting started, there was nothing to the episode beyond a good old fashioned slugfest. New: The slugfest continued, and even the people in Hell were amazed. I can buy Babidi rooting for Goku out of spite for Buu. Vegeta finally admitted that Goku is a better fighter. For someone who was always told, with reason, that he was superior, an elite, this was a big moment of personal growth. FLCL - I haven't watched the dvd yet. JoJo: SC - Old: Alessi's Stand was strange. I'm not sure what de-aging people has to do with chaos, for Set, but eh. Also, conservation of mass isn't a thing with Set's power. Oh well. I was mildly offended that Lil' Jean had the same v.a. as Gon, since Gon is a great kid and Jean wasn't, nor does he grow to be an upstanding man. Yes, the pretty lady was very kind, so of course Alessi had to do something to her. New: I'm not sure whether a fetus at that age has functional lungs, but I'm willing to roll with it. Heh, Lil' Jean used the mirror trick. I can completely believe that Jotaro at age seven or eight would've been capable of beating down a grown, muscular man. Okay, Jean denying he knew the pretty lady for her safety was an honorable thing to do. I'll give him that. MSG: IBO 2 - Old: If the show is willing to kill Orga here, then no one is safe. New: I'm glad that Atra and Kudelia were able to get out of harm's way. Hush did well, but the Gjallarhorn forces were just too much for him. That's a shame. I feel like Mikazuki is about to go murder-crazy, and I can only hope it will be as glorious as it should be. I felt a lot more loss when Fumitan died than for McGillis here. I hope that he had his will updated to reflect Almiria being his beneficiary. BC - Old: "Sir Spectacles" made me chuckle. Oh, neat. Asta can change the shape of his magic-negating sword. New: Of course Mars had to kill his cute friend and classmate to survive and got her magic infused into his grimoire. That's sad and all, but he's still so flat that I can't truly feel bad for him. Noelle, there's no shame in taking in the manservice that Asta served up for you. Similarly, Asta, don't draw attention to the show Noelle gave you; just enjoy the view. I know that it's highly unlikely these two will hook up given the kind of story this is, but I can ship them. HxH - Old: What the crap, show?!?! You off-screened the end of both Gon and Killua's fights. Lame. I can understand Gon losing (debt is bad, m'kay), but I saw no reason that Killua wouldn't be able to keep fighting and maybe win, even with Illumi's implanted nen trap messing with his face like that. Noooooo! Don't split up the boys! They're the greatest of friends and need to stay together. The C.A. King has a bad habit of going for a headshot at the slightest minor annoyance. Pitou sure was tough to survive one. New: I have no idea why the Hunter Association/Netero would try to save any of the man-eating murder monsters, let alone the one that could create more murder monsters. I get the feeling that Knuckle and/or Shoot will get killed by a royal guard or the C.A. King. If that happens to Knuckle, would I.R.S. dissipate? Shippuden - Old: While I question the intelligence and wisdom of Naruto taking a beating in Sauce's place, I will admit that Naruto kept to his word. New: Oh, so Danzo had the same eye transplant that Kakashi had. I will admit that he defended himself adeptly. Oonoki (sp?) is the entertaining kind of cantankerous old man, and the Mizukage is a pretty redheaded lady, so I'm all for that. SD - "Old": I admire Dr. Gel's singular focus on solving (one of?) the secret(s?) of the cosmos. Since both the Head Librarian and the Assistant Librarian were living paper, it might be possible for the Assistant Librarian to heal from the tear Dandy started. "New": Q.T. going crazy for fishing is still funny. This had some great one-liners. "Is that your final Dandy?" "In your beautiful face!" "Hello there, sexy." GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - I haven't watched the dvd for this either.

I guess this is the week where I'll save some time, since we got the same episodes as last week for five of the nine shows, but with English audio this time. Also, I still didn't watch Scavengers. DBS - I didn't expect what Whis postulated in the form of Zamasu wishing for a servant with the powers of Goku, but I'll agree about the invincibility wish. However, I would think Zamasu would wish for the invincibility first. Really, Goku? You left the Senzu beans on the back of the toilet? We know that Goku isn't the brightest bulb, but this is bad even for him. DBZK - The battle between Kid Buu and the five Kais was fleshed out compared to the manga, but it did have good action. Vegeta's right on this one. Goku shouldn't promise sexy photos of another man's wife, and especially not while that other man is standing mere feet away. Vegeta would be within his husbandly rights to punch Goku right in the face there. Kid Buu is an engine of wanton destruction, but even if he can kill a planet every minute or two, he could still take thousands of years to find the world of the Kais, unless he gets lucky, which he will. Countdown - I feel like this flowed much better when told all in one go, as opposed to over several weeks. S.A.R.A. saving T.O.M. (and the organic life in the universe, I guess) from her own corrupted programming was a touching way to end the conflict. However, future!T.O.M. is still adrift in space. Granted, he won't die from exposure, but he could be out there for a long, long time. JoJo: SC - I don't understand how Avdol and Joseph didn't get stuck to the other rail after melting themselves free from the first one. I see three problems with Mariah stuffing her bra with fasteners. First, her bust didn't look any smaller after losing the fasteners. Second, her boobs didn't look lumpy like those angular objects would make them appear. Third, the fasteners either would've needed to spill out the top of her shirt or would've torn through it, which would've either pulled her top down somewhat, leaving her boobs exposed, or made one or more holes in the front of the shirt over each boob, which also could've easily left her exposed. Sadly unrelated to Mariah's excellent boobs, if Avdol used Magician's Red on the projectiles in flight, then they would've still been magnetically drawn to Avdol and Joseph (albeit more weakly, due to the melted steel losing its crystalline structure configuration, and thus the alignment of the individual iron atoms, meaning that overall the polarity of the objects would be diminished), or at least still been on a flight path toward them, only now they would be globs of molten steel, which would make them even more dangerous. MSG: IBO 2 - If the revealed relationship between Iznario and McGillis was that the latter was adopted, then I don't see how that would de-legitimize him as the head of the Fareed family, since he would've been specifically select by Iznario for that role. If it was that Iznario sexually abused a child, then I still don't see what bearing that would have on McGillis' claim to power, and it may even bolster McGillis' claim that the current heads of power were despicable and strengthen his revolutionary faction's claim of corruption in the leadership of the Seven Stars. I still choose to believe that Rustall has similar dirt on the other Stars and used that leverage to force their cooperation. I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that the media bought Rustall's story completely. Now Iron Flower are considered criminals, largely due to the schemes and lies of an actual war criminal. It's frustrating to see. If I understood what I heard, Atra and Mikazuki did get down, but they're not sure yet whether she's pregnant. While I like both the closeness between those two and Kudelia and Kudelia's honor in agreeing to help Atra raise the child should something happen to Mikazuki, it's a shame that it doesn't look like Atra is going to get her harem ending, since Rustall's attack on Iron Flower is about to commence. Yes, it's tough for an organization to do anything with frozen assets. Thankfully, the accountant guy hid some of their assets in case of legal troubles. That was shrewd of him. As for Orga's two conversations, I can respect him offering himself as a symbol to take the fall for his subordinates, and I can understand his willingness to let the members leave. I also admire his willingness to admit that he failed to deliver on the promises he made to them. Pompadour guy choosing to leave was no surprise, but it looks like he's too late to get away. I will admit, though, that he had a point that the other members talking about being in it until the end sounded a little crazy-cultish. Even though things likely will not end well for Iron Flower, I do hope for two things. First, I hope that all of Atra, Kudelia, Merribit, Nadi and the accountant guy (read "all non-combatants of which I'm aware" ) survive and aren't subsequently executed following show trials. Second, I hope that Iron Flower (or McGillis. I'm not picky on this) is at least able to kill Iok and Rustall in the coming battle. BC - The escape train was an interesting application of smoke magic. In other words, the Diamond Kingdom is Blood Mist Village, and Mars is Zabazu with implants that make his magic even more powerful. I'm not sure how much of it was trying to save animation budget and how much was bad writing, but his diamond clones didn't seem to have the autonomy of action that Naruto's Shadow Clones have. I liked not only that Asta's past determination inspired Yuno to keep fighting in the present, but also that the Bulls stood with their comrades-in-arms in the face of an enemy rather than going after the vault. Yes, Klaus. Asta is an impressive physical specimen due to his intense training regimen. HxH - It may sound harsh, but Gon is way too dumb to get all the numerical stuff about nen reserves and rates of usage, let alone the compounding interest. I want to know whether APR and IRS can be deployed against multiple opponents simultaneously. If not, then that's a glaring weakness of Knuckle's hax. He would need to kill his opponent as soon as their nen was suppressed by IRS in order to use APR against his next opponent in that case. Shippuden - I do enjoy Samui's epic boobs. In a world of paper bombs, it does make sense for someone to open a Kage's mail for them while facing away from the Kage. Tobi's intangibility power sure is convenient for him. SD - It may not be a Tuesday in July, but I think it's funny that this is repeating on the 8th. I don't know anyone that wants to hear their parents talk about sex stuff, even something as tame as Meow's dad confirming that he likes boobs. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - Since my dvd viewing for last week was in English, I didn't re-watch this.

I can resist, but I will admit he's still a handsome devil. I would say he aged like a fine 30-year-old whisky, but I've never shelled out for more than 12-year-old hooch. Welcome. It's good to see you here.

Reply out-of-sequence. Well, they did interrupt the schedule, but with things I was okay seeing, and they extended the block through the Comedy repeats, so I didn't save any time after all. Quite the opposite, actually. Thus, I didn't watch Scavengers. DBS - The fighting was cool, but Zamasu had some ridiculous hax going. I'd guess he goes on to get a wish from the Super Dragon Balls for his invincibility. Plus, present!Zamasu should chill. Goku and Vegeta earned that divine energy through hard work under Whis' instruction. They shouldn't be treated like impetuous thieves for it. Goku, Trunks and Vegeta escaping to the past is fine, but I don't know what good it will do if they can't figure out a way around Zamasu's instant regeneration. DBZK - This was sooooo drug out, but Goku and Vegeta got the others out of Buu, including Fat Buu, so now we have Kid Buu, at last. BC - Oh, so Luck's mom didn't die because he lost, but he thought that winning was the only way to earn his deceased mom's approval. His fixation makes a little more sense, but his off-his-rocker smile pre-dating that death doesn't. He was and still is a strange one indeed. The smoke magic guy should have many broken bones and several ruptured organs from Asta's strike. If the sword's edge were actually sharp, the guy would be in two or more pieces. Yuno not leaving Klaus to fight alone, despite an order to do just that, is fine, but I'm somewhat concerned that this guy seems even more powerful than Yuno. JoJo: SC - The embarrassing positions aside, Avdol and Joseph being stuck together was quite problematic, but especially so on the railroad track. While Avdol did find a way to get them out of the train's path, I feel like heat enough to burn a hole into the ground would soften the rail, which should fail under the weight of the train, crushing our duo and derailing it anyway. Even if it didn't soften the rail, the rail now lacked support, and it could've failed from that, crushing our duo and derailing it anyway. Oh well. Mariah thought she was luring the men into a trap, but they had a plan of their own. The reason that power lines are magnetic, if memory serves, is because they have an outer, non-conducting steel cable for structural support. Of course, there's also the induced magnetic field from the flow of electricity, but that's probably less of a concern than the supporting cable. However, once a power line was close to Joseph, he had enough metallic objects on him that the electricity could've arced through the air to any one of those on the near side of him and flowed into him anyway. Avdol also would've had a problem with the truck. He, even with the objects stuck to him, would've weighed much less than the truck. If the force of his magnetism was enough to pull the truck to him, then it would've also been more than enough to pull him to the truck, unless the magnetic attraction to Joseph was strong enough at that point to counterbalance the attraction to the truck, meaning that Avdol wouldn't move and the magnetism would grow stronger until what we saw happened. The added mass of the truck likely bought Mariah another minute before the magnetism between Avdol and Joseph caused them to pancake her. With the forces involved in that impact, she should consider herself lucky if she was only hospitalized with many broken bones and internal injuries. Here's hoping her face wasn't damaged in the process. I feel like Jean and Jotaro should've realized, considering their own experience against Anubis, that Avdol and Joseph could've been under attack much sooner than they did. I was mildly surprised that Iggy played no role in defeating Bastet and Mariah. Also, Bastet has incredibly weak combat potential. It relies solely and catching Mariah's opponent off-guard and waiting for the growing effect of that attack to kill them. FLCL 2 - I was already interested in seeing this, and now I'm even more interested. I feel like the dude from the soba shop where the one girl who becomes an N.O. channel works could be the grown Naota, but I can't be sure based on this alone. Haruko looks a little older, but she's still a hottie. The new "mall" looks like it's a building facade over another giant iron to me. Mind Game - First, the negative things. For one, I probably wouldn't have watched this if it weren't placed in front of my eyeballs based solely on the art style. For two, I seriously doubt that someone could clench their buttocks tightly enough and twist quickly enough to wrest a pistol from the hand of someone holding the grip, or at least not without getting shot in the process. For three, I've already addressed the idea of a massive, air-filled cavity which isn't part of the respiratory system with Samurai Jack. For four, I reject the philosophical/theological implications of Nishi's meeting with God. For five, I had trouble telling what was happening at the very end. It looked like each of the people was living out several possible futures which might be mutually exclusive for any one of the people. Now, the positive things. For one, the story was engrossing. For two, I like that Nishi was able to use the opportunity that the self-made do-over gave him to build a relationship with his crush. For three, the initially fatal incident did present a plausible wound channel for someone shot from that angle. For four, I admired the ingenuity and determination of the group as they sought to escape for their lives from the giant whale. For five, I applaud the logic and ambition Nishi demonstrated in recognizing how to get a do-over and seizing the opportunity. I do want to focus on one scene, though. When the two yakuza guys came to the bar, the Muscle was openly carrying his pistol; a quick look at him from the front gave a view of the pistol's grip. He also showed that he was a powerful physical specimen by compressing the soccer ball so much that the inner air bladder ruptured. He was clearly visibly angry. He both accosted Myon and threatened to rape her. He struck her fiancee and pointed the pistol at Nishi. In light of all this, I would consider Nishi to be within his natural and legal rights to shoot the Muscle, because not only was his life threatened by the Muscle's actions, but Nishi was also acting to defend Myon from great bodily harm. Even after Nishi disarmed the Muscle, the Muscle still posed a believable threat due to his strength and demonstrated willingness to engage in violence. Now, taking the other yakuza's car to escape the dangerous scene isn't necessarily defensible, but needing to flee from the presence of a man whose criminal colleague Nishi had just killed is understandable. I'm not sure how Myon was so buxom, but her sister would've had A-cups. MSG: IBO 2 - Old episode: Yes, there were horrible casualties on Iron Flower's side, and not just the slain, but the maimed as well, including one of Akihiro's adoptive brothers. No, Mikazuki. You set an unrealistic goal there. It's not reasonable at all to expect you to fight and defeat an entire fleet. You didn't let Orga down by failing to do the impossible. You fought as well as you could without giving yourself another feedback stroke. I'm fine with Julietta opting not to have the A.V. implant surgery, even if she termed it in a prejudiced way. Yeah, Shino was cool with Yamagi wanting to get with him. Whatever. Shino did make good on putting his life on the line to protect his family from a ruthless war criminal, even though he failed to take that enemy out. Wait, what? How did Rustall manage to strip McGillis of his rank? Under Gjallarhorn's bylaws, McGillis was the supreme commander by virtue of piloting Bael. What kind of leverage would Rustall have on the other Stars to get them to agree to that move? You have some explaining to do, show. HxH - Kuckle's interest accrual power is so usurious that it's obscene. This definitely counts as hax. Wait, what? What happened to Killua's eye? I feel like this is some kind of nen trap Illumi set in Killua to assure that he'd only fight the way his older brother wanted. How it would know when to activate, I don't know, but it's very weird and looks unlike anything Shoot had done up to that point. Oh, crap. The C.A. King looks like it's about to hatch. That can't be good news for anyone. Shippuden - Frankly, Danzo wasn't wrong to denounce Sauce as a rogue ninja. It may be the only thing Danzo ever gets right, but he did make a sound call here. The curse mark on all the Foundation operatives to insure they won't talk about Danzo to others sounds like the action of a man suffering from rampant paranoia. Plus, I wonder if it would work on them writing things out to divulge his secrets, because Sai is very quick with his brush. I'm fine with Naruto offering to help find Killer B. It's a good gesture of the spirits of good will and cooperation between Villages which aren't actively hostile to one another, and it further serves as proof that Sauce's actions weren't aligned with the sentiments of his Village. SD - It was funny to see that Meow's unintelligible actual name is rendered with a number of symbols in it. Dandy's cry of "tomorrow" before firing the rocket being in English was great. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - I watched this on dvd ahead of time. Yep, Kuze ripped off Office Space. While the designs for a nuclear weapon would likely be available on the Net in the GitS universe, having that and fissile material wouldn't necessarily translate into having a bomb to threaten a government for independence. They would need a delivery system, and I feel like a country which has suffered nuclear detonations in two wars in the show's universe would have detection technologies to find sources of high radiation, especially if one was moving over land or into a port area. Well, that wrestling match with the Arm suit and a Tachi was anticlimactic.

I was referencing the nun telling how Appledelhi said he forgot he dropped Ed off at daycare and had been looking for her for seven years. I wouldn't think Ed would be much more than ten years old now, so that would put her in the vicinity of three when she was neglectfully abandoned. Yes, it's not certain that she left the daycare before becoming a ward of the state after Appledelhi failed to retrieve her for several days, but how and when she got out on her own is a mystery we'll never solve based on what the show tells us. If the shows don't air normally tonight, that'll actually save me some time. I can watch something else off the dvr before Coast to Coast AM starts at 1 A.M. Eastern.

I separated the comments in CB and GitS by episode number, but not for OS. Also, if CB stays part of the lineup, I don't intend to watch it though again immediately, either on the channel or off my dvds, meaning no comments. The same goes for GitS when its run ends. Ang: Yes. If anyone from Rustall's forces should survive, it's the pretty redheaded mechanic lady. Poke: You have a point. At the time of the show's setting, any video rental place Joseph could visit would have magnetically encoded videocassettes. DBS - Aw, crap. Black has his own Super Saiyan form. I'm disappointed that Vegeta got to be the punching bag to show off Black's new power. At least Trunks was reunited with grown!Mai. DBZK - For Kai being the filler-free version of the DBZ story, there sure was a lot of it this episode. The only part I remember from the manga was Goku and Vegeta rescuing the people Buu was tapping for power. Vegeta was a bit rash to crush his Potarra earring. BC - I'm fine with Yuno saving Asta and Noelle from the monster. The digging banter between Mimosa and Noelle was annoying, though. It's easy to think of Luck as being just a fight junkie, but after he was paralyzed by the enemy magician, I thought I heard a girl's or woman's voice which sounded like it was part of a memory telling him to win. Maybe he lost a fight, magic or otherwise, at some point, and this female died either protecting him or as a consequence of his defeat. If so, he could understandably develop the need to fight and win in order to push himself to improve so he'd never fail someone close to him like that again. That memory seemed to push him to overcome the effects of his enemy's magic through force of will, and that's impressive. I would like to see the Bulls clear the dungeon rather than the Dawn, if only to humble Klaus a bit. He strikes me as an elitist jerk, but I feel like he's ripe for character growth to move beyond that. However, that would require good writing, and I don't have high hopes for that in this show. JoJo: SC - Oh no! The enemy Stand-user is a hot chick! It's tough to pull for our heroes when their opponent is a babe like that. The comedy of errors and mishaps with Joseph, his magnetism, and the search for Mariah was a little tedious, but this is a real problem for him. The danger of the escalator aside, I would think that a magnetic field emanating from Joseph would cause him some difficulty in using his mechanical hand, eventually making it mash against his body and rendering that arm immobile. With enough time, even if Joseph could survive the the impacts of metal objects, he would eventually suffer failure of his autonomic systems, since the nerve signals to his heart and lungs wouldn't be strong enough to transmit effectively due to the magnetic field interference. MSG: IBO 2 - I watched part of this earlier in the week, but didn't finish the episode, and I don't remember much beyond Shino dying. I'll try to work these comments into next week's stuff. HxH - I'll agree with Knuckle that Gon's Janken Rock takes too long to charge and leaves him vulnerable while doing so. It also burned a lot of nen when Gon used it as a fake-out to try to manipulate Knuckle into reacting the way Gon wanted. Biscuit had a point that Killua didn't make good use of his training time. Sure, his likely opponent, Shoot, isn't likely to bring as fierce a fight as Knuckle would, but he still should've tried to push himself. Since he didn't, I can support Biscuit challenging him to a fight and whupping him. I hadn't considered the philosophy behind Killua's fighting style previously, and I think Biscuit nailed it, but such a style makes sense for a paid assassin, which is the Zoldyck family trade. I doesn't make sense for a paid assassin to die in order to carry out the mission when retreating, regrouping, and planning the next attempt will accomplish the objective as well while preserving the assassin's life. Also, presuming the worst-case scenario makes the decision process of the assassin easier, since overestimating the opposition would lead to an easier victory than expected, while underestimating them can easily lead to the assassin's death. Shippuden - Naruto was a good friend to try to cover for Sauce's psychopathic rage. Itachi was one of his trigger words back then. OS - I can understand Suzuka wanting blood vengeance against the Kei Pirates and Hitoriga in particular for their role in her family's deaths. Gene sure recovered quickly from using the Caster shells that should've drained all his lifeforce with three shots. I feel a little sorry for Harry, since his last act in his body was to get to somewhere that he could help Melfina. I'm not entirely sure how his "backup copy" saved Ron (as in I don't know what the name was of the robots he sent to retrieve his unconscious brother), but I feel like having them escape was a set-up for a sequel series or movie that didn't happen wherein they'd come back to beleaguer our crew again. Aisha being exhausted after her win against an Anten Seven member is fine, but we must remember that when Jim was sent back to get the ship and crew ready to rescue Gene, if necessary, he would've gotten an eyeful of naked Aisha when he had no clothing with him to offer her which would be large enough to cover all her censorable parts. In her position, I would think she'd take his jacket to tie around her waist and cover her breasts with her hands for the walk back to the ship. Well, that is if she did mind being naked. If she didn't mind, she might politely decline the offer of his jacket and tease him about how lucky he was to get the visual treat she was supplying. I call shenanigans on Hazanko climbing back out of the black hole Caster spell, but they did need someone to fight for the big battle at the end. Simply having Gene talk Melfina into returning with him and her separating the Leyline Maiden program from the rest of her personality would've been tough to stretch into the rest of the episode without having the Outlaw Star crew in the ship fight Hazanko's inhuman abomination form. I'm fine with the group returning to Sentinel 3, and I'm fine with Gene getting arrested and fined, even though he wasn't solely responsible for the damage to the spaceport, but they can't arrest and fine dead pirates. SD - The math was wrong. If the transporter took 30 minutes previously to send someone, and it now is 50 times faster, then that means it would take 1/50th of the time. The previous time was 1800 seconds, so the new time would be 36 seconds. What we saw was more like 3.6 seconds, meaning it would be 500 times faster. Shame on you for getting that wrong, Q.T. Well, that and the inaccuracy of the targeting system, I guess. I'm fine with eating meat from a philosophical perspective, but even I will admit that force-feeding geese to fatten them for foie gras is inhumane. Meow got a little taste of that here, but he didn't get the feeding tube down his throat. With the loss of Code D, the plants losing their intelligence isn't like them dying, but the "people" they were are no more, and that's sadder to me than Dandy let on to it being to him. CB - 23: I'm not sure that before this viewing I ever caught the part of Faye's interview on the television show where she was asked, "and what are you going to do about the money you owe?" "Those debts belong to my body; they have nothing to do with my spirit." I once took a cue from Spike in this episode and poured a beer on a bowl of cereal. The flavors didn't meld very well, so I can understand his reaction. I feel like the image of Londes was modeled after Marshall Applewhite. Also, the chick Scratch member to whom Spike spoke looked like she could've served as an inspiration for Tatsuki's character design. 24: I'm not sure how Ed would've left daycare at less than three years old and survived wandering alone. Appledelhi is a strange one, but McIntyre has to be a little crazy also for him buy into the mapping mission. Back in college, I went through my whole time living in dorms on a 14-meal plan. After I learned about a kind of take-out option where we could get two entrees and three sides for a meal, I started using the posted weekly menus to determine which meals I would eat in a dining hall and for which ones I would utilize the take-out option. I did this so I could stretch those meal usages into more meals and thus decrease my grocery expenses by eating breakfast in a dining hall. After I had seen this episode a few times, when I would get hard-cooked eggs as part of breakfast, I would start to sing "Call Me, Call Me" in my head as I peeled the eggs and ate. 25: Last week at work on Saturday night into Sunday morning, TRFB part 1 was airing during lunch, so I turned the channel on one of the televisions in the lunchroom to CN. When one of my co-workers got to the table, I started telling him about what was happening in the episode, like the gray haired guy (Vicious) just tried and failed to carry out a murder-coup on his criminal syndicate superiors. He responded that it sounded like I'd seen it a few times. I also told him what was happening in the scene where Faye meets Julia, and I think that I termed it that she (Faye) was about to shoot at the armed gangsters because their stray gunfire had almost hit her and did hit her ship, so she wasn't about to stand for that. He said she seemed like the kind of person who'd shoot you right between the eyes, and I said that she didn't directly kill anyone in the show, but that the guy who was about to be thrown from the car at which she was going to shoot probably would die from his injuries. Julia must've still had connections of her own to know who the people around Spike are, including Faye. Vicious was lucky that the guy who shot his shackles was an excellent shot, or he could've ended up with holes in his arms or hands. 26: The problem with a shotgun is that it has a remarkably puny round capacity. Sure, the rounds are powerful, but there are so few of them without reloading. In Spike's raid on the Red Dragons to kill Vicious, he kills or wounds 11 people, including Vicious. At the end, after Spike has collapsed, presumably dying, on the stairs up to the platform where he fought Vicious, there are 24 armed Red Dragon soldiers arrayed in front of him. Thus, in order to escape, he would need to kill or wound more than double the number of men that he did while fresh and well-armed with ammunition and explosives while he was now unarmed, severely wounded, and facing all those men with no cover or concealment to use. Thus, even if Spike could've survived the wounds he'd sustained up to this point, he and any reinforcements in the form of Faye and Jet, would've needed to overcome more than twice the number of men Spike had killed or wounded in the raid and extract Spike alive and get him substantial medical attention quickly in order for Spike to survive. Thus, I don't hesitate to presume that Spike died in the finale, ending the story of our main group. This is why the Bebop movie is set somewhere during the series, between episodes. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - 17: I'm going to presume that full prosthetic bodies are incapable of contracting infectious diseases, since they are mostly mechanical. Thus, it would be a safe first-time experience for the kid to bang the Major. Kuze was a terrible person to tell a child gang how to smuggle hard drugs. I never knew I needed to watch a coked-up Tachikoma trip out, but it put a grin on my face. 18: I want to know when motorized wheelchairs like the girl's which can climb and descend stairs will become widely available in reality. Yes, yes. Even premeditated murderers like Angelica could have families, but that doesn't exempt them from justice. Drunk Tachis were even better than the high one, which crashed hard afterward. 19: I would think that those trawlers would be easy to render identical, since they're likely part of a model line, meaning only superficial things like the paint jobs and identification numbers would need to be made the same. Charisma is a hard thing to explain, but Kuze has it. Maybe his honesty has something to do with his appeal to the Refugees as well. Okay, the teaser for the wrestling match between a Tachi and an Arm suit has me ready for the next part.

I've been really busy at work the last few weeks. I had to work last Saturday night, and I will again tonight, and most days have been 12-hour days, so there hasn't been much time to write things. I'm going to cover the episodes I have watched off the dvr, but on a show basis rather than strictly an episode basis, since I don't think I can remember exactly what happened in which episode to separate them. Also, I haven't watched anything off the dvds yet. DBS - Yes, future!Trunks is a punk compared to blue!Vegeta, but at least he did term his disappointment in his son in a way to challenge him to become better. Zeno (I smiled when Goku called him "Zeni" ) is a nice kid, and I like that he just wanted someone to play with him. Here's hoping Goku can come through on his promise to bring another fun playmate (I would guess Pan). I would think that they would want to take more than a single trip's-worth of fuel for the time machine, but eh. I know that Goku is on the simple side, but either or both of Trunks and Vegeta should've realized they were taking Goku to a place and time where he looks, clothing aside, exactly like the world-devastating bad guy. If they wouldn't make Goku cut his hair drastically first, they should've al least made him put some kind of covering on his head to make it more difficult for denizens of the future to recognize him. Zamasu strikes me as being ideologically aligned with Light Yagami. DBZK - Comparing this to what I remember from reading the manga last year, a lot of these two episodes seemed like filler. Vegitto can pummel Buu to his heart's content, but unless Vegitto can obliterate Buu into sub-atomic particles faster than he can regenerate, eventually Vegitto will tire or make a real mistake. I know that he intended to get absorbed, but it is a risky ploy. BC - Yeah, the shady dude whose dad was in the government was behind it all for revenge. At least he was exposed in his shady conduct, and they got his also-shady dad, too. Fight guy (I think his name is Luck) doesn't seem like the most reliable senior to take on a mission, but he is entertaining. Remember, Asta and Noelle, that dungeons also frequently have traps and magical creatures to defend the secrets and/or treasures contained therein. JoJo: SC - If Stands are connected to the person from whom they arise, I don't know how Anubis would be able to survive as a cursed sword after the man who forged it died. At least Jotaro and S.P. were able to break it into mostly unusable pieces. I get the feeling that either Iggy is the smartest dog ever, coming to our heroes' aid just when they need it and in ways which could plausibly be denoted happy accidents, or he has the luckiest timing anyone or anything has ever had. Dio's Stand, The World, is, we must remember, not his, but rather that of Jonathan Joestar's stolen body. Even now, over 100 years after Jonathan's death, he's still amazingly badass. MSG: IBO 2 - I was impressed that Almiria armed herself to stab McGillis for trying to kill her brother. I was disappointed not only that she couldn't bring herself to attack him, but also that she tried to kill herself instead. At least McGillis did have the decency not to allow a gradeschooler to commit suicide. However, we could consider this an act of cruelty by forcing her to stay in an arranged relationship that she no longer truly wants, and she would have the knowledge that one day he would want to consummate their formal union. If we think of it that way, the only option she has which isn't horrible is to succeed in murdering him, and she could face prosecution or execution for that if she can't paint it as self-defense. Yeah, it was a bad sign that the Iron Flower guys were getting pumped up for this engagement by calling it "the final battle." That practically guarantees obscene fatalities on their side. Yes, Iok. Rustall is planning for the aftermath of the battle in regard to the planetary defense forces. It's like he said almost the exact same thing you did to you, dummy. Should Rustall end up dying and any Iron Flower members survive, I think the Iron Flower guys would be within their rights of revenge and spite to piss on his grave/memorial. He planted an operative in McGillis' ranks to use a banned weapon on his (Rustall's) own men, which is to say that he betrayed their trust by murdering some of his forces through a false-flag attack in order to have "justification" to use AN ENTIRE BATTERY OF THOSE SAME WEAPONS, WHICH HE WOULD'VE NEEDED TO EQUIP AND BRING AHEAD OF TIME FOR THIS BATTLE! Yeah, there's nothing fishy there at all. In the moment, I was rooting for Shino to hit the bridge of Rustall's ship with their makeshift railgun, and I, like Shino, was sorely disappointed that he not only missed, but also died in the process of the attempt. Thinking about it now, the alliance of Iron Flower and McGillis had better win, because Shino having and using the makeshift railgun gave credibility to the story behind the first false-flag attack, since Iron Flower did have such a weapon in their possession. As long as Rustall and Iok die, then Iron Flower might not be branded as war criminals by an actual war criminal in the subsequent spin to the media and populace. HxH - Knuckle seems like a good guy. It's a shame he and the boys must fight. So what they're saying is that Shoot is a coward whose nerves get the better of him. Scary lady got scarier, but Gon was remarkably smooth about figuratively disarming her without trying, and it looks like she might be getting a crush on him. Maybe they can have a date when he's a few years older. It's hard to believe that Netero has killed all the squads in single-combat (on his end, anyway). Recall that this is the same man who challenged the boys to that game on the airship during the exam, but I don't think he used any nen in that encounter. Shippuden - In the one where the art style seemed off, I don't know why Naruto and/or Sauce didn't simply try to cut the goo. Maybe they didn't know Asuma's technique of channeling chakra into a blade at that time. Yep, Shikamaru was the cleverest of that genin class. Also, the monkey-looking sideburns guy was completely shady from the start. OS - Haven't watched them. SD - The Little Aloha is a very tough ship to withstand that may explosions and collisions. I didn't count how many "last resort" moves Dandy had, but there were surely no fewer than three. Plus, riding slipstream with a spacecraft would actually make the following vehicle slower, because they would be hit by the effluent of the other ship's propulsion system. Not!Laika was a good doggie. How did the door on the Bebop fridge get closed? (Recall that the door was open when it exited the Bebop.) Getting smothered in hair gel would be a terrible way to die. If the damage claim Admiral Perry had was for the explosions from the sick beats missile launch, then that was outstandingly fast claim processing by the grieved parties' insurer(s). CB - Haven't watched them. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - Haven't watched them.

Just the old stuff right now. I had to work last Saturday night, meaning I was there for the entirety of the block. I watched all the episodes I recorded on the dvr earlier last week, so my recollection might not be that clear. Thus, this should be shorter than most weeks. DBS - I loved when someone (I forget whether it was Beerus or Whis) said that it's like Goku botches his polite routine on purpose. The green Supreme Kai-in-training seemed a bit shady to me. When Beerus and Goku both noted that the guy's energy was similar to Black's, but not quite the same, I immediately thought that since Black's rampage happens in the future, Goku just sparked the creation of Black by showing up the guy. DBZK - Thankfully, all the beatings Gohan has taken over the years helped him outlast the effect of the boys' fusion. Unfortunately, he didn't learn from the ambush he saw and protect himself from it. Between Dende and Mr. Satan, Dende would probably be the stronger partner for fusion, but then the Dragon Balls might stop working. BC - The Praying Mantis guy overreacting to the poison was funny, but my immediate reaction was, "owww! The purse-snatcher just stabbed him in the foot!" I'm cool with the Wizard King going out in disguises to meet new Magic Knights and see for himself what kind of powers they have. Yuno's superior strikes me as a snob. At least Yuno has a cute teammate. That she's named after an alcoholic beverage might increase Yuno's chance of scoring with her. I thought it was funny that Sister Lily, thanks to Asta's shameless persistence, now reflexively lashes out with magic to protect herself when a guy gets too close for her comfort. JoJo: SC - Jean was simultaneously a dummy and remarkably rational. He was dumb to leave the lit cigarette laying there (it takes almost no time to step on it), but he was also right that the odds of enemy Stand users being there and setting a trap for them (with the poisoned tea) were low. Granted, that unlikely scenario was exactly the case, but it was highly improbable. I'm getting the impression that Iggy just loves to torment humans, whoever they are. I'm not sure how writing and giving an immutable prophecy are the same, but eh. The older brother being Clayface was weird, but I like that his clothes stayed the same. MSG: IBO 2 - We finally got confirmation of something we knew for almost the entire season; Vidar is Gaelio. As for him and his new abilities in his Gundam, he got the A.V. implant and has something like the A.V.S. in his mobile suit. In light of that, it's not surprising that he could now fight Mikazuki evenly. However, Ein was a mostly good dude, and he deserved better than to have portions of his remains used to make this pseudo-A.V.S., especially since those remains are what takes the brunt of the sensory overload for Gaelio. Now McGillis has the A.V. implants. Is there anyone who doesn't have that, other than Julietta? Anyway, with it, he can pilot Bael, and some strange, archaic bylaw of Gjallarhorn makes him the leader because of it. Good luck getting everyone to recognize him as the leader and obey. At least McGillis' people were able to get the evidence they needed to prove Iok's wrongdoing and went public with it. Also, the redheaded head mechanic lady is still pretty. HxH - The gloomy lady is kind of scary, but I think she might have the start of a crush on Gon. I'm fine with Biscuit coming back to train the boys some more. The exercise to maintain Ren for a very prolonged period of time is tough to compare to other activities, but I would guess that it's like asking a marathon runner to go at the pace of his final kick for the whole race. It sure is convenient that Biscuit's masseuse Stand can give the boys a rejuvenating massage in a few minutes to prepare them for the next day's training. Shippuden - In other words, had Kakashi not given credence to the warning of his student, Orochimaru's attack on Konoha could've been even more destructive than it was. This soul-sealing jutsu stretches credibility for me. OS - I'd like to know more about the ancient civilization that left the undecipherable data incorporated into Melfina and the Outlaw Star. Sure, it was necessary to get into the Galactic Leyline, but I must wonder why this civilization would leave younger races the information they would need to reach that other-dimensional space. What's the goal of these ancients in doing this? Yep, Hazanko making his play on the Leyline was a statement of rebellion against the rest of the Pirate leadership. SD - From a wilderness survival standpoint, it would be more advantageous to maintaining core temperature to cover the torso, like the Vestians. That said, my Western sensibilities would make me more likely to choose the Undian option for modesty. Dandy was right. Given the aliens' terrible aim, it's no wonder the war kept going for so long. CB - Spike's pitch to Teddy Bommer was witty. It is kind of amazing that in the world of bounty hunters, where many are known to others and some are even famous or infamous, Spike hadn't heard of Andy before now. Spike's mask at the party strikes me as having stylistic similarities to those of the nobles in Wolf's Rain. I can't believe that no one died in all the bombings and the mayhem between Andy and Spike. Spike, in his anger at Andy, forgot his lesson to Rocco. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - Personal space, Takakura. Learn the meaning of it. I don't recall whether I noted it previously, but in the last scene of Kuze's exploits on the mainland, it looked like Yosuke, Aramaki's brother, was in the group taking interest in Kuze.