FoleyisGood149

I get the feeling that if there is another season, Ann will be the grandma to Jotaro's grandson who ends up with superpowers, but I would expect Jotaro to wait until Ann is at least a late-teen to start seeing her. Also, that's cold, but it is a legitimate concern regarding air travel in this show. Plus, I would like to think of it as a sign of Jotaro truly accepting Joseph as his grandfather. For one, several of them are at least junior high-aged. For another, I feel like they would've checked the flowers before allowing them into Makenai's office, but that would've likely resulted in an explosion that would kill at least one of them. If I heard what I thought I heard, Killua said the yo-yos weigh 50 kilograms each. That's 110 pounds. I doubt that you, or any of us, would be able to lift something of that mass with the necessary density to pack it into such a small object. I can lift standing people of that weight and heavier off the ground, but I don't need to hold all the mass with the grip strength of my hands alone. Also, of what are his shorts made that the yo-yos don't immediately tear out his pockets? What are the strings on the yo-yos that they don’t break? I concur. Indeed, don't blow it for the rest of us. Plus, thankfully so. Also, I can work with that as well. DBS - So, Goku was dumb enough to believe that Monaka really is stronger than he is. Perhaps "dumb" is being too harsh. It might be more accurate to say that he's naively trusting of Beerus, or just in general. I did like that Hit was sporting enough to throw the next match like Goku did for him when the Destroyers couldn't agree to let the two of them fight unfettered. Another Zeno? Hm. It is interesting that this one's arrival was enough to stop Champa from killing his team in angry disappointment. DBZK - Yep. Gotenks underestimated Buu. Plus, Piccolo failed to inform Gotenks that ordinary striking attacks don't work on Buu, so that helped make this a wasted effort. Mr. Satan's schemes failing to kill Buu was no surprise, but I remember Buu making Mr. Satan his servant being an unexpected development the first time I saw this stretch. Y'all may or may not be aware that I'm reading the Dragon Ball manga. I'm now in the last of the 3-in-1 volume collections. I'm not yet to the point of Goku showing the boys the Fusion Dance, but I anticipate being done with the manga before the end of the show. It's kind of like back when I was reading the DN manga while the show was in premieres on [as], but since this is much lighter on dialogue, I don't anticipate failing to finish reading before the final episode. JoJo: SC - I feel like it would take a day or more for a tailor to make a replacement coat for Jotaro. That's time which Holly doesn't have. I suspect that we haven't seen the last of Ann yet. It would surprise me if anyone in the town outside our group and Enya is actually alive. It would also surprise me if they don't need to fight off a zombie horde before/while fighting Enya. As for her Stand, a creepy fog which can make people hallucinate and can cause blood to explosively boil is strange and overpowered. I wonder if the wound must be fresh for the fog to interact with someone's blood, i.e. would a scab or a large bandage over a wound be enough to keep the fog out of the person? Enya was wise to bandage her left-side hand. She also put up a moderately convincing front. Hol went about his interaction with Enya all wrong. He should've led with that he couldn't keep up with Centerfold's speed when chasing Jean, and that by the time he got there, Centerfold was already dead. Enya might believe those facts, but he'd still be on shaky ground with her regarding his tactically-sound choice to flee a 4-on-1 confrontation with Team Joestar. As for trying to fight her with his Stand, he was dumb. She just said and demonstrated that she could control his arm. Why did he put his pistol Stand into the hand she just controlled? At least try to make Emperor appear in the other hand which she hadn't yet manipulated. He made killing him too easy for her. I'm concerned for Joseph. He might've gotten a small wound on his back from that fence which could serve as an entry point for Enya's (In)Justice. MSG: IBO 2 - Hey, traitor guy. It's not the fault of the Iron Flower kids that they're uneducated. That's the fault of your society for failing to treat them as people with human rights. In fact, several of them, and I think Takaki is included in that number, have actively sought out education in the intervening years since the first season. It's also unreasonable to hold them at fault for their comparative lack of life experience due to their younger ages. True, they may place an amount of trust in their leader which you consider foolish, but at least they didn't intentionally seek out a personal arrangement with a competing faction which would require them to betray a person to whom they owe allegiance, like you did against Chad and Makenai in your (hopefully) unsuccessful murder plot. You're also a dick to shut out Takaki and the others in your communications with their home office. Plus, yes, Takaki does realize how long a trip from Mars to Earth takes. He's done it at least one time, and I would think no fewer than two times. Don't patronize him, jerk. As for Arbrau building their own military force, it's sensible compared to being reliant solely on contractors like Gjallarhorn or Iron Flower. However, if someone who is going to be high in the organizational structure of that force is willing to conspire in an assassination plot against the elected leader, then I have little hope for them to refrain from enacting a coup attempt. I can't quite place my finger on it, but I'm concerned for Takaki and his sister's survival. Oh, wait. Maybe it's the whole "a traitor is involved in a plot to draw them into a war on Earth and isn't above sneaking bombs into sensitive locations" thing. The man in the mask with the Ariannerhod (sp?) fleet sure sounds like he has Gaelio's voice, so I'd be surprised if it were someone else. HxH - Okay. I can understand the rich guy calling off the project, since his sole reason for doing it, saving his woman's life, was no longer necessary. I felt a little bad for the two of them. I would expect that he also had Hunters searching in the rest of the world for people with the ability to heal others with nen, but neither endeavor was successful in time. I didn't expect Biscuit's "true" form to be a bodybuilder, but that helped her finish her fight quickly. If we can apply conservation of mass in the show's universe, then either she must use a lot of nen to accomplish this transformation, or she is much heavier in her tiny form than she looks like she should be. I liked Killua using his fight as an opportunity to try out new techniques and maneuvers to test their efficacy. Yep, Gon is tough and tenacious. I like that he was able to endure Genthru's attacks and force Genthru to prepare the kind of attack that Gon wanted him to use. We'll see if Biscuit and Gon's plan works next time. Ha ha, joke's on you, Team Bomber. Tsezguerra had a plan to preserve his team's important cards. Hm. If there's now no huge reward for clearing the game, does that mean that anyone who does gets to keep all the cards? Will anyone else who played get some kind of modest payment? They have been working this job for months, so it would only be right that they get some kind of compensation, since the main offer of the huge reward for being first has doubtlessly been rescinded. Lupin - I don't think I really got what was going on here, but I think that the clone of Leonardo wanted everyone to know that he worked out his origin and their involvement with the project. Mostly it was to say that MI6 was behind it and they used Rebecca's dead boyfriend's research to make it possible. I guess Zenigata needed to be there for him to take the information to his superiors, but I doubt anything will come of it if he does. How did Leonardo afford all this? That's another mystery. At least the meal looked good. Speaking of looking good, dang, Fujiko and Rebecca were rocking it at that fashion show. Shippuden - Yeah, Naruto and Sauce essentially engaged in another C-rank mission there in fighting off the bandits, and it was for no pay. Maybe it could be considered following up their proper mission. Inari and the other boys reconciled. Good. I'm not really surprised, though I am somewhat disappointed, that after Sauce doubtlessly inflicted deadly wounds on some of the bandits with his giant shuriken, the villagers failed to kill any more of the bandits with their archery fire. OS - I can fully understand that Gene, who was adrift in an escape pod for an unknown length of time following the attack on his dad's ship, would be unwilling to leave someone stranded when he could do something about it. Granted, it's unlikely Aisha knew this about his past, but her Plan B did work. Outside of a solar wind, I'm unaware of anything truly analogous to an Ether Stream in reality, but a comparatively high-density flow of fast-moving particles and solar sails could be used to augment propulsion as long as it's relative speed was greater than that of the ship flying in it. Yeah, this Harry guy is a liar and a cheater. He gets creepily worse. CB - In the interview with Yuri, the news anchor definitely had the same V.A. as Gene. I hadn't noticed that until now. It's easy to forget that ships in space will get dirty, because there are clouds of gases and dust and debris clusters through which the ships will fly. Thus, Spike needing to wash the Swordfish makes sense. In light of the dangers and difficulties that a disaster like the Hyperspace Gate explosion would cause for humanity in their daily lives, it's also easy to overlook the damage that the explosion and subsequent years of rock showers would cause to cultural heritage sites like the Nazca Lines and other large historic human construction endeavors. You're wrong, Jet. Edward is a very good thing to come from Earth, and chocolate-dipped Peeps Piyokos would also be good. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - The politician dude was totally slimy, and so are his fellow fetishists. In a world with high-performance, fully-prosthetic bodies, I don't understand the politician dude jumping immediately to the conclusion that the intruder was an android rather than a cyborg.

Yes, Amida still looks mighty good. That would've been the simplest and most sensible solution. DBS - I'm slightly confused. I thought of the Super Saiyan transformation, at least in Goku's case, as reaching a level unlocked though the mechanics of the kaioh-ken plus unbridled rage. Super Saiyan Blue requires our Saiyans to calm themselves and keep the energy from pouring out so freely. The kaioh-ken results in Goku's energy surging massively. It seems like a technique that shouldn't work in conjunction with Super Saiyan Blue. Oh well. Hit improving his time-traveling technique in the match was impressive, but it would also require him to spot upcoming openings even sooner. DBZK - I feel like Goku didn't give the boys and Piccolo enough information, since they weren't warned that a botched Fusion Dance would result in an entity that was weaker than either boy. However, it's possible that Goku didn't know about this, since the Metamorans either failed to tell him about it or never failed at it in front of him. Poor Gohan. I know I wouldn't be able, even on grass, to stand in one place for 25 hours. Kibito and Shin are in a similar situation, but they might be "allowed" to walk around or sit down. Goku was shameless in taking advantage of his freedom of movement and lack of direct or reverent involvement by taking a nap. Even if the old Supreme Kai is a powerful deity, Bulma wouldn't hesitate to slap or punch him if he got fresh with her. I can't say I blame him for wanting to get grabby with her, though. JoJo: SC - That car screamed Stand to me as soon as our group passed it. I'm not sure how it would be able to propel gas droplets without damaging the base car's fuel system, meaning it would be inoperable for our group later. As for the guy, clearly he's never seen the "Arms Race with Legs" episode of TTG. The sign they left up with him was funny, but yeah, they left him to die a horrible death from the combination of dehydration and exposure to the sun. Yes, having to protect Ann makes the battles more difficult for Team Joestar, but I don't mind Jotaro having a fangirl in the show. I saw two problems with using the winch to save Team Joestar from falling. First, the winch is mounted to the vehicle frame with bolts that could shear under sudden stress. Even if only one of them broke, it would then increase the load on the other bolts, putting them at risk of failing under sustained strain. Second, even if the bolts would be able to take the shock and static load of the vehicle and occupants' weight, it's possible the cable on the winch or the drum mounting wouldn't, meaning the cable or the winch itself would break. Enya is the last Stand user between Team Joestar and Dio. I feel like we have a lot of episodes left to have so few opponents remaining against them. Wait. Did she say her Stand was Justice, or Great Justice? On a more serious note, Joseph is very lucky that this part of the show takes place during the 1980s. With modern systems of communication and information, his arrest warrant, description, and passport information would be at every border checkpoint in the country, meaning he'd have to cross into Pakistan illegally, which would complicate every border crossing from here onward. MSG: IBO 2 - I was relieved that Iron Flower and the Gjallarhorn forces not under McGyllis' command didn't shoot at each other. As for capturing the pirate leader to finish the battle, sure. That's fine. While a new mine may not pay Iron Flower right now, their share of the profits has the potential to pay the group well for years to come once it is established, and the boys knew it. I like that it made them think about the future, even if just for a moment. Them uncovering some old mobile suits strikes me as an added bonus, even though it will take time and money to get those into battle-ready condition. I have mixed feelings about Mikazuki and Orga's trip to the weasely guy. Yes, they needed to get reparations for the damages inflicted at his behest, but gunning him down like that was straight up murder. This wasn't like killing in combat. It was using a deadly weapon against an outnumbered, unarmed man with no martial prowess of note. HxH - After Machi said she would hunt down Hisoka and kill him if he's successful in a fight against Chrollo, I began to fear for her safety. Kalluto being around makes me nervous for other's safety in general. Granted, not for anyone from the P.T. other than Machi and Shizuku, but I am concerned for this nen exorcist and, to a lesser degree, even for Hisoka. Yes, he's shady and creepy at times, but he is entertaining and has been very helpful to Gon. Skipping levels of instruction to try to force Gon to get good at a technique in a hurry looked like it backfired. Tsezguerra and his men running from Team Bomber like that seemed like a waste of cards. Back at the rich guy's place, it was highly suspicious that the place was cleared out, but the rich dude crying made me very curious as to what happened in the last several weeks or months. What happened, show? Lupin - I don't understand why The Greek would get such a huge following by plotting and televising the murder of criminals. He should be a fugitive. Drug-induced hypnosis sounds like it could wear off the instant the person became physiologically sober. Oh well. Lupin fooling The Greek was fine, and it was due to clever strategies and acting on the part of our group. Still, I would give the edge to Goemon over Jigen in an enclosed space at close range like that. Thank you, Fujiko, for not only showing us more cleavage when you unzipped your top, but also letting us see your very sexy lingerie. Leave it to her magnificent boobs to be able to hide enough of the knife blade in her cleavage to trick onlookers into thinking she'd been fatally stabbed. Also, we got a great look at her butt in that skirt early in the episode. Shippuden - It sounded to me like at least some of the dialogue in the flashback (mainly Sakura's) was re-recorded for this episode. The Land of Fire's feudal lord shouldn't have changed his mind. Danzo is an immense dick who did nothing during any of the attacks on Konoha, while Kakashi put his life on the line, as did the others Danzo criticized in his diatribe. At least Shikaku tried to have a better man than Danzo installed as interim Hokage. I don't recall it being mentioned that Hinata, Kiba and Shino were the first genin team Kurenai mentored. Plus, the first Ino-Shika-Cho team probably had huge smiles on the inside when their children were put together as a team. OS - Yes, racing is expensive. It's part of why there are so many company and product names and logos on NASCAR vehicles. At least the registration office woman was pretty. I don't blame Gene. The waitress dress Aisha wore was tight in a flattering way. While publicly available information on Melfina may be rare, I feel like Gene, Jim and Melfina could've and should've found out more about the checkpoints for the race before it began. The staggered start times for the ships said to me that it's the ship with the fastest time which wins rather than the first to cross the finish line. Once the first ship to reach the finish line crosses it, it's the ships that started after it which could still beat it. CB - If the science involved in the container for the Gray Ash plant is so sophisticated that it could filter out whatever it was in the Venusian atmosphere that killed the plant (it couldn't be truly sealed, since plants require air as well, though they don't die as soon with very limited supplies as animals do), then I would think they could go with a polycarbonate or otherwise shatterproof dome to cover it. That was a massive failure of design there. I feel like the other life in which Rocco and Spike could be friends would be one where Spike never joined the Red Dragons. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - I noticed some things that I never bothered to note previously. First, since there was an indoor range where Gino practiced with his pistol, I would say that the law has changed by the 2030s in the GitS universe to allow private ownership of firearms in Japan. Second, the number of casings on the floor at the range was over fifty, but that just means he was on his second (or third, since some of the casings may have fallen ahead of the firing line) box of ammunition. Third, his assortment of handguns was such that the had at least two calibers represented, but I would expect there to be three (or possibly even four), which would complicate his carry strategy in that he would need to keep spare magazines situated in a way that would prevent them from mixing while he was carrying them.

I didn't watch the Jack marathon live, but I did record it and watch it on Monday. There's no good reason I didn't post this then. Jack - If one were inclined, a drinking game could be made with this season of Jack for every time he's down on himself over feelings of failure. That could include when he has visions of the spectral warrior on horseback. When Jack hid from the septuplets, the only sounds I can think that he would've made to clue them to his location were gripping the sword that he found in the crypt and breathing. Their hearing must've been exceptional. I still say that since Ashi and Jack survived the fall, then the last two of her other sisters could've survived as well. I'm not sure what function the needle rain inside the creature would serve. Maybe it's an immune system response. The aged Scotsman calling Aku a big baby to his face continued to bring a smile to my face. I still don't understand why Ashi's hair doesn't change until she scrubs the black coating off her skin. Her hair got wet several times before that. Ashi showed amazing stamina in protecting Jack while he was on his vision quest. Not only did she fend off the army, but she also subsequently bested her mother. A "replay instructions" option would've been great. Ashi's mom shouldn't have drank that, but without it, Jack never would've had the quest to regain his sword. This was even worse than Nia, because at least she made it through her wedding ceremony. Ashi never made it to the platform. In the first shot of Jack on his horse afterward, it even looked like the horse was sad for him.

Dragon Ball v. 22 - 33. Goku's initial power-up to Super Saiyan took fewer panels than I expected. Bulma is still a pretty lady here and in Future Trunks' time. 17 and 18 made their move against Dr. Gero pretty quickly; it spanned two chapters, but it took less than a chapter of material from their revival until they killed him. They identified Hercule as the former wrestler known under the performing name Mr. Satan, so really either name is appropriate.

I would call that, "thanks, von Stoheim." :D , and several times, respectively. Almost complete agreement on both points, because I think that between the screening process, the explanation of what the dude hiring the Hunters to play the game wanted, the time spent teaming up and strategizing before going to this village, and the time spent in the challenges, the boys spent more than 45 minutes around Tsezguerra. Now, I am in complete agreement here. I've been wondering that as well. Maybe we'll get lucky in that he'll randomly appear in Gon's fight against Team Bomber to provide an unexpected, but timely, assist to Gon. If the dude does survive the show, then he'll probably be stuck with that gross worm creature for the rest of his life, since the game happens in the physical world, so there's no reason the spell that created it would lose its power when the game is cleared. Indeed. DBS - I like that Vegeta was stronger than Hit. Of course Hit was still strong and fast, but he also had a special power that tipped the balance in his favor. The King of Universe 7 speculated that Hit could jump forward in time, and he was right. 1/10th of a second isn't much, and it's enough that most people wouldn't notice it, but Hit would still need to read his opponent's attack to find an opening he could use, so it would take skill to use the power effectively. While we know that Hit was limited due to the "no killing" provision in the rules, I still like that Vegeta was the only opponent to take that many hits from Hit and live. Goku was quite polite when he heard that Hit is 1000 years old. I'm not sure whether to call it arrogance or confidence in his toughness that Goku didn't go full power at the start, holding his Blue form to use after studying Hit's motion habits. When Goku was able to block and counter twice, that was a sign that he had truly figured out Hit's special power. I like that both Goku and Hit decided it was time to get serious for the next episode. Whis outing Beerus on Monaka not truly being strong looked like it went unnoticed by the other combatants. In talking with a co-worker who watches the subs, he said that Toriyama's involvement with Super is that he approves an outline for the big developments in an arc, and that's pretty much it. DBZK - After Goku found Gohan, it looked to me like Goku could handle the Z Sword about as well as Gohan could at first. Once the two had the ever-necessary snack, it was time to test the sharpness of the Z Sword. While Goku's idea of using a boulder worked fine, Shin took it too far in using the hardest known material in the universe, which broke the Z Sword. I forget why the Supreme Kai from 15 generations ago was sealed in the Z Sword, but we'll get to that when episodes return. Yep, it sure was busy at King Yama's check-in station, but I still feel like Earth in the DB Universe is much less populated than our planet is. Buu's break from destruction to torment one kid went better for the kid than expected, and I feel like part of that was due to the kid's blindness. He lacked the visual experience to compare Buu's appearance to others, and that coupled with his gratitude at having his eyes healed lead him to call Buu handsome. I still don't understand Buu's obsession with being handsome, but eh. I surely hope the kid would never learn that Buu turned a guy into milk for him to drink. JoJo: SC - No, Dio's number 1 fangirl. Centerfold was not murdered. There's a concept called "the avenger of blood." In the past, it was considered to apply when someone was slain unprovokedly, which is to say the dead person did nothing which would justify the killer using deadly force against them. Judaism even had something called cities of refuge to which a killer could flee to avoid being killed for instances of what we would now call manslaughter, wherein the death resulted from an accident, was not a foreseeable consequence of an action, or was otherwise unintentional. However, going to a city of refuge did entail the person abandoning the life they had for a period of years, and if they left the city before that time had elapsed, then they were subject to deadly retribution by an avenger of blood. Back to the avenger, if surviving family members of the slain person wanted, they could seek out the killer and try to kill them (an eye for an eye), and the person who did so would be held faultless since they were avenging the innocent blood of their family member. This is the essence of Jean's search for the man with two right hands, so Jean is covered under this concept for putting himself in the proximity of Centerfold. Once they were in the same area, Centerfold decided to attack Jean and used Hanged Man's powers to chase Jean when he tried to flee the immediate danger, so Jean using Silver Chariot to dice up Hanged Man and, by the connection of a Stand to its user, kill Centerfold would then come under self-defense. Thus, this old woman was clearly insane with grief. Actually, she might have just been insane, since her description of her son and his character were completely wrong. Centerfold was a wretched evildoer who'd been beaten so hard with the Ugly Stick that it broke on him. In order to give someone else in the house the context of this paragraph and the one that preceded it, I showed them this scene and described who Centerfold and Jean were, then read those to them. In showing the scene, I noticed that the old woman also had two right hands. I missed that detail up until that point. I think the wounds the old woman suffered had to be in her skin. Any deeper than that could've killed her too. The cat was understandably freaked by her wailing and sudden bleeding, and I pity it for her hitting and chasing it. Crap. The infection from the blood on Joseph's arm grew, and of course it was a Stand. Even if the mouth was able to bite the scalpel, I'm not sure how it would've been able to inflict that exact wound on the doctor from the angle of attack it would've had. Once it killed the doctor, it was a real dick to make a false claim of responsibility for Joseph. I'm not sure how it would be able to talk, let alone eat, since it would ostensibly lack the organs for those processes when it was small enough to just be a face on Joseph's arm. I was glad to see that Hermit Purple could bind it, but it was no surprise that hamon was ineffective since it grew from Joseph's body. Once it grew big enough to reach Joseph's neck, I thought that the simple solution would be to turn his arm down and hold it out from his body. Yes, it would be an awkward shoulder motion and position to hold, but his life rides on it. The thing might, might be able to strike his ribs, but not necessarily, since a large part of the thing being able to reach Joseph's neck was how he held his arm up to put his right-side vital organs out of its reach. From both a material durability and pressure perspective, I would like to know how strong Joseph's mechanical hand is. I'm willing to accept that Hermit Purple could make a map in those ashes, but how was it able not only to locate the barrel of coal tar, but also to determine what was in it? Maybe I don't have a good grasp of Hermit Purple's powers. Anyway, the coal tar was unable to suffocate the thing, but it hardened in the air to immobilize it. From there, Hermit Purple and gravity combined to slice to bits. I wonder how long the girl was controlled by/was the Stand user. If she was the a user from the beginning, it's possible the team of Centerfold and Hol was actually a trio. If so, the question becomes whether Centerfold and/or Hol were/was aware of that. Poor Jean. He was oblivious to the danger at his side the entire episode. MSG: IBO 2 - I liked the shrewdness of the Dawn pirates in using some ships to tow others to disguise their numbers from opponent's sensors. I feel like we had a more realistic portrayal here of combat in that several of Iron Flower's units were running low on or out of munitions by the end of the episode. Even in my experiences at the range, I'll occasionally think I have more rounds in the magazine than I do and will be surprised by the "click." Back to the show, Mikazuki even had to get more propellant, though, like Nadi said, it was more of a topping-off while they had the chance, since Mikazuki's connection to Barbatos lets him move more intuitively, resulting in using less propellant. Of course, Mikazuki also used the time for a quick meal, because he's hypoglycemic or something. Even if the Ariannerhod (sp?) Fleet is under a different chain of command than the people McGyllis sent, I feel like it's poor communication and bad organizational structure if the newly-arrived Gjallarhorn forces haven't been informed of who the mercenary allies in Iron Flower are so they aren't mistaken for hostile pirates. HxH - Crap, Razor absorbed his nen men to compete at maximum power. I liked how our remaining trio of active players used teamwork to catch the throw. I very much liked how Razor, albeit internally, praised Killua's skillful use of nen balance. When they said Gon put his all in that attack, they weren't kidding. He was so drained that when it was deflect back toward him, he collapsed in exhaustion for an inadvertent "dodge" of the rebound. Hisoka earned some respect from me when he honored the spirit of how Gon wanted to win by using Bungee Gum to rebound the ball and stick it to Razor as he was pushed out of bounds. Oh, so Razor was also a condemned man. Ging hired him and the Devils for this challenge, and Razor was also tasked with island security, evidently. Plus, Razor's shoes and the ball were understandably ruined, but I don't get how ball was not completely obliterated by Gon's last punch. The "local woman" transformed into Strip of Beach. That's fine. I'm also fine with there being no treasure in the cave she mentioned. I am alarmed at the card having a conversion limit of three, though. Of course Team Bomber would threaten our groups to get the cards they need. I appreciate Tsezguerra and his men buying time for Gon and Killua to recover, and I'm fine with them wanting Wild Luck Alexandrite in exchange. Tsezguerra is right that it would be too much work to do again after giving those "sick villagers" all their cards to get Wild Luck Alexandrite. I consider that quirk of the game to be a dick move by Ging and company. A player or group of players must be willing to give everything they have when they have very little, or they'll have to do it later when the cost of the card (still everything they have) is substantially higher. While this is reminiscent of the Widow's Mite, it also makes those players very vulnerable at a point when unscrupulous players could take advantage of the easy opportunity to get a card that most would fail to get. It's peculiar (but I don't feel like it's truly ironic) that one of the keys to winning Greed Island is being generous to the point of putting oneself in danger. Yes, Killua should focus on recovery, but I don't know how that will happen without pins to align broken bones in his hands. If he can do it with nen alone, then that's some awfully convenient malarkey. I'm not sure how I feel about Biscuit teaching Gon how to fight the Bombers. It's good for the main character to get stronger, and I like that Biscuit specifically said she wanted to focus on teaching Gon to avoid Little Flower, but part of what makes the dynamic between Gon and Killua work so well is that they're (at least seemingly) evenly matched. They feel like true equals as friends. It's not like Goku surpassing Krillin, and Krillin later having to rely on Goku to save the day. Yes, I remember that earlier in the show Killua was actually much stronger physically than Gon (recall the door at the Zoldyck estate), and that may not have changed, but ever since the introduction of nen and the powers it gives the boys, they've felt much more evenly matched. Gon getting exclusive training from Biscuit could result in Gon pulling ahead in his nen capabilities. While that coupled with physical power may result in the boys actually being more equal, it feels like something with the potential to upset the sense of balance between the boys. Lupin - The deadline for meeting the cruise ship at harbor being the same as restaurant reservation telegraphed that the guys would miss their reservation. I'm not entirely clear on how Lupin found Josephine the dog in the first place. Anyway, Josephine's owner was clearly crazy to offer a million Euro reward for a dog. How do you lose a tiny, weak dog like that when it's on a leash, Goemon? Our poor guys. Zenigata kept finding them to make them late. I'm willing to call it extremely bad luck for Lupin (or extremely good luck for Zenigata) at the bathroom, but otherwise it was good detective work for Zenigata to figure out where the guys were going. How do you run out of gas, Lupin? If you knew how far you needed to go, then you should've made sure you had enough fuel before you left. Lupin driving off the cliff onto the ship should've crashed the car into deck with either the nose or the tail of the car down, depending on where motor is in the car. Also, the guys should've suffered serious injuries in this crash. Oh well. Good. Lupin got to spend some time with Fujiko at dinner. That was not the sushi Goemon had in mind. At least Jigen's pizza was good. Josephine had a habit of eyeing pretty girls. Are we sure "she" is really a girl? I guess it's possible she just likes amazing human boobs. Speaking of amazing human boobs, the trio of sisters from before found Josephine, which, due to Goemon's misunderstanding, they thought was named Goemon. The older sisters were completely hot. If the younger one will be anything like them, she's going to grow up beautiful. Shippuden - Yes, it was a free period for Choji and Shikamaru, and they were forthright to tell Kakashi why when he questioned them, but Kakashi was right that even in a free period students should stay on school grounds. Still, it was fortuitous for Iruka and Naruto that Choji and Shikamaru did leave Academy grounds, or Kakashi wouldn't have known that he should go back up Iruka, so I can't fault the two boys very much. Naruto finding a kunai with a map of the patrol patterns sure was convenient. I take slight issue with the Sexy Jutsu working on Iruka but not the female enemy ninjas. There could've been at least one lesbian in the trio. It worked out in the end with Iruka rescuing Naruto and Kakashi covering their escape. I was surprised all three kunoichi survived Chidori, given what we've seen Chidori do in the past. So, Iruka was a prankster like Naruto - an orphan wanting attention. I get the impression that there's an official financial support network for orphans (or at least the survivors of slain shinobi) in Konoha, but after a certain age the kid will live alone. I feel like Iruka was comforted and advised by Hiruzen to a greater extent than Naruto was, but that could be due to Iruka being more willing to listen to Hiruzen than young Naruto was in the first series. Ah, yes, the Will of Fire and how it gives the shinobi of Konoha a sense of purpose. OS - The bickering and growling between Gene and Jim got very tedious by the end of the episode. I will agree with Jim that Gene could try to learn at least some of the things he would need to know about how to maintain the Outlaw Star. Yes, moving costs money, so getting some bounty cash before reaching Heifong would be a good idea. At least Gene got some money for taking down the android version of the fugitive. After Gene's talk toward Jim about thinking small versus thinking big, I very much liked the object lesson for Gene of the 10,000 Wong reward, which he thought was substantial, being what Suzuka considered a trifling amount. When we consider the balance of Gene's credit with Fred being over 700,000 Wong after all the things Gene ordered being based on the fee to hire Suzuka, it should come as no surprise that she'd think of 10,000 Wong as a little spending money. CB - I hadn't thought about it before now, but I wondered why Spike would've had a hangover. I would like to think he drank a lot to ease his sense of guilt over Wen. Yes, Spike knew the "kid" was several decades his senior, but he still looked like a child, and Spike went with a specialized bullet to kill him. Even with Spike's history in organized crime, I would like to think that he had never intentionally killed a child, and so this shooting may have weighed particularly heavily on his conscience. Spike was partly in the wrong. While it was good that he intervened to help V.T. defend Muriel, he shouldn't have blamed the guy who was knocked into him for spilling the egg. That guy couldn't tell where he was going and wasn't going there of his own volition, so rightly V.T. should be blamed for hitting Spike, albeit not deliberately, with the guy. Oh well. Eel guy could lodge a complaint against Faye for threatening him with a weapon and destruction of private property. GitS: SAC 2nd Gig - This show will be like CB and OS have been for the last couple weeks, in that I'm watching them off my dvds instead of on the television live. Rise still gives me tingles when I hear it. I love that song, despite not knowing the meaning of all the Russian words. Yes, I've read translations, but it's hard to remember them. It's easy to overlook the amount of confidence that Aramaki had in his team. He could've gone to prison for the rest of his life if even one hostage or the captive police officer had died, since the failure to recover everyone alive would be blamed on his team's intervention. Ostensibly Batou and the Major are the two most skilled operatives overall, and yet they were the only two that anyone on the police raiding squad saw, but I feel like the Major intentionally let herself be seen so those guys would know who resolved the situation, even if that information wouldn't be made public.

You're right. That was too soon. Reply out of sequence with only the old stuff. I'll probably get the new stuff some time in the coming week. DBS - I liked Vegeta pushing Cabbe the way he did to tap into Super Saiyan power, and that he explained the trigger afterward, insisting that Cabbe do it again. I also liked that Vegeta chastised Cabbe for giving up during the fight and challenged him to seek not to equal the power of someone stronger, but to surpass them. I like the idea of Vados and Whis working together to repair the ring. Hit sounds dangerous, but I really liked that Vados promised him a hexahedron if they win. DBZK - Shame on you, Buu. There were already several nice houses in the area you leveled, and you made that weird building with its impractical entrance from soylent clay in their places. That's plain wasteful. The interior also was aesthetically lacking to my consideration. Still, Buu on the john was worth a smile, and talk about a power nap. Good on you, Videl. You were right and everyone else was wrong. As many times as the Z fighters have suppressed their power to single digits to avoid detection, I would expect them to allow the possibility that Gohan was hiding while recovering or was simply unconscious instead of dead. He did have a lot of "toughen him up" beatings in his life, so it makes sense he'd be hard to kill, even for Buu. Goku was considerate enough of King Yama to let him know what was happening on Earth and to expect way more people to die. JoJo: SC - The Hanged Man being light sounds neat, but that isn't the way light works. Anyway, Jean found two creative ways to get the kid and the beggars to look elsewhere and slice the Hanged Man while in transit. Centerfold was a vile scumbag and got what he deserved. Hol Horse was a coward, but he was prudent to leave a potential 4-against-1 fight before it truly started. As for the princess chick covering his escape, I find that hard to believe. Each member of our group is built like a wall with enough muscle mass for two people. Any of them should have been able to pry her off or shove her away in time to go after Hol. Oh well. When some blood from the girl's wound hit Joseph's arm, I immediately thought that was a highly suspicious thing to show us, so it doesn't surprise me that something is in him now from her blood. While it doubtlessly is nothing good, I am curious to know exactly what it is. MSG: IBO 2 - Mikazuki having broken something on Barbatos already seems to me like an excuse by the writers not to spend time on cool mecha battles with him in it in favor of padding episodes with talking and drama. I feel like Iron Flower is stretching themselves too thin, since they can't allocate adequate equipment to both the effort against this pirate group and the Earth Branch to deter trouble there. What is wrong with you, Hash? You know from your fellow orphan's experience that the A.V. surgery isn't always successful and that the consequences of failure can be drastic, but you want it anyway without even having trained to pilot normally. You could have an amazing natural knack for piloting, but you won't know until you try it. Give normal piloting a chance before insisting on such a drastic step. Also, you messed up, boy. Raising a hand to Atra in Mikazuki's presence is a fine way to get a lot of broken bones, or worse, so you need to rein it in before he does it for you. Between the phrases "human debris" and "industrial waste," we see that there is a very cold and callous attitude prevalent in the society regarding human life and suffering. I think some alternative, though longer and more accurate, terms could be "orphans of violence" and "debilitated victims of medical misadventure." McGyllis was still plotting against Gjallarhorn, or at least the other Seven Stars, in his contracts with Iron Flower, and there was jockeying amongst Gjallarhorn forces for power and prestige. Whatever. Julieta helping Ioq out of respect for their common mentor is fine. HxH - That rule is crap. Biscuit's dress extends far from her legs. The ball striking and ripping her dress shouldn't put her out. I could understand if it was a graze to her shoulder that didn't actually hit her, but this is malarkey. Also malarkey is that the game isn't done yet. If each of Razor's nen men is worth a point, then our group has enough points already to win. At least our group eliminated the combined nen man before he could be split, and since Razor used "back" already, the combined nen man, who is outside the court, can't be split to get another player into the game for Razor, since the split would happen out of bounds, and that nen man would instantly be out. Goreinu being able to switch a nen beast with another person is indeed a peculiar and promising power. I'm glad that he didn't get killed. However, I feel like they missed a couple things. First, couldn't Razor (and Black Goreinu) be disqualified for being on the wrong side of the court? If so, then Goreinu missed a chance to win, provided he and Black Goreinu could survive to Razor being alone on the floor. Actually, even if being on the opponent's side of the court is allowed, Goreinu could still use this to win by having Black Goreinu be outside the court when switching with Razor, because then Razor would be out of bounds with no one left in the court for his team. Even if they didn't do that, then all they would need for an easy out on Razor would be to switch him when Black Goreinu was directly in front of someone from our group with the ball with Black Goreinu having his back turned to that player and said player being in on the plan to hit Razor in the back, or back of the lower leg, and let the ball fall to the floor, making Razor out. Good catch, Hisoka. However, I'm not sure why he didn't use nen to protect his hand. Also, good use of Bungee Gum. Yes, Gon's supercharged nen punch was powerful and got a couple outs, but I have no idea why Killua didn't simply hold the ball on his palm or balance it on a single fingertip. Not only did holding the ball the way Killua did wreck his hands to the tune of needing a lot of rods to hold the fragments of bone in place for months while the bones mended, but it also cast doubt on Gon's ability to direct the ball where he wanted it to go when he hit it. Plus, even if protective nen wasn't an option for Killua as per the explanation, I don't know why he didn't do that "harden" thing that he did with his hand back when he pulled Johnness' heart out of his chest. It strikes me as the author pointlessly injuring a character in an attempt to up the ante or show how powerful the attack is. Lupin - Even for this show, this premise struck me as far-fetched, but I don't really mind. I can fully believe that Lupin would chase the person into whose backpack the gem fell, but it would stretch even his resourcefulness and contacts to build a fake identity in such a short time. As for his supposed educational methods, the pretext of confiscating contraband in order to search for the gem was plausible for his cover. I don't understand why the group of teachers would agree to leave with the gangsters and meet them again in a week, let alone the idea the teachers had to build a bomb in order to kill the gangsters. For one, a bomb puts them at risk as well due to the speed of the shrapnel and the pressure wave itself. For another, as Larry's co-worker once said (paraphrased) at a show that the co-worker was watching, "go to the police. Why does nobody ever go to the police?" I feel like they would intervene to stop a death threat against a group of teachers if they didn't pay extortion money to a mafioso. As for the basis of the mafioso's claim, um no. He was walking through too close to the seats if the teacher standing up struck the guy. Plus, he could see what was happening in front of him, so the onus was on him to avoid the incoming person, who quite reasonably couldn't see behind his own head. Also, the "compensation" was way, way in excess of the pain and cost to replace the lost tooth. Thankfully, Lupin and Jigen did intervene to help the teachers and get the gangsters arrested. I'm glad the hoodlum student wasn't able to go through with the cold-blooded murder of his teacher. I'm perfectly fine with Fujiko ending up with Lupin's loot through no intentional action of her own. That great overall figure, and the amazing rack in particular, deserves whatever treasures someone or some animal wants to throw at it. Shippuden - First, the optimism. If we consider Iruka, he's the first step toward Naruto being accepted and acknowledged by the people of Konoha. Iruka's parents died in the fight against the Nine-Tails. He was older than Sauce when Itachi killed the Uchihas, so Iruka likely would've had an even deeper connection to his parents. He admitted that he knew intellectually that Naruto had no role in the attack, but he couldn't help but see the threat which killed his parents when he looked at the child. Many of the adults in Konoha likely have a similar story of loss, so Iruka is the case in point. When Hiruzen approached Iruka about being Naruto's instructor, I think the idea was that if Iruka could overcome the resentment and trepidation that was common from the people toward Naruto, then there would be hope that his example could, with time, lead others to that same end. Between Kakashi's advice and Iruka realizing his duty both as a shinobi of Konoha and Naruto's teacher to protect him as a citizen of Konoha and his student, respectively, I think that we'll see Iruka start to make that turn next episode. Now, the negativity. The people of Konoha were jerks. Naruto did nothing, initially, to warrant their disgust and hostility. Yes, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy; they treated him like walking trouble, so he eventually gave in to childish mischief and lived up to that assessment. If anything, the people were both insulting their former leader (doubting the capability of Minato - the Fourth Hokage, a.k.a. their revered champion - to contain the threat of the Nine-Tails with his sealing jutsu) and maligning his son, who did nothing but passively assist his father in stopping the rampaging Beast. The guy at the mask shop was especially rude, since he not only accosted a child, but kicked out a prospective client for simply looking, with his eyes, at the shopkeep's wares. There were also the jerk classmates. Sending Naruto on the ghoulish mission of robbing a corpse in order to join their group aside, they sent him into harm's way in order to do so. They also had their "test of bravery" thing, which was going into a military graveyard, a place meant to honor those who laid down their lives in the service of Konoha, at night. Graveyards around here have a limitation of visiting only during daylight hours, so I would expect the same to apply here. However, I will admit it was also in poor taste for Naruto to play the part of a ghost when they did that. Going back in a more positive direction, Shikamaru was a good kid. He was observant back then, too, so he noticed how the adults tended to treat Naruto and asked Shikaku about it. From what I saw, Shikaku modeled the spirit of the collective decision as it was intended regarding Naruto; he treated Naruto as just another kid who didn't warrant any special attention. The idea was for the adults to keep Naruto's jinchuriki status secret from him and the other children, which is sensible, because that is information which enemy ninja could and would use. However, due to the aforementioned resentment, many, if not most, of the adults ostracized him, spoke ill of him in hushed tones, and gave him the proverbial looks which could kill. Whether they knew it or not, they set him up to feel the kind of resentment and anger which could act as a trigger for the Nine-Tails, so they're lucky Naruto directed his response toward sadness and confusion rather than hate. Anyway, back to Shikaku and Shikamaru, I think that Shikaku's proper model of a response produced the intended result in Shikamaru not considering Naruto to stand out more than his pranks would warrant, and I feel like the same would likely be true of Choji and Chouza. OS - I'm not sure about Melfina drawing out the poison in Gene, but eh. I'm guessing that the spaceport authority wouldn't believe that our crew needed to leave immediately because several pirate ships were on the way to take the Outlaw Star and kill them. Multiple external camera feeds would be helpful in a combat situation for the added information, but it might be too much for a single person to track. Oh well. We'll just accept that Gene is an amazing natural talent. CB - Spike's flashback dream to his eye operation makes me doubt what he later tells Faye about losing one in an accident. It looked to me like the eye being held open was fine. That makes me think it was extracted to be sold on the black market and he was given an artificial eye to replace it as part of his compensation. I'm doubtful that Wen would be able to manipulate a handgun adeptly enough to fight off Spike, even for a short time. First, we know that Spike is very skillful with firearms, so even if Wen had many more decades to learn to use his pistol, he still may not be a match for Spike's aptitude. Second, we must consider that Wen had a child's body, so he would also have child-sized hands. True, he could use a small-caliber pistol, but that might not be able to cause the damage to physical structures, like container corners, that we saw. Wen's hands may not be able to operate a pistol with a large enough bullet to do what we saw his bullets do. Comparing the fits of my .22 and my .38 in my hand, my hand wraps well around the grip of the .22, whereas the .38 simply fits well in my hand, meaning my fingertips aren't at the front of the grip like Wen's were. For Wen to have a properly-sized pistol to a large enough bullet, his hands would likely be too small to operate the weapon effectively, especially with one hand like we saw. Perhaps he had a custom job done to make the grip as shallow (front to back) as possible, but it didn't look like that was the case. AoT: Second Course - While it was nice to see Mikasa show her sentimental side to Eren, the other Scouts fighting for their lives and Hannes being eaten in the background did dampen the mood. I would still like to know three things. First, can Eren still titan shift? Second, what was in that basement? Third, did the person controlling Squatchy get to the basement and take all the materials there already?

Yes, Jean's rashness lured the rest of them out into the area the enemy Stand-users picked for the fight, and he should feel guilty and sad for getting Avdol killed. Also, a question for you, Ang: does this mean you're going back to being a thirsty Joestar slut? Yes, the Turbines are fun characters, especially Amida and Naze, and the several Turbine Mrs. are nice to see. I'm not sure about that. We don't have confirmation that Ging actively tried to murder Gon shortly after his birth, yet, but it could be coming. Plus, Hisoka can indeed be useful when he's not trying to murder or rape Gon. I wouldn't blame you, but I intend to watch. Filler comments should be simple, at least. Oh, and I won't be back until Sunday a week away, so there's no telling when those comments will come. DBZK - I'm not sure what it is about Otherworld that would enable Goku to use Super Saiyan 3 for longer periods of time, but eh. Again, the softening influence of Kami probably made Piccolo more willing to demonstrate the fusion pose sequence, but Vegeta would certainly resist doing it. Yep, Buu still loves destroying things, even without Babidi telling him to do it.

I'm going on vacation starting Sunday morning, and I need to leave before I would typically have this done, so I used an existing dvr recording, dvds and C-roll to watch everything but DBZK (I didn't find the episode I needed on C-roll) ahead of the broadcast. Sure, the C-roll episodes were subs, but that's fine for the purpose of writing this ahead of time. I do intend to watch the episodes through Shippuden when they air, but I'm posting what I have now. Thus, the whole post is full of broadcast spoilers. If you care, don't read it until after watching. DBS - I'm willing to allow the machine-man using a solidified piece of his lava-spit as a club, since it did come from his body. It would only be fair for a technicality like that to be balanced by the technicality of Vegeta being safe by landing on a piece of the platform. However, yes, it would strike deeply at Vegeta's pride that he needed the referee's determination to keep the match going. The machine-man's race being especially emotionally fragile is an odd quirk and must be terribly inconvenient for them. I'll agree with Goku that exploiting such a weakness to win would spoil the challenge for he or Vegeta. Piccolo would be pragmatic enough to take the easy win, but he might apologize later. That's the softening influence of Kami there. While I must admire Jaco's quick thinking to get out of headlock range from Bulma, I pity poor Oolong for being substituted there. DBZK - *Content to be viewed during the block.* JoJo: SC - All I know about Calcutta is that it is densely populated. If the Joestar party is looking to avoid confrontations, this would be a bad place for a layover, since it would be more difficult to isolate who in a crowd was controlling a Stand were our group attacked. However, Avdol probably liked it, because it was crowded like Cairo and thus reminded him of home. Haaa, a pickpocket got one of them. In the restaurant, I was somewhat surprised the toilet wasn't a squatter. I also would've been just as surprised as Jean that they used pigs for sanitation. I've heard of something similar to it for industrial pork farming in the past (I don't know if this practice is still in use), where the top level of a multiple-floor hog house features pigs that get only feed. The levels below them eat the poop of the level above which falls through grating in the floor, and that works nutritionally due to the comparative inefficiency of a pig's digestive system, meaning there is still substantial nutrient content in the poop. Of course, the lower levels do need some inclusion of feed, since nutrient content is removed by each preceding level. However, feeding pigs with excrement can increase the risk of diseases, and especially parasites like trichinae. In industrial pork farming, this risk is mitigated by using anti-parasitic medication as well as antibiotics, but that is unlikely to be in the medical regimen of the restaurant's patrons, so I would think that if they do eventually eat those pigs, they would need to cook it really well for safety. The mirror dude Stand-user is the man with two right hands. Jean deciding to part ways here said to me that he was too headstrong to listen to reason. In his emotional accusation, he didn't consider that Avdol running from Dio was part of the reason that he (Jean) isn't a mind-controlled pawn right now. In the scene where we meet the Emperor and Hanged Man Stand-users, it struck me that the Emperor guy laid it on thick when he was conning that girl. Well, crap. Emperor is a Stand that's a gun. That feels like cheating on the author's part in how dangerous it makes him. The Hanged Man user was still in danger, since the head of a cobra still can bite and is connected to the venom sacs. Fortunately for him, Hanged Man is fast. Jean was lucky (or is it unlucky?) that wandering around and asking random people actually got him a lead. When he faced Emperor guy, it made me think of the phrase "don't bring a knife to a gunfight," or rather a sword in Jean's case. If Emperor felt like cheating before, the bullet also being part of that Stand made it ridiculously overpowered, since the guy can curve the trajectory of the bullet. I would think that would mean that the bullet must also be able to slow its velocity to react to what the user sees. When Avdol saved Jean, it stuck me a positive sign of his character that he would put himself at risk for this rude hothead who abandoned the Joestar party to rashly seek his objective. The only truly surprising part of Emperor and Hanged Man teaming up to take down Avdol was that Hanged Man could use even a rain puddle to attack. Of course they were worried the most about his flame powers, and now he's out of the way. As Noriaki plead in vain for Avdol to respond, Jean said bad stuff about him, but all along he was sobbing for Avdol. I'm disappointed but not surprised that Ang's curse has struck again. At least she still has Grandpa Joseph and Jotaro over whom to fawn. MSG: IBO 2 - It looks like we had a short timeskip. Maybe it's just her different hair, but Kudelia looks older, and so does Orga. Mika and Atra look the same, though. Iron Flower is now a proper part of Teiwaz, which is good for them, since it reduces the likelihood that McMurdo would scheme against them like we saw in the first season. Good. Cookie and Cracker are getting educated like Biscuit wanted. Their classmates were insensitively tactless, as to be expected of children their age, in talking about Biscuit. The Martian public may consider Iron Flower to be heroes who fought to improve Mars' situation in the organizational structure of human civilization, but to Cookie and Cracker, Biscuit, this hero of battle, was their beloved brother who they'll never see alive again. With that in mind, it's perfectly understandable that they would be hesitant to let Mikazuki go investigate the car bombing along their route. The agreement Kudelia and Makenai reached regarding the mines has been prosperous for Mars and Arbrau, but the destabilization following the exposure of Gjallarhorn's corruption lead to more small conflicts, which means more suffering and more enslaved orphans. Yes, some of the orphans joined Iron Flower, but others are likely in the clutches of pirate groups like the Brewers or worse. The newbies to Iron Flower don't fill me with a lot of hope for their battle prospects, but we're seeing them as new cadets. When we met the original members, they were already trained and had some combat experience. D.I. Shino struck me as a funny development. The veterans were right to chastise the newbies regarding the Alaya Vinjana (sp?, and which I think I'll just call A.V.) system. It is a device implanted in the spinal cord. The operation carries the risk of nerve damage (read: paralyzing trauma) in the operation alone, Mikazuki is a walking example of the dangers that using it pose. His gimped arm only functions when using the A.V. in Barbatos (or presumably any other similar mobile suit as well), and that's from too much feedback from Barbatos coming into his nervous system. I like that Dante's practice, which the newbies attributed to the A.V. interface, was in a mobile suit that doesn't have it, meaning it was his piloting skill alone. Anyway, the new blond dude looks like he'll be important, but some of the others strike me as cannon fodder. Poor Azee, Echo, and Lafter. While I'm glad they're around for fanservice, their training duties keep them away from Naze. Kudelia's meeting with the slimy dude didn't go his way, so he hired pirates to embarrass/kill her. That seems like an overreaction to me. Unfortunately, the pragmatism of child soldiers is a real thing. As long as any size consideration for operating a weapon isn't an issue, they're perfectly capable of using firearms and the like. They may not have quite the endurance of an adult, but those looking to use them usually don't want protracted battles, so it's less of a consideration. Psychologically, the children's incompletely developed brains make them more likely to show a lack of empathy, meaning they will be utterly ruthless on the battlefield. Even those who've been in battle and seen friends die are less likely to hesitate like an adult would. One of the lasting effects of exposing youths to the horrors of war is that it can warp them for life, engraining a grim and brutal outlook on world. HxH - I like that Team Tsezguerra decided to join forces with Biscuit, the boys and Goreinu and figured out how to make use of the info. In the jump for Tsezguerra to prove himself, it was completely expected that the boys would jump way higher than him. I'm fine with them finding six scrubs to meet the party requirement. In the matches, I liked that actual boxing skill beat cheap tricks. After our alliance won some other matches, the big dude in Razor's Devils had enough. It was pretty harsh that him indirectly revealing that Greed Island is a physical place in the world meant that Razor would kill him. However, learning that the Devils are 14 death row inmates diminished my outrage a little from a consequences standpoint. However, it raised my sense of injustice in that some Hunters who wanted to make a game were given these prisoners. How did Ging and co. get permission to enslave these people? Yes, it could be considered that their prison(s) had simply changed, but in the process, one man was given lethal authority over them. After seeing that, the scrubs understandably fled, but Goreinu can make nen beasts like Razors nen men, so 8-on-8 dodgeball was still on. Regarding the rules, a lot of them struck me as unusual, but logically consistent. I don't understand how a player who is out of bounds is allowed to receive and make passes with players inside the lines. I don't get the ricochet rule making the second person hit out as well or the second person catching the ball saving their struck teammate. I would think that the ball is dead after hitting the first person, but at least that was balanced by a ricochet hitting one of the thrower's teammates saving the opponent and putting the teammate out. I'm fine with the "back" rule putting a player back in the game, as well as needing at least one team member in the court to use it. I don't understand how catching a thrown ball not would not make the thrower out. That was a rule in every game of dodgeball I ever played. *Aside: I once played something the gym teacher called, if memory serves, absolute dodgeball. When a player was hit, they would sit on floor where they were hit. A thrower would do the same if their throw was caught. Players on the floor could grab any ball that came within reach. They could either pass it to a teammate (note that the sitters would still be in the playing area) or throw it at the opposing team. If a ball thrown by a sitter hit an opponent, the sitter would be allowed to stand up and move. I'm less certain about this, but I think that if a player on the floor caught a thrown ball, they would similarly be back in the game and the thrower would be out. However, I think that sitters simply reaching up to block thrown balls was prohibited; it had to be an attempt at a catch. The game would be over when one side had no standing team members.* I take issue with Razor letting our alliance have two hits. To me, that would mean that our alliance had a total of seven at the end of the episode. I would think that each eliminated nen man should count as one, and Razor said as much. Goreinu hit two, and Hisoka hit one. The guy Razor killed was credited to our alliance, and the rest of Tsezguerra's men got three (boxing, bowling and basketball). Under that scoring scenario, the match wouldn't need to end for our alliance to get their eight points, and I would like that smug sense of superiority on Razor's part to bite him. I'm fine with a nen switch with White Goreinu being allowed. I would also allow combining and separating combined nen men, provided the number of active players on one side of the court wouldn't be exceeded, meaning Razor can't use "back" to bring in a nen man and separate the combined nen men before one other nen man or he is eliminated. When our alliance found out Razor is a Game Master and Gon mentioned Ging, I got more ammo to use against Ging. Ging told Razor, a person Ging knew to have lethal power, not to go easy on Gon. That is beyond being a bad parent. That is acting with depraved indifference to his son's life. Were Gon to die at Razor's hands, I would consider Ging an accomplice in the death. Sure, Ging probably had in mind that fighting someone truly strong would toughen up Gon, but it could also cripple OR OUTRIGHT KILL HIM, WITH GING'S BLESSING!! It doesn't seem to matter to Ging which happens! From what I've seen so far, Razor is certainly trying to kill these players (oh hai thar, Kayaba). His attacks not killing players is solely dependent upon the players' ability to defend themselves. Gee, what a fun "game" you have there, Ging and co. Oh, and Team Bomber is really close to getting all the specified slot cards. The P.T. needs to do something soon if they are going to intervene. Lupin - First off, this is my first time seeing the Japanese OP for this installment of the Lupin franchise, and I say the Italian ones we've had on Toonami were inferior. For one thing, the classic theme is used in an altered score. For another, daaaang, Fujiko. As for the ED, it's better too, because it it focuses on a pretty lady who looks oddly reminiscent of Fujijo, but her boobs, while sizeable, don't seem quite large enough. Hi there, Fujiko. I like her going undercover as assistant to someone trying to rent the Mona Lisa. It also gave the group a way to make some money. The "plan" to steal the painting on display was a clever ruse full of skillful misdirection. I also liked Fujiko's motorcycle skills. However, when it came time for Goemon to cover Lupin's escape, the police and Zenigata sliding down the glass roof could easily lead to a fatal fall. Thankfully, Pops survived. I liked that he kept searching after the announced heist "failed" and thwarted Lupin again. This isn't the first time Fujiko double-crossed the guys, and it likely won't be the last. Lupin paying her what she paid for the street artist's version for his share of the mansion she bought with her payout was funny. Still, since the guys were instrumental in her plan working, she should at least let them stay there rent-free. While I had heard that there was an earlier version of the Mona Lisa painted when Da Vinci was younger, I didn't remember its name. The street artist being the escaped man and somehow (Clone? Resurrection? Implanted mind a la Rebecca's lost love's work?) Da Vinci were both unexpected twists. I like that another crooked aspiring politician was thwarted by our group's intervention, even though that was only a pleasant side-effect of their actions. Shippuden - I'm okay with spending some time with Iruka thinking on the past. It was low of Hiruzen to guilt Iruka into being Naruto's homeroom teacher so Naruto wouldn't be expelled. Iruka's parents died in the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha. It's hard for people to separate the kid from what's sealed in him in their minds, but it must be especially so for Iruka. That he was able to move past it is a good mark on his character. As for the other instructor's advice, not letting Naruto rile him is probably the best thing Iruka could do. Yes, Naruto was obnoxious, but the random women calling him "that thing" was terrible. Then they had the gall to complain about Hiruzen not being considerate of them. Of course Sauce was good at the exercises. He practiced with Itachi, a/an (future) Anbu agent, before entering the Academy. Meanwhile, Naruto wasn't very good, but he is still a student just learning these skills. It's amazing how young Shikamaru and Choji looked. The ramen shop proprietor (I don't know if his name is Ichiraku, but I'm inclined to call him that in the future when I mention him) is a good dude to have compassion on Naruto. OS - Of course the pirates after Gene and co. are headed by the de facto leader of all the pirate guilds. Why not have to go up against the baddest one the show can throw at them? It's unsurprising that Suzuka came after Gene. Thankfully, she seems to have a beef with pirates, so she defended Melfina and was willing to put Gene's death on hold to fight pirates with him. Gilliam was rather sensible to throw curves at Gene in simulations. Figuring out how to deal with problems, even unlikely ones, is a crucial part of preparedness. Thanks for going out and making money the reputable way to cover living expenses and docking fees, Jim. If we consider that Melfina reminds Jim of his mom, it's completely appropriate that he would protect her from Gene's sleazy behavior. Gene dropped the ball with the cute waitress. He could've said Melfina was a crew member on his new ship, and he would be truthful in saying so, because that's the extent of their relationship so far. CB - Thank you, show. Sooooo much jiggle from Faye in her sexy red dress. I think it really stuck Faye just how badass and amazing Spike's skills are when he cut off the man holding a gun to her head in mid-sentence by shooting him in the head. Then she saw more of those skills as he proceeded to gun down several men armed with automatic weapons using his pistols. In the time since I last saw this episode, I took the opportunity to rent a 92FS at the range. Now I not only recognized the magazine from that experience as Spike loaded it, but I got to hear that iconic recoil. It sounds just like it does in the shows. AoT: Second Course - I still would like to know which happened to Erwin: the titan that bit his arm eventually crushed through it or he cut off his own arm to free himself from that titan's hold. While Mikasa's murder-eyes were terrifying from the danger she posed, the almost crazed look in Armin's eyes as he told Bertolt the (likely) lies about Annie being tortured to rattle him was also disturbing. Carla was a nice lady and a good mom, and the titan that ate her deserves what's coming to it, even if it had no concept of what it was doing when it killed her.

I didn't notice one. Yes, and I liked it. That seems a little harsh, but not entirely inaccurate. I believe that everyone can agree on that. Most likely. It also served as a form of disguise for some of the Pain bodies. Recall that Jiraiya had encountered one of the others (the girl one, I think) previously, but, by his own admission, he didn't recognize her at first, likely due to the change of hair color and the facial piercings. I actually watched or heard most of an episode of Rick and Morty last week while setting the upcoming week's recordings on the dvr (most things I record on a later-in-the-night re-airing, so as to let others in the house record things in prime time if they want and still watch something on a different channel), and it was set in a place called The Citadel, which is evidently populated entirely by Mortys and Ricks from across the multiverse. As this is the only episode I've seen, I asked someone at work about whether Eyepatch Morty was essentially Evil Morty (a black eyepatch surely would mean he's the evil one, right?), and he told me about that Morty appearing in Season 1.

School, not wool, but it’s still a good question. The answer is because natural redheads have a tendency to sunburn easily. Also, perhaps the author had a bad experience with a dog as a child. Sorry, show, you’re on your own here, because I have no good answer for this perfectly legitimate question, and if the answer is that Ken could, then it raises the even more pointed question of why he did nothing to try to save his badly-wounded best friend’s life. It would have been within the rules of the competition. Agreed, and we can only hope not, since so many people in this show smoke that they would have trouble controlling their breathing to generate enough hamon to fight him. He does do some legitimately impressive stuff later, so maybe you’ll be able to set aside your hate for a few moments when that happens, and it would’ve been a personally satisfying end for Naruto, but it would’ve left so much else with the story unresolved. DBS - Vegeta ringing-out Frost with one hit was good. The extra barrier did seem odd, but I failed to recognize that it would limit Vegeta's aerial capacity, making him an easier target to hit. Also, once the machine-man started his fire attack, yes, it would raise the temperature of the air in the chamber, making it more difficult for Vegeta to breathe. The machine-man was more durable than I thought he'd be, but I'm curious as to whether breaking him would truly be considered killing him. If he can be repaired, then it shouldn't be. I take issue with the idea of the machine-man being naturally capable of fire-breath. He clearly drank something fiery or molten during the episode. If that is the source of the fire-breath, then it clearly would not be natural, since he would be incapable of generating the fire-breath without that material. I guess it could be argued that the hot substance was analogous to food for him, though, and in that case I would reluctantly allow it. DBZK - Super Saiyan 3 Goku v. Buu was fun to watch. However, from what was said in the Dragon Ball manga about Grandpa Gohan being brought back for a day, it doesn't make sense that Goku using more of his energy would shorten the time he has on Earth. He would just be fatigued after that kind of exertion. Babidi got no less than he deserved, but it's a shame no one thought of a quick blast to kill him before Buu was revived. The energy transfer had to be mystical, so with the removal of the caster, the spell just might have ended. Oh, Bulma. You should've thought about where the Dragon Radar would be either before sending Trunks or as he was in transit. JoJo: SC - I've given up trying to remember the names of these enemies of the week or their Stands (not that I was trying terribly hard in the first place). Dude's power slowly digesting things is gross and horrifying, but his ability to use it to disguise himself is disturbing as well, although that could also be the dude's crass language and behavior. Dude's Stand being invulnerable to cold and fire sounds pretty overpowered to me, but at least Jotaro was able to straight up beat the guy, presumably to death. I'm glad Jotaro got a little information about the Stand-users coming for them out of the guy, including that Jean's target is among them. I have no idea how Dio would have the money to pay this assassin $100 million, but that is a lot of motivation to finish the job. It didn't fit with the previous comments, but that poor doggie. Also, the dad must've been really tired to sleep through S.P. tearing off the door of the cable car. Bad joke too soon, Noriaki. Also, Anne has herself a crush, it seems. TG: Root A - I was completely mistaken. I thought through the episode that it was Ken bleeding on the floor, but it wad Hide. D-: This is perhaps the most distressing way I've been wrong in the show, since that was a lot of blood for a human to lose, and when we couple that with the slowness of Ken's walk back to the battle site, it's almost a certainty that Hide died of his wounds. I'll admit that I don't think I got the point of the flashes of Ken's hair being black. Was it supposed to be symbolic of him acting as his human part, grieving over his dead friend? I also don't know why Anteiku was burned or who started the fire, Hide or Ken. Regardless, Ken took his sweet time getting out of there. Yep, the conflict between ghouls and humans sure wrecked the lives everyone at Anteiku. I can only hope that Hinami can cope with losing so many more people in her life. Sure, she's physically safe, but it would be rough emotionally. I didn't expect Shinohara to be clinging to life still, but I’m glad he isn't definitively dead. There's hope for him yet. I wouldn't think that Amon is dead, but Akira's despondency makes me unsure. Leaving us hanging regarding Sen and Yoshimura was cheap, show. The sound of Arima opening his quinque case after Ken laid down Hide's body coupled with Arima standing alone after the credits with his intact quinque standing in the snow in front of him leads me to believe that he defeated Ken. Whether Ken is dead or was taken alive, I can't be sure. I know there's a Tokyo Ghoul: Re series, but I think that follows a different half-ghoul, and I'm not sure whether there's more story between this and that. I guess time (or reading spoiler-laden material) will tell. In all, I think two good things came of this season. First and foremost, Hinami made it through alive and (physically) well. Second, Touka studied seriously and thus has improved her academic prospects. HxH - It looked to me like Razor's cohorts were actual people. With that in mind, Killua dousing the one dude's head with booze and lighting it with his electricity should've horribly wounded the man, but I can give that a pass in the interest of keeping the content at a PG level. As for the nature of the challenge, it was wise of the group to use this excursion to gather information once they saw how outclassed the first guy was. Still, it's a crummy rule that the same group can only challenge once. Also crummy is that the cohorts didn't seem to be savory people, and I have my sneaking suspicion that they wouldn't be satisfied with running roughshod over a town of only NPCs. Thus, I still hold on to the idea that there may be a population of actual local people being oppressed in this game. I'll admit that I was wrong when we have definitive proof to the contrary, but that would likely have to take the form of a statement to that effect by Razor or another of the game's creators, and I'm not sure I'm ready to trust them yet. Sure, Razor told the truth that the group simply had to leave when they lost, but that's just being honest about the nature of the challenge. Admitting to victimizing a local people would be a little more serious statement. So, Biscuit is a dirty older woman, drooling over the naked Hisoka like that. Plus, that was shameless exhibitionism there, Hisoka. Still, I must admit he is ripped and his hair looks better down. As for his lies, his bungee gum power did come in handy to hide his contact with the P.T. I agree with Killua 100% that Hisoka needed to walk in front of them. All the NPCs in AiAi are taken straight out of harem games/shows and love sims. In a way, I'm glad that Gon was innocent enough not to fall into the game's side quest trap with the cute glasses girl NPC. Lupin - Dang, Fujiko. The guy(s and gals?) doing surveillance on her had the best assignment. I'm fine with Lupin coming up with several ways to escape, and I liked that Zenigata was always there to intercept him. As for his last gamble, it was inventive to use p.o.v. artwork, but it would require him either to be close enough to the slot in the door to block Zenigata's view of the artwork or be lying on the floor at the exactly right spot to align with the art every time Zenigata checked on him. However, I see three problems with this plan. First, it's a good general rule that a person, even with low levels of activity, would starve to death after about one month, and Lupin's hair and beard growth would indicate to me that he was there for longer than that. Second, even if Lupin drew out this plan by eating a little of his food, he would still have very low energy, meaning by the time his opportunity came, he might not be physically capable of escaping, either by stamina or muscle capacity. Third, all that rotten food in the cell would attract flies, like we saw, and that coupled with 1. his lack of bathing facilities, 2. poor nutrition, and 3. his lack of an apparent heat source in the cold would make him highly susceptible to disease and expose him to a disease vector (the flies contaminating the little food he did eat and crawling on him, especially his lips). Also, where was his water source? I saw his squatting toilet, but I saw no source of potable water in the cell for him. Zenigata shouldn't have been trapped in the cell for long, because he did have his phone to call for help, though he might not have the best signal in the cell. However, we could consider that Zenigata had a tougher time during Lupin's incarceration, since he was also trapped, in a sense, on the island and had to live in a tent. Zenigata would also have limited human interaction in the form of Lupin and the people who delivered the provisions to the island. It wouldn't quite be solitary confinement, but it would much like it for Zenigata. Once Lupin did escape, it would take him weeks or months to get accustomed to eating again and regain his stamina and soundness of body like we saw. Think of Al after his body was retrieved from the Gate in Brotherhood. Wait. Nyx survived being shot by two snipers? I didn't expect that, but I'm cool with it. He is a mostly decent guy. Who’s that guy, why did MI6 have him and why is he naked? Shippuden - Okay, I was right. Nagato used one of this Rinnegan powers to restore people to life. That was decent of him, and almost heroic, since it cost him his life. Konan quitting the Akatsuki since she was only there to help her friend achieve his goal is fine with me. I liked Kakashi and Sakumo reconciling during Kakashi's brief death, but I liked even more that Kakashi was revived. Hooray! Shizune is back, too! Calm down, Ino. This isn't that kind of show. I'm fine with Sakura hugging her teammate and friend, but I would've liked Hinata hugging him even more. The flashbacks to past events and how they changed the perception the other villagers and ninja had of Naruto did serve to provide context for the slow change in how others thought of him, and it was plausible that they would change their sentiments in such a fashion with time in response to what he did. OS - Fred was right. He has his business to consider, regardless of his feelings for Gene. However, back off of Jim, Fred. He's still a kid and will still be in two years. Yes, Suzuka is pretty, but it's amazing how much power it would take to create a roof-shattering shockwave with a wooden sword. I'm not sure about the terms of Gene's arrangement with Suzuka. This is at best a stop-gap measure, so something more lasting will need to be established eventually. Still, Gene has a point that it would be easier to protect himself than Fred. CB - The Space Warriors are hypocrites. Wildlife is worth preserving, but murdering people is no problem. That is to say the lives of animals are worth protecting, but not those of human animals. The look on Twinkle's face as Spike tried to break open the virus ampule is still fun. Shame on you, Faye, for haggling when the fate of (tens or hundreds of?) thousands was on the line. I can't blame Jet for not knowing at this point, but when Faye was in h.s., hyperspace gate travel was still relatively new and expensive, meaning it wouldn't be part of public education curriculum. Plus, "I don't know and have no opinion" is still a great line. AoT: Second Course - Seeing it this time, I couldn't help but laugh at Eren trying to fight Reiner. In other words, the attack at Shinganshina may not have gone as planned, since one member of the titan-shifter party died before getting there. The breach of W. Maria was still successful, but humanity may have unwittingly dodged a bullet by the three remaining titan-shifters being unable to act on part of their plan for after the breach since they lacked the person Ymir ate. Thus, a shifted titan may well have saved humanity completely unawares years before Eren discovered his shifting power at Trost. If my suspicion is correct, then the power of the king, which once subjugated humanity, has saved it more than once in the course of the show.

Dragon Ball v. 9 - 21 I've been reading, but I just haven't swung by here to note the volumes. Things of note: 1. Grandpa Gohan!!!!, 2. the first Piccolo was huge, 3. at last Goku got to be Champion, 4. no Gregory :-(, 5. Vegeta explained a lot more about how Saiyans transform due to the full moon, 6. Kiwi rather than Pui, hm, and 7. I have trouble accepting that Kami's ship, which was capable of rapid interstellar transport, could be damaged by a simple handheld blaster.

That was my interpretation of Lupin talking about rats having a sense of time dilation; the chemistry or synaptic architecture of Nyx's brain was altered intentionally to heighten his senses and reaction time. Uraga's research seemed like it could've been relevant to that. Not unless they're responding to an emergency or in an active pursuit, no. I never bothered to look closely enough to find that. I'm cool with the next season of MSG: IBO coming next week. Socialism fails to recognize the laziness of a lot of people and/or overestimates the willingness of people to work for the good of others. As a philosophy, it's far too optimistic.

:-D and I hope so, respectively. Good point. I think Shinohara said something about it the previous time they fought Yoshimura in the present day of the show, but they attributed it to the Owl simply getting older. Plus, I can't say I blame you there. I would have liked to have seen some of the upcoming things I'd heard about in snippets. Yes, we're all glad for the jiggle and the turn to be less acerbic than she initially was. A carton, not a pack, and darn right Pops is. First, I can't refute that. Second, I would say Nagato's was worse for two reasons: 1. he grew up in an active war zone, and 2. he had years of living with his parents before they were murdered. He knew exactly what was taken from him. Naruto never knew his parents growing up, so he never had more than a distanced understanding of what wasn't in his life compared to the other children. DBS - I liked seeing Chi Chi rush to Goku out of concern. Frost seemed like such a nice guy after the fight. It's a shame he's actually as despicable as Frieza, if not more so, because he deceived people into thinking otherwise by putting up a respectable front while orchestrating calamity. It has been a while since we saw the Special Beam Cannon, or as it was called in the manga in the fight against Raditz, the Light of Death. I also wasn't expecting Piccolo's extending arm move. Thank you, Jaco, for spotting Frost's use of a weapon. However, given the striking similarity between Piccolo's and Goku's sudden wooziness, I would go even farther and vacate Frost's win against Goku as well. Depending upon the rules, Goku might not be able to fight again, but it would make the score 2-1 for Universe 7, since Goku had his win against the golden bear, Piccolo had his win against Frost via disqualification, and Piccolo would've forfeited his next match. Thus, Vegeta v. Frost wouldn't be an actual match, since Frost can't take a spot after losing unless one of his teammates surrenders his/its spot in the lineup to him. I still want to see Vegeta whup Frost, though, since he was cheated out of his win against Golden Frieza. Yes, I remember that Goku had to intervene to prevent Earth's destruction, but Vegeta was still cheated. DBZK - Goku was right. Trunks needed to stop gawking and get back to his task of securing the Dragon Radar. I remember the dialogue being different in the DBZ version of Goku's explanation of Saiyan power levels, and frankly it was better. Also, the transition to Super Saiyan 3 took longer. Mr. Satan bit off far, far more than he could chew with his boasting to the public. JoJo: SC - Jean v. Devil guy was not the most visually appealing fight. Plus, they were both unnecessarily crude in their language. The guy was also wrong. Jean didn't attack him when he had done nothing to Jean. He hid in the room waiting for Jean and proclaimed both his status as a Stand user and his intent to kill Jean and the rest of the Joestar party. Jean knows that Stand users have lethal supernatural powers. After a threat of deadly violence, he's under no obligation to wait for the guy to deploy the deadly power before he acts to defend himself. In fact, the Stand was already present and visible in the room, though Jean wasn't aware it was a Stand at the time. Some other issues I had with the fight include the nature of Jean's leg injury. That looked like a slice which could've severed his Achilles tendon, meaning he wouldn't be walking very well, if at all, on that leg. He'd have trouble making from the balcony to the bed, even. Once he was trapped under the bed, I'm fine with him having trouble using Silver Chariot effectively, but the Devil guy should've been in a similar boat, because even if he could remotely see through his Stand's eyes, he would've only had sight in one eye due to the wound Jean inflicted, meaning his depth perception would've been compromised. The Devil guy also completely botched his attacks on Jean in three ways. First, if he could tell that Jean was centered under the bed, then he should've concentrated Devil's spear stabs on a 1-foot square in the center of the bed to inflict damage to Jean's torso. Enough stabs in that area, even from behind, would be deadly. Instead, the Devil guy tried and failed repeatedly to stab Jean's head. Second, the beer would've made the soaked bed and carpet less flammable, due to the comparatively high water content. Yes, the liquor would've increased the flammability due to the amount of volatile hydrocarbons, but, again, the beer would've diluted that with its excessive water. Third is that he didn't attack the relatively defenseless Silver Chariot to inflict wounds on Jean indirectly. We also must consider the concern about the capability of the spear to stab Jean through the mattress and box springs. The springs and the wire framework to which they're attached are metal barriers which could deflect or block the spear strikes. If that wasn't enough, we have to consider the length of the spear. If those were a standard mattress and box spring set, then, the spear would need a minimum length of 16 inches to penetrate the mattress and box springs and be able to stab Jean while Devil could still have a very small amount of handle (one inch or less) to hold, but that's not what we saw. We saw the spear, on an angle, stab into the floor when it missed Jean. Had some of the bed's wooden legs not been sawed, a vertical strike to do that would require the spear to be at least 26 inches. Even if we grant a reduction of six inches for the sawing, Devil didn't look like it would've been much more than 18 inches tall (the reduced height of the bed), if that tall, meaning its spear would (wisely) be taller than it, but it didn't look like that was the case. Thus, I'm unconvinced that Devil's spear would've been able to reach Jean through the bed, and I'm almost certain it would've been incapable of reaching the floor like we saw. Oh, and the stab through Devil's head should've been enough to kill his User, but that wouldn't have been a sufficiently gory sight for the custodian to find, so we got the slashed mess instead. While the Speedwagon Foundation lawyers may have gotten Jean out of custody, I feel like he'd have trouble legally leaving the country. It's interesting that Joseph can use Hermit Purple on a television, but it is strange that something with the name "television," which is to say it enables you to see something which happened far away, would send the information taken from Dio to them as an auditory message. Oh well. I also have trouble believing that Noriaki is a traitor waiting for an opportunity to strike. It's a good thing that the Joestar party is backed by the Speedwagon Foundation, since there's going to be a substantial charge for the damages to Jean's room. TG: Root A - Well, crap. I'm glad that Juzo is still alive, but I'm disappointed that Shinohara had to sacrifice himself to protect his partner. Shinohara was a good dude. I'll miss him. This Arima guy was badass. I must wonder why they didn't bring him out sooner. I can understand if they want to save someone of his skill for the really strong opponents, but if other well-equipped and highly capable Investigators are dropping like flies, then they've lost a lot of combat potential gambling that those guys would be able to handle an opponent or group of opponents. Frankly, seeing the CCG's casualties after the intervention of Aogiri made me think that they'd have meetings like on a regular basis. Well, crap. Seido died, too. It sucks for Hide that he had to see that, but at least he got away alive. Amon and Ken still are fairly evenly matched. I'm fine with that, provided Amon survives and only his newly-improved quinque was wrecked. I was surprised that Yoshimura isn't dead yet, but I already knew from reading spoilers that Eto was also a One-Eyed Owl, and was thus Yoshimura's abandoned daughter. The same spoiler reading also told me that her human identity was author Sen Takatuski. I can understand her recovering her dad's body so as to deprive the CCG the opportunity to make a very formidable quinque from his kagune. If she could tell he was still alive, I can also understand her taking him to try to save his life, to have a heart-to-heart with him before he dies, or to have vengeance upon him. Any of those things make sense depending upon how she feels about him and what he did. What I don't understand is why her voice gets such a higher pitch as Eto or One-Eyed Owl Mk. II. Plus, the MAL pages indicate that her normal form is tiny - under 5' and about 97 pounds, but she made it look good at the end there. HxH - I know that it's possible to pause the show and read all the information on these cards as the boys and Biscuit get them, but I haven't been doing it and don't plan to start. Frankly, I've barely caught some of the names. That said, one of them did stick out to me: Levy. It looks like Levy can be used regardless of whether someone has their book out or not. If that's the case, then that's exactly the kind of power which could retrieve Neon's power from Chrollo without him using nen to summon it. The only concern is whether the indiscriminate nature of Levy would translate to someone using the corresponding nen power, which is to say whether they could extract her power specifically by intention or it would be up to luck. Somewhat related, it strikes me that the books in Greed Island are similar to Chrollo's power, being able to capture and store powers. However, his power is better, because he can summon and put powers back into his book repeatedly. I hope Team Bomber runs afoul of the P.T. The Bombers are shady, ruthless, and despicably underhanded, and not in any semblance of the fun way. I may have been too harsh on Ging and his friends. Between the revelation that the sick villagers weren't actual people but a group of cards which were a quest that required a specific card to clear and that the woman in the city by the beach wouldn't talk about the quest for the card unless a party of sufficient size arrived using Accompany, then it's possible there are no actual people on the island other than the players. The residents may all be NPCs. If that is the case, then that objection to what Ging and company did would have no merit. However, if even one resident, other than Razor and any cohorts he may have, is an actual person who wasn't a player at some point, then the objection stands. Concerning Razor and his 14 devils, I feel like any group looking to clear the game will need to defeat more than one of the group which created the game. I'm not sure how many creators will be involved in this challenge, but I don't think that Gon will be so lucky as to face Ging and have the discussion he wants to have with his father. I feel like Gon's concern about the limited number of cards for ones with low conversion limits will come into play. I doubt the show would have him bring up such an obvious concern after this long without it being important later. I don't blame Killua for getting into an argument with the redheaded woman. She did have quite the attitude. However, she also had quite a rack, so I'd be willing to overlook her rudeness here if she doesn't keep it up as the story continues. Lupin - I'm fine with Lupin deciphering the book. I'm not sure about it inducing an interactive dream with a manifestation of the dude's consciousness, but eh. At least we learned what happened to him - he was murdered by spies, because he wouldn't cooperate with their efforts toward mind-control and/or creating super-agents like Nyx. Speaking of Nyx, he may not be a cyborg, but he has been altered to increase his capabilities. I feel like the comparison to a rat means that his lifespan was shortened by this procedure. Heh, Rebecca never filed the marriage license. I like that Lupin took this in stride and still honored the guy's wishes by destroying the research before it could be gathered by MI6. As for Lupin and Nyx being "in custody," I would disagree. They had been immobilized by the snipers, but they were not yet secured. I would be surprised if Nyx survives, since he was shot twice. I'm just glad for Lupin's sake that Zenigata was able to secure Lupin's transfer into his custody via shrewd negotiation. Oh, and something very different and even more sinister comes to mind when I hear the words, "shadow people." Shippuden - Wow, there were a lot of flashbacks this episode. I'm fine with something Nagato said inspiring the protagonist in Jiraiya's first novel, and I like that the story inspired Naruto and his response. It reminded Nagato of the optimistic outlook he once had that the world could be changed for the better without oppression. The two students combining to fulfill prophecy has a nice feel to it. I'm curious as to what Nagato is going to do with that giant Enma thing he summoned. We know that it restored/replaced incapacitated Pain bodies. Maybe he's going to use that power to heal and resurrect anyone who died in the attack on Konoha. OS - Swanzo did Gene a good turn by calling the work he and his crew did repaying what he owed Hilda. From here on, Gene does get a tab, but he makes efforts to pay it when he can. Yep, Aisha suffers from Goku-itis, getting weak in combat when she hasn't eaten. It makes some sense, but the decline in energy shouldn't be that dramatic or sudden. The Ctarl-Ctarl may not truly be immortal, but they are very durable. I had forgotten that they're a form of werecats with the moon phases. While I'm not wild about the super-long catgirl ears, Aisha's screechy dub V.A. is a bigger turn-off. Still, the rack is nice. Melfina may be an artificial person, but she's still very nice and well-mannered. The pirates having bands with established territories which they'll defend against incursions by other bands is an interesting facet of the story. I like that it keeps the pirates who were after Hilda from immediately pursuing Gene and crew. CB - Faye sure knows how to make an entrance. Casino "security" really did make a bad choice in striking Spike. Thankfully, he's not the man he once was, or they would all be bleeding on the floor with multiple bullets in them, and he wouldn't even need to use his own sidearm, which he may not have had on him due to carrying being prohibited in the casino. Instead, if any of them were armed, he could take the weapons from them for use. Spike's just that good. Jet and Spike smiling at Faye with their faces pressed against the front window of her zip craft is still funny. AoT: Second Course - Reiner's mental schism is tough for him, but, as Eren said, he's not exactly the biggest victim here. Sure, he, Annie and Bertolt may have been sent to wreak havoc before they knew better and ordered to insert themselves into the society they devastated, but the real victims are those who had their lives ended or upended. It's a shame we don't learn what makes Krista so special in this season other than her lineage. Surely that's not all that's going on there. Surely.

What's with the lack of a mane, yo? I know you have the skills. Also, I think I haven't read any B:HTSY pages in around two years (entirely my forgetfulness/procrastination). I need to do that.

Bee is a good doggie and can absolutely be trusted to behave in the seating section, so long as no one threatens Buu or Mr. Satan. Which time? I know he technically didn't die the first time on Namek, but yeah. I would be, but if her constant praise gives Dio a big enough ego boost (like he needs it), then it might suffice for him. It might be, but I would like in-show confirmation of that. Were that the case, it would give Ang more reason to brag on one of her precious boys. Not necessarily the high point of the episode, but certainly worth noting again. You're right. That would've been a good parallel to draw. If you care about something which could be considered a spoiler (but I wouldn't, as it's part of the setup for the movie's universe), "It" was one of several Stephen King stories turned into mini-series in the 1990s. I forget your age (20-something-or-other), but you may not have been born yet for most of those, so it would be understandable if you were unaware.

Did someone say emergency food supply ? I agree completely. Exactly the kind of fanservice I can enjoy. First, it was the only way Yahiko could think of to comply with the hostage-taker's (Hanzo's) demand which would not force Nagato to live with the guilt of killing his best friend. Second, that was the Gedo Statue, a.k.a. the thing into which the Akatsuki in the present have been putting the chakra of the Tailed Beasts they capture. DBS - Golden bear guy's ability to disperse impacts was neat and useful, but Goku did find the obvious solution in grappling to counter it. Frost does sound like a nice guy, but Goku clearly outclassed him in power. I'm curious as to why Goku was suddenly woozy after he clearly blocked that last punch with his hand. I suspect Champa instructed Vados to intervene somehow. It looked like Jaco spotted something, so maybe he'll tell us what happened next episode. If Saiyans in Universe 6 are peacekeepers and Frost is a hero who protects the oppressed, then are the Namekians aggressive jerks there? DBZK - I think a simpler way for Gohan to free the Z Sword would've been to break the stone column around it. Also, yeah, that was heavy. I think Trunks would've readily accepted that Vegeta knocked out Goku before going to fight Buu. Synchronizing energy levels seems like it would be a very intricate thing. Presumably, even one Watt off would be enough for the effort to fail. Babidi being told where Trunks lives doesn't bode well for Dr. and Mrs. Briefs. JoJo: SC - The seemingly unoccupied ship was weird and creepy, but not as creepy as the lecherous orangutan. Seriously, who would give an animal smokes and porn? I mean, it was obvious that it was a Stand user, but I have no idea how an animal would have a Stand, let alone discover what it was and how to use it with intent. Poor slain crew members from the other ship. I really didn't need or want fanservice of a 12-/13-year-old girl, show. The ship being a Stand was unexpected, and while it would be fitting for such an outpouring of power to to be called Strength, I feel like it would be beyond the power of any Stand user to manifest a Stand that large for that long. Good on Jotaro, even when wounded, to figure out how to defeat Strength. The old fortune teller woman seems like she's simply evil and aligned to Dio because of it. I get a really bad feeling about the creepy doll in the hotel. TG: Root A - Yeah, this was all moving and such for Kaya, Koma and Yoshimura, but the only one I expect who could actually be dead is Yoshimura. Ghouls can heal from wounds like those which would be fatal to a human, so I would be surprised if Kaya and Koma die unless someone comes across them in that weakened state and finishes them. Yoshimura, though, has to be dead, given the little flashbacks in his head and his vision of the dead Ukina. Juzo had some great moves, and he worked well with Shinohara, Kuroiwa, Houji and Ui (I think?). Still, Juzo was the most entertaining one to watch in action. Hachikawa was ruthless in endangering the old woman, and Kaya was selflessly kind in shielding said woman from the attack, but it's at least partly the old woman's fault for failing to evacuate with the other civilians. When the attack on Yoshimura happened and Shinohara thought that they needed one more person to bring down the Owl, I wondered where Amon was. As it turned out, he was leading a division of his own, so I can understand him not being there. His upcoming confrontation with Ken doesn't bode well for those under his command, but hopefully Amon will survive. I'm not sure why Hide was hiding amongst the CCG troops. He easily could've gotten himself killed. This new Owl looks even more fearsome than Yoshimura. It would have to be his child who somehow survived being abandoned as a baby. I think Ken killed some of the Investigators and only rendered others unconscious, with the number of Investigators to be neutralized and the amount of time he had being the only factors deciding between those two options. HxH - Killua's exam took far less time than I expected. I was fine with the idea of reducing the number of applicants to 1/6th with the instructions to knock out five other applicants and get their badges before lunch. Since it took Killua around an hour and a half to go through the door, I feel like he may have needed to knock out some of the stronger applicants more than once. His excuse for taking so long being that it took him a while to gather up all the badges was both plausible and fun. I like Killua's method for leaving the game, since it preserves valuable cards. Regarding the trade negotiations between other parties, of course the bombers would plan to double-cross the other group, but I feel like the other group will have some spell cards in effect in case of a trap. Plus, evidently this Angel's Breath card Biscuit, Gon and Killua have will make them a target eventually, and the Paladin Sword or whatever it was seems really useful for a D-level card. I don't like the karmic equalization die and strongly advise against using it if you have any choice other than what the one guy had - use it, or die right now. It's convenient for Chrollo that he sent someone into the game to give the other P.T. members a clue about how they could help him with exorcising Kurapika's nen. I can readily believe that Hisoka was involved in that plan as means to get a fight with Chrollo. As for Kurapika being aware of the possibility and that he would feel it were his nen curse removed, that's fine. I can't say I'm torn up about the change in Mr. Nostrade's fortune without Neon's power to guide his decisions, but I do feel sorry for her that she can't use her power until someone retrieves it from Chrollo's book. Hm, thinking about it that way, it seems like his power is remarkably similar to the books on Greed Island. If all those spell cards are based on nen powers, then should a spell card exist to steal a card from a book, then one or more nen users in the rest of the world may be around who could take her power out of Chrollo's book without him using his nen to summon it. Lupin - Rebecca being obsessed with this encoded book of her deceased former love interest has me a little conflicted. While I can appreciate her desire to seek for clues in it as to why he would choose to leave her alone by killing himself, I feel like it's unhealthy to dwell so much on something which could have drove him to kill himself. Although, I suspect that if this guy was getting too close to either an intelligence operation or a criminal conspiracy, he may have been murdered, and it was made to look like a suicide. Lupin compromising the communications system to pit the agents against one another was clever, getting them to do the hard work for him. Oh, Rob. You messed up big time by threatening Nix's family. Between Nix taking out all the other agents and his sustained red eyes, I'm curious as to whether he has cybernetic enhancements. It might explain why his C.O. is so concerned about him losing control. Any dry spell Fujiko would have would be of her own choosing. I think she would have no trouble seducing the majority of heterosexual men if she were to try. Hey, JoJo: SC? The fanservice we had here of grown women is the kind of thing I like. Make a note of that, please. What was with the shift in art style for Nix fighting the one agent outside the door to the room where Rebecca was held, show? Shippuden - Again, due to spoiler amvs, I was already aware of the details here, but it was still good to see it properly. Of the Sannin, Jiraiya was the softest, kindest one, so him teaching the orphan trio enough ninjutsu to defend themselves was in keeping with his personality, but I feel like he would've been in trouble with Konoha's leadership for being, shall I say, distracted for a period of three years. The knowledge drop about the Sage of the Six Paths not only having the Rinnegan, but also inventing what would become ninjutsu was excluded from those spoiler amvs, so that was worth hearing. The Gedo Statue was formidable in battle, and that was just with the chakra of one person, Nagato, powering it. It would have to be far more dangerous now with the chakra of multiple Tailed Beasts inside it, but I doubt it could be controlled nearly as effectively. Danzo is a complete nozzle. If he's involved with a plan, you can bet someone will have undeserved misfortune befall them by his intent. OS - Hilda and the others were shady and obviously stealing the Gilliam II, but at least she told the truth that Melfina would be able to assist Gilliam in navigating the ship. I really don't see why controlling a set of robotic arms in combat would be considered so super-taxing, but eh. Yep, the MacDougals are mercenaries, and no consideration will be given to past contracting parties when a new contract is in effect. I feel like if the construction dock where the Outlaw Star was had been located so close to a star that escape velocity was a concern, then the construction dock should've been unable to maintain orbit. Oh well. The drama of having to choose between everyone else escaping and trying to save Hilda was a little less stressing for Gene than I remember. I had forgotten that Hilda killed herself with a hollow-tooth bomb for the dual purposes of killing the female Kei pirate in order to keep her from attacking the Outlaw Star and to save herself from roasting to death inside her suit as she fell closer and closer to the star. CB - There's nothing like a dog to the face to stop someone in their tracks, eh, Spike? I feel sorry for the pet shop lady for having to round up all those animals after the Dog Whistle was activated. Sometimes, not relevant to anything happening around me, I'll think of these lines: "This is a Welsh Corgi. 100% mongrel." "100%?" "Yeah, that's right. That's all the percents there are." Then I can't help but smile a little. AoT: Second Course - In the past, Hannes was right. He and the others were charged with defending against titans. Some rowdy kids making a mess in the marketplace would be outside their purview. It would be a matter for local police or the children's parents, whoever could be retrieved first. Hannes was thoroughly likeable when talking with Armin and Mikasa on the Wall while waiting for the lifts to move the horses. It's a shame he didn't survive the season.

What struck me as a big deal in Babidi's address is that he estimated Buu could devastate every city on Earth in five days. While Earth in the DB-verse is likely the same size, I feel like it would need to have a much lower population for that estimate to hold true. DBS - I dug the beards for Goku and Vegeta. The visible b.o.? Not so much. Even if the punch Goku gave Monaka wasn't full strength, Monaka still took it without budging or even flinching. That's promising. I would like to think of Chi Chi providing the space picnic as being prepared in case Goku wanted a snack on the trip. Haaa, Goku has trouble reading silently, but at least he can read. I'm not sure Buu is able to read. I'm fine with Kibito and Shin being separated now, as well as the Supreme Kai of Universe 6 being invited to watch. Of course Whis has a better sense of design than Vados. He's obviously the more fun sibling. DBZK - Calm down, Kibito. Gohan was unconscious when you brought him to your planet. He had no control over his wardrobe at that time, and he had no other clothes to wear with him, so it's not his fault. The Z Sword. Sure. Why not? Yep, we had the mass-murder of an entire city and the subsequent destruction of the city's structures in a kids' show. It was perfectly understandable that both Goten and Trunks would cry when being informed of a family member's death. Still, Goku had a point that they needed to stop crying and pay attention to the fusion instructions. JoJo: SC - The shirt Grandpa Joseph wore on the ship made something we already knew even more obvious; he is ridiculously buff for a 60-something year-old man. Even though Ang thirsts shamelessly for Avdol, I can understand her getting hot over Grandpa Joseph as well. The stowaway looked too young to be starting adolescence, but eh. I can fully understand her objection to Jotaro touching her chest (tact, Jotaro. Don't be like young Goku, having to be told "no pat-pat" ) to confirm his suspicion that she was a girl rather than the boy she tried to portray herself as being. It was sensible for her to try to hide her sex in order to avoid predation by some depraved crew member or a person at her destination. Blue Moon is a fine name for a beer. It's somewhat less than intimidating for a Stand. Its energy-sapping barnacle power seemed cheap, but the sharp scales and generating a whirlpool were fine. However, I had trouble buying two things. First, that was way longer than six minutes that the imposter captain and Jotaro were submerged. Second, if Jotaro and S.P. were in the whirlpool, they would, as long as they weren't fighting the flow, be moving in the same direction as the scales at the same rotational speed, meaning the scales shouldn't have hit them. Okay, maybe they would have, but at a much lower speed than we saw. It's like being able to press a finger against the cutting edge of a knife without cutting the finger. Since the "captain" said he could vouch for each member of the crew, does that mean the whole ship was full of enemy Stand-users? Granted, the Joestar party and the girl got of the ship safely on a lifeboat after the explosions, but they might not yet be out of danger, and I mean in more ways than just the large ship bearing down on them. TG: Root A - The CCG making sure everyone on the raid had a will made out is sensible, but it was clearly too heavy a thing for Tachizawa. Also, I saw the translation of what he wrote in the most of it, but I didn't catch what he wrote in the huge, scrawling letters. I'm glad that Yoshimura got Hinami and Touka clear of this raid, and I'm glad that he sent Renji to protect them and to try to convince Touka not to run into danger like she foolishly did. Dagnabbit, Amon! Akira was trying to make amends with you, and you blocked her gesture of that. It goes against the spirit of those testamentary letters, making things right with others with whom you have conflict or resentment (or need some form of closure or affirmation) while you have the chance. You denied her that. I get the impression that one or both of Kuroiwa and Shinohara will die fighting Yoshimura. What I don't understand is why the CCG didn't have snipers set up at a distance to try to shoot the Owl in the head through the eye opening in his mask. Hm. Mrs. Mado chose to stay behind and cover her comrades', including her husband's, retreat from the Owl. In that light, it's good that Mado was drug away, kicking and screaming, by his fellow Investigators. Had they let him stay, he probably would've died as well, and then Akira would've been an orphan. However, I must question the wisdom of allowing a husband and wife to serve on the same squad for a high-risk mission. It would be far too easy for one or both of them to let their personal feelings dictate their actions, as Mado did in resisting the retreat, and put others in their group in unnecessary danger. I'm fine with Nishiki bugging out so as not to put Kimi in danger, but he showed that he was still slimy with his remark about wanting to hit it one last time. Dang, Tsukiyama. Control your crazy, man. I'm somewhat disappointed that Ken didn't kill him. At least Ken is off to protect some ghouls who aren't completely terrible. Okay, maybe only Yoshimura isn't completely terrible. Hm, Kaya and Koma were actually good fighters. Given the sheer number of Investigators, and especially veteran investigators who have history with the Anteiku members, I doubt that many ghouls will survive this operation. Tachizawa's mom seemed nice. HxH - I didn't expect Razor, one of the "game" creators to be around guarding the coast of the island. It would explain why people other than players don't show up on the island. Well, that and the treacherous currents he mentioned. However, I see a few problems with what he did and what his presence means. First, are one or more creators required to maintain this guard? That would be a huge commitment of time. Does the group take turns? Maybe there is some kind of nen spell to alert and transport one of them near the location of those seeking access to the island by sea. Second, if a constant guard is required, is Ging part of the rotation, if there is one? If not, how are his supposed friends okay with him abandoning them to this task? Third, if tickets are required to leave, then what about any "NPCs" that don't want to be in the "game" anymore? They don't have the rings with the associated books for cards, so is it even possible for them to leave as we saw Killua do? If not, then what about by actual ship? We saw Razor destroy the boat that the P.T. took to the island, and my guess is that he did so to prevent players from discovering that it would be possible, in theory, for them to leave and return by a means that didn't take all the cards from their free slots, and thus they could leave and return without penalty, but not without difficulty. If there is no way to "properly" leave and arrive but by memory card, Leave cards, or passage tickets from the harbormaster, then should the "NPCs" be real people, as I suspect, then they are essentially imprisoned there in a world of a forced economy and increased danger foisted on them by the "game" creators. Yes, it's possible that they were compensated for their participation at the beginning, but three distinct possibilities exist: 1. the game has gone on for far, far longer than the natives were lead to believe it would and they now want to get out, but can't, 2. there are people who have been born into the game since it started who would choose to have no part of it if presented the option, but they're trapped by a decision their parents made before they were born, and 3. there are people who made the choice years ago when they were single and made their choice to stay from that mindset, but now they're married with families to consider, and they no longer want to be part of the game. When Razor destroyed the P.T.'s boat, he denied at least one person or family in one of those three possible conditions a way to escape. Why did he do it? To protect the integrity of the "gameplay." As I said before, Ging's friends sound like people who are as/more terrible people as/than he is. I liked Killua telling the Kirikos stories of his and Gon's exploits. Gon's distance energy ball attack has a long way to go before it reaches Razor's level. Yep, the Bombers released their victims by killing them. It's a good thing for the one dude that he used some magic of his own to remove the bomb before that, even if he's stuck with that weird giant caterpillar thing. Well, hopefully it's a caterpillar and not a centipede, because eventually a caterpillar will change into a butterfly or moth, meaning it might get somewhat less ugly. Since Greed Island is a physical location, I'm curious as to why the spell stuff only works there. Something has bothered me for a while. If the game has continued for far longer than the "creators" anticipated, then what does that mean for rare cards, like Leave, which keep getting used? Eventually any card with a limit will reach it and become unplayable. Lupin - Lupin, you foolish scoundrel. The right choice is obviously Fujiko. Don't get me wrong. Rebecca is pretty, has a great figure, and is fun. But, da-yum, Fujiko. Plus, you know that Fujiko will eventually play you. You haven't quite seemed to catch on that Rebecca will as well, so at least your eyes are open regarding Fujiko. Regarding the wine with an aphrodisiac in it, sure. Why not? I can respect the biochemist wife becoming uncomfortable with drugging people and wanting to stop. I thought the old guy's mole looked like the one on the "dead" guy, but his drastic weight loss was enough to make me doubt that it was him, as he intended. I caught what Lupin caught about the old guy wanting that barrel "back", but until Lupin started the swing to break the cask, I didn't expect the wife's body to be in it. Lupin missed a prime chance for an amazing threesome, but this isn't that kind of show, so he had to choose not to take advantage of the ladies while they were drugged and go after the targeted barrel instead. For that, he has my respect. Shippuden - While it was a case of mistaken identity, the Leaf ninjas who killed Nagato's parents were still burglars who killed lawful occupants of the home. It was natural justice that Nagato killed them in retaliation. Yeah, the one guy showed a lack of compassion when turning away Nagato, but in a country where there's active warfare, I can understand him wanting to conserve the family's resources. That said, why make or buy that much bread at once in a damp environment, where mold will have a tendency to grow? That says to me either that there is a large family there or that the guy was outright lying to Nagato. Konan was kind to feed Nagto and the puppy. Yahiko did Nagato a good turn in accepting him into their group. My understanding of Mosaic Law and Sharia is that they both draw a distinction between stealing for personal enrichment and stealing food to eat. Yes, stern monetary or physical consequences are prescribed for the former case, but in the latter circumstances, the punishment is much, much less severe. That said, the trio did what they could to atone for what they did by returning as much of the perishable food as they could. Oh, no! Not the puppy! More tragic backstory is coming next week. I already know the gist of it from spoiler amvs, but it will be good to get all the details. OS - I like that Hilda needed a gunner, because piloting in an asteroid field takes a lot of concentration. Is Dramamine not at thing anymore in the future of this show? It would probably do more to settle Gene's stomach than booze. That was cold, Melfina, even if you meant well. Yeah, Aisha is excitable and not the brightest person. It's a good thing that her crew was able to follow standing orders and were willing to act in sensible self-preservation. Also, they shouldn't have fired on Horus, since the debris they generated in shooting some of the asteroids will need to be cleaned out in order to make the approach lanes safe. The McDougals are sleaze, especially Ron, whom we saw speaking with the Kei Pirates. CB - People in the time of CB should be thankful for artificial gravity. It would keep their bones and muscles from acclimating to the gravity of wherever they lived. It wouldn't be a problem for anyone from Earth, given that hyperspace travel from any point in the Solar System to another would take only a few days, but for those who lived primarily on a moon of an outer planet, they would have a very difficult time moving on a planet or moon with much higher mass, if it were possible at all for them to survive the experience. I wouldn't want the hot dog back either. Jet says in a later episode that Spike's eyes are too sharp, but his hands are also extremely quick. There's something about hearing TRFB at the end of a CB episode that makes me smile. I just hope we had gotten the full ED version. AoT: Second Course - From what I saw, Mikasa didn't hesitate in her strikes on Bertolt and Reiner last episode. That she was unable to kill them seemed to me to be more about them doing what they could to evade and defend against her attacks. That's partly thanks to their training, but also because they were in a heightened state of alertness due to committing to their course of action in trying to convince Eren to go with them. No, Eren. That flashback was part of your mind trying to tell your psychopathic rage side how to win the fight against Reiner's Armored form. Still, there are some disparities in physical power between opponents that technique can't overcome.

I didn't watch the shows live, because I went to a college football game with a 7:00 P.M. start time that night, and it was nearly 1:00 A.M. when I got back, meaning it was time for Coast to Coast AM to start. I did set the shows to record, though, except for the ones which were already on the dvr. DBZK - Safety labels for your son would've been a good thing to include, Bibidi, in order to assure he was clear of the steam vents when awakening Buu. Sure, Babidi stayed clear anyway, but there were no posted warnings. Maybe it was included in the revival instructions. When Vegeta noted that Goku was too trusting and wondered how he had survived so long, the obvious answer is that he didn't. Goku's dead, and not for the first time. He just has uncanny luck, very good friends and has gotten more than one good break in the afterlife. Buu's transformation power would be remarkably useful. Presumably he would be able to turn inanimate objects into food as well. He and Babidi would never need to procure provisions ever again. I still like Vegeta's line about dragging Babidi and Buu to Hell along with him. I would think that the wrapping of Buu's nigh-indestructible flesh around Vegeta would be the perfect shield against Buu's kick and atomic butt drop, but oh well. Also, if there was hope for Piccolo to change from who he was as the spawn/clone of Piccolo Daimaoh, then there should be hope for Vegeta as well. I can understand Chi Chi guilting Videl for not stopping the boys, but I did enjoy Yamcha's take on it that they would've snuck away eventually, and that's not even accounting for the fact that there's no way she could physically have prevented them from going, since either boy is stronger and faster than her, and she was rather fatigued at the time. In addition to Mr. Popo's idea about teaching Goten and Trunks to fuse, he's also a great cook. Perhaps he invented instant ramen in the DB-verse, meaning he saved the Earth from Beerus in Super as well. It occurred to me that I never took notice that Shoulder Cat was a precursor to Shoulder Loli. Plus, Goku was the perfect one to make the announcement of Gohan's "death" and Vegeta being dead, since he would only be on the Earth for a few more hours to put up with females being emotional. AoT: Second Course - Of course we'll never know what Mikasa had to add to the discussion about past odd behavior by Annie, Bertolt, and Reiner, because Eren is a loudmouth who can't keep from interrupting people. Mikasa has the scariest eyes of anyone in the show, but her rageful bloodlust was justified, since on the personal level, Bertolt and Reiner's attack deprived her of her second set of parents and drove her from her second home. Jack - Ashi's sudden realization that she has Aku's powers and her use of said powers to counter him and make a time portal for her and Jack were all very satisfying. I think part of that is because Aku had a part in making a lifeform which was key to his destruction in the past. Jack being reminded of Ashi every time he sees a ladybug is nice, but if anyone deserved a happy ending with the girl, it was him.

Dragon Ball v. 7 & 8. It's pretty much assured that Goku's raid on the Red Ribbon Army HQ, wherein the told Upa that he was going to beat up a bunch of bad guys, actually had him kill a lot of them via their personal aircrafts exploding after he hit them or doing too much internal damage with his strikes on their bodies. In particular, one guy's helmet had a hole made in it by Goku's kick. That means the force of the strike was more than the helmet could take, meaning at least some of that force was focused on that small area on his head, possibly with that piece of the helmet being driven into his head.

Dio was always evil, but I feel like your estimation of the sexy has much to do with Jonathan's shirtless body. Goemon is smart enough to know that he's wanted for so many things that he'd get almost nothing in any kind of plea deal to be a State's witness against a corrupt politician who contracted a murder for hire, especially when he carried out that particular murder. So, yeah, even without the threat of death, Goemon wouldn't say a thing in the unlikely event of his capture. DBS - If I heard what I thought I heard, the Super Dragon Balls (S.D.B.s) are spread across Universes 6 and 7, and they only grant one wish. However, it sounded like there was no recharge time, meaning they would simply scatter, and as soon as they could be assembled, they could be used again. Granted, the peas and carrots part of the incantation is lame, and someone would presumably need a way to cross the dimensional boundary between the two Universes to get them, meaning some kind of deity would likely be involved, but that second part would make the mind-boggling task of moving the S.D.B.s so much easier. So what the show is telling me is that Jaco is the alien equivalent of a dirty old man, since he's evidently known Bulma for decades and is still interested in young women. Master Roshi, you have a kindred spirit here. This felt like filler between the criminal being a lifelong dine-and-dasher and the repeated jabs at Bulma getting older. I still think she's a good-looking woman. Good on Vegeta for landing a pretty, rich genius for a wife. I'm not sure what he did to get her to love him, but he's darn lucky it worked. As for Saiyans being drawn to feisty women, sure. Why not? DBZK - If Buu never re-absorbs the part of him that he used to crush the taxi driver, then could that part form into a new body for him should the rest of him be obliterated? It would be like the tiny chunks shifting into tiny Buus, so it should be possible. Thanks for stopping your friends from using the other wishes, Goku. Still, I feel like trying to find Master Roshi's or Yamcha's energy would've been easier than locating Bulma's energy, meaning he might've been able to prevent them from summoning Shenron at all. However, had he done that, then Kibito would've stayed dead, and Shin and Gohan needed his help to survive. Regarding Buu's confections binge, Babidi said he would get cavities. If Buu lacks bones to break, then into what do his teeth anchor? JoJo: SC - Yes, the fight was flashy and colorful. Yes, Silver Chariot (S.C.) was fast. Yes, Avdol was creative in the attack that won the fight. However, I want to tip my figurative hat to Avdol for recognizing the upstanding character of Jean throughout the ordeal and correctly concluding that a person of such integrity would not willingly ally with Dio, leading Avdol to seek and find the mind-controlling flesh bud. I'm with you, Joseph. Tentacles are creepy. Jean's motivation being the search for his sister's rapist and murderer is fine with me. It is a highly strange genetic abnormality that the killer has two right hands. It would be easy for the culprit to hide his left appendage in a pocket most of the time in order to prevent people from taking notice, though. I like that Joseph's sweet mechanical hand still functions perfectly. Still, I have two criticisms. First, about S.C.'s afterimages, it looked like it wasn't moving at all. Maybe this was to circumvent the "find the motion pattern" angle. Maybe it was to save a little animation budget. Maybe it was meant so be an indicator of just how fast S.C. is. Second, flames engulfing Jean for that long should've left him horribly injured and disfigured should he survive, which isn't what we saw at all, but I can understand wanting to have him keep his relatively good looks since he was to become part of the quest. TG: Root A - Regarding the story of Yoshimura, sure, fine. He killed without discrimination until he was approached by some group and recruited to be an enforcer. Ukina, the coffee shop lady, was pretty. She was also kind like Ken in relation to helping Yoshimura with reading tutoring. She was also as accepting as Kimi of Yoshimura's ghoul actions. I'm not exactly sure, but I think that the reason their hybrid child survived to birth is that Ukina, a human, engaged in cannibalism (whether the flesh came from living victims or corpses, we can't be sure, but it was likely Yoshimura who procured it for her) in order to provide the developing baby with the nutrients it needed. (That would be a good reason for most hybrid children not surviving to birth - a human mother would be quite averse to cannibalism, even if her unborn child's life depended on it, and female ghouls wouldn't be so foolish as to fall for a feeble human male.) I didn't catch why the couple and child were pursued, but Ukina died, and Yoshimura abandoned his daughter to get revenge. I'm also not sure how the baby survived, unless Yoshimura came back for her and left her in someone else's care. Given the way Yoshimura looked at the end of the flashback, I guess we're supposed to conclude that he is the Owl. I may be wrong, but I think that there is/are no one or two standard entrance exams which all universities in Japan use to screen applicants. If each school has its own entrance exam, then I feel like it becomes more important for a student to know which field of study (s)he wants to enter before selecting a school (with a back-up or two, or three). Nishiki, business increasing for Anteiku on a winter day which was colder than people expected is what I would call perfectly logical and not surprising in the least, given that it is a coffee shop, meaning it serves warm and hot beverages. It may even have some warm/hot food menu items for humans in addition to ghouls. It can't be a good thing that so many Investigators are tailing Anteiku's staff and converging on it. At least it's refreshing that Yoshimura bears Shinohara no ill will. HxH - Jaken means Evil Fist. That's good to know. The game being a veiled way to continue practicing fighting moves after they were outlawed by the government is interesting, but I say it also shows that people in power have had a long, cross-cultural history of seeking to deprive those they rule of the means to defend themselves as an expedient to maintaining power. Think of the word army. At one time, it was spelled armee, which sure looks like a reference to a person or group of persons who was/were armed, carrying the implication that most people weren't. Armee was derived from Medieval Latin armata, which came from Latin armatus, which was derived from the infinitive armare, meaning to arm (someone), again implying that most people didn't have weapons of war with which they could resist the forces of those in power. It's a completely logical, though despicable, concept: those who lack the means to resist an overbearing ruling group or person with force are more likely to submit out of a sense of pragmatic self-preservation. Still, that's enough of my pro-2A rambling for now. I'm glad that the training entailed many timeskips of days and weeks. Still, with Greed Island being a physical location, the boys would've absolutely stunk from all the sweating they did in their training. I sure hope they had somewhere that they could bathe after each day, but I don't recall seeing any bodies of water around for them to at least rinse off the dirt, oil and sweat. I like that the boys have essentially the same reaction time. I think it's good for them as friends and training partners to be equal in at least some ways. I likely won't remember the names of the techniques they learned, but producing more nen and adjusting its concentration around the body on the fly sounds like it will be useful, as will practicing with both their natural nen type and those closely related to it. The Bomber plot was a long con, but it might pay off. We'll see if the overall more friendly group does cave to the demand. However, I don't understand how nen deployed as an explosion from the blond guy's hand at contact range doesn't injure his hand. Maybe he's just really good at instantaneously switching offensive and defensive nen. Alternatively, he could send his nen into the other person, and when it contacts that person's nen, it reacts violently, which gives him a second or so to shield his hand with defensive nen. Well, I have a feeling that someone, possibly the P.T., since they are approaching the island by boat, will end up killing all the bomb guys should that trio manage to get the cards they want. Again, do something about your uneven hair, Biscuit. Lupin - I'm good with Goemon accepting an assassination contract. He knows that swords are weapons and to study their use is to learn to kill. Plus, his target was a despicable person, so that made it easier. I can also respect him wanting to protect the young Belladonna from harm, including detonating her suicide vest as a last resort to fulfill the contract. However, I don't get the point of doing that. What good does it do a hired assassin to die in carrying out the contract? She couldn't be paid if she were dead, and she didn't seem like someone with anyone to whom the payment could be given in her stead. If the attempt were to fail, a strategic withdrawal would be in order to plan the next attack and try again some other time. Ew, politician guy. You found Belladonna as a child and raised her to be your ideologically-devoted killer. Now that she was an admittedly pretty lady, you were going to make a move on her? Creepy. Yeah, I figured out that Belladonna was tying up loose ends for the politician, but I wasn't sure exactly why. Her life hanging in the balance would be a good motivation if she wavered on her commitment to the guy. It sure was nice of the guy to hold the activation device for the bomb in a position where Goemon could see its location in her body. It's also a testament to his skill that he could hit the target and knock it free of her heart without hitting anything else which would kill her. The politician did Belladonna another good turn by standing right behind her and laughing megalomaniacally after arming her with a pistol with way more round capacity in its extended magazine than would be necessary to kill him. I can understand her choice to stop a ruthless, crooked, and abusive politician like him. I don't understand her activating the bomb which would've killed her. As for the plot itself and the motivation behind it, securing the oil rights to fund the politician's campaign or establish him as being successful in business both sound plausible. I recognize the wisdom of going after the dictator's sniper first, since he was able to take out six of the twelve assassins before they could even locate him. His past accomplishments including a kill shot of nearly 1100 yards did establish him as a dangerous opponent, and it's entirely believable that a Winchester model 70 could accomplish that with the right round, and several of the available calibers for it (the rifle has dozens of options for the caliber it can be manufactured to use) are lethal at that range. I dug Goemon pulling a Genji to save Belladonna and her saving him in return later. Still, there were some technical issues with this episode. First was Zora's rifle capacity in the desert. The most that a standard magazine for his rifle would hold is 5 rounds. Even if we grant him having a full magazine and a chambered round, he would've needed to change the magazine at least twice to fire as many times as we saw, and it didn't look like there was enough pause in his shots at Belladonna and Goemon to accommodate that. Second, it's difficult to accept that Goemon's sword would stand up to the stress of blocking as many shots as a minigun could fire. Also, only one barrel of a minigun is aligned with the firing chamber at once, so twirling the sword would be unnecessary, unless Goemon determined it would be the most efficient way to compensate for any vertical or lateral motion the shooter would introduce to the weapon. Third, the size of the hole Goemon made in the wall looked like it extended beyond the reach of his blade. Fourth, if we're to accept that Goemon's blade is sharp enough to cut a vehicle in two, including the engine block, then the tip of it should've been too sharp to push the bomb out of Belladonna. Granted, cutting the bomb (which was much more powerful than it needed to be to kill her since it was next to her heart) may have disabled it, but it could also have triggered the detonation early. Last, Goemon's leap to the car as it was driving away would've shattered any and all long-jump records. Shippuden - As it turns out, I don't have an open bottle of bourbon. It was a Tennessee whisky, which is ever so slightly different. Yeah, yeah. Teamwork, camaraderie, unity, perseverance and all that. It was still tedious. I'm ready for my Konan, Nagato and Yahiko flashback now. OS - Nope, Narrator. As Black Dynamite said, he may have been a children once, but he was never a boy. Ten minutes to revive someone from cyrosleep doesn't seem like quite enough time, but eh. At least Tao magic does have a practical range, since Hilda's shuttle was able to outrun the dragon spell. Yeah, Hida's cyborg arm was wrecked. It's a good thing that Jim could fix it for her. Gene has his skills, and Jim has his. Jim was a gentleman, refusing to take advantage of Melfina's innocence in the hotel. However, even if he had decided to sleep in the same bed as her, I feel like he would've been able to control himself to the extent of doing nothing more than spooning, if that much. He may gripe at Gene and have an attitude at times, but he's a good kid. The overbearing bar guys took things way too far and brought their pain upon themselves in the process. Given the attack in the flashback, I would say that Gene has good reason to hate pirates as well. It's a shame for him that simply being in space triggered those bad memories. AoT: Second Course - Outside at night during a winter storm is a terrible place and time to have a serious talk about personal pasts and motivations, and especially so when the life of an unconscious comrade is in danger. Also, the two ladies should've realized long before then that they weren't going to make it in a good time and put their shelter and fire-making skills to use, presuming they were taught such things. Krista's motivational yelling was just what Ymir needed to fight more intelligently and still protect the group. I'm still not sure exactly why ordinary titans attack shifted titans. Maybe they can smell the person inside. I feel like the show didn't fully explain this. Jack - I'll be honest. I haven't been watching or listening to the Jack episodes at the time that they air. Instead, I've been watching the episodes that I recorded on the dvr when they premiered during the commercial breaks of the other shows. Since that's the case, I probably won't continue to give even the brief comments on Jack once we get through these last two episodes, because I have been deleting the episodes as I finished them. Ashi found some sweet boots on that ship. Aku and Scaramouche's happy dances were still fun. Plus, Aku's regular guy dialogue was still great. Regarding Jack not wanting Ashi to become just another memory, I understand him wanting to keep her from the danger that has a tendency to find him, but by leaving her behind, he did what he could to assure that he would have no future with her, meaning all he would have of her were memories of their brief time together.

Looking at his picture on MAL, he does have the same birthmark/scar on his face as the guy who walked away in the parking garage. I think I need to look more closely at the scene where Aramaki is drugged to see if it was Fukami there, too. Yes, Ging did. Gon's a good kid, but he's not necessarily the brightest bulb. Agreed. By the end of the episode, those started to get a little grating. I probably didn't mind them as much when I watched on dvd, because I was looking for and thinking about the story. Also, as near as I can tell, none of the visuals in either ED have any connection to the story that unfolds in the show. Ang: Even I don't think I'll be able to make it through this Naruto episode without a shot of something. Thankfully, Lupin is rumtime funtime, so that should still be at-hand, but I might go for a bourbon instead.

Dragon Ball v. 4 - 6. I had forgotten that Piccolo later steals Master Roshi's solution to an oozaru problem. Also, Mechanical Man no. 8 was still as kind and gentle as, but more polite than, I remember him from the first Toonami's run of DB.

Just read this this afternoon. I'm in a similar, but not same, boat as Katt. Living several states away, I would be unable to cover the 470+ miles in just over six hours, since local sunset there will be 7:44 CDT. Still, I am glad that his family is doing something that they feel suits his sensibilities. I'm not a funeral flower kind of person (I intend to look into donating to a literacy program in the area in Luuv's memory), but if any of you are and haven't already made arrangements to send them, there's a chance that this local florist might be able to make same-day delivery of some arrangements, depending upon availability in the shop. Thank you, Dane, for your diligence in keeping us informed.

I also very much hope she isn't. Yes. Binolt left a bunch of scissors with you. Evening the pigtails out would be relatively simple, and she had plenty of time to do it. Witchy: I really didn't notice the rock versus scissors thing. It's much funnier thinking about it now. Thanks. DBS - Wow. That was a lot of recap. Buu and Mr. Satan are the best hetero life-mates. It sure is nice for Buu to promise the wish promised to him to Mr. Satan. Now to convince Beerus to agree to give Buu one of the wishes. I'm fine with going with Piccolo over Gohan due to Gohan being out of top fighting form and have too many daily-life distractions. While three years of training may help Goku and Vegeta get stronger, I feel like it would be problematic for them to adjust to interacting with others after three years of having only one another for company. Plus, hasn't Goku already used the Hyperbolic Time Chamber twice? Wasn't there a limit of two times for its use by one person? Also, doesn't the door disappear after a year? Dende must've made some substantial changes. DBZK - Contain yourself, Master Roshi. 18 is Krillin's wife. If you can't respect her as a person, at least respect your former student's relationship with her. Good teamwork getting the Four-Star Ball out of that dinosaur, Chi Chi, Videl, Yamcha, and yes, even Master Roshi. Plus, points to Bulma for making to effort to climb and get it from the nest. "Videl! You're supposed to marry Gohan! Protect your face!" Oh, Chi Chi. Hooray for Mr. Popo! Not only did he come up with the idea for Goku to teach fusion to Goten and Trunks, but he had everyone covered for dinner. JoJo: SC - The guy with the stag beetle Stand put up a convincing act, though I'm not sure how he was able to project his voice through it. I feel like Jotaro missed his chance when the barb from the beetle was through Star Platinum's hand. It was bound up in Star Platinum (S.P) at that point, and S.P. could've grabbed the rest of the barb with the other hand and smashed it to the floor, at which point stepping on it to smash it would've been simple. I guess they wanted to showcase how Kakyoin could use Hierophant (sp?) Green to distract and lay a trap for an unwary adversary. While it didn't surprise me that the fight crew, minus attendants, had already been slain, I did like the way Joseph and Jotaro took charge of the situation, telling the attendants what the Joestars needed them to do and telling them what they would do. Yes, piloting a jet is more difficult than flying a prop plane due to the increased speeds, but the basics are the same, and Joseph showed he had the Devil's own luck, surviving now three plane crashes. Jotaro has a good point about not wanting to fly with his grandfather again. Also, I don't blame the flight attendants at all for nearly swooning over the Joestar men. Kaykoin, maybe a little, but not the Joestars. Still, even knowing this show, I have trouble accepting that the old man with the split skull and newly bifurcated tongue was able to stand up and deliver a final villainous speech to our group, all while spurting large amounts of blood. Even though a trip by sea has the danger of sinking the ship, it's still much faster to get to Cairo that way than by land. Plus, once the Joestar party is certain that there are no more enemy Stand-users on the ship, then more can't find and come at them, unless the enemies chase them in a faster ship and board the ship with the Joestar party or the ship docks at a port. On land, a different enemy Stand-user could be hiding behind every tree, large rock, or building along the way. Going by ship greatly limits the ability of enemies to intercept them. Soooo, Joseph isn't exactly literate in Chinese. That's fine, because as long as it tastes good and is dead when it gets to the table, those are the things that matter. This new Stand user who, judging by the OP, will eventually ally with the Joestars reminds me of Dire. Maybe it's just the hair. TG: Root A - That was a freaky dream, Ken. Maybe you should've simply killed Jason rather than taking a bite out of him. However, I am glad that you spared Shinohara and only attacked his quinque armor. As for transforming into a kakuja, I take it that's what his changing kagune is about. I'll take this dream and his own estimation that those he's consumed are actually consuming his personality to be both a figurative take on "you are what you eat" and a sign that he knows he's picked the wrong side/path. Hinami? You're a good kid and very thoughtful, but what were you thinking? Did neither you nor anyone else on the service floor have a cell phone with Touka's number? Does Touka not have a cell phone? In modern Japan, I find that very difficult to believe. Rather than running to tell Touka about Ken being there and speaking to Yoshimura, you could've called or texted her about it and saved all the time you spent running to where she was, meaning she would've gotten there while he was still there, rather than having to chase after him. Touka's studies showed improvement, which is good, but of course she went running at the news of Ken showing up at Anteiku. I think he deserved at least some of those punches. He really should go back to the people who care about him. Dang, Tsukiyama. Chill. Yes, we know you want to taste Ken, but that was exceedingly creepy. Were I on the staff at Anteiku, I would resent Tsukiyama asking Hinami to try the coffee somewhere else. Yes, it served to prevent the staff, who are friends and associates of Ken, from having the chance to discover how obsessed Tsukiyama still is with Ken, but even on the face of it, it's insulting. As for the chance meeting with Sen the author, who does she think she is? While I agree with her estimation of Hinami brimming with love, compassion and understanding, how could Sen possibly know what Ken needs? However, that wasn't the only difficulty she presented. She asked Shinohara and Juzo (who stayed oddly quiet, despite knowing the answer), about whether making hybrids was possible, and when Shinohara didn't know, she pointed them in the direction of Anteiku. I feel like she knows more than she should. She must have some secret source or connection. That is, unless Hinami inadvertently let more details slip than she (and I) thought she did. HxH - Gon, I don't think you should tell anyone else that your dad was part of the group who "made" Greed Island. It could impress people who have no seriously sinister intent, like Biscuit, and it might scare off some who are more timid or unsure of their ability to best you, but truly evil people or people looking to beat a challenging opponent, like Hisoka, might be unfazed or take it as an opportunity to increase their reputations, respectively. Also, if I'm right about the NPCs being ordinary people whose lives have been upended by the "creation" of Greed Island, then they might want to harm you for revenge. With those things in mind, I think you should keep quiet about that. Yeah, yeah, Ging is an amazing nen-user, but he's also a terrible parent and strikes me as an all-around bad person. That's the problem with celebrity worship; they may be great at what they do, but they're still people, and they're not necessarily good ones outside of what they do for a living. Yes, Binolt had a bad past. I don't think many people would truly fault a malnourished street urchin like him for taking that wallet, but, at that time, he was still a decent person who, by his own admission, wasn't looking for a reward or thanks. He simply returned it, because it was the right thing to do. That said, he was treated horribly by that couple. The woman did drop the wallet on her own, and they beat this child with impunity before even looking to see whether any contents were missing. When they would've eventually discovered all the contents were present, I sincerely doubt that either of them would've sought him out to apologize for abusing him. That is to say, they perpetrated a crime against him, and yet likely went completely unpunished by the law or whatever passed for their consciences. Still, despite his later life of crime, he carried that seed of decency, and upon seeing the ways and times that either of the boys could've ended him, yet chose to spare him, he decided to turn himself in to whatever authorities exist on the island (or maybe to log out and surrender to those authorities. I'm not sure which). I think I'll go with Killua's name for Biscuit when she's being especially unpleasant: hag. Still, her decades of experience have honed her into a truly formidable combatant and instructor. Being taught by a teacher's teacher is pretty standard fare for shonen, so that's fine. What wasn't fine was the boys spending days in combat training with Binolt in a crater in an arid area. They were all engaged in strenuous, prolonged exertion. They would've needed a lot of water, and I saw no source for it in the crater, nor did I see them drink while in it. Sure, they're strong, but they're still alive, and thus they would need water. Biscuit had an interesting training idea, leaving the boys to discover the principle of extending their nen around an object to amplify the potential of the object whilst digging their tunnels back to Masadora. As an Enhancer, this should be easier for Gon than for Killua. Lupin - Because it wouldn't fit anywhere else, I loved that Mama had a minigun. Sure, a haunted hotel which formerly was a castle. Why not? What the crap? Who would make a secret passage that could be activated by pouring liquid into a hole in the corner? Sure, it was probably intended to be triggered by inserting a pole into it, but there would need to be some sort of container down there capable of catching and holding liquid until the weight of the liquid was enough to trip the mechanism for what Lupin tried to work. Also, what kind of horrible guests relieve themselves in the corner of their room? Well, they're horrible, unless they were specifically told that the hole connected to the sanitary sewer system of the hotel, but even then special cleaning considerations would be needed for that corner. Yes, yes. Jigen discovered the fake ghost publicity ploy, but of course it would be based on a real ghost which Lupin would meet. Speaking of which, Lupin sure was a charmer to convince the ghost girl that he was a friend sent by her big sister to check on the treasure. Given the Indiana Jones-style deadly traps he found, I would say that it was lucky for the other guests who were scared off that they fell into the first trapdoor and were chased/guided safely outside. However, Lupin himself was lucky that the ghost girl helped him find ways out of the deadly traps. Mama and her lackeys, however could've easily died from the impact at the end of the fall when the water swept them out of that corridor. Five things left me somewhat incredulous, though. No, not the actual ghost girl. I'm fine with that. First, why would the tower be built to be inaccessible from the inside? In an attack on the castle, that would require anyone seeking to access the tower, such as to use it as a firing position or to supply or relieve troops posted there, to be outside the protection of the stone walls. Second, the chain with its counterweight lifting Lupin to the top would prove a problem for the descent, unless someone was at the bottom to raise the counterweight and reverse the chain's travel. Third, the chain lift and anchor system were metal exposed to the elements. They could easily have rusted to the point of failure in the span of time that the treasure was hidden there. Fourth, how did no one ever find the younger princess while she was still alive? Surely she would answer to family calling for her from below. It's tragic and difficult to believe that her family never found her. At least Lupin had the decency to let the whereabouts of her remains be known so they could be respectfully interred next to her sister. Fifth, how was Lupin able to grab and hold onto a ghost for the chain ride up the tower? He should've been able to feel that she wasn't a physical entity. Lupin may not have come away from this with any treasure, but he did help that little girl's ghost find rest. He puts the "gentleman" in "gentleman thief." Shippuden - Not only was this filler, but it was flashback filler to before Naruto headbutted the crazy out of Gaara. Guy was ridiculous, but mildly amusing. Also, it's you, Naruto. You didn't know it then, but as Minato and Kushina's son, you are the legacy of both of them, both in your desire to protect Konoha and as the jinchuriki keeping the Nine Tails from running wild. OS - Yep, Gene is a cold-blooded killer. Sure, Death Rob was a deadly threat which sought out Gene, but Gene didn't hesitate to use what he thought would be deadly shots. However, Gene and Jim are luckier than Jet and Spike, because the reward on Rob was able to cover the bar repairs and still leave more than enough cash for Gene to go out and get laid. I can respect Jim not wanting his first time to be with a prostitute. Plus, he's still a kid. A genius kid, but a kid nonetheless. Hilda's Rachel mask was very good. The last time I watched this, I don't think I appreciated how formidable the Tao magic was against standard weapons. AoT: Second Course - I still don't get why it was such a big deal to Reiner that Ymir could read a language from outside the Walls. I would think that almost all the ancestors of everyone inside the Walls would've come from outside the Walls. It makes sense that some of them would bring at least one book, meaning there could be at least one foreign language library somewhere. When we consider that pockets of populations may have kept their ancestral languages (Little Italy, Chinatown, etc.), it makes sense that some of the recruits for the military would be at least as proficient in their ancestral languages as the common language inside the Walls, meaning there may be a need for some written materials for instruction to be in more than one language. That would make such materials available for other cadets to peruse in whatever leisure time they had, or, if the cadet was especially motivated to learn, during instruction, reading the materials side-by-side. Of course, we know that Ymir knows this language by virtue of her long past, but it's possible others who aren't several decades old could've learned different languages by fairly mundane means. Dagnabbit, Squatchy! Why do you have to ruin everything for the veterans? Jack - Yes, Ashi and Jack were desperate for shelter from the sandstorm, but they missed the big danger clue that the opening through which they entered was a large, irregular rupture, meaning some calamity happened inside the structure to make that opening. At least Jack was honest that giving Ashi his robe to wear was for his protection, since he would otherwise be too distracted by her nudity to fight effectively. Since Ashi was trained with more traditional weapons, rather than firearms, I can't truly blame her for her negligent discharge of the rifle, even though the effect of the shot did interfere with Jack listening to the instructions for the device they needed.

Just in today, Dimension W v. 7. It'll probably be a few months before I get to it, though, since I'm going to go through all of Dragon Ball first.