FoleyisGood149

My thoughts exactly. Sadly, the Scotsman is probably long dead. He likely had either a heart attack or a stroke due to excess cholesterol in his diet. INORITE?!?! Also, Dean would be proud. Yeah, I'm going to miss that rack, too. Plus, you have a point. That reminds me that I forgot to comment on the "hidden" journal of their travels so far. If the book is left open on a table in an unlocked room that isn't a single crew member's quarters, then I wouldn't exactly call it hidden. *Nods agreement.*

True, Caesar had brothers and at least one sister, but if we didn't see them alive in the present day of the show, then we can't be sure that any of them survived. I would like to believe that Caesar was able to provide for them until he started his hamon training, at which point one or more of his siblings would be able to take care of the others, but we can't count on it. Let's just think of Caesar having knocked up one or more of the floozies as extra insurance for the Zeppeli family. Jack - The first scene was fun, Aku being bored with his admirerers and supplicants. Aku's therapy session with himself was a great way to give his perspective on things, that he's annoyed that Jack hasn't simply died of old age. While Aku says he's destroyed all the time portals, I feel like another will be discovered or made before the end of the show. This was definitely more mature in overall tone than even most episodes of the first series. Jack and Inner Jack, who voiced his doubts, frustration and weariness, all but openly talked about suicide being the only way out for him. Granted, for someone whose life is actively sought by aggressors, Jack's end wouldn't have to be by his own hand - he could simply allow a robot or enslaved monster to finish him, but he would still be choosing death rather than fighting for his life and those of others. The outdoor battle was intense, and seeing the Septuplets whittle away Jack's armaments (noooo, not his sweet ride!) and armor showed that they are an effective fighting unit. When it moved indoors, I misunderstood. I thought each Septuplet chased a dead end, but instead it worked out that they found places to lie in wait. I very much enjoyed the homage to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, with the twist that they were all able to hone in on his location rather than a false one next to the sought spot. I don't know how they did it, since it sounded to me like Jack remained silent, but they did. I'll just say it was some kind of mystical acumen unless we're told otherwise. I feel like the show did well in drawing out the battle between Jack and the Septuplets. With his line in the promo for this episode about his pursuers being just "nuts and bolts," it clearly set the stage for him to be shocked when he found that an opponent he felled was human, but the circumstances of the slaying were more visceral and emotional as we saw it. He could've seen that he gunned one down with his bike-mounted machine gun, but seeing the blood spurt from the throat slash (I'm amazed he didn't decapitate her) and pool on the floor made it much more personal, I would say. I'm not sure whether he's suffered worse wounds than this stab, but he'll be in rough shape for the coming fight against the remaining six sisters, who likely will discover the one he slew before finding him. The aftermath of the white wolf vs. the green tigers doesn't bode well for Jack. Still, I'm not sure why the vibration dagger made the castle explode rather than collapse. It looked to be a stone structure, so that is odd to me. DBS - Yes, it usually takes a dire threat to family and friends or the death of one of them for Goku to unlock new levels of power. I feel like he's still nowhere close to what he can really do, though. Um, Bulma? How about landing and fixing the backfiring engine? Yes, you might lose sight of Beerus and Goku, but that's preferable to crashing into the ocean. Goku shouldn't have been able to breathe at that altitude. Oh well. DBZK - I forgot how shady Kibito and Shin were when we first met them. I also forgot how goofy and ridiculous Goten and Trunks taking the masked guy's outfit was. Plus, yes, getting his name before the drawing would've been a good idea, though Trunks was right that Spopovitch (sp?) should've answered sooner when his name was called. Piccolo registering as Ma Junior is a callback to DB, since he's the offspring of Piccolo Daimaoh. It is part of his name. Krillin did catch a lucky break in not facing one of his friends in the first round. Goku vs. Vegeta would be the most epic match, whether Vegeta agreed not to destroy the arena and nearby city in the fight or not. JoJo - While I can respect Joseph treating the antidote ring as a symbol of his promise to avenge Caesar, I would still urge him to take the antidote before seeking Kars and Wamuu. I bought Lisa's bluff about the explosive device on the Star of Aja. She did well to use that threat to negotiate single combat conditions for herself and Joseph. Of course, given the area and combat conditions selected for those battles, I would expect the vampires to attack when/if both Kars and Wamuu are defeated. I thought the show said in an earlier episode that Joseph's mom was someone who survived the steamship sinking which claimed Jonathan's life. If that is the case, and Lisa is the baby who Jonathan urged Erina to save, then does that mean Lisa, who was raised in the ways of hamon by Straitso, is actually Joseph's mom? She would be appropriately aged at 50, but I don't like what that relationship would mean for her chances of surviving the upcoming fight with Kars. Vampire horses, show? That seems entirely unnecessary, and it's a dirty trick to force Joseph to divide his attention between Wamuu with his chariot and steeds and sending just enough hamon through the reins for Joseph to control his own team. It would also serve as a motivator to end the fight quickly, since that would be a constant drain on Joseph's hamon. However, the death race would need to last long enough for Joseph to get the hang of controlling his chariot in order to use it as an effective offensive platform against Wamuu. It's a race against time, but he must prolong it enough to learn to use his assets effectively. Good luck, Joseph. MSG: U - Riddhe was lucky that he wasn't charged with dereliction of duty and/or going a.w.o.l. I'm not sure what it says for Zeon's organizational structure if Full is unwilling to order the Earthbound Zeon troops regarding this operation, instead leaving them to do as they would please. Links was right that the battle was a slaughter, but I feel like it might not be entirely under Zeon's control. It looked like the giant red mech with the particle weapon that could rival a cruiser's main gun launched drones of its own accord and used them to carve up the city without the pilot doing anything, perhaps even in spite of the pilot's inputs. I wouldn't be surprised if the NTD activates during the next episode. It didn't look to me like the air in the desert was polluted, but if they say so, then okay. Blah, blah, man was out of balance with nature. Whatever. I would agree, though, that dropping a Colony and an asteroid on Earth would do as much, if not more, environmental damage as decades or centuries of gaseous emissions by industrialized society. HxH - Well, that was a waste, Shizuku killing Baise. Sure, Shizuku's cute, but Baise was hot. I'll miss that eyecandy. What is that big dude with the elongated earlobes? I'm guessing they have cyborgs in this show, since that's all I can conclude he is, given his machine gun fingers that infuse bullets with nen. Shizuku's beyond-high-volume-vacuum cleaner (v.c.) is strange as well, but I did like the wrinkle that the survivor posed. She instructed her v.c. to clean up all the bodies, blood, belongings and chairs. Since the one guy wasn't dead yet, he wasn't a body, so it left him. Given what the battle junkie guy did against heavily armed men, I'm going to guess that these four Beasts won't be enough to take down all the P.T. members at the site. I'll agree with the P.T. members. It is strange that the auction items were moved, but no one was dispatched for added security. I'm going to guess that the one Beast dude who made all the stuff disappear is going to defect to the P.T., and he's going to bring them the stuff as a gesture of good faith. Shippuden - Soooo... are we supposed to conclude that Utakata is a Jinchuriki as well? Naruto was able to break the mind-control jutsu using some of the Nine-Tails' chakra, so maybe that's what Utakata did as well. Wow, this episode dragged on and on and on. The rest of the group accomplished nothing, and all Hotaru did was stand there, immobilized, while the jutsu drew in chakra for that blast at the end. Oh, and she, not by her own actions, showed us a little cleavage. I feel like this episode took about 18 more minutes of airtime than it really needed. Okay, maybe only 15 minutes. OP - I could tell that Nami's warning about vigilance was because Luffy would eat any unguarded food. Calm down, Brook. You tried too hard, and it made you mess up every task with which you sought to help. Still, in Brook's defense, do a better job labeling the barrels, Franky and/or Sanji. Sanji had some sweet plate-catching moves there. Nami looked really cute with glasses, but oh, her poor map. I'm not sure whether repetition training would help Brook with his swordsmanship. Since he has no muscles, he couldn't get stronger, but maybe he could find ways to improve his technique, making his motions more efficient. Robin's advice from experience was just what Brook needed. This felt like a real, proper conclusion to Thriller Bark which set the stage for the next arc. It's too bad Toonami won't be showing that to us any time soon. GitS - Something I've never understood about the multiple Jartis is whether they're androids imprinted with Jarti's personality or cloned bodies with the appropriate artificial limbs and cyberization. While androids have been shown to have white blood and we know from previous airings of the show that even humans with fully prosthetic bodies have red blood, I feel like the android route would be much more cost effective for this yakuza syndicate. They could possibly get around the white blood clue by simply adding an inert red dye to the blood, so if one of the duplicates were injured, it would still bleed red blood. As for letting one of the duplicates go free, I feel like Section 9 would be remiss if they didn't add a program to the duplicate that would cause it to inform them though a secret communication, with no knowledge of doing so afterward, of any plans which would either cross the line into Section 9's purview or pose a significant risk to Japanese citizens. Batou spotting and nabbing the yakuza dude through the bathroom window is still hilarious, though.

Just in yesterday, Bleach v. 69 and OPM v. 11. I'll get to those after I finish DW v. 5.

Nicely done, Poke. I don't understand why they didn't make a bunch of Molotovs, sled them over (Caesar and Joseph could totally pull a sled laden with 50+ gallons worth of firebombs) to the abandoned place, light them up and start chucking. Sure, Wamuu might try to use his wind powers to deflect them, but with four people throwing them from every side, he couldn't block all of them, and the wind might actually accelerate the burning. Why not try to burn the place down around them? Yes, it might still be burning well into the night, but even then, the Pillar Men would be surrounded by fire. I had a very long day on little sleep Saturday last week, and I fell asleep during JoJo. However, I did set everything to record, but didn't get around to the shows until yesterday. I'm a little saddened that OP will be leaving this week. Without it airing weekly on Toonami, I doubt I'll continue it in animated form. Someday I might commit to reading the manga, but not watching that many episodes. As for Tokyo Ghoul, it's another thing that I wouldn't choose to watch on my own, but if Toonami is going to put it in front of my eyeballs, I will watch it. Jack - The alien mother and child communicating with projections of images and words is strange, but a neat idea. Perhaps it would make their species more honest, since they would literally show one another what they were thinking. It is strange that Jack doesn't age. What's up with that, show? Still, he's now spent a lifetime fighting Aku's adherents, assassins, lackeys and minions. With that in mind, it would be easy to get caught up in the daily struggle and lose sight of the ultimate goal - killing Aku and/or returning to the past to kill him there. I don't remember seeing Jack lose his sword in the first series. Yes, I know that the episode numbering is picking up from where the first show stopped, as this is a proper sequel series, but it is still a new series. I can dig Jack's new look. He does look very badass. Maybe the beard is part of an effort to make himself less easily identifiable to those seeking his life. Regarding the septuplets, I'm curious about some things. First, were they actually sired by Aku, or are they simply his "daughters" in that they were born into this order which serves him? Second, if it is the former, then is that something which holds across the previous generation(s), meaning their mother is also their half-sister? If so, ew, Aku. Third, what was the timeframe we saw there? Did we see those girls growing up in snippets over the course of natural human growth across several years? Did they grow to maturity on an abbreviated schedule? Answers, please, show. DBS - Yep, Goku is strong enough to be interesting to Beerus now. Just remember not to point any energy attacks at the planet, Goku. DBZK - Don't look so surprised, Videl. You knew Gohan and Goten could fly. You can fly. Why would it surprise you that Trunks could as well? Yeah, Trunks broke the agreements about energy attacks and going Super Saiyan in order to ring-out Goten, but they're still pals. Mr. Satan is twofold lucky. First, he was able to convince Trunks to hold back. Second, he was able to play it off as theatrics when he still went flying from the hit. JoJo - Regarding Caesar's past, yes, it's awful that his mother died when he was a boy, and it sure did stink that his father left him and his siblings in order to take up the Zeppeli quest to destroy the Stone Masks and the Pillar Men. While the quest is a noble one, he should've done more to entrust his children to people who weren't horrible, i.e. willing to steal from abandoned children and force them into crime in order to survive. Given what happened, I don't blame Caesar for becoming a thug in order to provide for himself (and presumably his siblings), and he must've been good at it, since he attracted a gang of cohorts. When he discovered his father and the dangers of the Pillar Men, it took character on his part to reconcile with his father after-the-fact and take up the quest. Knowing that Caesar was 16 when he first went to Lisa for training, I'm curious about how old he his now, and by extension how old Lisa might be, since she also taught Caesar's father for several years prior. Hm, in a way, Caesar's father was living it up with a beautiful woman, since 1. Lisa is pretty and 2. he received instruction in hamon, life energy, from her, including how to produce more of it. Regarding Wamuu's trick for being outside in daylight, I have my doubts. Yes, water will bend light's path, but to do that would require bending it enough times that each photon never made it through, meaning no light would reach his body. Thus there are two possibilities for what Caesar should've seen. If the light never reached Wamuu and was made to bend around him, then he would appear as a black, man-sized region. If the light was bent to the point that it traveled back out toward the source of it, then he would appear as a bright, white, man-sized region. It might be more difficult to isolate such a thing from the background snow on a sunny day, but that's what it would be. What Caesar wouldn't see is what we saw, a blurry vision of Wamuu, since that would require some light to reach his body and reflect back, meaning he would be hit by sunlight and turn to stone. In the fight, I'm not sure why Caesar would use anything other than Bubble Cutter once he saw that it was the only thing that could penetrate Wamuu's defenses. Also, Caesar could have more limited combat potential with his Bubble style, since it used a finite resource, the soap film, on his body in his attacks, and that would eventually be depleted, possibly before his hamon would be. While he was able to wound Wamuu and got the antidote for Joseph, Caesar still couldn't counter Wamuu's Divine Sandstorm. I don't know if it's the personality difference between Caesar and the Baron, but I felt more of a loss when the Baron died than when Caesar did. Still, that's okay, because Joseph and Lisa got way more histrionically emotional over it than Jonathan did. Also, poor Michael McConnohie Messina. Here's hoping that one of Caesar's floozies is carrying his child so the Zeppeli line can continue, just in case Joseph and Lisa fail. MSG: U - Ah, so that's what the Colony drop on Sydney looked like. It really did serve to provide scale by showing one end of a Colony in comparison to a city and illustrated that Colonies are major metropolitan areas in space. It's no wonder there's now a crater filled with ocean water where Sydney and the surrounding area were. I didn't get that Riddhe was smitten with Audrey, but okay. Also, not the most romantic proposal, dude. I don't blame her for declining. Audrey's diner philosophy discussion with Cookie sounded more pretentious on her part than anything. At least she did leave payment and tip under the coffee mug. That was a goodly amount of manpower and equipment in the attack on the Federation legislature just for a diversion. I guess Zeon really does place that much importance on the Unicorn Gundam and the contents of the Box. I can't say I would be thrilled at the idea of a four-day trek across a desert, but stop whining, Links. Your complaining and angsting make you less sympathetic every time I hear it. I'm not entirely sure what happened with Marida. The Vist Foundation had an old Zeon mobile suit, presumably one designed to exploit the capabilities of artificial New Types like Marida, and it triggered some kind of freak-out, but I'm not sure why. Perhaps that model included something like the psychoframe interface, and that system somehow retained some traces of the previous pilot, which would've been an earlier clone in the line that includes Marida, so it's like the machine was reaching out to her with traces of someone who was very much like her, but not quite her. Whatever happened, it looked like what Alberto and the other Vist people were doing could be considered a form of torture. HxH - It's nice to see Leorio again. At least he's started on his nen training, even though he's not as advanced as Gon, Killua and Kurapika. Leorio's arm wrestling hustle will raise money, but not enough soon enough. I guess Gon got lucky that he picked Shizuku's weaker arm so they didn't lose the diamond. It was a good decision on Kurapika's part to start wearing colored contacts to hide his eyes. I can understand why Melody would want to destroy the cursed music that disfigured her arm and killed her friend, but I don't think there'll be a way to restore her arm. Shippuden - Oh teh noez, Hotaru's cousin is ebil and wants the jutsu for his own purposes. Still, his mind-control thing is formidable. Of course Naurto was able to power out of the chakra-draining trap. The fillains should be glad that he was still using just his chakra, not the Nine-Tails'. Okay, our group is reunited, with Utakata as well, and they're off to save Hotaru. This filler looks like it's about to wrap up. OP - At least the two girls aren't orphans. Their dad may be a flake, but he did come back for them, and they were even able to vindicate his research. Dagnabbit, Luffy! Keep track of the gem! Losing it in the candy rain was sheer carelessness. I see two solutions to isolating it: 1. have Luffy eat all the candy that they find on the Sunny and make him search his stool for it in the coming days, and 2. have Sanji dissolve all of the candy in hot water, which would leave the gem alone in the syrupy water, and then it could be strained out, since the water would likely no longer be transparent. GitS - It is a little strange that a technological virus could alter a person's complex behavior so drastically. My understanding of cyberbrains is that they are still almost entirely the natural brain, but with several networked implants. It's strange that devices which are intended to give wireless computer functionality to a person using their brain could be co-opted to take control of the person's higher motor functions. Maybe it can't. Maybe the virus isn't controlling their movements and speech, but rather they have been brainwashed. I doubt that all of them are real-time hackings, though, since none of them looked to be struggling like the one guy during the press conference an episode or two ago.

Finished Soul Eater v. 6-10, and started on DW v. 5. I think I'm starting to see where the anime and the manga for Soul Eater diverged notably.

I know! He was even in the S.S., so he's even worse than most of the German military of the time. I'm torn here, too. I wasn't a kid when it first aired, but I probably didn't pay enough attention until its prior run on the revived Toonami, either. But you missed out on Nami and Robin in sexy swimwear and open-shirt Sanji. Well, I'm sure you can find stills of those three somewhere. Thanks for the OP history answer. BUU: Puu cellphone charm is best cellphone charm. Poke: Yep, the guy behind Goku and to his left (our right) sure looked a lot like that assassin from DB, but un-cyborged after his second run-in with young Goku. DBS - I'm going to guess that Shenron's knowledge about both Beerus and the tale of how to create a Super Saiyan god came from Kami's memories of the applicable Namkeian texts. Whis paid better attention to detail than I did. I was happy to hear that Videl is expecting. Chi Chi will make a far better grandmother than Goku would make a grandfather. Mr. Satan is the one who would be the better grandfather. As for the difficulty in the first attempt with the right number of (partial) Saiyans, give the unborn child a break, guys. (S)He has no idea what her/his energy even is, let alone what it means to channel said energy into someone else. I'm okay with god-form Goku having red hair. It is curious that he looks younger, though. Maybe it's because of all the (partial) Saiyans involved, only Vegeta is older than him. DBZK - Krillin, it’s probably a positive thing that kids aren’t told to out-swim sharks as part of their training anymore. I forgot about the mullet brothers' mom sitting down so close to Bulma and Chi Chi, but it was still fun to see them gloat after her ignorant bragging was proven in error. Plus, yep, Chi Chi still has it. Good luck with your exhibition match against the Junior Division winner there, Mr. Satan. Yeah, Goten and Trunks are both enjoying this. JoJo - Shame on you, Joseph! Don't be cruel to animals like that. I notice that cyborgs typically ignore the fact that the person still needs most of their internal organs intact in order to survive for more than a few weeks. At least cyborg!von Stroheim's abdominal machine gun needed an external ammunition belt, so that wasn't volume occupied in his torso by something other than organs. I was amazed that he survived being cut in two. To me, that says that everything below the severing was completely artificial. If not, he would've bled out. Also, he should've used the UV laser eye more. No, Kars. Your chainsaw-style blade shouldn't be. 1. You shouldn't have enough iron in your body to make the blade teeth, let alone the chain. 2. There's no muscular contraction mechanism to rotate a drive sprocket in your arm. Oscillate, sure, but not rotate. 3. While hand-crank sprocket-driven chainsaws were a thing as recently as the late 1700s, that's still long after you were encased in your stone pillar. Chainsaws wouldn't have been present in the mine for you to study while in the pillar, either. It's a technology you shouldn't have experienced. So, no. Just no. It's like the author wanted to make Kars more dangerous and intimidating than a simple razor-sharp armblade (how is that not dangerous and scary enough?) would make him, but failed to consider all the complications this aspect of the blade would produce. I'm not sure that Joseph kicking the snow would provide enough braking force to stop him, but eh. Until Kars starting running after the Red Stone, I thought, "sure. Go ahead. Let it be lost. Kars is the one that really needs it, not our hamon-users." As for attacking Kars when he leapt for the Red Stone, I feel like Joseph didn't pick the right target. If he hit Kars' torso, then that could've propelled him farther off the cliff and out of his blade's reach of Joseph. However, if he missed, then Joseph would've gone flying off the cliff. I'm reluctant to believe the narrator's explanation of using hamon to grab an icicle. I find it hard to believe that when there's snow all around there would be melting of an icicle in a ravine in the Swiss Alps at night, other than from the heat of Joseph's hand. Still, Joseph excels at pulling life-saving moves out of his rear, and this and the icicle "rope" were in keeping with that trend. Plus, they were falling for waaaaaaaay longer than five seconds. Blah, blah. Different motivations for Caesar and Joseph. Whatever. What I don't get is why they didn't opt, once they determined where Kars' likely hideout was and that it was abandoned, to burn the whole building down and stay a goodly distance away from it in open daylight while it burned around him. All you need is to deprive him of his sunlight-blocking shelter, and fire should do a decent job of that. Sure, it would attract the attention of local authorities, but it also looked remote enough that it would be as engulfed in flames as it could be by the time any firefighters could get there, and since it was abandoned, then they'd focus their efforts on keeping the fire from spreading to the forest. Oh, they could get arrested. Big deal! Our group is willing to risk bloody, painful death to stop the Pillar Men. Getting arrested for arson of an abandoned structure is hardly an equal consequence. MSG: U - Daguza was right. Showing mercy on the battlefield is a quick way to get yourself or your allies killed. The Sleeves mounting a rescue mission for Marida is a nice sentiment, but I'm not sure how long she'll survive in an open section of the Nahel Argama without her normal suit's helmet. It's a shame that Gilboa chose to defend Full with his life. As for Full trying to recapture the Unicorn Gundam, I think that the psychoframe may be part of the Laplace program, so they might need more than just the cockpit intact to use it to find the Box. The wreckage of the first U.C. P.M.'s residence going through a set of coordinates once a day is surprising given what happened to that station and how long it's had for the orbit to degrade. It's even more strange that the Unicorn Gundam started playing an old speech by the first U.C. P.M. upon entering the wreckage. Maybe there's some information in the message, either in the plain wording or encoded somehow, that will be crucial to finding the Box. Sooo... is Links going to fall to Earth or what? Was it my imagination, or did the recap state that the first U.C. P.M. was named Marcenas? That's the same family name as the blond guy who took Audrey to Earth. HxH - Okay, this Neon girl is the reincarnation of Edgar Cayce. I'm down with her using nen to connect with the Akashic Record. The real question is into which category of nen-user she would fall. I didn't expect we'd meet all of the Phantom Troupe (P.T.), but okay. I'm not going to remember most of those names for a while, but I will remember Hisoka, Pakunoda and Machi. While Pakunoda has bigger boobs than Machi, I think Machi is hotter overall. There's another cute female, Shizuku, but I feel like I'll have trouble remembering her name. As for the boss guy, I don't think we were given his name. Stealing all of the items up for sale at the underworld auction is a bold move and a tremendous statement of confidence in the P.T.'s abilities not only to get the items, but also to withstand any retaliatory moves that numerous parties might make. I'm confused. What were Gon and Killua doing after getting the information about Greed Island sucking nen-users into it? Were they buying items to auction? I don't feel like trying to flip things at the auction will get them the money they need to get a Greed Island copy. Plus, even if they do get a copy of the game, how can they be sure it's the one Ging played? Ging might be one of the lucky few to find his way out of the game and is unwilling to sell his copy, but I guess it's also possible that both all the games connect to one pocket dimension and Ging is trapped there. We'll probably see eventually. Shippuden - Naurto, you dummy. If Hotaru chose to carry the jutsu for the honor of her clan, then don't deny her that service. Also, wow, that was stupid of you to promise that you'd bring back someone in a couple days when you were armed with only a given name and the knowledge that they'd been sent "away" years ago. That guy could've been in some non-ninja village hundreds of miles away, and all you have for transportation is your legs. Sure, for story convenience, he's a fillain, and thus he's nearby, but that's dumb luck as far as you're concerned. I was glad to hear that there's a process for removing the jutsu from Hotaru's back safely. One of Pain's giant beasts appearing can't be a good thing. OP - While I can't object to bikini-clad Nami and two-piece-wearing Robin, I was disappointed to see Foxy. At least Portia was stacked in her bikini, and Foxy was gone after the first half. A process for making gemstones. Okay. They have chemical compositions which can be determined and are mostly formed by prolonged applications of heat and pressure, so making them artificially should be possible. The question is whether it would be cost effective to do so, since artificial gems of jewelry-quality flooding the market would cause their value to plummet. It's the reason why companies that produce artificial industrial diamond for tooling don't adjust their equipment to make gemstone diamonds. Well, that and that De Beers would hire mercenaries to demolish the industrial diamond production facilities not associated with them in order to protect their market share. The young girls were cute kids, and I hope that not only is their father's research vindicated, but also that they find him alive. However, this being OP, I'm not holding my breath for that last part. A shape-shifting Sea Racoon being a stand-in for a tanuki is okay by me. Chopper was right to call out the younger girl on misidentifying him. I don't get why a successful businessman like Spa Island's proprietor would kidnap a child for access to research which may not prove cost effective in producing another revenue stream. It's inviting trouble (after he'd seen what just two of the Straw Hats could do) when he already has a really good thing going here. Was Nami's hair shorter than it was last episode? I think it was. GitS - Several people using the exact same phrase when talking about someone certainly is a red flag that they've been hacked and had their memories altered. Even if he was assisted, it was a skillful hack job by Nanao Ei to feed false therm-optical data through both the SIU's Interceptors and Section 9's Net-feeding camera.

Finished Soul Eater v. 4 and 5 and am in v. 6. The anime toned down lil' Crona's past training in cruelty, since it was a baby dragon in the anime instead of a cute bunny in the manga. Death's change in demeanor when he got serious against the recently-awakened Asura didn't come through as clearly in print as it did with his voice change in the anime. Also, I may not have been paying enough attention when watching the anime, because it surprised me how much shorter Marie was than even Azusa, let alone Justin.

It was "ripple." Sorry to disappoint you there. This is only a rough guess based on a map, but I'd say you're looking at between 900 and 1000 miles total, depending on where in Switzerland you're going. As for doing that in five days, maybe, if they were dealing with modern paved roads, which isn't a given for the whole trip due to when this part of the story takes place. There's a reason rail travel was the way to go for long trips back then. BUU: I'm not ready to agree with you about Baise yet, but I certainly won't disagree at this point. DBS - Vegeta did well. Granted, he was going all-out with the fate of the Earth on the line, while Goku was trying not to rile Beerus to prevent him from getting worked up enough to destroy the Earth, but the fact remains that Vegeta scored more than one hit on Beerus and made him actually block instead of simply dodging. Still, Goku was tougher, since it only took one hit to put Vegeta on the deck instead of the two it took to knock Goku to the ground. I feel like Bulma talked Beerus back into the idea of destroying the Earth after he was willing to give it a reprieve due to the quality of our cuisine by framing it as sparing us until he was done with his tasting tour of the world. Oolong rock-paper-scissoring with Beerus for the fate of the Earth was dumb, and Oolong was dumb to throw the same thing three times in a row. He deserved that kick from Puar. DBZK - At least the ring announcer guy, who was around back in DB, knew the score. I liked when he asked Piccolo not to blow up the ring this time. I don't believe Krillin. Certainly all of the fighters who came with him to enter could easily defeat Mr. Satan. Even Chi Chi, who isn't fighting, could probably do it. However, he said everyone, and that includes Marron, who he came with could defeat Mr. Satan easily. You, know, his young daughter who possibly has no training at all. While Krillin is a strong human fighter, he attained that strength through years of training (and a little boost from the Grand Elder on Namek). It's not like he passed any special genetic potential for power to Marron, like Goku did to Gohan and Goten. She could become strong eventually, if she puts in the effort, but she's far too young and inexperienced to take on Mr. Satan. However, Krillin was right that Gohan has caught the attention of a cute one in Videl. Ah, yes, the "malfunctioning" punching machine. At least Vegeta showed the other human fighters what their group was truly capable of doing if they felt like it, and he gave the officials an excuse to bring out another machine rather than tinker with the one that was there. I forget whether we get to know what Videl's score is. Now I'm curious. I guess it'll have to wait for next week. While having a Junior Division is a good idea in principle, having it be one group of 15-and-under is a bit too broad. Were Goten and Trunks ordinary children of their ages (7 and 8, respectively), then the blond mullet kid would be too much for them because of his probably better coordination and much longer reach. Poke, that was mean. Calling this movie Team Four Star's telling of the Cell Games is a vicious insult to Team Four Star's writing talents. JoJo - I take exception with the bumper as we head out of DBZK and into the pre-JoJo commercials. It's the part where Joseph, before learning that Speedwagon survived Staitso's treachery, said to give Speedwagon his best in Hell. That implies that Speedwagon is/was Hellbound. I would like to believe that the influence of Jonathan and later Erina on Speedwagon was such that Speedwagon repented of his earlier villainous thug ways, got right with the Lord, and lived an upright and honorable life. Suzie, you're cute and all, but my goodness, woman! It's just a shirt for the day! Pick one! To the surprise of no one, Lisa has a rather shapely booty. I wasn't expecting her to go commando, though. That's not a complaint. It's just a statement. What, Suzie? Surely you're not serious. The breath control mask didn't hide that much of Joseph's face. As for Joseph's shameless flirting, I would expect as much at this point. Shameful, Joseph. Sure, Lisa is hot, but peeping isn't cool, yo. Frankly, I was surprised that Lisa didn't somehow lay a hamon trap to zap Caesar or Joseph if they tried that. Thankfully it worked out that Joseph was able to rush to Lisa's aid when the brainjacked Susie started to threaten Lisa. I liked the simultaneous voices for infested Suzie. That sounded super creepy, and I think that's exactly what they wanted. Joseph talking so much about hitting the controlled Suzie with a hamon punch telegraphed that he wouldn't do it. I'm not sure about the way they drove Esidisi's brain out of her, though. The different polarities of the hamon cancelling one another would protect her, but that should also negate their effect on Esidisi's brain. Oh well. Once the brain was out, I was cool with Joseph letting the sun melt it. However, I'm not cool with Suzie surviving as she did because of something we didn't see. She bled a lot from the wounds Esidisi inflicted on her. I would expect that she lost several pints of blood. I would've expected her to need at least an i.v. of saline to increase her blood volume after Lisa (or Caesar, or Joseph) healed her wounds with hamon, if not a blood transfusion, but we saw neither of those fluids administered to her, and yet she was on her feet, alone and unsupported by any implement, to see them off mere minutes after Lisa got dressed and the car was brought around so they could give chase to the Star of Aja. Um, nope. It sure was convenient that the customs checkpoint stopped the train long enough for our group to catch up to it. As for the German Army intercepting it, rats. Since the JoJo manga is from the 1980s and 1990s, then I guess the FMA series writers ripped off cyborg!von Stroheim when they came up with Terminarcher. I was curious as to why he was able to walk so naturally as he left the train, and I'm with Kars in wondering why he (von Stroheim) didn't show up in Kars energy-detection sweep. At first, I started to feel bad for the stray dog that was about to be hit by the drunk driver, but then I remembered that were Kars to intervene, it wouldn't be to remove the dog from the dangerous location, but rather to act on the dangerous object to cause it to change trajectory. I can't really feel bad for a drunk driver crashing and killing himself and his soused passenger, but he wasn't truly at fault in the crash, since Kars severed his hands while he was driving, which caused him to lose control of the vehicle. MSG: U - Okay, Audrey and Riddhe made it into the lower atmosphere without incident. That's a good sign. Links, even if you had a mini mind-meld with Marida, it still feels like you're talking out your butt about things you don't know. Oh well. I guess that's what wide-eyed idealism is supposed to look like here. It makes sense that a technological Newtype like Marida would have scars from her conversion procedure, but I'm guessing Links was responsible for several of her injuries as well. I'm not sure why her heart rate spiked and she started tensing up like that, but I'd guess it has something to do with the medication that Dr. Hasan mentioned, which a Federation ship may not have, since they weren't the side that made technological Newtypes. It is interesting that Marida's Zaku has pirated elements of the psychoframe technology that the Unicorn Gundam uses. Maybe that's why Links was able to commandeer her drones in their last fight. If the psychoframe serves as (part of?) the interface between the pilot and the drones, then the signal from the Unicorn Gundam could simply have been a stronger signal (due to it being a newer, more refined version of the technology) which overrode her Zaku's signal. As for Daguza riding in the Unicorn Gundam with Links to some coordinates, maybe we'll get some answers about what information the Unicorn Gundam and Laplace's Box are holding next episode. Also, it looked like it was shown as La+, not Laplace. Now I'm curious to know which is the case. HxH - Of course Milluki was able to get the information he needed to rebuild Greed Island from the memory card. Why not? Good luck beating the game, kid. Okay, Kurapika's nen chain can dowse. Neat. Plus, Basho can make what he writes, to an extent, come true with his nen. I forget the name of the buck-toothed one, who is evidently an old woman, is but that heartbeat detection thing seems like a very useful skill. Good on Kurapika and the others for finding the two plants in their midst and getting them to call off their attacks. However, regarding Squala and the dogs, it's entirely possible that the Dobermans would attack anyway, because that's part of their territorial and "protective" nature. Baise has some self-defense skills, but not such great ones that she didn't need to use the enthralled butler as a human shield. Poor guy. Regarding each bodyguard applicant needing to find one of five objects, it strikes me as more deception through which the Hunters must see. They already saw through there not being enough objects on the list for each applicant, but now they have to contend with one another seeking out the same items, with the possibility that one (or more) applicant(s) might try to get more than one of the items in order to increase their odds of getting the job. However, the mummy hands and a "scale" from someone with a rare skin condition are things that there are likely far more than one of them in the world to be had, so one of the applicants getting one would not preclude another applicant from getting a different one. Shippuden - At least Yamato and the Mist ninja captain were able to reach an agreement to prevent an escalation of violence between their Villages. Really, Hotaru? A scrape made you feverish that quickly? Are you sure you don't have an immune disorder? Utakata said the forbidden jutsu was carved onto Hotaru's skin, but that looked like something was implanted in her torso. Without seeing it from the front, I can't be certain that it doesn't go straight through her. If that is the case, then how was it implanted without damaging her spinal cord? Well, even if it doesn't go through her, I would expect it to be at least partially integrated into her spinal cord so that she has no choice but to protect it with her life, since losing it would kill her or cripple her from that site down. Either way, yes, yes, she's like Naruto in that she has this dangerous thing in her which she didn't volunteer to accept, and she'll die if it's ever removed. I'm somewhat curious what the thing in Utakata is or was. As for whether his master tried to remove it or implanted it, I would like to know what actually happened. OP - Getting Brook to join was probably the easiest ask-and-answer Luffy's ever had. I don't remember Ace giving Luffy that Life Paper, so if anyone can tell me when that happened, I would like to know. As for Ace's shrinking, that sure sounds bad, given what we know about Blackbeard capturing him for the W.G. The Paper growing when things are going well for the person sure sounds like magic to me, but eh. Now I'm curious as to who Lola's mother is and what the circumstances will be of the Straw Hats meeting her. Zoro leaving his rust-destroyed sword with the memorial/grave for the Rumbar Pirates was nice. Thanks for making it so intricate, Franky, and thanks for getting the Rumbar Pirates' ship ready for Lola and her crew to sail it. Okay, now I want to know what the glowing red lights in the fog of the Florian Triangle were. Actual ghosts? Giants? Sea kings? Aliens? What's the story, show? GitS - Yep, a simple lack of the proper paperwork being done in advance re-opened the can of worms for TLM and the suppression of the Murai Vaccine. That's some mighty impressive hacking, though. Not only did TLM impose the graphic on the news feeds, but he hacked Daido's eyes to see it as well, all while controlling the body of someone who was ostensibly resisting and would have a formidable defensive barrier for his cyberbrain.

In the Behind the Black half-hour interviews and commentary with cast and crew they did last season, I particularly liked the the cut footage from when Helena was laying low in a state or National park and crossed the road in front of some sightseeing visitors while carrying a dressed deer she'd killed with her bow. The kids in the car started freaking out, and I thought that was hilarious. Still, it was touching when she buried the canister. "I am sorry, little science babies. I did not know I needed to feed you liquid nitrogen."

Finished Soul Eater v. 2 and 3 and am in v. 4. Stein calling Spirit senpai is a little strange, and still props to Star for taking the beating in Needle Village without protest but instantly springing to Tsubaki's defense when they threatened her. Plus, much lulz for Patty's exam giraffe (on which she actually scored 2 points, because the pattern marked the correct answer in two places).

I picked up the show either late in the first season or some time in season 2. I've seen each episode at least once and some several times. For those current with the newest episode...

Argh. I have to wait until June? Again, argh. *Is caught up with the series and loves how Helena toned down the psychopathy somewhat through Allison's and Donnie's influence.* Regarding Lost Girl, is it wrong that I found Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) hotter than Bo (Anna Silk)?

Sadly, it didn't work. At least not yet. *Crosses fingers.* Curse you, OP! That Bink's Brew song is an earworm, and the first part of it has popped into my head several times over the last few days, and it'll likely keep doing so over the next couple weeks. Poke: Point taken. If I'm willing to suspend disbelief enough to go with Esidisi having that much length of larger-diameter blood vessels in his body at all (he, if human, wouldn't), then him not setting himself on fire should be a simpler thing to accept.

I've been awake for more than a day a few times, and I was in no shape to focus intensely on anything. Caesar and Joseph must be just that much better than me, then. Recall that when Zachariah had Adam, Dean and Sam trapped in the Beautiful Room, he thought of it as getting "really creative" in trying to motivate Dean to say "yes" when he (Zach) decided they needed to see how long Sam would survive without his lungs. Probably both, but more of the latter. I think there was more action in this episode of than some of the previous ones. Whole lot of weapons fire and explosions. What? I would've thought you'd be all over the filler chick with the decent rack taking her top off for the filler dude whose bones she wants to jump. The binge drinking probably doesn't help, either. Diuretic effect through vasodilation increasing kidney output and all. DBS - Yes, it was childish and rude of Buu not to share, but chill, Beerus. A little patience would afford you the chance to try pudding and other, better desserts, appetizers and entrees. Following through with your impulsive tendencies is what would truly deprive you of these things, since you would destroy not only the societies that created the dishes, but also the recipes and ingredients necessary to create them should you destroy the Earth. Of course Beerus easily managed all of the Z Fighters and 18. Chi Chi, remember that 18 is stronger than Krillin, so if she couldn't do anything, he'd really just get in her way, since he'd feel the urge to protect his spouse, which would take the form of putting himself between her and Beerus. Bulma was right to insist that Beerus leave, but the slap, given what she'd seen already, was ill-advised. I can only hope she, an ordinary, non-fighter human, is still alive. I'm glad Vegeta found his sense of outrage, though. I might have seen something that wasn't there, but it looked to me like he might've unlocked his own Super Saiyan 2. DBZK - Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Krillin, Tien and Yamcha took longer to fly that well, Videl. Also, shame on Gohan for not giving Videl the cautionary advice either to slow down or land and walk for a while if she felt like she was getting tired while flying home. I say the head scarf and sunglasses are improvements over the helmet, Gohan. Still, lose the easily-grabbed cape. Even Piccolo ditches his cape and shoulder pads when he thinks he'll need to fight seriously, if he has the time (which he didn't in Super if he was to join forces with 18 and Tien). Goten being excited about meeting Goku and becoming shy when finally faced with him was cute, but not as cute as how happy he was when he got over the shyness. JoJo - Sure, why not final exam time? Plus, Suzie is pretty. I'm cool with them glossing over Caesar's duel in order to focus on the fight between Esidisi and Joseph. Yes, Joseph would've passed his exam if he was able to defeat the inhuman monstrosity that killed his instructor. I wasn't too keen on Esidisi stealing Joseph's gimmick, but I'm less than thrilled with said gimmick anyway, so eh. I like that Joseph used the more obvious "trap" as a decoy to get Esidisi to reveal his countermeasure to the actual trap. I call shenanigans on Esidisi's power, though. While he may have greater control over his flesh, it's still just that, flesh. He would require fluid. Heating his blood that much should cause the water portion of it to evaporate, cook any organs that it supplied, and thermally degrade, perhaps even combust, the cell content of his blood. Just no to that power. No. Anyway, I sure hope someone spots and removes Esidisi's brain and nervous system from Joseph before it takes over his body. Preferably they'll destroy said nervous system as well. Regarding red stones and the Star of Aja being super magnifying lenses. okay. I'll guess the Star of Aja is what our hamon users will need to completely incinerate Kars, but I don't understand how it would help the Pillar Men and their Stone Masks. MSG: U - Yep, a lot of people died in this episode. There were several mobile suit explosions which doubtlessly killed the pilots, but I expect there were civilian casualties on Palau as well. I find it nearly impossible to believe that between the explosions that destroyed the bracing for the sections of Palau and the later collision between the sections after the Nahel Argama fired its main particle weapon at it that no civilians were killed on the mining asteroid(s). The big reveals were certainly interesting. First, the NTD stands for New Type Destruction, and it's essentially a DummySys for the Unicorn Gundam that is triggered whenever it (somehow) detects the presence of an enemy New Type, even one that is technological in nature like Marida. Second, Marida is the twelfth in a series of clones aimed at making artificial New Types, since biology works too slowly for the military purposes of Zeon. I would guess that what we saw of her awful backstory was mostly what happened to the original Marida prior to her cloning, meaning they were implanted memories. There's no telling from this story what horrible fates befell the other clones as the Zeon scientists sought to perfect the technological enhancement procedures, doubtlessly making deadly and/or debilitating mistakes in the process. I'm not sure whether Marida survived the Unicorn Gundam taking over her quad-wing's drones and turning them on her, but there's a chance she survived if the cockpit wasn't breached. However, if it was compromised, then she could easily be dead, since her helmet's faceplate broke during the battle. Audrey and the blond dude heading for Earth will probably be good for most of the people still alive, but it could be too late for a lot of the people on Palau. HxH - While Kurapika's nen instructor may not have had the best approach to teaching, I feel like Kurapika probably didn't get as thorough instruction as Gon and Killua did because of his (Kurapika's) disposition. As for his instructor's mastery percentages, I like that it's possible for a nen user to get some level of proficiency with other nen natures, but the more unlike that a nature is to one's born nature, the less capable they will be with the other nature. I guess Specialists are this show's version of kekkei genkai. Baise was the better looking woman between her and the shady employment office woman. Even without her nen spell, I doubt most men would last more than three minutes with Baise, but I get the feeling Leorio would sure like to try if he ever met her. Calm yourself, Kurapika. It wouldn't be good for you to kill your first employer after becoming a Hunter. Still, graverobbing, stealing medical waste, and maiming people, perhaps even killing them as well, all sound like crimes of varying severity to me. How Hunters don't get arrested if discovered doing these things is beyond me, but maybe that isn't the case. We saw what looked like police officers trying to arrest Basho, so maybe Hunter's don't truly have freedom to do whatever they want, and I would consider that a good thing. Shippuden - The villagers weren't just distrustful of Hotaru, but they also sold her out to our fillains. Dick move, Hotaru's uncle. Hm, so Utakata was able to fend off the fillains, but his Village's equivalent of the Anbu were too much for him. At least their leader was classy enough not to seriously harm Hotaru. I feel like Naurto, Sai and Yamato getting involved at this point could prove problematic for the state of relations between the Villages involved. Great. Now the show is ripping off FMA, since Hotaru has the forbidden jutsu tattooed on her torso. Still, it wasn't all bad, because free show for Utakata, right? OP - Yeah, again it was sad, but we already knew the fate of the Rumbar Pirates. Powerful storms, skirmishes with Marines and the Navy, and mysterious diseases sounds about right for the Grand Line. I respect the captain's determination to do right by his healthy crew members, sending them off with orders to take a separate ship while he and the other infected among the crew quarantined themselves on the ship, vowing that the survivors, of which I doubt there were any, would catch up after they had recovered. Plus, it was touching to see the crew make a last recording of their and Laboon's favorite song for the revived Brook to take to Laboon. The part that got me the most was when Brook said they were down to a quartet, then a trio, then a duet, and finally a solo. I am curious as to how the Rumbar Pirates got around (apparently) without a Log Pose to guide them. Also, I'm not sure about Brook's determination to return to Laboon from the "right" direction. It might be more difficult than he thinks, even with the strength of the Straw Hats. The song, a pirate standard in the show, left me with mixed feelings. It had a good message of seeking to do that which would make the person happy, following their dream and such, but it had a downer fatalistic part to it as well, admitting that even if they did achieve said dream, they would still die, and probably sooner rather than later. GitS - I'm with Togusa on this one. They were tasked with the investigation on the off-chance that it was connected to an incident in the National Assembly building the previous month, but once they had determined that it wasn't the same virus or even stylistically similar, then yeah, it really would be a matter for cooperating local police agencies or the national police, if they have them. Granted, it would be easier for Aramaki to convince contacts to get the guy's diplomatic immunity revoked, but the nature of the crimes are still private property destruction, public property damage, and maybe public endangerment. It really does seem like something that's outside Section 9's purview. As for the Jeri's being kind of cute, I say Togusa's wife is prettier.

All I've seen for it so far is a movie poster at my (kind-of) local theater, but I do intend to see it.

Dimension W v. 5 arrived last week. I'm not looking forward to what Lwai does to poor 4.

Finished DW v. 4 just before v. 5 arrived last week. Started on Soul Eater, finishing v. 1 and am in v. 2. Manga Maka isn't as flat as her anime version, but Tsubaki looks less buxom. Also, daaaayum, Blair. It's weird reading Star's phrase be something other than "yahoo."

Maybe Jonathan was super, extra-gentle with her. If I had to place a bet, that's where my money would be. Buu: I liked how nonchalantly Marida corralled the rambunctious child. DBS - Bulma was rather polite and gracious to a party-crasher who had her husband on the deck. Poor Krillin. Of course he would get the wasabi-filled one. Vegeta is older than I thought he was. He was a child capable of complex speech the last time Beerus was awake, and Beerus took a 39-year nap. Thus, Vegeta is likely in his mid-40s, but perhaps older. I expected him to be younger than that, like mid-to-late-30s. At least Vegeta had the proper context for Beerus' power, so he didn't rashly or stubbornly provoke Beerus like Buu did. Buu took a whuppin' for his selfishness, but he's likely not dead. Also, ew, licking all the puddings. I am puzzled as to why the pudding was in bottles rather than dishes, though. Vegeta did make an admirable attempt to placate Beerus by sourcing fresh octopus and making fresh takoyaki, which surprised me in that he knew how to make it. Hi there, Bee. Who's a good doggie? You're a good doggie. Yes, you are. Yes, you are! DBZK - Videl made remarkable progress for a single day of practice with not one, but two techniques with which she had no prior experience. Gohan was right that she shouldn't compare her progress with Goten's, since he had a lot of experience with controlling his energy. Yeah, sure, Gohan. Couch your comment about Videl's hair in the context of it being a liability in the Tournament. It's fine if you prefer shorter hair on a girl. While we never saw Videl do anything to make her long hair look particularly appealing, she does look cute with the shorter hair. It's impressive that Goku, in his Saiyan state, didn't immediately fall out of the air when South Kai increased the mass of his training weights to ten tons each. While Vegeta seemed mighty gruff about it all, I feel like Trunks made him a proud papa in that Trunks 1. can become a Super Saiyan, 2. is stronger than Goten, 3. was able to score a grazing hit on Vegeta, and 4. didn't immediately lose his Super Saiyan state or consciousness after Vegeta's full-connection punch. JoJo - Lisa is pretty, and I like that she's voiced by Wendee Lee, but Lisa sure is mean, and she's having none of Joseph's shenanigans. I feel like it will do him some good to learn that there are times and places for his antics and how to tell the difference between when it is such a time and when it's not. The Hell Climb Pillar is a strange training apparatus, but it would be technically feasible, with the possible exception of the pressurized 360° fan of oil. Caesar's technique of focusing his hamon into his fingertips strikes me as plausible, since it would use the hamon economically by creating no more than five small point-of-contact hamon fields per hand around which the oil would flow. However, I must question the timetable of the climbs and the muscular endurance required for such a feat. Each time Caesar or Joseph moved one hand up, the other hand and arm would need to hold the man's entire weight. Caesar and Joseph are some pretty beefy dudes, so that's no small feat. Yes, they are supposedly far better than the average person at breathing, and thus would oxygenate their blood more effectively, but after such a long time doing the climb, they would experience fatigue, if not of body, then at least of mind. Recall that they each would've been awake for more than two and a half days. I find it hard to accept that they would not only be able to stay awake that long, but they would also have the mental sharpness to focus their hamon in the manner required that whole time, and that's not even bringing the effects of dehydration into account. Also, how did Joseph lose two days from this countdown after only one night in the pit? What's up with that, subtitles? Anyway, both Caesar and Joseph used their hamon in novel ways to get past the fan of oil and up the H.C.P. I'm not sure what to make of Lisa's assistants, but I call shenanigans on the idea that Joseph, or anyone, would be able to inhale or exhale continuously for ten minutes each. Years ago, I heard about saxophonist Kenny G holding a note for several minutes through a technique called circular breathing, but that doesn't sound like what we have here. Here it was stated as inhaling for ten minutes and exhaling for ten minutes, each as distinct actions. Oh well. I do have one thing against Lisa - she took Speedwagon's place in the ED animation. At least Speedwagon did have some episode time to inform Erina of some of the developments. MSG: U - Full has no facial disfiguration. On the contrary, he's a reasonably handsome dude. Using the mask as propaganda is a good enough reason, but I was impressed to see he was honest enough to admit that it was a tool of propaganda. I feel like Full is being more gracious to Links than he otherwise might be, because Links is the only one that can operate the Unicorn Gundam and is thus indispensable to getting the information Full wants. I'll disagree with the hippie sentiment that it's never right to take a life. I recognize the natural right of self-defense via force, even deadly force when the threat is sufficiently grievous, from an aggressor. I even recognize the right to use force in the defense of another in need of assistance against an aggressor. However, determining who the aggressor is when the actor is a third party can be tricky, which is why careful observation and information gathering is necessary before intervening. As for the blond guy springing Audrey to take her to Earth, if she can avoid conflict through negotiation, it's worth a try. I do appreciate the attempt by the Federation forces moving on the mining asteroid where Zeon has a military installation to mitigate civilian casualties by trying to separate the civilian habitation sections from the military section. However, there will doubtlessly still be civilian casualties, since this separation will not be by a designed, step-by-step separation process that fully secures the integrity of each section before they're separated. The Federation forces wouldn't be able to do that without infiltrating a very sensitive control center (or centers), which would doubtlessly be defended, meaning there would be armed opposition to the Federation infiltrators, which would alert the Zeon military forces to the Federation's presence. This mission requires the element of surprise to secure the Unicorn Gundam, and civilian casualties would be a secondary concern to accomplishing the mission objective. HxH - Cassettes, a Joy Station console and memory cards. Dated technology, but I feel like the game system is something which may have been updated for the 2011 version from whatever it was in the 1999 version. I'll agree with Ging's self-assessment that he's not a good guy. He abandoned his son, and he doesn't want to be found for likely other selfish reasons, such as not wanting to think about the time he missed in raising his son, not wanting to be reminded of his failure to be a father to his son, and not wanting to be faced with the prospect of re-evaluating his priorities when faced with his son and concluding that he made the wrong choice and spent those years on things that don't truly matter. Then there's the matter of the nen trap with the cassette and player, erasing what he recorded by recording over it. Okay, so Gon didn't want to hear about his bio-mom now, but what if he would've changed his mind at some later point in his life? Ging made that information a now-or-never offer via the cassette. Maybe, just maybe Gon had a limited time window to stop the cassette and eject it, but it's entirely possible the nen trap would've prevented the eject button from working prior to making the new recording. If Gon ever changes his mind about wanting to know about his bio-mom, then he'll need to find either his dad at that point in time, which Ging would likely seek to avoid, or her, without having any information about who she is. Perhaps, if she's still alive, she might find him someday, but I doubt that would happen unless she's evil or at least shady. Greed Island being a game made for Hunters is peculiar, and I suspect that not everything about the game was on the up-and-up. Whatever the Hunters who played it learned, I suspect some of them died in taking action on that information. Shippuden - Haaa, the Leaf ninjas used a sneaky ploy to convince Hotaru to let them escort her to her destination. Sucks for Naruto that Sai went overboard on the ink slugs. That pyramidal barrier jutsu looked to have a blaring flaw - the base of the pyramid was several feet above the ground, since it was formed by chakra beams coming from the fillains hands when in a standing posture. Their leader dude is probably the master who performed some ritual on bubble guy. Blah, blah, Hotaru is burdened with protecting this forbidden jutsu and the villagers ostracize her for it. Whatever. At least she's fairly pretty and has a decent rack. OP - Yes, this was a touching story, and it was sweet to see how much the Rumbar Pirates all cared for a little foundling whale, but we already knew the major points of the episode, so it didn't really have much to add beyond the awwww and d'awwww moments. Okay, it did feature some fun music and singing, as well as showing that Laboon was a brave lil' guy. Oh, hey. Another Pandaman sighting. Neat. GitS - Not being someone with a terminal disease, I can't truly understand the programmer/designer guy's desire to have a prosthetic body. However, as a Blindy McIcantsee (without glasses, at a range of four to five feet I must squint to read the month on a wall calendar), I have given thought to the idea getting prosthetic eyes if they become cost effective and are e/m shielded (I wouldn't want to be stricken completely blind in the event of an e.m.p. or powerful solar flare that scored a direct hit on Earth). Still, I do feel like such technologies would be made available, as in the show, to the military first, initially as a voluntary procedure but eventually as a requirement for those slated for deployment. Yeah, Batou was right. The company should've had the goo weapons readily available at the test site, or at least made them available to the authorities much sooner than they did.

I feel like Jonathan was more muscular overall, but yes, Joseph is certainly more manic. I will admit that Joseph also has better hair.

It's not that I dislike Joseph, but I found Jonathan a much more likeable person. Some of Joseph's antics are miss for me more than they are hit. Also, agreed. Speedwagon's safety is, by far, Caesar's and Joseph's first and greatest responsibility. Cille: You can recognize that Hisoka is a handsome dude while maintaining that he's a horrible person with creepy tendencies. I see no conflict there. For me, it's like thinking that Machi (the chick who reattached Hisoka's arms) is cute, but she's almost certainly a ruthless villain.

Ang: I guess that qualifies as dialing it back for JoJo, but still, wow. Poke: I remember Juri and Koto, but I don't recall the woman in pink. I like her hair, though. I'm down with new SJ episodes in March. DBS - Goku sure is bad at speaking respectfully. Beerus was closer than most fans would like to admit about Goku having a tough time defeating Frieza. At least Goku was able to make Beerus open his eyes and use more elaborate evasion moves than simply side-stepping to dodge. It doesn't bode well that Beerus was able to stun Goku with two strikes into which it looked like Beerus put minimal effort. Poor King Kai. Now he'll need to do massive landscaping and recreate the center of his planet. Yeah, Vegeta's sour attitude will likely rub Beerus the wrong way. DBZK - Heh, not only was Chi Chi blinded by the idea of a 10 million Zeni reward, but so was 18, and they both insisted that Gohan and Krillin, respectively, train for and enter the Tournament. When I first saw this, I was as surprised as Gohan that Chi Chi sparred with Goten. At least him being a little kid and her being a trained martial artist kept him from killing her upon awakening his Super Saiyan power. Wild speculation: it was easier for Goten to become a Super Saiyan than it was for Gohan because Goku had already attained that power level when he and Chi Chi conceived Goten. Yeah, Gohan was lucky to dodge that first rock, but Goten being a Super Saiyan will make him a better training partner for Gohan. It makes some sense that Trunks would be stronger than Goten, because 1. Trunks is older and 2. Vegeta is more likely to give Trunks structured fighting instruction rather than the basics of self-defense like Chi Chi likely does/did for Goten. Oh, hey, Gohan gets to teach two students in flight at the same time. I'm not sure how qualified he is to teach it, though, since he discovered his flight powers instinctively rather than as part of a structured training process. Chi Chi being protective of Gohan from a "hussy" was funny, but the bit carried on too long (and methinks the lady doth protest too much ) . The thing to remember about Chi Chi marrying Goku after fighting him in a Tournament is that he had promised her years earlier to have a wedding with her, but he didn't know at that earlier time what a wedding was and may have thought it was something to eat. Still, he honored his promise and loved his wife in their time together. JoJo - To the surprise of no one, after the first hit by Caesar's hamon bubbles, Wamuu used a weapon not only to pop the incoming bubbles, but also to attack Caesar. I'm glad for Caesar that the cut was to his eyelid and not the eyeball itself. The way Wamuu dismissed Caesar's righteous indignation was thoroughly villainous and callous, and I liked the way it was done. I do question Joseph's wisdom in challenging Wamuu, but he fought bravely. I wonder whether Joseph used his hamon to close his wrist wound, since he did stop pouring blood from it by the end of the fight. As for the steel bolos, I don't think the aerodynamics of those work to bring a set that misses the target back to the thrower, but eh. At least he did score a hit with one of the sets. However, he was outclassed. While his ruse to lure Wamuu to the mine cart worked, I must question how Wamuu knew what dynamite and the cart brake were. Unless he, Esidisi and Kars could observe the mining/excavation operations while still in the pillar, then they would have no concept of what those items, which didn't exist 2000 years prior, were, let alone their names in English. Recall that the mining/excavation would've been conducted by Germans and Italians. Those men would've used their languages' words for those things, not the English ones (okay, dynamite is pronounced the same way, but brake is very different). While Wamuu was remarkably insightful to spot when Joseph was trying something, Wamuu shouldn't have known the words for those things. I consider Esisidi swallowing a lit stick of dynamite and surviving it exploding inside him to be a very bad thing. How can hamon, mere life energy, destroy something like that? It was insightful for Joseph to realize that playing on Wamuu's sense of honor could save him there, but it was oddly convenient that Wamuu and Esidisi both had poison-bearing rings which would dissolve in 33 days when Joseph said he would need a month of hamon training to defeat Wamuu. What I don't get is how Esidisi and Wamuu were able to plunge their hands inside Joseph's neck and chest, respectively, without leaving open wounds not just where their hands were but also where contiguous physical objects intruded into his flesh. I didn't see the rings open and then close around the targeted structures. How could those items pass through his flesh without damaging it? At least it was sporting of Esidisi and Wamuu to tell Joseph not only where the antidotes to the poison were, but also that the poisons were different, meaning he would need both antidotes. Still, it struck me as vicious on Esidisi's part to force Joseph to fight both of them by the one deadline. Still, it wasn't all bad news, because Speedwagon escaped the ordeal without injury. MSG: U - Regarding Full possibly being Char's son, okay. I'm not familiar enough with the original MSG to know why that relationship would be cause for him to bear ill will toward the Zabi family, but I'd guess it would be because of some internal power struggle in Zeon. Whether it was the parties involved being unable or unwilling to reach an agreement for safe passage, the fact remained that the attack resumed. It was practical for the guy who shot Links' father to send Links out in the Unicorn Gundam, since it was only the key to the Box, not the Box itself, and if it is destroyed, then the secrets of the Box remain safe, and Links would have bought them time to escape. It's an idealistic sentiment that it doesn't matter to Links who Audrey's family is. To him, she's simply Audrey, a girl that wants peace. It looked to me like Links had trouble with Full by relying on his novice, but intuitive, piloting skill alone, but once the psychoactive interface was engaged, it was Full who had trouble, even to the point that his subordinates and Marida had to intervene to keep him from taking more than just grazing damage. Fortunately for Full, the interface is taxing on Links, effectively giving him a time limit before he passes out. Still, I suspect Links will get better at it with time and practice, allowing him to use the interface longer. I'm curious as to what was on the display screen/wall after Links passed out. It looked like "La," as in possibly giving him a location of the Box, or at least a direction to head which could lead him to a clue to the Box's whereabouts. It is intriguing, but it's a shame Links didn't see it. I feel like the young blond Federation pilot will die before the end of the series, possibly protecting Audrey. HxH - I'm glad that I was wrong about Mito having bad history with Killua and/or the Zoldyck family. Mito isn't really an aunt then, but rather a first cousin once removed, if I recall the way that sort of thing works. Still, it's sweet of Gon not to press for information about his absent, possibly dead, mother since Mito was the person most like a mother to him. I feel bad for the grandmother. We learned that both her sons died suddenly. She was remarkable to raise their children in her children's stead. It's strange how much Gon looks like the young Ging, even though Ging looked older when he was supposed to be the same age. I'm willing to attribute it to Ging looking like he was taller than Gon is at that age. Gon wants to spend a month gathering information and resting before setting out to find Ging. That's fine, but I really liked that he framed Killua accompanying him as Killua taking the travels as his chance to find what it is that he wants to do. It is strange that Ging left Gon a nen-powered lockbox containing a nen-powered ring. The ring looked suspiciously like a wedding band. Maybe it has a connection to Gon's mother. Shippuden - This not only felt but looked like filler. A bubble jutsu? Really? Even if the bubbles are infused with chakra, I feel like they would be every bit as vulnerable to rupture as Caesar's were. I don't know which episode between tonight's JoJo and this Shippuden aired first in Japan, but it felt like a ripoff here. Still, I would like to know whether this is a Water Style or a Wind Style jutsu. Maybe it's a combination jutsu, like Yamato's Wood Style. A powerful justsu being forbidden and a scroll with instructions for the jutsu being protected sounds like something Hiruzen would do. OP - Yep, it's not the proper end of an arc without a feasting party episode. Poor Zoro is missing all the fun. At least Luffy was willing to set aside Zoro's portion of the booze. Franky's butt-shaking dance was too much. I'm still disappointed that Hogback survived. He and Absalom even managed to sneak Moria out when everyone else was collapsed or otherwise rendered unconscious. I guess we should consider it a good thing that they didn't take the opportunity to decapitate any of the unconscious Straw Hats for the reward money. However, I must respect Absalom's standards that he wants a living woman for a wife, as opposed to Hogback, who would and did settle for a zombie. It was nice to see Nami realize who actual Lola was, and I was surprised as well that Nami was willing to give actual Lola some treasure as a token of their friendship. Actual Lola had a point that treasure seems to fall into the Straw Hats' laps without actively seeking it. It's a pleasant side effect of them doing right by oppressed people and fighting really bad guys. Yeah, Perona didn't have good intentions when she had zombies load up the Sunny with food and treasure, but it worked out to the Straw Hats' benefit anyway. I like the way Sanji took the loudmouths away from the rest of the group to hear what happened with Kuma, Luffy and Zoro. That kind of selfless sacrifice isn't something Zoro would want everyone to know, and Sanji realized that everyone knowing would not only go against Zoro's wishes, but it would cheapen the actions in Zoro's consideration if it were known. Sanji can respect that and would be willing to keep the secret, and Robin is wise enough and has the discretion to keep the secret as well. Also, that was clever and sneaky for Robin to eavesdrop that way. Brook isn't only a talented musician, but Ian Sinclair is a decent singer as well. The song tempo changing to reflect Brook's mood changes was a nice touch. I'm not sure how a living skeleton is able to cry, but I'll just accept it. Oh, hey, both Brook and Luffy get to keep their promises to Laboon now, and it's all in one trip. That's convenient. Plus, Brook wasn't handsome when he had flesh, but at least he wasn't ugly like Hogback. I'm not sure whether the "Secretary wanted" thing is only in Water 7 or that Kalifa is now a fugitive from the W.G., but more importantly the figurative battle of a black hole v. a star in Blackbeard v. Ace worked out exactly like it would in space, unfortunately. GitS - Even though it's the last slot, it feels nice to see this show on television again. There's so much good music in this show. This was an interesting angle on kidnapping for international espionage which wouldn't be possible without the technologies of cyberbrains and prosthetic bodies that exist in the show.

Yes, keeping Speedwagon safe is, by far, their first and greatest responsibility. Well, he pacifies ne'er-do-wells by killing them. They can't raise any ruckus that way. Guaranteed peace, yos. Plus, Hank Murphy came up with the solution to Ace's problem a long time ago - make the pants out of asbestos. DBS - You tried, King Kai. It's too bad you let the name Beerus slip. Yes, Trunks, a plug into the wall is a security gap for the grand prize defenses, but I don't really fault Bulma for leaving the passcode out in her own home. She wasn't expecting her son to be such a snoop. What I don't understand is why Mai and Shuu (possibly Emperor Pilaf as well, but it's tough to tell, because he sounds the same and was always very short) were de-aged. They were adults way back in DB. Maybe something happened at the end of DBZ which I've forgotten. I can agree with Bulma's idea to keep a wish on the Dragonballs being the Grand Prize a secret. She wouldn't want any armed party crashers (like Mai and Shuu, but competent) to cause trouble during her party. Poor King Kai's never going to get his house rebuilt. I like that Vegeta is challenging himself to turn off the lasers instead of simply destroying them. Dende and Piccolo are going to pig out on that water. DBZK - I couldn't help but think when Videl went at Gohan the same thing I thought years ago when she attempted the hurakanrana (sp?): dang, Videl moves fast, putting her crotch in his face like that in public. I must respect Gohan's restraint in not telling Videl, "I told you so," when the parent dinosaurs arrived to save their baby. I liked when the police officer, after joking about the medical bills Videl could cause the circus manager to have, said "seriously, put your hands behind your back." I thought the show might gloss over that he stole a police officer's sidearm and used it, but it didn't, and that's a good thing. Remember, kids, if you take a police officer's weapon, expect to be arrested at the least, if not worse to happen to you. Gohan teaching Videl to fly prior to the next Tekaichi Budokai sounds like some fine getting-to-know-one-another time. Of course Vegeta would want to participate once he heard that Gohan would be in this tournament. If he can't fight Goku, this is the next best thing. Also of course, Goku would want to participate and get some help with that from Roshi's sister, Baba. Now Vegeta will be even more amped for the tournament. Um, Bulma? You do recall that Vegeta was a mercenary, right? To him, fighting (and killing) weren't just something he liked doing - it was also his job. Thus, training and fighting were/are keeping his professional skills sharp and working, respectively. JoJo - Wait, what? How is Wind still somewhat functional? He was turned to stone and broke into pieces. He's even under UV lights (I'm not sure those existed back in the late '30s, but I don't feel like looking into it at this time). Are they going to need to dispose of the stone fragments of the Pillar Men in multiple active volcanoes to keep them from re-forming or what? Launching them into Sol isn't exactly an option at this point in time, so volcanoes are the next best option, since those are even hotter than steel mill furnaces. I would be disinclined to eat squid-ink-pasta. It just looks like something that's rotten. I can understand Joseph being a little put off by Caesar's shameless display of amore, since Joseph doesn't have a lady friend of his own, but that's no reason to attack him with hamon. It was rude and it got the working relationship off on the wrong foot, though it could be argued that Caesar speaking ill of Joseph's etiquette was the first instance of rudeness. I feel like a lot of their clashing is due to having personalities that are too similar. As for their duel, it was cruel of Caesar to control that random woman with hamon. Even though she got the better of Joseph, her hand might still be hurt from punching him, unless Caesar used some of his hamon to heal any injuries she sustained. I didn't expect Joseph's pigeon attack, but my main takeaways from that are 1. when did he put the pigeon in her mouth, 2. how was she able to breathe with it in there, since it would more than fill her mouth and thus need to be partly down her throat, closing off her trachea, and 3. eeeeeww, filthy, disgusting rat with wings in her mouth! Go find all the mouthwash and get swishing and gargling, woman. I feel bad for Speedwagon. He's tasked with keeping these two bratty dudes from fighting each other and focusing them on defeating the Pillar Men. Yes, I know. The Germans and Italians were allies at this time in history, so it makes sense that Caesar wouldn't be adversarial to them like Joseph or Speedwagon might feel, but did he really need to be chummy with Mark, author? That paired with Mark being engaged and set for leave to get married next week doomed him. While he was supposed to be humanized in his brief time in the show, I have trouble with feeling anything for him. Part of that is that he was with us so briefly. Another part is that he was a soldier for Nazi Era Germany. Maybe I would feel a little bad for him if we knew for a fact that he was not a Party member and was simply an enlisted (or, even better, conscripted) man in the Army, since he would've met his demise prior to the worst of the atrocities his countrymen perpetrated at the behest of their leadership, but we don't know any of that, so nope, not feeling it. What is with these Germans and not staying away from obvious dangers? There was the one in Mexico who didn't back away from the ventilation duct falling victim to Wind, and now there's the one who tried to look into the hole in Wamuu's head, and he was impaled through the head for his foolishness. Sucks for the Germans that the UV lights didn't work as well on Wamuu, Kars and Esidisi as they had hoped they would. While I can understand Wamuu draining all the blood of each linked man in seconds, what I don't understand is what happened to their bones. Draining the men should've left their bones intact, meaning they'd be desiccated husks, not deflated sacks of skin. Even with Caesar's hamon skills, I feel like this is too much for our group. Maybe the two of them could take Wamuu, but not all three. Still, it wouldn't surprise me if Esidisi and Kars left our group to Wamuu so they could go after this missing gem that will complete Kars' stone mask. MSG: U - Thanks for the exposition about the space station destruction in the distant past, show. Laplace's Box being an object that belonged to the first P.M./President/whatever in the U.C. system, whose name was Laplace, makes sense. However, I must wonder what items or information it must contain that it would threaten the Federation so greatly. The Unicorn Gundam responds to the thoughts of the pilot. That sounds an awful lot like the Alaya Vinjana (sp?) system, but it didn't look like it plugged into Links' spinal column to do it in the previous episode. In a way, that makes the Alaya Vinjana (A.J.) system seem like a step backward technologically. Yes, even though Links helped the Federation forces against the Zeon mobile suits, he still "stole" a piece of military equipment during an engagement, and so he could be charged with treason, which is punishable by death. That said, they'd have to be super-sticklers to do that, not to mention short-sighted, since the Unicorn Gundam was programmed to his biometrics and would need to be reprogrammed before it could be used by anyone else. Ah, so a pressure suit is called a normal suit in the Gundam universe. I should've already picked that up at some point. Micott seems like she's becoming withdrawn and bitter. I feel like she's going to do something that will cause problems for others before too long. Okay, Audrey has been outed as Mineva Zabi, heiress to Zeon, but I think I might still call her Audrey, since it's an easier name to write (it's why I call the M.C. Links instead of Banagher). I haven't really decided yet. I may be influenced by how often she's called one name versus the other. Oh, great. Full Frontal has his own stolen Gundam, and he knows how to use it. Maybe the technology in the Unicorn Gundam will be sufficiently more advanced to help Links survive his first encounter with Full in combat. Shut up, Alberto. It's tedious to hear you gripe. I feel like a lot of the Federation people we met on the ship this episode will be dead within a few episodes, but especially the one with the good luck charm. HxH - I'm with Cocco. Who is this man who inexplicably appeared in the commentary booth? I was hoping Gon would fare better in the fight than he did, but it didn't surprise me that Hisoka won. It was a good point that even if Gon had used Gyo (sp?) to look for what Hisoka tried to do with his nen, it wouldn't have made a difference, since Gon wasn't able to avoid Hisoka's moves anyway. Plus, shame on you, Gon. You fell for the false choice, meaning you forgot the lesson about seeing through deception from the proper Hunter Exam. Still, Gon was able to land the solid punch, meaning Hisoka would accept his badge, and Gon can now use his License without feeling bad about it. Ah, so the referee used his discretion in awarding points to keep Hisoka from getting too worked up and killing Gon. That's decent of him. Plus, Hisoka winning spared the other fighters he'd need to beat in order to get back to the 200th Floor, and Gon's record is only 3-2 now. Regarding Gon leaving Heaven's Arena, I wonder whether he'll return for another match within three months and win. If he does, then okay. Maybe someday he could challenge Hisoka, who would become a Floor Master if he really felt like it, and their rematch wouldn't necessarily be a deathmatch. I have a sneaking suspicion that Mito will somehow recognize Killua, and it won't be in a good context. Shippuden - Not to take anything away from Killer Bee's sweet moves and jonin-level skills, but wow, you stunk here, Sauce. You had to be saved from life-threatening wounds by your teammates twice. Sure, one of those instances was when Killer Bee (K.B.) was wearing the Eight-Tails' cloak, but your special eye powers didn't help you until after the fact. Even though you were trained by one of the Sannin, you still have a long way to go to face truly powerful and competent opponents on your own. I don't understand why Jugo shrank after healing Sauce, but my first thought was that Ang would be furious. Hopefully he'll recover in a few days or weeks, for his and Ang's sake. I didn't expect that Sauce would be able to recall the Amaterasu with the opposite eye, but I feel like that will put a lot of strain on his eye powers, meaning he'd need a lot of rest to recover. Think about how Kakashi was once hospitalized for a week after overtaxing his Sharingan. I'd expect something like that at some point, maybe even here. OP - Wow. Between the OP, the standard history opening, and the previous episode recap, we were over six minutes into the show before we got any new content. Good for Zoro, landing a solid slash to Kuma's torso. Unfortunately, it didn't really damage Kuma's cyborg components. I don't think Sanji or Zoro would really be acceptable substitutes for Luffy in the W.G.'s eyes, but it was good to see that Kuma is honorable, respecting the willingness of Zoro not only to spare his captain and crewmate, but to take the agony of his captain upon himself. As for how that would work, the only explanation I reach is magic Devil Fruit shenanigans. Still, Zoro earned mad props for taking the pain and injuries like that, and it's amazing that he's still standing, especially with that blood loss. Also, Sanji, go get Chopper. Zoro needs a lot of bandages, likely many stitches, and possibly a blood transfusion as well. Oh. Kuma's cyborg as well. That would likely help him withstand the blast from his "bomb." Still, that feels like cheating on the W.G.'s part, having a compliant Warlord with cybernetic enhancements and a Devil Fruit power. I want to know whether Kuma volunteered for the cyborg conversion. If so, that's a little messed up on his part (recall that Franky's conversion was necessary to save his life. This would be a voluntary conversion to make Kuma into a living weapon). If not, then that's another human rights violation to lay at the W.G.'s feet. I feel like Kuma's mouth laser should damage him. It was powerful enough to heat that I-beam to yellow, at which point it was softened enough to deform under gravity. That much energy in his mouth should burn off part of his face, if it is still flesh. OPM - Boros v. Saitama really is some astounding action eyecandy. I wonder what the scientists will call the new impact crater on Selene. Shut up, Amai Mask. Even if you had been there and knew the attack was coming before the initial volley, which the Class S heroes didn't know, there's still nothing you could've done to save even a single building. Maybe you could've saved a handful of people, which would be a good thing, but not the city.

That sounds like a wonderful Plan B for escaping if fighting didn't work. Agreed. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Dio survived and spoke as a head, meaning he lacked some of the physical structures necessary for human speech, so I wouldn't put it beyond him to survive that steamship explosion. Shame on you, abusing your precious child's special powers like that. Also, I'm pretty sure we all loved Revy to varying degrees for various reasons. I’m not sure what to make of someone making fanart of Joseph dressed like her. DBS - Oh, Kais. You're wrong. It's not only Goku about whom you need to worry. Vegeta would certainly fight Beerus as well. The only issue is whether he has the kind of power needed to fully awaken Beerus' destructive cravings. Speaking of Beerus' cravings, he has a sweet tooth. In that regard, Earth may be spared even if our resident Saiyans work him into a frenzy, since we do have a large variety of tasty desserts to offer him. Bulma renting a cruise liner for her birthday party does sound like a bit much, but oh well. I feel like King Kai will run Goku off to Earth on the premise that he'd better not let down Bulma by missing her birthday. It would also take a little edge off Chi Chi's attitude as well. Piccolo posing for a single photo at Gohan and Videl's wedding sounds right, and of course he'd have his eyes closed for it. 18 has a point. As long as they don't fly very fast, it would be safe for one of them to carry Marron, so driving would be unnecessary, barring buying more things on an outing than they could carry at once due to the bulk of the items. Also, Marron's a cute kid, and it was fun to see Chaotzu make her laugh by making faces at her. I'm not sure Whis would be able to traverse distances faster than Goku could when using Instant Transmission. However, that's a form of teleportation, and Whis actually looks to move through space, so it isn't really fair to compare them in this way. Still, I feel like Whis wouldn't be able move as quickly as Goku in a fight. DBZK - Chill, Videl. Let the guy who says the reason for protecting his identity is the safety of those around him keep his secret. Gohan generating an "earthquake" with his nervously bouncing leg is still funny and convenient. I like that Gohan consented to limiting his involvement to backing up Videl so she wouldn't need to deal with a bigger, stronger opponent and surprise attacks by his lackeys as well. Gohan using what looked to be chi to push the r.p.g. back is still impressive. JoJo - In light of what Poke said about Wind originally being Santana, I feel like my speculation will be proven wrong in that two other Pillar Men won't be Earth and Fire. What the crap, Joseph? Stop taunting the inhuman monstrosity. Heed Speedwagon's wise words of warning and either flee with him, as was your plan, or destroy Wind with your hamon. While Wind being impervious to external hamon attacks wasn't terribly surprising, I was surprised by how quickly he changed the shape of his head to dodge the attack targeting his eyes. Joseph's gamble to let Wind partially absorb him to release a hamon attack from within Wind was highly risky, but it was effective and gave him valuable insight into Wind's physical nature. No, show. No. I refuse to believe that the Nazi's in this show's universe were willing to expend resources to eliminate the Pillar Men, even if their main objective was destroying a threat to their regime and plans, rather than trying to harness the power of the Pillar Men for their purposes. That said, I was surprised and impressed by von Stroheim's willingness to aid Joseph in opening the door. However, he should've spent less time talking about it and simply opened it after leaping past Joseph and Wind. That would've made his otherwise admirable willingness to be maimed to accomplish the feat unnecessary. Plus, without the maiming, it would've deprived Wind of his temporary shelter from the sunlight and made Joseph's clever use of a timely circumstance unnecessary as well (pun not intended). MSG: U - I'll give this show credit in that it's not shying away from showing what would happen to an unprotected human subjected to these kinds of particle weapons and explosions. A beam which can melt through tank armor or the hull of a space station, which must be able to withstand impacts from micrometeors that carry the force of high caliber rifle rounds, would incinerate a human in short order. A careful search of the area afterward might reveal some charred traces of their bodies, but anyone looking for identifiable remains is in for disappointment. The shame of this is that the Zeon forces will be blamed for the carnage and devastation when it was the Federation forces which entered the Colony and started shooting. It looked like they even shot their way through a spacelock door to send more ships inside. I'm not sure which mech fired the shots that looked to penetrate the Colony's hull from the inside, but I can't imagine that the Colony, or at least a section of it, isn't open now. That represents a lot of lost atmosphere and potentially hundreds of dead, depending upon how many people were near the breach when it was made. Links, what the crap? You just met this Audrey girl, and you're sounding like some obsessed creeper. Sooo... this was part of a coup attempt against this Vist Foundation leader, then? I guess I can understand it, if the guy who shot him thought the leader was giving aid to Zeon, which technically he was, but it feels like the people he contacted were an opposition group within Zeon who are much more interested in peace with the Federation than their leadership is. I wasn't expecting the Vist Foundation leader to be Links' father, but okay. Also, if he subjected his young son to experiments aimed at preparing him to be a Gundam pilot, refining the operating system and pilot interface, or perhaps both of those objectives, then I can fully understand his mother removing him from the home. He was a minor child, and piloting and testing mechs is strenuous even for trained adults. The little we saw looked taxing for lil' Links, and I can only imagine the testing would get more difficult from there. Still, it sucks for present Links to learn that his dad was alive mere moments before he would be caught in a powerful explosion right in front of Links. I'll admit that it's partially my thing for redheads coming though, but I get a really bad feeling for Marida, especially after she had that automatic mental click that Gundam=enemy. She'll probably die, and I don't want that for her. We saw how Links damaged her Zaku during his first time piloting this Gundam, and he'll only improve from there. HxH - Hm. A water glass with a floating leaf is this story's version of chakra paper and nen types correspond to chakra natures (even though Naruto came later, it introduced me to chakra natures and their relationship to one another first). I like the idea of the nen types not being arranged in a circular hierarchy, but by types that are similar to one another. It was interesting to see how skilled users chose to employ applications that weren't closely aligned to their type and suffered defeat as a result. Gon's status as an Enhancer seems suited to his personality. I feel like Zushi will struggle with manipulating things just because of the nature of his martial arts training so far. It would be interesting to see how Killua could use his Transmuter abilities in a fight. Maybe he could change a person's bones into jelly. Regarding the others who passed the first exam, I'm glad for the information, but what I took away from it is that Leorio will not be a fighting Hunter, but will use his license and medical training to treat people in need wherever he goes instead, and I'm fine with that. Netero being the grand master of Wing's style of instruction is okay. I could've done without that shot of Hisoka's butt and lack of spider tattoo. "Shweeeen," show? How are we supposed to interpret that as anything other than a reference to Hisoka having a murder-boner, especially when taken with what he said? I'm clearly not using the same criteria as the referee is. I would've counted at least three clean hits so far for Hisoka and one for Gon, not have them at 1-1. Oh well. This gives Gon a greater opportunity to emerge victorious. Also, Gon has serious speed and moves, but Hisoka has eyes that would rival Spike's, even without Ren, and potentially better fighting skills. Shippuden - Whichever group is using the other between the Akatsuki and Taka is irrelevant. What matters is that we've finally gotten to see Killer Bee. I'm not sure I'm fully on-board with his rapping/rhyming at this point, but it could grow on me. At least he has impressive combat skills. I'm not sure I would call the tattoo on his face bull horns, but eh. Tobi being a former Mizukage is interesting. I take issue with the way our Leaf shinobi searched the area after seeing no initial sign of Sauce. Kakashi said they would search by scent. Akamaru and Kiba would be well-suited to that task. Shino and his insects could manage on their own as well. Hinata could and did opt to use her Byakugan from a high vantage point instead, and that's fine. However, Kakashi, Naruto, Sai, Sakura and Yamato would all need to be paired with one of Kakashi's ninja hounds to search for a scent, and we saw none of those dogs. What's up with that, show? OP - Yes, air/wind moving at great speeds can be quite destructive. That much of Kuma's Paw-Paw power makes sense. He might even be able to use that power to launch himself from one spot to another quickly, accounting for the speed of his movements. What I don't get is the connection between him being a paw-palmed human and making the air move like that. It doesn't logically connect like the names of other Devil Fruits and they powers they bestow. I must give Zoro credit for evading dozens of what are probably supposed to be invisible air blasts. They're likely animated for the audience's benefit, but unseen by the characters, except for the "bomb" one. I like that Sanji and Usopp tried to help, but it puzzles me why Sanji's leg was hurt when Kuma apparently felt nothing. Um, Kuma? Recall that Thriller Bark is a ship, not an island. Firing your Paw-Paw blasts at the "ground" and making holes in it could help sink the already-damaged ship, and you are a Devil Fruit user. A sinking ship is a worse threat to you than it is for most of the other people on it. I'm not sure how Kuma was able to compress the large volume of air like that, but it certainly would be dangerous to "detonate" it. My problem with him using it is that he would still be within the effective radius of the "explosion." How would he survive his own attack unscathed? Explain that to me, show. For him to use other air to shield himself from it, he would need to counter the majority of the wind coming at him with another powerful blast of air, and we saw how long it took him to make the "bomb." Given how far the "bomb" was from Kuma when it "exploded," he would have a mere fraction of a second to generate this countering blast of air. Of course, it did take the "bomb" several seconds to travel to the detonation point, and he could've used that time to amass his countering blast, but it didn't look like he did that. Maybe he did so off-camera. I smiled when not only the Straw Hats, but also actual Lola and her crew, rejected Kuma's offer of mercy in exchange for Luffy out of hand. It makes some sense that the "bomb" might be slightly luminous. Compressed air gets warmer because of the increased friction between the air molecules. Warm objects radiate energy to their comparatively cooler surroundings. If the molecules are sufficiently excited, they wouldn't only emit energy in the form of infrared radiation, but perhaps also visible light. OPM - Even though he's partially responsible for the deaths of (tens of?) thousands of civilians, I can't help but like gunnery alien. Between his lines about Geryuganshoop possibly being in the bathroom and "goodbye, problems," he was funny. Still, Saitama's expression and the way Max Mittelman delivered the line about going to the left when instructed to go to the right was even funnier. Thanks for having the other heroes' backs, Tatsumaki. I spoke with the same coworker who watches subs of DBS about OPM. He has gotten through the Sea Folk story, and he agrees with me that Mumen Rider has heart.

I feel like you're bringing over your attraction to him as a buff dude into that assessment. I will admit his act coupled with the outfit made me laugh, though.

Ang: Point taken. I apologize for bringing up that movie and the stain on the memory of Hughes that its depiction of him is. I had blissfully forgotten about that part of the story. Poke: The star on the shoulder being a hereditary birthmark of the Joestars makes me feel like George was a just a little more badass than I previously thought he was. It doesn't really add much to my appreciation of Jonathan, though. What I can remember of the SEED universe gives me the impression that Coordinators were actively engaged in genetically engineering their offspring to make them smarter, stronger, faster and potentially have psychic powers as well (I'm not certain about the last part, though). Newtypes seem more like a natural mutation caused by the increased exposure to high-energy solar particles and cosmic rays, which should actually be detrimental to health rather than causing them to gain powers, but eh. DBS - When we consider that, prior to his experiences on Earth and his subsequent stranding here by the wish to transport everyone except Frieza and Goku from Namek to Earth, Vegeta lived the lifestyle of mercenary, it's not surprising that Vegeta is uncomfortable in the midst of civilians engaged in pure entertainment. Even after years here, he still can't quite adjust to living in peace, and I feel like it eats at him that he's essentially a kept man. I think that's behind a lot of his gruffness toward Bulma and Trunks. When he was urged to do a dance-off against the fire-spinning performers, he knew he could give them a light show which would put the fire to shame, but it would also destroy a lot of property and endanger many lives, and he didn't want to cause Bulma that kind of trouble. Still, Vegeta keeping his word to Trunks about going on the vacation is positive in teaching Trunks the principle of honoring commitments. It was funny when Trunks said they could travel faster if Bulma would learn to fly. I found her statement of her limitations both funny and perhaps lacking in accuracy. The human Z Fighters could fly, so it would theoretically be possible, but she likely wouldn't be able to match Trunks' and Vegeta's speed. What I gathered from the Beerus part of the episode is that he's not only impatient, but he's also a bit absent-minded. Those are not good qualities in an entity which can destroy a planet with the ease that a human could flip a coin. King Kai has a point. Goku's training is definitely reducing King Kai's property value. DBZK - Oh, Gohan. You're a big goofball. The super-sentai outfit and the accompanying lines are every bit as chuckle-worthy in their head-shaking cheesiness as they were in DBZ. It should've been a sign to Gohan that it was too much when only Goten, the youngest child on the show (almost, but not quite seven years old) thought it was cool. Videl sure is a martial arts action movie heroine, but when the bus went off the cliff, it was time for someone with real superpowers to intervene, and Gohan did so in a timely fashion. Shame on you, SCPD. How could you, in good conscience, let an unarmed teenage girl take on multiple hostage-takers armed with automatic weapons? Sure, she was able to best them, but she did have some luck on her side in that she wasn't shot during her approach to the bus or while on the roof. JoJo - I'm not sure I would want to motorcycle through the Mexican desert, but it did make it easier for Joseph to pick up on his tail. The guy saying he was part of the SS told me that Speedwagon is less likely to be offered as a human sacrifice in an arcane ritual (that horrible fate befell the captured Mexicans last episode when they were offered to the Pillar Man as food), but he's also more likely to be straight murdered if he proves unuseful. I still fear for Speedwagon's safety, even after Joseph arrived, but I digress. Joseph making his knife-wielding foe think he had tricked Joseph so Joseph could use hamon to make the cactus bomb was risky, but clever. Drag!Joseph was a hideous woman, but not as ugly as the pervert Nazi guards. I didn't expect Wind (I'm not going to call him the Spanish name von Stroheim gave him when he said what the English equivalent was. Plus, Wind will almost assuredly gain the partners of Earth and Fire) to have such drastic body contorting abilities, but if he is the/a creator of the Stone Masks, then his regenerative powers after mangling himself like that and consuming a person from the inside out aren't surprising. What was surprising was that he learned enough of the English language in minutes to ask a coherent question. I don't care to look to find out which is older between the JoJo manga and the Parasyte manga, but one of them copied the other with an inhuman monstrosity propelling rounds fired into its body back at those who fired them. Also, it almost looks like Wind has horns. I was surprised by how effective Joesph's hair+hamon shield was. While Joseph's skills may be enough, with the help of Nazi's unintentionally running interference, to get him and Speedwagon away alive, I doubt he'll have what it takes at this point to kill Wind. MSG: U - Okay, I'm interested to know what this Laplace Box is and what makes it so important. The intruder girl pleading with that one Colony bigwig did make it sound like she was fearful the L.B. would be used for violence if given to her compatriots, but the bigwig's meeting with said compatriots gave me the impression that they wanted to use/control the L.B. in order to keep it out of the hands of other factions in their group which are more militant and ambitious. Blah, blah, the elites on Earth exploit the Colonies to live comfortably, yadda, yadda. Historically, that has been part of the motivation for a nation to establish colonies, in order to benefit from the resources the colony could access through the labors of the colonists. It's also an element at work in setting up part of the conflict in the SciFi show The Expanse. I get that Audrey was trying to get Links to clear out of a conversation that was dangerous for him to hear, but she seemed mighty ungrateful for the aid he had already given her which she certainly needed to get to the bigwig first. Yeah, that mansion looked a lot like the one we saw in fragmented flashback recollection by Links last episode. I was pleased to see that Marida and her cohorts only incapacitated those guys in the colony near the elevator. Sooo.. those blockier mechs that started surrounding the Colony were from Earth, then? Okay. I think it warrants mentioning how astounding the technical and logistical feat that is a Colony is. Those things look to be measured in miles in any direction. While this one is still under construction, from where would they have gotten all the materials necessary to build it? Even using space elevators, it would take quite a long time to send that many millions of tons of material into orbit from the Earth's surface. If the source(s) of the metals was/were elsewhere, then that's similarly impressive in the massive amount of surveying required to find suitable mining sites on Luna or locate and bring in useful asteroids. Then those mined materials would need to be processed either near the mining site or at an orbital position near the proposed Colony location. Metals wouldn't be the only things needed from mining, either. They would need rock and minerals which could be mixed with organic materials from Earth to make the soil we know is in the Colony to grow plants. They'd need vast amounts of water ice, and they'd also need gases, mostly nitrogen and oxygen, to make an atmosphere. While, to my knowledge, the ISS makes no effort to produce their own food, it's still a substantial effort to keep that comparatively small station supplied. Supplying such a large station as a Colony from Earth resources would be mind-boggling. Just a single grocery store in a metropolitan area can take three or more 53' trailer shipments daily, and those simply travel over roads, not from the surface of Earth to a space station. While space elevators would make deliveries much easier than launches, I feel like a Colony would need to be largely self-sufficient once it was ready for habitation, like this one is. Plus, I really like the songs for the OP and ED. HxH - I liked Gon's unconventional thinking, using his fishing pole not to block Gido's attacks, instead blocking with Ten alone, nor to snag Gido directly, but rather to hook the ring and pull the flooring tile up from under Gido to throw him off his balance point. While Gon breaking Gido's single peg leg was a sound battle tactic, I feel like it was particularly vicious on Gon's part effectively (albeit temporarily) to maim Gido for a second time. While I doubt that the hook or line on the pole would be strong enough to withstand the forces involved in pulling up a ring floor tile, I'm willing to let it slide. However, I'm less willing to let Killua slide regarding the electrified whips. While he may be able to withstand the pain of the electrical discharge, his muscles still operate on nerve impulses. The voltage from the whips would overpower the nerve signals from his brain and cause his muscles to involuntarily contract all over his body. It's why tasers work to incapacitate belligerents. Oh well. I was glad to see Killua turn the tables on this nozzle. I like that Gon used the ring against his opponent again, but in a different way. He forced Riehlvelt to evade the thrown tile at-speed, which generated the opportunity for Gon to intercept him, take his whips, and scare him into passing out. I'm more than a little scared for Gon that Hisoka now deems Gon worthy of fighting. Part of that concern stems from Hisoka's record. If he gets another loss, he'd need to restart from the first floor. While I feel like that wouldn't be a problem for him, since his skills would likely get him back to the 200th Floor in two weeks or less, depending on how often he was permitted to fight, he might not feel like going through that tedious hassle again, and that would put Gon's life in great danger. Even if Gon wins, things could still go badly for him not only in terms of injuries, but in danger to others. If Hisoka needed to restart, there would be the risk in such a situation that he could face Zushi at some point, which would be very bad for Zushi if Hisoka didn't deem him to have the same kind of potential as Gon. The jerk trio wanting to be Floor Masters to parlay such status into wealth brought two things to mind for me. First, getting the ten wins before getting four losses would, if memory serves, only earn them the opportunity to challenge a Floor Master, and if they got most of their wins by preying on newcomers, then their skills may not be up to the task. Second, they seem to me like those who would sell a License for wealth, risking a lot for one big payout to set them for life. Also, I wonder what Kurapika and Leorio are doing. Don't get me wrong; the exposition on nen and the fights are interesting, but I'd like a status update on the others, show. Shippuden - Okay. Itachi was really a longsuffering good guy all along. He was implanted as spy for Uchihas, but was double-agent for Konoha instead, because he had suffered through the horrors of the Third Great Shinobi War as young child. Thus, he wanted to protect Konoha so opportunistic rivals wouldn't start the Fourth Great Shinobi War against a Konoha weakened by internal strife. That way, he could spare young Sauce the hardship of living through the same horrors. Since protecting Sauce was his driving motivation, of course he couldn't bring himself to kill Sauce. He loved his little brother more than peace for Konoha. I'm not sure I buy all of that, but it makes more sense than Itachi only wanting to test his strength and abilities. Sauce reminiscing and mourning the brother Itachi was before the mass-murder was okay. I wonder whether Tobi really helped in the ethnic cleansing. So, Sauce's group isn't the Snake anymore. I'm guessing the new name means Hawk, since we saw one flying in the sky. Oh, hey, there's a new pattern in Sauce's eyes now. I'm not sure how to take Sauce's new proclaimed mission of vengeance on Konoha. Is he doing it because Konoha's leadership, minus Hiruzen, ordered Itachi to kill his clan? Is it to spite the dead Itachi by destroying the Village he regarded more highly than his own clan and immediate family? Whatever the case is, I feel like he's playing right into Tobi's hands in moving to weaken Konoha, which would make them not only easier to conquer, but it would make their Jinchuriki, Naruto, more vulnerable to capture. OP - No, Sanji. No. Shadow Revolution stretching and reshaping Oars without mangling him was livestock excrement. Using that to explain why your partially-combusted bodies (as in there were entirely missing body parts, like HEADS) are now whole is even more livestock excrement. Just no. No. I'd accept that maybe the Shadows were back inside them before the combustion got deeper than the epidermis of the exposed parts (though that would also mean they would've burnt off the hair on the exposed portions of their bodies, and that would leave them not only bald, but without eyebrows as well, and while Luffy and Zoro likely wouldn't care that much, Robin might be bummed about losing her hair and Sanji would look plain weird without his distinctive eyebrows), and since I think those would be classified as first-degree burns, they'd only have tender skin, and little, if any, treatment would be needed. I'd even be willing to accept that we didn't see just how much of them was actually burnt due to the smoke, meaning their heads weren't combusted, but rather they had the surface burning I mentioned above. However, that's not what the dialogue indicated. Now the show is imbuing Shadows with the ability to instantaneously regenerate entirely combusted, and thus absent, flesh. Just by the choice of dialogue they made this Shadow shenanigans flip off logic and sense one last time, because why not?! I figuratively urinate on Moria, the concept of a Shadow's various abilities, and the heaps of livestock excrement that were most of his applications of his Devil Fruit power. If he and/or his powers never disgrace my viewing screen again, I'd consider that a welcome turn of events. As for the various people who regained their Shadows in far-flung areas, that did address my logistical concern about Moria maintaining his zombie army, though pirate crews at sea which can't operate on the deck in the daylight would be easy pickings for Marines or rival pirate crews, meaning Moria would, due to the deaths of his victims, have a regular need to trap more crews and take their Shadows. I didn't expect we'd get to see the person whose Shadow was animating Cindry, but she was super-cute. I also didn't expect that Hogback was still alive, and I'm slightly disappointed by that. I really didn't expect that Absalom wasn't a zombie, but rather a surgical chimera, with a Devil Fruit power. I forgot to mention it, but I did spot Pandaman among actual Lola's crew last episode. Ha, ha. The joke's on actual Lola's crew and Nami, because Perona already had her zombie subordinates load as much treasure and provisions onto the Sunny as they could carry before Kuma arrived. Kuma getting ready to throw down while Luffy is still unconscious can't be good. He essentially fired a chi blast from his hand toward some of actual Lola's crew, and Zoro (along with everyone else) hasn't recovered yet either. OPM - The meteor Tatsumaki brought and the speed with which she brought it (presuming it was farther than the moon at the time she snagged it) would combine for more devastation than what we saw there, but eh. Chill, Tatsumaki. Genos was just trying to help. There's no need to snap at him like that. Knowing from manga material beyond the show what the name of one of Bang's relatives is, I have a suspicion about another character, but I'll need to wait for either the second OPM anime or for future manga volumes to give me confirmation or refutation.