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Archive for November, 2009

and it goes by the name of JLPT1.

still got a heapload of vocabs (語彙) to study/memorize, those with very subtle nuances (like telling the difference between 活気,活躍,活動,活発, and 活用, how they’re used) especially, and re-memorize MOAR kanjis. They’re making my brain bleed

I’m confident with my reading/grammar, but have to make one last quick review of the grammar patterns just to make sure. My listening skills however, is still poor as ever. I can see myself flunking this right now, but ahh negative thoughts go away. Every bit of point will help, so I just have to do my best.

頑張れ！ファイト！

6 more days before doomsday, may the force be with us all.

Related posts:

1. The Final Countdown Before the JLPT1 Doomsday
2. JLPT1 Left Me Devastated
3. Learning Nihongo, One Sense at a Time

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At this moment I wasn’t sure Kobato could read…

After overcoming great technical difficulties (a storm knocked my internet out for THREE DAYS) here I am with the fifth installment of Kobato. This episode was actually really touching and didn’t have any characters from other series popping up  at all. I feel like that made this a much stronger episodes because I finally was able to separate this series from other CLAMP works in my head. Not that I don’t love the other series but I kept feeling like there was some hesitation on CLAMP’s part to really make this series at all if it was just going to lean back on other characters.

Anyway this is the first episode that made me weepy despite being kind of predictable. Maybe it’s just a firefly thing. In this episode Kobato practices reading out loud, finally meets someone who doesn’t like her immediately, makes many bad guesses, stands up to thugs, and has the fireflies bring hope to an old man.

I forgive Kobato for being bad at reading to kids, it’s actually pretty difficult sometimes.

This episode starts out with Kobato working in the nursery. The kids want her to read a story (The Fireflies Light) and she become ridiculously nervous and clumsy about it. She drops the book, skips pages and seems to have more difficulty reading than anyone with public school education past grade 6 should have. Instead of watching Kobato fail for more than 30 seconds we are shown Sayaka-sensei receiving a call.

It’s her pimp calling!

As Iroyogi-san looks on the call seems pretty serious. We’re shown a glimpse inside the schools balance books as well and everything seems to be in the red. Poor Sayaka, what have you done?

I just noticed her pants underneath the apron >.< It’s bad enough she’s wearing pink with pink hair…

Kobato, the great disruptor, comes to Sayaka-sensei and asks her if she can borrow the book to practice reading to the kids. Considering that in the shots before all the kids were sitting quietly it probably is easy but maybe Kobato has reading issues because she has no memory…

She seems to have no trouble reading when by herself.

Kobato settles in with the book and starts to read the story out loud when an old man comes down and interrupts her.

Get off my lawn — I mean stop reading that book!

This man is irrationally angry about her reading aloud to herself. She naturally stops but then follows him back to where he’s sitting to pry into his life. *shakes head*

What’cha doing?

She inappropriately runs up to him and asks him if he’s homeless. He gets pissed off and walks away from her and so she goes home to read the book somewhere that others can’t bother her.

Iroyogi is ready to give her no points for today.

In the morning Kobato runs all the way to the nursery because she’s super late having overslept as usual. Instead of smiling faces though she sees three thugs who are standing in the courtyard.

You gotta be pretty bad ass to steal from 4 year olds.

Kobato gets pushed around and doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Even when Fujimoto appears and they attack him she kind of just stands around being shocked.

Guard dog to the rescue!

Sayaka-sensei steps out and tells them never to come to the nursery during daytime hours ever again and that she has everything under control. The lead thug asserts that if she just paid them they’d leave her alone. I disagree, no thug has ever just gone away after being paid but that was a good try Mr.Thug, you almost had me there.

I’m not sure she understands but I really felt proud of Kobato.

Kobato stands in front of Sayaka trying to protect her, even Fujimoto is a bit surprised. Toshiko, who you may remember from previous episodes, pretends to cry for a police man to come and seeing trouble brewing the thugs leave.

“Don’t you have something better to do than bother old men?”

We don’t know what happens to Sayaka-sensei because Kobato doesn’t stick around after work instead she finds the man on the bench and starts bothering him about the book again. Naturally he gets even more pissed off and leaves again. Kobato goes home dejected but I’m not sure why she expected anything else to occur.

YOU’RE NEIGHBORS!?

Kobato is as surprised as I am that Fujimoto lives next to her. He tells her that the man she’s been bothering is the author of the book she’s holding and Kobato wonders why he would hate his own book but since he stopped writing after that book it must have been something traumatizing.

This story gave me Chobits flashbacks because of the “A Person Just For Me” story.

Kobato reads us the story. It’s a pretty typical kids story, especially for Japanese stories. A firefly lives alone in the dark for so long he can no longer remember that he is a firefly. He sees a glowing lady firefly and wonders what she is. She teaches him how to glow again and they fly off into the night. Very cute.

What the hell are you doing? I thought you couldn’t read!

The next day Kobato is up at the crack of dawn at the library doing some hardcore research on fireflies. I don’t think fireflies are that complicated but whatever floats her boat I suppose.

Third time is a charm.

This time when she goes back to the man she doesn’t bother him or imply that he’s homeless but simply tells him to meet her on nearby riverbank tonight and then goes off on her merry way.

Do not try to meet strange men at night, your results may vary.

Because this is a TV show he actually shows up. He wonders how she knew that this was the place his ex-girlfriend wanted them to go. Nice one Kobato! Seems your research and stalking have actually paid off ^^b

“Not now I have a headache”

We’re shown a flashback of the man’s youth while he was writing the book. His girlfriend did the pictures and he simply wrote the story and was busy every second of his waking life. She kept bothering him to see the fireflies in this specific riverbank. When he did get time, on the way to the river, she was in an accident.

I guess she broke up with him because he was a jerk.

I don’t think she’s dead since only her eyes were bandaged but I guess now that she’s blind and can see his true insides she doesn’t want him? In the present the old man is angered by Kobato’s actions and he starts to leave, as Kobato chases after him she falls.

Wet leaves + Kobato = not a good time.

He picks her up and the book falls out of her bag. He looks up to see the path before them.

And realizes he’s seen it before…

His ex-girlfriend came here, to this exact place to draw the pictures for his book. This is what she wanted to show him all along.

What did one firefly say to the other? — uh, nevermind

They see one firefly light up, and then another and they fly off together into the sky just like in the story. And because that wasn’t cinematic enough these two firefly cause hundreds of others to glow around them.

This actually happens though so I forgive you overzealous production team!

Kobato doesn’t just get to see the beautiful fireflies though she also gets…

a brand new green glowy candy!

When she returns to the place the old man used to sit it’s now empty. He’s found his “glow” again and has begun to write new stories. Iroyogi congratulates her for healing his heart but because she dumped a stack of books on him in the library she can’t get 100%!

Oh! A solid B grade!

Final Thoughts:

I was not expecting Fujimoto to live next to her. Maybe in the same building but not next to her. I got misty eyed when the fireflies took off. This episode in particularly I found that Kobato despite stalking an old man, completing ignoring social conventions, and failing at reading to young children was really easy to watch this episode.

I enjoyed that she stood up for Sayaka-sensei and that she did the research to help the old man instead of just continuing to bother him until he finally admitted to something. I feel like these are really clear signs that Kobato is growing and learning.

I’m still waiting to see the crocodile. And I still want Fujimoto’s story even though I have a sneaking suspicion we’re going to learn all about Sayaka first.

Til next time!~

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Crusader is off doing his duty, so now that I’ve recovered a bit from turkey and shopping here’s two episodes of Railgun coverage. I’ll get to Kampfer soon enough.

Saten may have been an intriguing possibility at the start with her lesbian tendencies and laid back nature. However the past two episodes have sent her stock off a cliff, as she unceremoniously slides into emo. Ahhhh, woe is me I’m just a nobody let me get some smack to become super special! Give me a break.

Haha, I know people like this.

Poor Kuroko, always a step behind getting some loving from her onee-sama. These scenes of her exaggerated comedic angst never get old either, definitely one of the best parts of the series.

You’ll have to forgive me, I glazed over/skipped most of the nonsense exposition and moping around about the Level Upper in both of these episodes. I really don’t watch the show for poorly written attempts at having a plot, it’s all about crazy teleporting lesbian and Biribiri playing around.

Again, poor Kuroko, but yay for hilarity. Kinda disappointed they cut out Touma’s involvement in this scene from the manga. Crusader was pleased I’m sure, but I like Spikey-kun.

Ugh, my nutbladder.

Damn, Biribiri certainly left her mark.

Oh, the things I don’t care about. Again, I skipped most of this crap.

Oh snap, here we go. Off to a great start with the teleporting the guy to fall on his own head. I hope she has some heavy ass books in that bag she beats the crap out of people with each week. She must have to keep buying new ones with all of that wear.

Watching Biribiri zap the shit out of people is fun in its own ways, but the two best fight sequences in the series have been when Kuroko has been having a rough go at it, namely here and back in the flashback scene at the bank. Watching her struggle and improvise is a treat, and it’s pretty fun to watch someone using a teleport ability in a fight sequence, you don’t see it done well all that often. Plus she’s one tough girl, taking some powerful shots from a guy whose got at least 2 feet and a hundred pounds on her.

One of the few people in this show who don’t decide to tell everyone what their ability is in 5 minute explanations. What seems tactically sound to anyone with half a brain seems to escape the genre and its lack of creativity in expositive techniques. Kuroko has to sit there and explain it though so it’s not a total coup.

Using teleportation to collapse the building was pretty wicked too.

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He’s my new CO I think he has aged pretty well despite being a butter bar…but he is damn good, I mean real good.

It seems that for now I will have a bit of Internet access courtesy of Uncle Sam although the training schedule looks brutal and having to share one washing machine and dryer with a bunch of mud caked sailors with no booze around means I will not have much time to loiter on the interwebs doing whatever I please. This was the first time I spent Thanksgiving away from my folks and while I have much to be thankful for there is much to be bitter about. Dealing with a bunch of whiny sailors is enough to drive me insane and I grow weary of hearing, “I am cold, when will my stuff arrive, can I trade my M-16 for an M-4, and 00bama is killing us all…” So yeah sailors bitching and moaning while in garrison is enough to make my ears bleed, I assume it only gets worse once we really go some where far far away and they’ll still complain about taxes despite paying none… At any rate this change of situation means a few changes are in store on my side of things, some might be big, some might be so small you’d never notice until I tell. So without further ado Prince Ali has called for a Jihad to liberate Kurdistan from the clutches of the insolent Jihad-kun and his Azadistani harlot. As a Crusader ally of the great Prince Ali, 00bama has called upon the Flag Fighters, AEU no Ace, Katie, and Choubu and the rest of the Federation to oppose the hated Azadistani occupiers and end their unjust occupation once and for all. Thankfully I will not be serving under Bushido Bob and Billy Goat but was assigned under a Gary Biaggi. So in preparation for the orbital drop into New Mombasa I need a few things…

So far I have at my disposal three 465 GB encrypted containers that need to be stuffed full of anime, so far I have a few things including Macross 7, VOTOMS, Gundam X, 8th MS Team, Gundam 0083, Canaan, True Tears, Skip Beat!, Shin Mazinger Z etc. I should be able to keep up with some new series but I think it is time to do a bit of retro blogging of stuff I never got around to. So seeing as how time is of the essence I will not have much time to look for stuff to bring with me, thus I need recommendations from all corners of the Federation to give me series to watch and perhaps blog about while killing me some Celestial Being and some Kataron Terrorists. Sadly due to time constraints I doubt I will have limit myself in tossing images of questionable relevance, however I hope to keep it as fun as possible for it will be the only semblance of normalcy I will have for sometime. So comrades who is up for some retro blogging, and what would you have me blindly suffer through? (Note: While I may not be able to respond in a timely manner I will be looking for recommendations periodically.)

Yeah 2LT. Biaggi isn’t one to beat around the bush.

He doesn’t bullshit much either.

He likes to be very honest…

And he so far he hasn’t killed anyone who didn’t deserve it…

2LT likes to use intimidation as well as force to carry the point.

Terrorists seem to bore Mr. Biaggi.

They made him go through the winning hearts and minds class, the results were kind of mixed…

He certainly curses like a sailor.

It’s because of him we have to spend more time at the gym.

Some time the 2LT gets a little creepy, glad he’s on my side.

Yeah I’ll be going along with these guys but at least I get a Scopedog out of the deal!

I cannot wait to start doing this.

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At this point, Tanya has been the longest-living non-regular Contractor in the whole series. Not a very impressive record, but it was fun while it lasted, you sexy 14-year old in military uniform you!

Wow I can’t believe they’re bringing back those two. Kiko’s fine but Gai is just…

Well, I guess they provide good comic relief.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Oh. My. God. Just, WOW. Shizuku just utterly owned this episode in 30 seconds.

This time, she steals another kiss from male-Natsuru, FRENCH-STYLE.

Plus, SHE JUST FUCKING DID IT IN FRONT OF EVERY OTHER GIRL WITH AN INTEREST IN HIM TOO. Just. Like. That. Well played, Shizuku, well played.

On the other hand….

Sakura finally shows off her true(?) colors….

Evil bitchy whore is pretty evil.

©2009 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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About two years have passed since the end of the UN-Zentradi conflict and the survivors of its final battle have been rebuilding on Earth as best as they can. A few cities have been rebuilt, the survivors settled, and life goes on for the remnants of humanity and the Zentradi fleets. However not all is well both in the personal lives of some of the characters and in the wider human-Zentradi society. Chafing under the constraints of a peaceful life, several Zentradi lash out at the world around them, while others leave the settlements to either die or become bandits. Not only does this cause social friction and immediate destruction, it’s also leaving a substantial segment of the population disaffected and susceptible to being influenced by demagogues. War is the easy part, now the survivors have to create and manage the peace.

Hikaru patrols the wasteland with his flight, checking for survivors or signs of trouble.

The Zentradi bombardment pretty much sanitized Earth’s surface, but life has a way of hanging on.

Look who’s hiding out here. Durable little things, one survived the bombardment while another managed to survive a colony’s impact on the moon in Zeta Gundam.

The remnants of the war are scattered about all around the Earth.

After Hikaru takes some time looking around on the ground, he thinks back to what Roy told him about the job of being a pilot. For Roy it was about protecting the woman he loved, and Hikaru gets some pangs of guilt about not being into Minmay as much as he thinks he should be and flies off to the city where she is having a concert. Back in (New) Macross City, Misa is cleaning out Hikaru’s prefab house and comes across his photo album. It’s filled with old pictures of Minmay from around the start of the war, and she’s a little indignant about this seeming obsession with a failed love. So before leaving she turns the Minmay poster on his wall upside down! Misa, you’re my hero! Sitting at a café outside she sees Millia and Max with their child and for a second imagines herself and Hikaru in the same position. She leaves after a noisy pair of soldiers show up listening to Minmay on a boombox, but the gears in her head start turning.

Two of the new settlements are built around the largest capital ships that managed to make it to Earth roughly intact. A good idea since building materials are right there, but I’d be kind of afraid to live in Grante under that Zentradi battleship, it looks like it could fall over eventually.

Make him pay you with kisses.

Stop living in the past Hikaru. The future is bright and even cleans up your mess.

Masterstroke!

The Jenius family and their eventual ace-of-aces child makes Misa think about the future.

Over in Grante City Hikaru arrives looking for Minmay and comes upon her and Kaifun talking so he hangs back for the moment. Kaifun is drinking heavily like the pathetic scum that he is, complaining about the meager pay they’re getting for Minmay’s concerts. To which Minmay replies that they shouldn’t even need to be paid when everyone is just scraping by, much less demand more. That spine Minmay’s been starting to grow finally kicks in and she tells Kaifun that they shouldn’t see each other for awhile, and she walks off worried about her situation, Kaifun, and Hikaru. As this happens Hikaru gets an emergency call from Misa in the command center. Three Zentradi have stolen Regults and are attacking a civilian area. She chastises him heavily for going off to meet Minmay while on patrol, her anger at his irresponsibility heightened by the fact that it was Minmay he went to see. Hikaru’s current flight members aren’t the best pilots, but eventually Hikaru shows up and quickly deals with the Zentradi, disabling their Regults. The last image is that of the Zentradi in Hikaru’s gunsight running away from his VF-1S. I have to wonder if he shot them, pursued and apprehended them, or just let them go. I think the last one is unlikely.

Keep drinking Kaifun, maybe you’ll pass out and choke on your own vomit and then we can be rid of you.

You tell that punk ass lush!

Kaifun dumbstruck, though I’d rather he just be struck…by the backhand of a Valkyrie.

Rioting Zentradi began firing indiscriminately, though Hikaru’s flight managed to lure them away from the city.

Wondering why she hasn’t been promoted, she goes on to say she also has better looks than Vanessa. Oh Shammy, we love you but you’re just not the brightest bulb in the box.

Hikaru deals with the Regults Millia style by shooting off their legs. I liked how the fight was in the rain.

After returning to base Hikaru runs into Misa who asks about whether he got to see the person that he went to see. While she’s probably happy that he didn’t talk to Minmay, this is merely a ploy to put him off balance before her true love attack begins. She runs up from behind him and gives him a pink envelope and then walks off smiling. Inside are three ri-god-damn-diculously adorable photos of her to add to his photo album and increase the album’s win levels by over 9000%. There’s a reason why she’s in charge of the Valkyries instead of just in one, for her grasp of strategy and tactics is both broad and deep, in love and in war.

Oh Hikaru, stop your stalking and see the true love that is stalking you!

At first I thought this was one of those high school love letter things. Misa, forgive me for ever doubting that you would stoop to such immature levels. Your direct attack on Minmay’s place in Hikaru’s photo album is both bold and inspiring!

I wonder if it’s Shammy’s pet?

CUTE OVERLOAD!!!

And one serious one to round out the three.

While episode 28 deals primarily with the human characters and what they are doing after the war, episode 29 tells us a lot about the challenges of integrating the Zentradi and how they are trying to deal with living in peace. The opening scene is a skeletal Zentradi corpse propped up against a piece of wreckage. As the winds continue their constant howling its hand falls off, revealing that it was clutching a box with a Minmay doll in it. It’s an amazing sequence, telling you everything about the current Zentradi situation in just a few shots. The deaths from the war and of those who leave the cities, the desperation that comes through from the positioning of the skeleton, and the sad worship of and frustration with human culture seen in the way the soldier was clutching the doll; it’s pretty powerful. Elsewhere the singer who inspired such adoration is having troubles of her own, being unaccustomed to singing before a tiny audience in an exclusive club. Kaifun arranged this gig because the smaller crowd could pay more, but Minmay isn’t even sure what she’s singing for anymore.

Pictures worth thousands of words.

How do you get people who only know war to adjust to a peaceful life? Macross is dealing with some interesting DDR (disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration) issues.

It may be an exclusive club, but it has to be more than a little demoralizing for Minmay to perform before such a small crowd.

So Kaifun, so far you’ve got: Lust for your cousin, Envy of Hikaru, Pride for encouraging people who need it not to take military assistance, Gluttony for alcohol, and now Greed when trying to get even more out of people who have little. Just need some Sloth and Wrath and your damnation will be complete.

Minmay had enough of Kaifun’s douchebaggery and goes back to Nyan Nyan in Macross City to stay the night with her relatives. She’s glad to see them, but afterwards she goes into her room where the repaired walls remind her of Hikaru. She takes out the medal he gave her and for a moment thinks that he’s calling for her, only to find an empty street outside her window. The next day she runs into the Genshiken Team, who have now taken up jobs as laundry cleaners. They’re overjoyed to see her and this cheers her up a bit. Though shortly afterwards she sees Hikaru and Misa walking together and chatting. When he stops to tell Misa that he added the pictures of her to the album he turns just enough to make eye contact with Minmay, who breaks out in tears and runs away. Hikaru and Misa then chase after her, but she doesn’t stop.

At least some of the Zentradi have managed to make new lives for themselves.

Maybe it’s the way she’s dressing lately, but Minmay is certainly looking more like an adult lately.

Sucks to be you.

While I’m not on Minmay’s side or anything, I think Noe would consider these to be True Tears. They are however, futile.

Minmay and the pursuing Misa and Hikaru then run right into another incident with Zentradi that are unable to adjust to life in peacetime. Two Zentradi have started smashing cars and are arguing with the mayor and his wife. Another Zentradi tries to calm them down, but he’s pushed to the street by one of the rioters. Hikaru tries to defuse the situation, just as four Destroids show up to enforce the peace. But despite getting flicked by the finger of one of the Zentradi, Hikaru calls for the Destroids to hold their fire. His act of bravery seems to get through to one of the Zentradi, but with something of a regretful look in his eyes he just says ‘so long’ to Hikaru and starts leaving town with his accomplice.

Amuro Rey Zentradi is not adjusting well to peace.

Why are the missile pods on opposite sides with these two? Cost cutting or actual reason?

Looking down the barrel of a gun, son of a gun.

Hikaru being GAR for peace.

It seems my fears about the Zentradi’s unrealistic expectations were right.

It is in this set of circumstances that two plans are being set in motion. Kamjin and Laplamiz meet in Kamjin’s command ship buried under snow near one of the poles. There, they discuss a plan to recruit all the disaffected Zentradi into a force and then probably make trouble for the rest of the humans and Terran Zentradi. Meanwhile in Macross City Archivist Exedol and Commander in Chief Global brief Hikaru, Misa, Millia, and Max on a plan to seize a Zentradi manufacturing satellite. The extent of the entire Zentradi force is unknown, and Earth will need the ability to build more ships should another Zentradi fleet arrive to try and determine what happened to the last one.

Always the hothead.

For shame Laplamiz. What would Millia think if she knew you were involved in this?

He couldn’t have picked a more able team.

The episode ends with the same corpse from the start. This problem isn’t going away any time soon.

Final Thoughts: – Having the show deal in such detail with the reconstruction and reintegration of both sides is very interesting and a welcome change from most anime series. It’s also personally interesting to me since so much of what I study is post-conflict situations.

- I’m wondering where Captain Britai is. Unless I missed something I don’t believe they showed his death during episode 27. I hope he’s still around, he needs to Brght-slap some sense into Laplamiz and the other malcontents.

- The threat of future Zentradi attacks hasn’t gone away, and I’m wondering what the rest of the Zentradi are thinking at this point.

- Minmay is redeeming herself and is something of a tragic figure. Hopefully things turn out well for her in the end…just not with Hikaru!

- I absolutely love time skips in series, such as the one in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, because it gives you a much more complete view of the world and the characters. However I was a little surprised that little progress seemed to be made on the love story aspect of Macross during the past years.

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Honestly if it’s a futon it can’t be THAT nice.

This post is a bit late but I’ve decided that’s okay since I won Nanowrimo meaning I’ve finished the first draft of my fifth book! I promise from now on to attempt more than one update per week. In the words of Kobato, Mabdese will do her best!

This episode was too fun. It features Kohaku and Shuichiro from Wish (a lesser loved CLAMP mini-series). This episode made me gush over all these characters again and I had to stop what I was doing, run into the other room, find my Wish manga, and read the manga to the end before I could write this. In this episode Kobato cheers herself on with more “ganbare!” then ever, condones child labor, nurtures her stalking fetish, learns a little bit about love and is given a time limit to collect “candy” by the scariest bunny ever.

Trees make me sad too, or something.

Kobato starts off her morning with a walk around the neighborhood. She does all the stereotypical things one should do including smelling the roses. She stops when she sees a woman in the distance starring at a tree with tears running down her face.

Are you really asking your stuffed animal that?

Ioryogi starts talking to the woman when Kobato approaches her and and Kobato tells him he has to act like a stuffed animal. But this isn’t just any woman, it’s Kohaku – an angel from heaven. Ioryogi tries to show off by asking Kohaku if she knows him.

“Uh, Spot?”

Turns out that Kohaku kind of knows him, but really only his name and really actually only his other name, Iorogi. Kohaku has to run off and water the flowers and Kobato has to get to her job so they part ways.

That’s probably a good sign.

Kobato is her usual space cadet self and spends probably most of the morning starring at this tree in different ways trying to make herself cry like Kohaku.

He’s just sad he can’t explode her with mind lasers.

Kobato: Child Labor Supporter!

Since she hasn’t done a lick of work all the children come and help Kobato clean up the leaves while no doubt she ponders how to heal Kohaku’s broken heart. After work she does the thing she loves to do most…

Secret Agent Kobato doesn’t actually know how to conceal herself!

She goes spying. Is there going to be an episode where she doesn’t sneak around and spy on people? It’s kind of a dubious way to heal hearts. I’m sure even I could figure out your innermost secrets by stalking you for two days.

The happy couple <3

Not only is she spying on them but she also follows them back to their house. While that shows a certain degree of dedication it also falls in the “things my creepy ex did” category. Kohaku is watering the plants when Kobato walks into her yard. Which is creepier still!

This is my favorite moment. It’s the way he just SAYS it.

Kohaku not only forgives Kobato for wandering into her house and spying on her but also apologies for getting them wet like it’s her fault. Angels are way too nice! She apologies so much they have a big long girl talk about Kohaku’s boyfriend, Shuichiro. Kohaku explains that anytime she is happy and thinking about him she cries. I think that’s a red flag in relationships…

+10 points for best explanation to Ioroyogi!

Kobato wants to heal Kohaku’s heart. Kohaku mentions that Shuichiro doesn’t have time to go on dates in amusement parks and Kobato take this a sign of how to fix their love.

Impossible! No one reads newspapers!

Kobato goes and consults said newspaper for more information.

$30 is not that much money.

Luckily after leaving the store she sees a place where they’re raffling off amusement park tickets (it’s the third place prize) but Kobato doesn’t have a lotto ticket to enter the raffle. When she walks away one flies by and she reaches out to grab it…

♪ I believe I can fly ♪

With the ticket in hand (and a complimentary swim in the river) Kobato is ready to play the raffle game. She spins the wheel and out pops a red ball! A winner is her!

I was not aware there were prizes this crappy.

Bummed out Kobato heads home but bumps into Fujimoto-san on the way who is delivering newspapers. Kobato asks him if he works in the pizza place too and he says he does.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

Kobato notices that Fujimoto-san was carrying some amusement park tickets and she kind of freaks out.

“Uh, dude, that’s mine” says Fujimoto.

This is not an equivalent exchange.

Fujimoto lets her deliver all the papers for the amusement park tickets since she really seems to want them and he doesn’t care. I wonder if he also took the crocodile since it doesn’t appear Kobato’s room later.

Stop being polite and take the damn ticket!

Kohaku apologizes and keeps saying she can’t take the ticket even though Kobato is delivering papers for her to have the tickets. Luckily our hero steps in.

This is possibly THE MOST Japanese sentiment ever.

And they lived happily ever after!

Kobato is still spying on them after they get their tickets and go to the amusement park. One of these days someone is going to arrest her. As she leave the bunny from the eyecatch floats down from the sky.

Usagi-san speaks in pink bubbles of psychic energy and GIGGLES the whole time. I’m a little freaked out.

Usagi-san reveals that Kobato only has four seasons (one year for those of you who were having trouble at home) to fill her bottle or her wish won’t be granted! Then he floats into the sky giggling like the Mad Hatter.

You ain’t never gettin’ that wish sister.

Kobato is surprised to see there isn’t a new “candy” in the jar but she didn’t heal Kohaku’s heart she just helped her go on a date. Kohaku was already happy which does not qualify for heart healing status apparently.

Today’s grade: MINUS 100 points!

He might as well add “also you suck at this!” after everything he says.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this episode because I loved Wish and I don’t remember them showing up in Tsubasa. I’m starting to think either Kobato doesn’t need to eat OR she’s just been eating out of trash cans since she doesn’t get paid. I’m also going to be angry if that giant stuffed crocodile doesn’t show up in subsequent episodes. Speaking of that I learned a new word today! わに (wani) means crocodile. I guess I somehow missed that when we were doing our animal unit.

Now that Kobato only has a year to fill up her bottle I’m hoping she can heal multipule hearts at once in the next episode. Or perhaps the size of the candy can be bigger if the person is really broken hearted! Also of note Kobato has a habit of saying “Kobato will do her best!” at an alarming rate. She said it at least five time in this episode I feel like she’s beginning to suffer from self-esteem issues.

Keep on fighting Kobato, I’m cheering for you!

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Well that certainly is a different kind of R&R…

So my sorry ass has been put under the tender loving care of JMB and that means I have less time to fanboy Sawako and her first SATURDAY NIGHT of her high school years. So after the glorious defeat of Vichy-tan’s Girl bully thrust it was time for Sawako take a bit of R&R after doing a “backhand blow” of her very own. Yosiada wants to have a Ramen Revenge and seems to have a penchant for ranting about ramen. Sawako seems to like rants and it was a fairly innocent night though it seems Yoshida and Ryuu have a very complicated relationship and history. I hope that it will come out more later, but for now it seems Yano had her own fun trolling Kazehaya while feeling up Sawako and making the “gentlemen” fume with indignation. Kazehaya gets the honor of escorting her home. Fortunately it seems that Mii-chan smiles upon them and gifts them with a gorgeous DELICIOUS DECULTCHA night sky to admire. The forboding continues however as Kazehaya start feeling unjustified hatred towards Yano and Yoshida for building up skinship with Sawako. At least for now Ryuu demonstrates proper manly behavior in his dealings with Yoshida whom he sent off blushing…

At any rate since I am stuck doing training for a long time I’ll leave it to EO to carry on this series while I take the secondary role. With any luck I will have more down time later so it’s not too much of a rush.

EO’s Unadulterated Adoration of Sawako

After the intense conflict of the past few episodes, this time we get a well deserved break. Seriously, the past few weeks have really put me on edge, expecting the next attack to follow quickly on the heels of the first. But it’s alright cause it’s Saturday night. This episode there are so many happy Sawako moments as she hangs out with her friends that it almost made be forget the trauma of recent events. Still, we must remain ever vigilant to those who would seek to harm our Sawako and her refreshing way of life. We also got to know Ryuu better this time, and I have to say he’s a man after my own heart. Witty commentary and comebacks, joking yet subtly honest hints to Chizu, and he even saves time and hassle with his choice of hairstyle. And by looking through old yearbooks, a fine form of open source intelligence (OSINT), the allies finally have a name to put to the face of the Vichy-tan threat: Kurumi. But thoughts of future confrontations recede into the background as we get some Sawayakyaaaa-worthy moments of Kazehaya and Sawako walking home together, Kazehaya’s flimsy pretense for walking with Sawako only serving to make the couple even cuter.

No ‘cooking moe’ for our Sawako! Her skills are many and varied.

The red telephone just rang! This is it people, this is the day we’ve trained for! Go to FRIENDCON level 1!

OH GODS THE CUTE!

Precisely! Even Miyamoto Musashi only went through 60 duels. 99 has got him beat by more than 50%.

Now with a name and a proper mugshot the manhunt can begin! Last episodes’ defeated were merely her pawns!

Ryuu’s commentary is propelling him to ‘great secondary character’ status.

Good man! I too rock the ‘bozu’/buzzcut for its simplicity and lack of maintenance.

EO’s DAAAWWWW of the week: the subtle smile as Kazehaya enters.

Getting along so well now that they have the chance.

Practicing her Gendo pose.

Beautiful shot of the cute couple set against the Milky Way.

Watercolor effect backgrounds, astronomy, and lots of empty space. It’s like they made this shot just for me!

EO’s Scramble to Finish the Post

Things being hectic for Crusader lately, I’ll be taking over primary duty for Kimi ni Todoke until further notice. Hopefully things will settle down for him and he can return to lead the posts, but until then I’ll do my utmost to bring you continued coverage, dramatic military-historical interpretations, and undying adoration of Sawako. With that said, I’d like to get this post out the door tonight so it doesn’t get too far behind schedule. As such my extra coverage will be a little brief this time (basically just expanding on my secondary comments/screencaps section.) So here’s a quick recap in images.

Sawako’s mom has perfected her teasing face.

Sawako already sees their potential and wishes the future happy couple well.

Sawako’s fear is certainly understandable, but once she conquers it she shall be all the stronger for it.

Kazehaya was in such a hurry to get to hang out with Sawako he started to see time.

Doing some MGS-style avoidance of Pin.

Inside Kazehaya finds himself attacked on two fronts.

Short people got no reason…

Hmm, expert level tease-hint combo, or Ryuu being tsundere?

Kazehaya is still working on his Tytania contemplation pose, but with time he may get there.

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Tomo’s right. That is kinda hawt. Sora no Otoshimono sure shows the rest of the titles this season on how to do fanservice properly.

Tsun-tsun Nymph is cute.

This part really cracks me up. Mikako is a real devil.

Best part? Mitsuki ‘accidentally’ getting a real gun and going nuts about winning the 1mil yen.

Uh… Mitsuki-san? You’re gonna kill him if you really shoot him to win this clusterfuck.

Admittedly though, the episode got upstaged by the serious business part between Nymph and Ikaros, which finally sheds light on Ikaros’ origin and the reason that Nymph’s on Earth. Weird that they combined it with the survival game part though.

One of the little things that impressed me was how quickly Hayamin switched from the deadpan Ikaros voice to the “revived” version. Hearing her go all serious suddenly, pwning Nymph, and then pleading for her to retreat before she utterly destroyed her was dramatic, to say the least of that performance of hers.

Sure hope to see more serious stuff in the show, even though I am pretty enjoying the mindless entertainment bits pretty well.

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