Episode 25

Garderobe and Artai begin a large scale fight. Shizuru soon returns to join the otomes, to Natsuki’s satisfaction. That’s still not enough, but luckily Arika, Mashiro, Mai and Mikoto arrive just in time. Miyu dives underwater to the ruins of Fuuka Academy. Tomoe shows up to fight Arika. Some slaves activate the anti-materialiser, so the otomes de-materialize. This causes Arika to fall from the sky, but Chie catches her. She’s stabbed by Tomoe, but it fine. Midori soon shows up to fight against Tomoe. Youko tells Arika and Mashiro to hold hands and this returns Arika’s robe to her. She and Mashiro then fly toward the anti-materialiser, but Tomoe shows up again to stop them. Arika destroys Tomoe’s robe and she falls from the sky but lives. Then they reach the room with the anti-materialiser. Arika makes a brief sad speech to Rena and then destroys the capsule. She briefly hugs Rena and then returns in Rena’s robe. Nagi soon tells Nina to activate the harmonium and a giant Nina shadow appears as a result.

It’s difficult to write about episodes that have so much combat. I tried though, but any writing can’t do this episode justice. It’s something that simply has to be seen first hand. It was one of the best episodes yet. It was nice to see Tomoe be betrayed by Chie and then humiliated. It’s a shame she lived though. How the heck did she survive that fall? The best scene was the one where Arika got to speak to her mother though. It was quite sad to watch but beautifully done. I look forward to watching the last episode now. I’ve spoiled some of it, but just from pictures. I haven’t read any summaries yet, so I can’t wait to see what happens.

Episode 26:

Whatever Miyu did in Fuuka academy returns the otome’s powers. Some go to fight the giant Nina while other’s go toward the Harmonium. Arika and Mashiro go to the room with Nina and Nagi. Nina and Arika get into a fight and Nina somehow sucks Arika into space. Somehow they can breathe too. I think Sunrise was just trying to add more Gundam references here. During their fight, Arika manages to get through to Nina, but the Harmonium bursts and transforms Nina into a really ugly thing, as seen in OP 1. Mashiro tries to stop the Harmonium, but can’t get near it and winds up bleeding. Back at the battle, Arika and Nina use giant, Gundam like blades on each other. Arika stabs Nina and she becomes less ugly as a result. Nina’s contract with Nagi ends. Nagi, meanwhile, is taken captive by the otomes and Sergey is taken to the hospital. Nina starts to fall, but Arika flies toward her and holds her in a rather yuri-ish manner. Eventually they must get back though, because Arika is later seen at a ceremony being her usual clumsy self, where Mashiro becomes queen again. Nina has cut her hair and is with Sergey, who has survived. When he wakes up, he’s lost his memory and doesn’t know who Nina is or even who he his. Nina’s okay with this, because they’re going to start over. It’s revealed that Nina changed the picture in her locket to one of Arika, Erstin and herself.

Yet another series has come to an end. It’s always a relief but sad at the same time. I really liked the ending here. It was much better then HiME’s ending, which was a quite disappointing one. I’m pleased that Erstin stayed dead. She was incredibly awesome, but they had no good reason to revive her. The battle between Arika and Nina was excellent. It wasn’t really believable and just screamed Gundam to me, but it was still quite cool looking. I could’ve done with Nina’s transformation being a little less ugly though. The very last scene was also touching. I was first questioning why Nina wouldn’t be horrified at the thought that Sergey lost his memories, but then I realized that there are at least two reasons why. The first is probably that they had a pretty rocky relationship toward the end and if they could start fresh, Sergey wouldn’t have had to know about Nina’s betrayal to Nagi and even the love triangle between Nina and Arika. The next could be because of how Arika treated Nina. She was willing to give Nina another chance, even after all she did. Maybe that effected Nina enough that she’d be willing to start things fresh from here. The fact that she cut her hair also makes me think that. In Japan, girls often cut their hair after a relationship ends and they’re going to start anew. Really, all I can do is speculate, so I think I’ll stop here. I can’t wait for the upcoming OAV.

In the water, Hajime and Tsugumi get to see Ai and Sentarou’s past. Sentarou used to protect Ai when other kids picked on her. They thought that she was an evil spirit. Sentarou got beat up on one occasion, which Ai was resentful for. Soon, Ai and Sentarou learn that Ai was one of the girls selected to be sacrificed to the mountain god. Ai’s parents tell Sentarou to protect Ai. He agrees to do so, but while he helps Ai, bad things happen in the village. One day, Ai and Sentarou are together, while Ai is bathing in the river. She comments that the moon looks beautiful and wishes things could stay this way forever. Sentarou suggests that maybe the two of them should leave the village together. Ai doesn’t really hear him though but it’s too late anyhow. The villagers show up and capture Ai. Sentarou is forced to watch as AI and her parents are beat and thrown into a grave. Sentarou is forced to bury Ai. He doesn’t want to, but it pressured to do so. Ai feels betrayed, saying that she believed in him. Soon others start to bury Ai, so Sentarouis able to run off. Later that night, Sentarou wakes up as Ai escapes her grave. He sees her burning down the village and runs away. In present time, Tsugumi says that she can’t understand Sentarou, but Hajime says that he can.

Another episode that I really loved. It’s almost impossible to watch this and not feel bad for Ai. I pity Sentarou as well though. He had to go through quite a lot of suffering himself. While I think that if he wanted to, he could have rebelled and not broken Ai’s trust, he was also concerned about his own life. There’s that and the fact that he had to choose between Ai and his father, who was one of the people most involved in the persecution of Ai. Anyway, I’m pleased that I now know why Ai is so strongly concerned with having her revenge on Sentarou. Not only did she swear revenge on everyone in the village, but her hate for Sentarou is very personal. It’s very sad to think that while the two could have been lovers, circumstances bought them so far apart. I’m such a sap for these things though. I’m anxiously awaiting next week’s conclusion now. Then it’ll be Tsugumi’s turn to get revenge, but on who?

Aruto is looking at the moon, but doesn’t seem to notice the rabbit flying by it. He’s distracted by Kiraha though, who he’s promised to spend the next day with. Kiraha’s decided it’s a date. That has to wait though, because the keys around their necks start to glow and they’re sucked inside Aruto’s book. The Alice twins tell them that they have to save their world and then the two are separated. Aruto meets Arisu again. Kiraha winds up landing on top of an Alice historian named (seriously) Jack, who was attacking Kisa. Kisa’s pleased to see Kiraha of course. They eventually meet up again with Aruto and Arisu. It’s then time to begin their mission. With the help of the Alice Historian Moyu, they head to the fortress and meet various strange opponents. At a point, they’re helped by Akane. When they finally reach the fortress though, Jack stops them and uses vines to send them all back. To get Moyu to launch her arm all the way to the castle, Kiraha screams at the top pf her lungs that she really hates Aruto. Once they cross the bridge, she tells him that she was lying and actually loves him very much. Now they’re left with entering the castle. The girls use their keys, but there’s one key hole left. Aruto tries his key, but realizes that he can’t transform. Luckily, Kirika shows up. She was eaten earlier, but an Alice historian saved her. Now they can get inside. All their former opponents are here to fight them though. However, they all seem to have back problems so they lose. Takion and Riddel are now free though, so Takion gives them all roses as presents (while singing -_-;) As things turn out, this was just a dream of Kiraha’s. Aruto was reading her a story and she fell asleep. Aruto takes her to her bed and tucks her in. She says that she loves Aruto in her sleep.

That was weird. I had no clue what the heck was happening throughout this episode and it seemed pretty pointless, but it all made sense in the end. For once, an episode being a dream actually made it better. I was definitely enjoying it in the first place, but the fact that this was Kiraha’s dream made it make a lot more sense. Also, it was kind of sad. It was nice to see everyone happy together again and it seems that in Kiraha’s subconscious, she wanted that too. One thing that I found pleasing is that this served as a nice wrap up as well as a fun, weird thing. It shows that Kiraha and Aruto have moved on and are back to a normal kind of life. Aruto’s still a little angsty though. Kiraha seems quite contented that she’s got a chance with Aruto again. As much as I’d prefer an Aruto/Arisu and Kiraha/Kisa ending, I don’t think that has much of a chance of happening now and I’m willing to accept Aruto and Kiraha as a couple. If this were 26 episodes, then maybe they’d develop their life afterwards a bit more, but it’s not, so I’m left to fanaticize. Oh well. I had more fun with this series then I ever thought, so I can accept a vague, open ending. I definitely want the manga to be releases in the US, because that supposedly provides development and information on the other Alice Historians. They all got pretty screwed in the anime, but they certainly look like interesting characters. Well, that’s all I’ve got to say about this. I’m going to miss Eikyuu Alice Rondo, especially Kisa-chan and her yuri antics, desu no.

Episode 11:

There’s a love letter writing contest being held and the prize is a giant chocolate heart. Mamoru doesn’t get the big deal, but every girl in town entered it. One night, Mamoru reads Yuuna’s letter and finds it to be pretty ridiculous. However, Yuuna wins. Hotaru and Yamame fed some of the entries to a goat, but I don’t think that changed things much because there was a ton left. After the contest, Yuuna decides to give Mamoru her prize and her letter. Mamoru turns it down, saying that he doesn’t like Belgian chocolate and that their relationship isn’t like that. Yuuna starts to cry and runs off, but gets hit by a car. It turns out that she only broke her arm, but Mamoru is upset because it was his fault. To make things worse, Mamoru’s father tells him that he’s getting replaced as Yuuna’s protector. He has to go back to train. Mamoru fights his replacement, Hinomori Tasuke, and is easily defeated. He’s got no choice but to go, however he’s allowed one more day with Yuuna. On this day, they walk home from school holding hands like when they were kids.

Things are developing really well here. I love it when humor shows try to be serious. They really can’t do it but they’re still enjoyable because it adds plot to things. Some of this episode again made me think of Ranma. A love letter writing contest seems like something that they’d pull in that series, except then it would be an anything goes martial arts love letter writing contest. Anyway, I’ll get back to this series. The ending of this episode was really sad. Mamoru’s farewell was simple but touching. The whole car crash thing amused me. That seems to be a trend lately, years after the infamous scene in Kiminozo. It’s been done recently on Jigoku Shoujo, Canvas 2, and now this. As I’ve already watched the episode after this, I’ve got nothing else to say.

Episode 12:

Yuuna, who believes Tasuke is Mamoru, is now involved in a relationship with him. It’s revealed in Mamoru’s home that there’s been a bit of a conspiracy. The Hinomori tribe, in which Tasuke comes from, hates the Kagemori tribe. The car accident that Yuuna was involved in was no accident. Now Yuuna is in danger again and Tasuke is after a secret scroll. At Mamoru’s house, Yuuna realizes that Tasuke isn’t Mamoru and pushes him away. Then Mamoru shows up so Tasuke knock Yuuna out and forces Mamoru to give him the scroll. However, Tsubaki, Yamame and Hotaru show up to take Yuuna away while Mamoru fights Tasuke, The Tasuke he was fighting turns out to be fake and the real one defeats the girls to capture Yuuna again. Mamoru shows up to fight him again but loses again. Yuuna begins to cry, upset at herself for not realizing the whole time that this person wasn’t Mamoru. Mamoru is given the strength to fight again and the girls return. Tasuke is finally defeated. Yuuna tells Mamoru that she’s going to protect him too now. However, she winds up tripping over a banana peel and forgets everything that happen this day. She continues her relationship with Mamoru though, who’s now back for good.

Well, the ending was a bit cheap but I suppose it was fitting. I’m going to believe that Mamoru and Yuuna’s relationship is now romantic rather then friendly, because while she did forget this event, I don’t think she forgot the whole love letter thing. I’m glad that they’re together, but I do feel bad for the other girls. I was kind of rooting for Tsubaki. It’s also kind of sad that Airi was barely in this final story as well. She’s a favorite character of mine, so I wish she had more involvement. I’m glad that Tasuke was defeated. He was quite the prick, messing with Yuuna’s heart. In all, I was pleased with this series. I decided to watch it because it looked like it would be fun and it proved to be just that. It wasn’t epic or thought provoking, but since I didn’t expect that, I’m perfectly contented with what I got. The ending was pretty open, so that makes a second season possible. That would be fun, but I doubt it would happen.

Tim is attacked by the monster created through project Eden, so Leon and the other kids join the rescue party. Kyoko and Sheldon soon become a part as well. Inside Eden, Adam gives Eve various animals, including a snake that she fights off and some adorable elephants that she plays with. Her actions effect what Eden does. Eden itself shows its true form, a creepy floating girl. The party decides that to stop it, they have to find something that Eve likes. Sven eventually realizes that it’s fireworks. Leon decides to make fireworks but is unable so Train eventually goes to save him. Soon after, Rins and Eve clone take the kids away from the battleground. Everyone else begins fighting the giant monster.

Another excellent episode. Plenty of Leon screentime makes me very happy though. As much as I like Leon, I have to agree with Train for calling him “gaki.” What he did was incredibly stupid and only resulted in him passing out. Poor Leon. There was some pretty funny things this week though. I’ve greatly missed the antics between Janus and Rins, so I was pleased to hear them again. Also the various suggestions to what Eve likes were pretty funny. I laughed out loud at a couple. My personal favorite was Rins’ response “Sven.” It’s true though, and I liked Sven’s reaction. Next week, Eve and Sven pull a Nina and Sergey. Kidding. If that happens I’ll drop, even though next week is the second to last episode. Actually, it sounds like Creed will be back next week. That should be fun.

It’s revealed that Ai was once selected to be one of seven girls who get sacrificed. Ai’s childhood friend Sentarou built a temple and candy store on the site where the souls were sacrificed in their honor. Hajime and Tsugumi are also revealed to be descendants of Sentaro. Ai snaps when she remembers her past. She begins to attack Hajime and Tsugumi.

Wow, that was short. I don’t know why I wrote this up in the first place, because I wasn’t planning on doing this at all. I guess it has something to do with the fact that I loved this episode. Now that Ai’s past is returning to her, she’s gone completely insane. I didn’t expect that, but it’s pretty cool to see. She’s never been much of a hell girl, because while she looked creepy, she just didn’t seem evil. Now evil definitely work to describe her though. She has an age-old grudge that she wants to fulfill and to do that, she’s attacking innocents. I’d love to see the results of this. I didn’t get much out of the preview, but it looks pretty cool.

The tournament is officially over. My team was successful in winning the spirit award, but standing and jumping around for three days straight really killed my feet. It’s unfortunate that the tournament was probably rigged. Matches were done over again multiple times, including the final match. The teams in the winning alliance were apparently sponsored by the people who sponsored the regional, though I didn’t get the full story and I doubt I ever will. My team made it into the final eight, but was eliminated when our score was switched with another alliances. Not only was this rigged, but utterly disorganized. Regardless of the problems, I really had a blast. We hung out with another team, the Quantam Samurai, who really rocked! Congrats to them for winning the Engineering Inspiration award.

As for this weekend’s blogging, I’ve already written up quickie entries for Black Cat and Jigoku Shoujo, which will be up shortly. Since plenty of people are already covering them, no Mai Otome or Gate/Stay Night this week. However, I’ll certainly get up Kage Kara Mamoru. I haven’t even gotten to downloading it yet, so that won’t be for a while.

Tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, chances are high that I won’t get to post anything. I’ve got my final robotics competition of the year. If my team wins then there will be one more. Anyway, the only difference with this one is, I won’t have to leave New York for it. I’ll still be out for about 12 hours a day though and sleeping takes priority over blogging. Sorry about that. Hopefully, Jigoku Shoujo 24 will finish downloading so I can get it up today. Other then that, on Sunday I’ll write about what I feel like for the rest of my shows.

On a lighter note, Moy is back! It should be fun to read his thoughts on the crazy spring season.

Blondie, whose name I still don’t know, tells her sob-story of how she grew up with Takion. She learned his ideals but had a lot of resent toward him for always being too busy to spend time with her. After this, she stabs Takion with her key and he rapidly ages until his death. Kiraha gets angry, but Blondie goes after her next. Kiraha puts up a fight for awhile, while Aruto still sits by doing nothing but angst. Blondie gets at Kiraha by bringing up her feelings for Aruto and with this distraction, manages to pin her to the thing Arisu is trapped in. This jolts Aruto enough to get him to try and stop Blondie. Kiraha tells Aruto that he should use his abilities to write Arisu free. While he goes to do that, Blondie takes Kiraha’s story. She begins to rip it up, which (for the sake of fanservice, I suppose) causes Kiraha’s close to dissolve. Luckily though, Aruto was able to bring Arisu back to normal and once free, she saves Kiraha. Arisu and Kiraha team up against Blondie and Kiraha is about to steal her story, but Arisu makes her stop. It’s not her will for Blondie to die and she plans to stay in the unending world with them. She bids Kiraha and Aruto farewell and the two return home. They live a normal life with Kirika and (Yes!!!) Kisa-chan. Aruto’s still a bit depressed though.

Not bad, aside from the animation. I don’t like Blondie at all, so it’s a shame she didn’t die. Darn you Arisu! Part of my hate for her stems from my lack of knowledge of her name, admittedly. I know they said it, even in this episode, but I can’t make out what it is. I’m not really surprised about Kisa’s return. Under the circumstances of her death last week, she only vanished. She didn’t age like Takion did. In anime, you can always return from that. While I’m not a fan of revivals without explanation, I’ll let this one slide just because it’s Kisa-chan. Interestingly, the action part of the series is seemingly over. As with most previews for final episodes they didn’t tell us anything that would happen, so you never know. There could always be some surprise twist. Chances are 99:1 that Arisu will return next week. As for whatever else they have planned, I’m left waiting.

Thanks to a newspaper article and one of her teachers, Yuuna decides to dig for gold in her backyard. She winds up finding a door to a tunnel. Mamoru accidentally breaks the handle and investigates it later on. He discovers that it’s made of gold. After a talk with Tsubaki, he learns about a legend of mole creatures guarding a general’s treasure. When Mamoru returns home, he learns from his mother that Yuuna is missing. He finds a flashlight and her slipper and realizes that she has to have gone into the tunnel. He’s unable to track Yuuna though, because both Burumaru and Yamame’s rabbit have colds. Hotaru has a method to help him though, so the two enter the tunnel. Inside, they find both gold and mole monsters, but not Yuuna. Also, Hotaru tries to take advantage of the situation of being alone in the dark with Mamoru. Fortunately, Yamame and Tsubaki show up, very angrily. Mamoru fights the mole people with the flashlight and an earthquake soon occurs. The other girls forcefully take Mamoru out and make their escape. Mamoru immediately digs for Yuuna, but it turns out that Yuuna was never in the tunnel. Then Yuuna gets a call from Airi. The Earthquake destroyed her house. It’s learned the next day though that Airi found all the gold. I guess she’s still rich. ^_^ Yuuna still wants to discover a fortune, so Mamoru tells her to look on the school grounds. It turns out that there really was something there and Yuuna is attacked by ant monsters.

Okay… that was demented. Funny, but demented. There have been batter episodes then this one but it certainly had its moments. One of my favorites was Yuuna having the banana song as her ring tone. I question how she got that. I doubt she can download a song she wrote, so maybe she used the composer feature. If that’s the case then I want the directions for composing it for my phone. I couldn’t make it otherwise, because I’m not at all musically inclined. ^_^; Another fun thing was the ant monsters at the end. They were actually kind of cute. Next week is the finale and it’s an hour-long special with two episodes. I can’t wait to see how much randomness they can cram into this. I’d very much like a conclusive ending, but that usually doesn’t happen with harem shows. Go Tsubaki!