As Serena stated last week, she’s from the future. She explains to Tokito that Jin was destined to die so this is just the proper history. Tokito is angered by her talk and slaps her. Serena tells Tokito to believe in himself. He is himself, but Koichi isn’t fake. She also asks him not to forget her before running off, hurt. She thinks about how she loved Tokito as she leaves. Tokito is upset to watch her go. He decides to take Jin back to everyone. Before leaving, Tea reaches him. Tokito is surprised that she calls him by his real name. Meanwhile, a holographic projection of Koichi appears. Misuzu and knows that it isn’t Tokito, but the resistance believes otherwise. However, the person soon announces himself as Koichi Aizawa. He makes an announcement Didn’t catch most of it (which is why this show needs to be subbed. One of many reasons) but I think it was threatening. Afterwards, he’s actually concerned about what he said, because of Tea. The resistance members try to shoot missiles at him, but since it’s just a hologram, it does nothing. Misuzu thinks that Koichi is scary. After Tokito is reunited with his group and the rest of the resistance they’re all shocked to learn of Jin’s death. Jin is given a proper burial. However, afterwards Dara and the resistance seemingly turn on them. They’ve found that Tokito’s last name is Aizawa, which is the same as Koichi’s. Because they know that Koichi was once with Tea, they assume that she’s a threat, as well as Tokito. Tea reveals that she’s now regained her memories. Also, she’s not a human and in fact was an enemy. Tea, they think, was sent down by Koichi, but this was also because she wanted to meet the humans. When Dara also goes after Tokito, Misuzu defends him, saying that she knew him since childhood and knows that he’s himself. Tea agrees that this is the truth and that this doesn’t concern Tokito. She says that Tokito was probably Koichi’s idea. Tea allows the resistance to take her. Tokito tries to go after her, but Dara stops him. However, he also gives him a hint to get her back later. After this, Misuzu is very concerned. She goes into Tokito’s room, thinking of their past, and decides that they should go and save Tea together. However, she finds that his bed is empty and is deeply upset. Tokito has left on his own. He uses Dara’s advice to take a key from a drunk guard and gets to Tea. Fully understanding that Koichi and Tokito are different now, Tea is conflicted. Tokito asks her why she protected him from Koichi. She said that it was only because he was kind to her, so she wanted to fight with him. Tokito talls her that he’s here now and that they should leave together. They hug before escaping. They head out in the Silver Olynssis. Misuzu watches them and cries.

First, the animation quality went up from last week’s ugliness, but this was quite an important episode. I knew that Tea was unnatural, but I was surprised to learn that she isn’t human. I wonder if that means Serena isn’t human either, since they have similar abilities. I also didn’t expect the situation involving Tea this week to be resolved so fast. It worked out well though, because it created even more angst for poor Misuzu. I felt so bad for her, because while she had to accept the fact that Tokito loves Tea, she at least could hold on to the opportunity to go together with Tokito to rescue Tea. When she saw that Tokito had already left without her, that was just devastating for her. The insert song playing during this scene added to the tension. I think it’s time she moves on. How about getting with Koichi? The preview makes me think that’s a possibility. While I’ve been in love with the idea for that pairing ever since the alterations for the OP showed up, now I can say it might have a chance of happening. It’s going to be difficult to wait until next week.

-Haruhi and Jun dress as neko-mimi meido
-Haruhi wants to go to a dance party with Yuma.
-Haruhi has a dream involving the boy from her past attacking Yuma
-Ibuki attacks Haruhi, who’s saved by Anri
-Yuma sends Haruhi a message, saying he won’t dance with her at the dance party.
-Saya questions whatever exactly Ibuki’s up to, which gets her really mad
-Ibuki makes Haruhi’s dream a reality, sort of, since she’s the one who attacks Yuma
-Yuma uses his magic to save himself, but accidentally hurts Sumomo

Uh… wow. I was thinking to myself earlier today about this show’s lack of plot, but this episode just blew me away. Hopefully, I’ll have a better summary later on, but for now, I don’t want to mess this up with too many errors. Ibuki really hates Haruhi. I never trusted her, but I didn’t expect her to be so psycho, especially after the whole thing with Sumomo trying to be friends with her. It was really cool to watch though. I actually really enjoyed the action in this episode. I was quite certain that Yuma could use magic, but I didn’t expect it to be nearly so powerful. I also really enjoyed the scene with Haruhi, Anri and Ibuki on the rooftop. Despite Anri’s rivalry with Haruhi, it shows that she’s still a really good friend to her. I really enjoy Anri’s character. She’s an amusing tsundere, but she’s also a respectable person. As for my other favorite character, Jun got a little bit of screentime this week, but didn’t get to do nearly enough. He makes a very convincing maid though. There was also some development on Haruhi and Yuma’s romance. I’m not sure if I should consider it positive development, but it’s better than nothing. My main concern now is to find out just what happened to Sumomo. I’m pretty sure she’s alive and just badly hurt, but on the preview it looked like she was turning into a ghost or something. Well, I’ll have to figure out what this means next week.

Haruma and Choco see something about a white tiger on TV. Choco starts to get upset, so Haruma changes the channel. Choco reminds Haruma that he has to go to school so he leaves. On the way out, he sees Chitose, who’s noticed that Choco is sad. She suggests that they go to an amusement park, because she has tickets and things that it would make Choco happy. Choco goes to the place where Kuro used to live and looks at it sadly. Kakeru and Yurika come to see her. Yurika gives Choco the new Neko Nyan Dance CD as a present. Kakeru also gave her a present (some kind of food, but I didn’t catch what.) Later, that creepy-looking old man talks to Choco, also noticing her sadness. Choco explains that she’s sad whenever she thinks about Kuro, but she doesn’t want to forget him. The man suggests that she think of all the fun she had with Kuro. He takes Choco back to the apartment building and goes to his room, where he looks at a photo, in which the faces are covered by a glare. After that, he goes to Master’s bar. Master says, “That’s right. Today is your wife and daughters…” but we don’t get to hear what, as the man simply nods in acknowledgement. He hears Choco talking to Makoto excitedly outside. They’re headed to the amusement park, along with Haruma and Chitose. Once there, They enjoy the various attractions (or at least attempt it, as Chitose gets sick on the roller coaster and both she and Haruma are scared in the haunted house.) They stop for a luch break and remember back to how Makoto ound up joining them. When she heard that they were going to the amusement park to cheer up Choo, she immediately volunteered to come. Chitose explained that she only had three tickets. Makoto acted pathetic, reminding them that she didn’t get to go to the onsen or pool with them. Out of guilt, Haruma and Chitose let her join them. In the present time, Choco gets up to go to the bathroom, but when she’s done, sees a little girl crying. Meanwhile, Creepy Guy (I probably shouldn’t call him that, but until I can learn his name, I’ve got no choice) gets off a bus, carrying flowers. Choco talks to the girl and finds out that she’s lost. She volunteers to help the girl find her mother. Haruma and Chitose are starting to get worried because Choco hasn’t gotten back yet. Chitose goes to check the bathroom, but reports back with no luck. Haruma goes out to look next, telling the others to wait in case Choco returns. Makoto decides to go look too, leaving just Chitose. Choco and the little girl wind up trying to look from the ferris wheel. They still have no look, so Choco checks her notebook for a solution. The girl is starting to get cold, so Choco gives away her scarf. Eventually, her mother shows up. In the meantime, it turns out that Creepy Guy is at a grave site. Apparently, his wife and daughter are dead. The little girl’s (Yuki’s) mother talks with Choco. Yuki’s father is dead. Choco thinks that Yuki would be lonely and feels bad. Her mother says that she herself is very lonely because the person was dear to her. However, their memories keep them happy. Choco thinks of Kuro. She’s interrupted when Haruma calls her. He, Makoto and Chitose are waiting for her. Yuki and her mother have mysteriously disappeared. Creepy dude gets ready to leave the grave site, but he notices that the scarf that Choco gave Yuki has appeared there. On the way home, Choco and Makoto fall asleep on the bus. Haruma thanks Chitose for the day, because Choco became happier. Later, CHoco writes about the day in her journal, along with an entry about a dream she had where she was with Kuro.

The cuteness is back. This was a bit on the freaky side with the ghosts, but it was pretty interesting. I had expected pretty early on in the episode that Creepy Dude’s wife and daughter died. It surprised me though that they were Yuki and her mother. I was also a bit surprised by how much of a follow up this was to the previous episode. After seeing the preview, I thought it was a bit weird that they’d go straight to happiness after what happened last week, but I was glad that this wasn’t the case. In the beginning, Choco was still very upset, but this was really about how she dealt with the death of Kuro. With the help of Creepy dude(I must force myself to look up his name), who had also lost people close to him, as well as the ghosts of his family, Choco was able to get over it. I’m sure she’ll still miss Kuro, but she can now move on and become a maid next week for some reason. Chitose will also be joining her. The next episode looks like it will be full of fanservice, but for all those with a meido-complex, you won’t want to miss it. Hopefully there will be some plot development too. There’s only three episodes left. Knowing this type of series, they’ll probably cram an ending into the final two episodes, which will be painfully rushed but for some reason I’ll wind up liking it. Hope that’s the case.

This isn’t exactly a nomral post, though I will mention that this was a really good episode. It was done well, was a bit different than usual and was funny. As an added bonus, Mojo was for the most part not annoying.

The point of my entry is this. I must ask the world, why is it that Him is such a popular character? Because really, I don’t get it. Is it because he’s a gay, Satan look-alike? (Though he dosn’t look as satanic in this version with the green skin.) While I personally don’t see the appeal in that, I guess that would make someone interesting. Whatever the case, I still find Him just as creepy as the original version. I’ll stick with the ramen monster, thank you.

Hunter wakes up on an island and remembers what had happened previously. He finds Corona, Shadow and Venus unconscious. Conveniently, there’s a frying pan on the ground so he bangs on it to wake them up. They soon find Brutus and Magma, but Magma is stuck in vines, suspended upside down. Mewanwhile, Igneous and Lumen reach Numa. However, they won’t be able to return later because the ship was too damaged. Igneous is concerned about the others, but Lumen is convinced that they’ll catch up soon. He’s then distracted when a girl walks by, whom he immediately hits on. Sparkle, Hotarla and Grasshop are also in Numa and decide to follow Igneous and Lumen. Back with Hunter’s group, they decide to travel through a forest, but Corona is afraid. Aqune and Portia then appear in front of them, ready to fight. However, Aqune’s mask fully breaks and she transforms back. Portia also returns to herself and is happy to see Brutus again. Magma is touched by this. Corona sees Hunter and Aqune together and is rather annoyed (my respect points for her have just gone up 5000 times ^_^.) She thinks that maybe Aqune is just acting. Meanwhile, an old man is watching them and laughs. Corona is even madder to see that Hunter is allowing Aqune to come with them. Magma defends this, saying that if not, Aqune will be taken back by the Insectors (and that’s a problem?) and that Brutus and Portia would be separated. Then Buguese shows up. ^_^. Aqune hides behind Hunter, who transforms along with Corona and Magma. Magma and Brutus do a lot of damage to the Insector soldiers, but then something strange sucks them away. Corona still doesn’t trust Aqune and wants to stop this fight. She and Venus are sucked away as well. Hunter and Buguese clash while Aqune and Portia are sucked away next. Hunter goes in after her. Buguese is shocked and concerned for Aqune. (^_^!!!!!!!!!) Hunter and Aqune have no idea where they are, but are greeted by a woman who offers them food. While they eat, Hunter and Shadow question Aqune on why she’s stih the Isectors. They ask if she’s under a spell but she explains that it’s more complex. She says that she was given power from the Oracle to help others. That means all others. She then gives Hunter back the keys she has. She continues to say that she was with the Insectors for as long as she can remember. She considers them her family., She says she doesn’t remember anything before that, including how she became a Spider Rider. Hunter asks is she’ll return to them and Aqune replies that she’ll do what the Oracle wants. She just hopes that the fighting will end. Hunter wants to return now, but the woman tries to convince him otherwise. She shows him that Magma and Brutus are in this world and are happy. The same applies to Corona and Venus. Corona and Magma also try to convince Hunter to stay and relax. Hunter is told to think of something that makes him happy and appears on a beach with Corona and Aqune in swimsuits. (XD pervert.) Magma is also there, surfing on Brutus. Venus and Portia are getting tans (What?! XDD) Shadow tries to convince them that a battle spider is supposed to fight. The woman next tries to tell Hunter that this is better than fighting. Hunter argues that he doesn’t like fighting, but it’s his duty to help the Numans. The woman is eventually able to persuade Hunter to take off his manacle and give up a life of fighting. He and Shadow decide to stay in the paradise. When he’s about to throw away his manacle though, he and Shadow sense the Oracle’s pain. Hunter refuses to succumb and he and Shadow are returned to the forest. Everyone else is also bought back too. Then, a man appears before them.

Well, I’ve definitely got mixed feelings about this episode. It was a cool concept to have Hunter have to choose between a world of peace and his real life situation. It was obvious that in the end he’d want to return though. He’s a determined person. I mean his favorite quote is “akiramenai de” (never give up.) What pissed me off (and Corona too, much to my amusement) was the large amount of Hunter/Aqune. A long time ago, I shipped that pairing along wih my others, but that was a long time ago. Now I’m strictly Buguese/Aqune and Hunter/Corona. Now, I don’t want to start up any shipping wars, but that’s the fact and I’m stubbornly going to defend it. On the inverse side, this episode did also contain some Hunter/Corona and Buguese/Aqune. For one, there was Corona’s obvious jealousy. For another, there was that awesomeness scene where the Spider Riders got sucked away and Buguese called out Aqune’s name in concern. *melts* Yeah, I’m easily entertained. This episode also confirmed a fact that I was pretty certain of. Aqune helps the Insectors because she feels that she should help everyone and because they’re like a family to her. That’s got to be quite the dysfunctional family, but it’s cute. Okay, I’ll forgive the bits of Hunter/Aqune. I got what I wanted to an extent. Next, that woman in the paradise was so darned creepy. I think she’s the same person as the man who appeared at the end or was at least created by him. If so, what exactly does this guy want? I have a feeling that he was testing the Spider Riders (or Hutner in particular.) Can’t wait to see what happens next.

Hone-Onna is disguised as a teacher called Sone-sensei and is practicing with the swim team. At the school, a teacher called Baba Shouko scolds a student on the team, Nonohara, who refuses to cut her hair. She even threatens to cut the girls hair off himself. The general opinion of the students is that Baba Shouko doesn’t understand them so she hates them. Later, when Nonohara checks her e-mail, she receives a link to the Jigoku Tsuushin. However, the site she accesses looks a bit different. When she puts in Baba Shouko’s name, she gets an error message saying that her grudge isn’t strong enough. Every time she tries to submit the name, this occurs. Ren was watching this with his eye and reports back to the others. In hell, Wanyuudo is helping Hone-Onna apply medical pads to her back to help her recover from all the harsh exercise earlier. Kikuri is making this a difficult task for them. When they hear about the fake Jigoku Tsuushin, Ai is concerned. They find out that the only name entered into this site is Baba Shouko. This means the person who created it is likely from the school. The next day at the school, Hone-Onna discovers that a note has been posted from the “Jigoku Shoujo.” It lists the people who contacted her about sending Baba Shouko to hell. The teachers try to figure out who started this. Kurayami sensei calls in a student named Ikami Wakasa. It was traced that she sent out the e-mails about the Jigoku Tsuushin. Because she’s skilled with computers, she’s a likely suspect. While she tries to defend her position, she’s still suspended. Kurayami-sensei is upset about this. Meanwhile, Baba Shouko tells Hone-Onna that she doesn’t think Ikami was responsible. Later, Ikami gets a call from Kurayami-sensei, saying that Baba Shouko is really the one responsible because she hates the students who go against her. Kurayami urges Ikami to send Baba Shouko to hell. She knows how to get to the real Jigoku Tsuushin. Meanwhile Baba Shouko looks at a photo of herself with her husband and son. Ikami meets Kurayami at the school, who instructs her on how to use the Jigoku Tsuushin. She’s very excited about Baba Shouko being sent to hell. However, Ikami won’t do anything. It turns out that the person was really Ai. Ai calls Kurayami “Manaka Mami.” She had called Ai once in the past, but after learning that she would go to hell was too afraid to pull the string. The person she had wanted to send to hell was Baba Shouko, who was once her teacher. She had blamed Baba Shouko for not being able to go to her high school of choice and for her parents divorce. Therefore, she spread rumors about Baba Shouko, which caused her husband to divorce her. Eventually, Kurayami wound up working at the same school as Baba Shouko and saw that she was still harsh to her students. Therefore, she decided to try and get other students to send Baba Shouko to hell. Baba Shouko then enters the room. She’s aware that Kurayami and Manaka are the same person. She had assumed that when Manaka became a teacher, she had realized that they had to be harsh to the students so that they’re ready for society. It turned out that Manaka only got the job because it was easy. Baba Shouko doesn’t like the idea of sacrificing students, so she enters Manaka’s name on the real Jigoku Tsuushin. Ai hands her the doll and gives her the spiel. Manaka doesn’t know who’s name was enters and demands Baba Shouko to answer. Baba Shouko reveals to her what she did, as well as her reasoning. Ai’s associates all appear and then the string is pulled, sending Manaka/Kurayami to hell. A new teacher, Nihei Kyoko, is bought in as a replacement. She was once a student of Baba Shouko, but has come to follow her philosophies.

That was a very cool episode. It hardly followed the formula at all, despite being yet another filler focused on outside people. If there are more episodes like this in the future, then I will be one happy person. I’m really glad that this season in general has been less predictable than the first. I initially assumed that this episode would be about Nonohara’s grudge, but she turned out to be an unimportant character. I then assumed it would be about Ikami, but she too was used only to further the plot. In the end, it turned out to be all about Manaka/Kurayami and Baba Shouko. Baba Shouko seemed to be an obvious villain but instead turned out to be the one fulfilling a “grudge” this week. That doesn’t necessarily make her a decent person though. I understand that teachers need to be harsh to their students, but threatening to cut off their hair is going a bit too far. I’m glad I don’t attend that school. Manaka was also a very interesting character. It was certainly evil of her to be using the students to fulfill her grudge without having to go to hell. I wonder if she did succeed if she’d still go to hell anyway. Just using the Jigoku Tsuushin isn’t the only way to be sent to hell and being a bad person otherwise, I don’t think she could’ve just avoided being sent to hell because she didn’t pull the string that time in the past. I love a thought provoking episode. More please.

Tokito and Serena easily fight off the Gardeners. Everyone is surprised to see that he was fighting with Serena rather than Tea. Also, Tokito has gained a lot of support from the members of the resistance. He, Jin and Yuosuke discuss plans about how to find and deal with the sky door with Dara. Meanwhile, Serena begins to regret what happened because she took Tea’s place. She visits Tea and thinks to herself that she doesn’t even understand why she did what she did. Jin and the other pilots come in, surprising Serena. Tokito explains that they were looking for her because she’s their companion. The woman from the resistance who was looking after Tea was asleep, but after hearing them wakes up and informs them that Tea’s doing much better. Now that everyone is gathered, they discuss their plans. Airi is happy to learn that Bryan will be with them. Misuzu comments to Tokito that she’s concerned about the danger he’ll be in. Tokito thanks her but says that he understands this. However, he’ll have assistance from Dara. Serena assures Tokito that he’s strong and Tokito comments something along the lines that it’s because of Serena’s powers. Later, everyone attends a rally of sorts in which Dara speaks and they prepare for battle. Misuzu isn’t there and is instead angsting by Silver Olynssis. Afterwards, Tokito and Serena have a talk. Serena brings up her concerns about taking Tea’s role but Tokito says that he wants to protect Tea and wants to continue fighting with Serena. Serena still thinks he should fight with Tea. Meanwhile, the scientist from the resistance is busy looking up information on Koichi. Soon after, there’s a Gardner attack and Baluf also shows up. Dara’s vehicle is nearly crushed by fallen rocks. He evades, but the road is blocked. Tokito is ready for battle, but doesn’t know where Serena is. In the meantime, Yousuke and Misuzu head out in their machines. Jin is about to follow, but is stopped by Serena. Serena kisses him, but it was just to distract him so she could knock him out. It was actually an attempt to protect him, I think. She then head to Tokito and apologizes for being late. She tells him that until Tea awakens, he’s hers. Then she kisses him again and they go into battle. During the battle, the sounds transmitting through the communication system on Jin’s machine wake him up. He goes out to save Tokito and Serena, who are in a dangerous situation. Taking a blast from Baluf for them, he’s badly hurt. Bryan is furious about what happened and Baluf is surprised about what happened. Serena goes to Jin and sees just how badly hurt he is. Jin is content even though he’s dying. Serena tells him that he’s stupid because what happened earlier wasn’t what he thought. However, Jin dies. Serena cries over this and thanks him for what he did. Tokito is confused by what Serena says. Serena tells him that she came from the future. At that point, Tea wakes up and says Tokito’s name.

I didn’t expect that at all. If there was anyone in this show who I’d slate as destined to be killed off, it would be Serena or Bryan. Jin wasn’t even considered for that. Out of all the major characters, he was the one who was least significant. I guess that’s possibly why he was expandable, but he was just starting to get interesting. Despite being pretty, there wasn’t a lot about him to like yet, but I did hope that I could get more interested in his character as the story went on. Now I guess I can’t. This also makes me wonder how long this series will be. I mean, 26 episodes seems likely, but if they’re killing off major characters already, then maybe it will end at 13. It’s not particularly popular, so I don’t think there’s much demand for this to be a long-running series. Still, there’s still a lot to be covered. Unlike Gift, which seems to be going too fast, this would be going too slowly if it were slated for 13. Therefore, until I can find an actual confirmation of the episode count, I’ll continue to assume that it will have 26 and they’re just trying to pull a Fafner on us. There, they killed off a major character at episode 6. On the subject of the actual episode, it was ugly. The animation was seriously lacking at points. I still enjoyed the story though, which mostly focused on Serena. I’m pretty certain now that she actually does like Tokito, which means that he officially has a new member to his harem. However, now she’s conflicted because of Tea’s relationship with Tokito. She seems to be handling it much better than Misuzu though, who’s gradually reverting back to the state she was in before she became friends with Tea. Next week, Tea is fully recovered, so all kinds of tension can happen.

Preview: Wow. This episode might just convert me to a Riko supporter. It all depends on Kirino’s reaction next week. I do really wonder now what could possibly happen from here. Oh yeah, and ecchi warning just for a couple pictures.

(more…)

A year after the events of Mai Otome, various Otome, including Arika, are working to destroy a giant meteor. Eventually, they succeed in doing this. However, they weren’t as successful as they believed. Miyu sees something unusual flying with the debris and follows it. Arika is glad that she was able to protect everyone. Later, she wakes up, thinking this was all a dream. After Miss Maria shows her a newspaper, she’s relieved to learn that it was real. Later, she goes out and thinks of what she’s going to tell Nina in a letter. She notices a crowd of angry workers and stops. Meanwhile, Irina is doing an investigation with others including Natsuki and Shizuru. Shizuru decides to continue searching in the next place that Youko indicates so the others can go home. Back at Windbloom, Arika and Mashiro get into an argument over the workers because Arika supports their cause. In the meantime, Shizuru finds a statue of Miyu and is attacked by something. Arika and Mashiro split up for a while Arika goes to help Irina while Mashiro goes to see Mai and Mikoto for lunch. Meanwhile, it comes to the attention of the Otome that Shizuru is missing and a thing that kind of looks like Shizuru is spotted. The real on has been turned into a statue. Mikoto has a vision of the monster, but falls asleep. Mai can’t get her to wake up, but she does get her to kiss her gem so she can transform. Arika and Natsuki reach Mashiro, but Arika and Mashiro immediately stop arguing. Natsuki gets them to stop and Mashiro kisses Arika’s gem to transform her. Both Mai and Arika go off to fight the slave that had been spotted. Meanwhile, Miss Maria transforms when the creature comes to Garderobe. However, the creature does the same to her that it did to Shizuru ad Miyu. Mashiro orders Natuski to return to Garderobe. Arika questions Mashiro’s decision, leading them to fight again. Mashiro’s words cause Arika’s robe to convert to her pink one. Arika is then attacked by the slave, but Mai saves her. Arika isn’t okay though, because she sees various toys that were created of her in her blue robe. Still, Arika teams up with Mai to beat the slave. It’s learned soon after that the creature had stolen Fumi’s diamond robe. Something strange is also occurring in the valley. Arika tries to get Mashiro, but she disappears. Everyone who wasn’t in the area notices something strange in the sky, including Nina.

I have no idea of the coherency of this post. It probably wasn’t the best idea to write in when I’m completely nauseous from the smell of the cooking going on in my kitchen. Ugh, I hate turkey. Love Thanksgiving though, because there’s a lot of good food too. I look forward to eating later. Getting back to the point. I wrote about this despite the fact that I could be watching the parade because I was overwhelmed by the sudden awesomeness that Mai Otome was back. I really enjoyed the show, despite its ridiculousness, so I’m very pleased to be able to watch more. This didn’t disappoint me either. That creature has some pretty powerful abilities. I can’t believe three people have already been turned to stone. I know Mai shows like to go all out with “Killing” the cast, but that was a pretty cool surprise. I wonder how this will all be reverted. Also, I somehow almost forgot about Nina entirely. It threw me off when she appeared at the end. It was cool to see her though. Hopefully she’ll have a bigger part in the next episode.

After watching a show about cats, Choco decides she wants one, but Haruma says that they can’t get a pet. They’re not allowed in the apartment. Meanwhile, some shady-looking men are driving around with a puma caged in the back of their truck. They get into an accident and the puma escapes. When Choco goes out, she’s sad to see several people with their dogs, but notices a stray cat and chases after it. She follows it to an abandoned building, only to see it run out in horror. Investigating further, she finds that the puma is living there. Rather than being afraid, Choco is excited to see a big cat. She offers it some corn, which it turns down, but then takes out a bag of mini sausages. The puma likes that and wants more. Eventually she has to get more food, so when she returns home, she looks for some money. There’s not much though. Later, Haruma discovers that his wallet is empty. Tamami buys him lunch, but makes him do another job for payment. He has to cosplay as Odairi to help sell her new album. Meanwhile, Choco convinces Kakeru to help her buy food. They go to see the puma, whom Choco’s named Kuro. Kakeru freaks out upon seeing just what kind of cat he is. Choco explains to him that based on what her notebook says, Kuro matches the physical description of a cat. Still, Kakeru is afraid of Kuro. One day, Yurika hears Kakeru talking. Of course, she’s not happy to see that Choco is with him. She decides to follow them. She reveals herself and goes to see who “Kuro” is, eventually fainting from the shock. Later, while keeping her distance, Yurika yells at Choco for this, but Choco defends Kuro. Yurika gives in and approaches Kuro again, but is still afraid. However, Kuro just licks her, so she feels a bit better about him. The next day, Yurika brings Kuro’s dinner. However, only Kakeru is there. The fact that Yurika refers to him as “Kuro-chan” surprises Kakeru. That night, Kuro wanders off. Makoto passes by him when returning home, but is too drunk to notice. Choco is surprised to see Kuro out her window, but hides the fact that he’s there from Haruma. Choco goes out to him, telling him that he can’t be here, but that she’ll bring him dinner tomorrow. After seeing Kuro off, she goes back inside. In the morning, after Haruma leaves, Choco sees something horrible on the news. A large black cat had been hit by a car. She rushes to Kuro’s home to check on him, but he’s not there. She starts to cry hysterically. Kakeru and Yurika eventually arrive and see Choco crying. Kakeru goes to get Haruma. Choco tries to tell him what happened, but Haruma knows. He stays to comfort her. That night, Haruma lets Choco sleep with him. Choco still remains very upset about Kuro.

That was so depressing. Forget all the episodes at the halfway point. This was the most depressing, painful episode in the series. After so many cute, happy episodes, it really threw me off guard. Kuro was adorable. I mean, I knew there was no way that Choco would be able to keep him, but I didn’t expect them to how this by killing him off. That was a terrible way to do it (terrible in a depressing way, not that it was a bad ending.) It certainly broke the cliché that could’ve occurred, but I still wish they didn’t have to kill him off. On a les depressing note, the majority of this episode was cute. I’m glad Kuro was a tame puma rather than a vicious one, because it made him all the more adorable. It was also amusing to see Kakeru and Yurika’s initial reactions to Choco’s pet. Of course they came to like him. Darn, I can’t say much else other than the fact that this was really, really sad. Next time, everyone goes to an amusement park. I guess a cheery episode after this is the only way to go.