I lol’d

Resident Evil (5), Nasu-style. Nasu-style includes:

-Mystic Eyes of Death Perception

-Black keys

-SUGOI SUGOI

-Takeuchi recylicing (I saw Ryougi, Kiritsugu, Saber Lily)

-Badass Sakamoto Maaya

-Sex with Noto Mamiko

-Psychopathic Tanaka Rie (srsly)

-Jouji/George Nakata

-Mollusk-explanations (thank you Liang Qi o_o)

Spoilers: This is about how old Ciel really is.

Who knew that all these crazy gun-fu fights, incompetent Americans, badass longcoat villains, biological warefare threats, zombie-like failures, and one character unaffected by it all would be the sequel to a reality-grounded VN released on the Wii? Oh Nasu, you so crazy.

Even so, there’s something strangely entertaining about being thrown into a story where you haven’t the vaguest idea what’s happening; i.e. that’s how Kara no Kyoukai and to an extent the Fate/stay night VN started. I’m not really sure how much Canaan has assumed its audience to know what happened in 428 other than the aspsects of the Ua virus, Mino, Maria and her father’s involvement in Shinjuku, but otherwise Canaan feels like a complete stand alone production until it starts delving into said aspects from 428. And even then, it’s not all that necessary to even pay attention to the virus and it’s importance to just kick back and enjoy the action since the plot never seems to revolve around it other than the two episodes it’s focused on. I genuinely felt excited to watch the next episode as opposed to watching something like Umineko where one spends most of the time wanting something interesting to happen.

What’s wrong Alphard? Got a ‘dead arm’ there? (^^;;)

…right until the final episode. It’s common to feel more disappointment at a series’ ending moreso than it is to feel satisfaction, but Canaan’s seemed a bit too abrupt. Let alone the fact that the big bad, Alphard, spontaneously suffers a breakdown when, after 12 episodes, we’re lead to believe she’s as cold blooded as she appears to be and subseuquently loses to Canaan because of this, but Alphard is effectively out of the picture within the first 7 minutes into the episode while the rest of it is spent with the group apparently not wanting to see each other. I expected Canaan’s and Alphard’s fight to be longer, especially since all areas of the series’ media revolves around their conflict when they apparently only fight each other twice, the first time being an incredibly short and one-sided defeat.

Well, Liang’s objective was pretty simple, she just wanted to GET SOME…from Alphard (also, purple Wii mote triggers explosives)

I expected more resolutions, since I still have no idea why Snake’s previous objective was to create another Canaan through the Ua virus and what Natsume was hoping to accomplish by securing power for Japan, especially since she appears to just be back to office lady status during the epilogue. If they were explained somewhere, maybe I didn’t catch them.

Fucking cocktease.

And I expected Canaan and Maria to kiss since it’s painfully obvious that these two have been craving to suck on each other’s mollusks and transfer mana on multiple judging from the last few episodes, so much that’s that their orientations aren’t even “maybe they are, maybe they aren’t” ponderable anymore.

And the ambiguous end that somewhat hints at a sequel seems unfair, since Canaan isn’t the type of series that could continue, what with half of the cast dying and all. Maybe they’ll make a Melty Blood-style video game sequel…or maybe they’ll just add them to Melty Blood.

Canaan isn’t a must-see series, and I’m sure most of the people who wanted to watch it already have i.e. Type-Moon fags who will suck up anything Nasu’s pen inks out, so I can do very little in recommending others to watch it. For a short time frame, however rushed and short 13 episodes is, it’ll certainly do it’s job in entertaining enough to eagerly watch it the first 12 episodes…then leave you with the words “That’s it? It’s over” escaping from your semi-disappointed mouth. SUGOI SUGOI.

HIGH TENSIOOOOOOON!

-Jay

Tear casts Tales of equivalent of Cure, Luke recovers 1 HP.  Luke at Max HP!

WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY OVERDUE.

Take this! TRIPLE FINISH!

It’s super effecti-!

lrn2EVtrain, Thundering your Gyrados ass.

I’m glad that Van’s fight was a little longer than previous fights, but shouldn’t that have been the case anyway? If Van is the final boss, then yes I do expect a bunch of pretty lights and swordplay, especially from LUKE. Yeah, as it stands, Luke went through the entire series without using any sort of Arte. Hell, Natalia at least used one by the time Van went deaders, and as I said before during the first Van fight, it would’ve helped emphasize Van’s superiority over Luke in terms of swordplay if Van backhanded him everytime Luke used one; not that Van needed to demonstrate it anyhow…at least when he was shrugging off attacks like mosquitoe bites before Tear started to sing and “Oh dear, you’re singing is atrocious!” enough to cripple him worse than a Pokemon affected with every status defect facing it’s opposite element with one hit point left…and it has no PP left…and it’s Cynthia from D/P.

Wild VAN fainted.

…How the fuck does Luke stab him when the Key looks like a gigantic popsicle stick?

Yup, game ended EXACTLY like this.

The ending was abrupt, but this is unsurprising since the the game ends the same way. Obviously, the person at the end is Luke/Luke-dominant fusion of the two/something dumb like that. Would’ve been nice if they chose to add onto the ending, if anything to silence the Asch-believers. At least the ending illustrations are different…they don’t do anything really, but it’s different.

Closing

Overall, I enjoyed Abyss’ story. It’s unfortunate that any given episode has a sense of hastiness, as no matter the significance of an event, it will never be doted on for very long before moving on. I also wish that the anime would add on or elaborate on the ending, it’d help bring something new to the table and have another reason to watch it other than being an extremely loyal adaptation. Still, as a loyal adaptation, it does it’s job in condening an 80-hour or so RPG into about 8 hours. A bit of a hit or miss (especially if you don’t like Luke for the first 9 episodes…or the show for the first few episodes), I’m sure only Tales fans and/or those who’ve already played the game will appreciate it, and even then still prefer the games, but Abyss can stand on it’s own as a fantasy series…or at least coerce people to spend $30 bucks in order to gain a better understanding of this Planet Storm, Seventh Fonon/Fonim, Memory Particle nonsense. Then you can enjoy it more…I think…

The true villain of ToA.

Anise is evil in the game, I renounce any compliments I ever gave her (…I don’t remember giving one?)

-Jay (Next up, explanation for my leave of absence and how this will continue for a while…)

Luke’s sword always seems to grow longer than it’s sheath the minute it’s pulled out (hurr hurr).

Not one technique in this fight.  ;A;

As expected, the rest of the God Generals have died pretty quick deaths, thanks to Tear’s hax song that instantly “ZA WARUDO” effects all enemies (I’d complain more, but I herd she’s pretty broken in the game too), though I did find Sync’s attitude towards Anise and during the battle in general to be satisfying enough to excuse his particular death: he spends the entire time speaking down on the defunct Ion and guilt tripping Anise over his death (which also gives Anise a chance to announce her HEROIC RESOLVE, except without the part where she starts kicking ass). When he finally starts disintegrating, he merely laughs over how he’ll finally be released from the world, having absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever; all of the other God Generals had at least a semi-justifiable reason to fight (Largo’s loss of his family, Arietta’s love for Ion), but Sync leaves with emotions other than his hatred of those who created him. You could argue that he’s being a bit emo, but at least he’s still badass while bitching.

The non-explained past doesn’t work well with Legretta though, other than the fact that “I want my beloved to achieve his dream.” We know that the Generals were treated like shit before they came to Van (except for Asch, who was treated like shit before AND after meeting him), but it’d be nice to understand where Legretta’s POV stands. Oh well, she was a poor shot anyway, it must not be a very clear one (hyuk hyuk).

Asch is past the point of “pissed off” and seems to just be whining over how he thinks Luke sucks compared to him just because he’s a replica, yet considers him a threat enough to want to challenge him to a duel in order to back up his ideal/ego. It’s funny that in this way, he’s almost a bit like spoiled, pre-haircut Luke in that he seems to be fairly immature about the issue. On the other hand, the issue about the replication process fucking over his life seems to explain why he’s been so agitated, especially considering the fact that whoever dies first gives their remaining fonons to the other, which I assume may stop the other one’s decompisition. Regardless, he doesn’t accept his defeat very graciously, but at least does seem to at least reach the same level of understanding that the two are different and goes back to using the name “Luke” once more…RIGHT before he’s skewered by three swords (he pays that back, but damn. o.o).

Asch’s death marks the end of the God Generals, and now only Van stands in the group’s way…

Abyss is already over, so no preview thingy this time (I’m not so sure they were even as useful as when I did them for Clannad, either. o.o) Stay tuned next time for review of the finale!

Poor Natalia. 1st choice is dead, and 2nd choice is going to choose someone else.

 -Jay

How many times now have they re-dubbed this fucking scene?

Boring recap was boring, but at least you have a choice of watching it or not since the story’s done.

Jay’s Final thoughts

Clannad at times just felt really slow to me, especially during the earlier Fuko and Kotomi arcs but it’s harder to distinguish when the series is a slice-of-life anime anyway and one of the reasons why I enjoy them. The only times that felt like they REALLY wasted time were the Fuko reappearances during the 1st season; although somewhat enjoyable, the significance of them dropped to absolute zero by the time After Story kicked in.

For After Story itself, most of it just continued to be an extension of Clannad, since the actual story wasn’t carried out until less than halfway through the series, and thus can really be considered a 12-episode series. That said, I guess it dispelled my worries that those short amount of episodes wouldn’t be enough to tell the story properly, though, and I’ve mentioned this before, the execution of the links between the real and Illusionary World were very rushed, being resolved less than 5 minutes into the final episode.

Overall, the series had it’s Key-quality and adapted fairly well. I didn’t think it was good as Kanon: as sad as Nagisa and Ushio’s deaths were, Kanon still beats it in number of breakdowns for me, but that’s just me (keep in mind, I haven’t watched AIR yet…so I guess all my credibility is taken away).

Got my fucking picnic scene, but nobody’s even there. O_O

Now for Shirukii’s thoughts…

Dearest KyoAni,

I hate you. Recap episode + 30 seconds of “new” footage a finale does not make.

Cheers,
~ Shirukii ~

Post Script: Despite your lackluster rendition of this series, I still eagerly await your Little Busters anime. Don’t fuck it up.

Jay: …Well, fine. ] :

I agree though: Little Busters! better be coming up soon. Preferably before Lucky Star K-ON! ends.

WORST. MOTHER/GRANDMOTHER. EVAR.

That settles it, Natalia, hands down, has the most fucked up past out of all the cast in Abyss.

Exactly one episode later, Mohs suffers an arguably lamer death than Dist did, what with Tear finding the time to RESOLVE and pull a hi-level Mystic Arte out of her of her ass. And what’s this crap that he was “trying to save the world in his own way?” The guy’s ugly face just screams villain, let alone the fact that he manipulated Ion(s) and on few occasions has tried to kill/harm the party. Some severely half-assed attempt to redeem him, or Tear just being incredibly naive again? You decide.

And TWO rushed deaths (solved by Natalia’s own RESOLVE) in the same episode? Largo’s backstory at least made him pitiable unlike someone like Dist who’s past isn’t much to sympathize over: the guy has his wife and kid taken from him for retarded reasons, so yeah, I’d be pretty pissed off too. Still, during his fight, him breaking the circle (you can do that?) confused me, was he just going to break it so Luke and Co. would fall, then just decided “Fuck it, I’ll try stabbing him instead,” without at least aim for Guy? Or even Natalia, since he just stated he didn’t think of her as his daughter? Then, he praises her right after she kills him…nope, don’t get it.

(Insert QUALITY joke here).

Asch has another hissy fit with Luke, though he also mentions that Luke IS him (weird, considering I’ve seen him state the exact opposite in the game’s version of the Yulia City fight) and is pissed how Luke says they’re two different people (I’m sensing Len/White Len or Shirou/Archer vibes here, though that’s not really in the same contet). Again, both don’t have very much time, Asch is probably expecting to die before Lorelei is freed.

Personally, I’d love to hear George Nakata sing. o_o

Van’s now pulled a Dr. Manhatten, as did Sync, and has been able to reform himself. Now, if Van is holding Lorelei hostage or captured him in some way, why is it that Van explains that Lorelei answered his pact and gave him the power to live in the first place? What’s more, his hand is shown to disappear in the same way Luke’s does, so he must not have much time either unless he somehow learns to control it.

Even with the amount of moments these two have had, Luke’s attempt to confess just seemed laughable, since said moments haven’t really progressed their own personal relationship so much as deal in plot advancement with Van or Luke’s post-Akzeriuth emotional problems. Not exactly the greatest romantic pair, and I’ll probably still think that right up until the end hits.

Oh, and remember how I praised the use of more Mystic Artes? Recycled Animation =/= More. Fuckin Sunrise.

PREVIEW

There are still Legretta and Sync left on Van’s side, and I don’t think they’re deaths are going to be any greater, especially with only two episodes left. The inside of Eldrant has some sort of broken world inside of it, and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s Hod. And it looks like Asch and Luke are finally going to have their rematch. I pray that they’ll at least use some techniques. >_<

No Anise, they’re the reason why the first Ion died. o.o

-Jay

Oooh, school life nostalgia.

-2 years off Nagisa’s lifespan because of this. What a great (future) husband.

Didn’t really like Nagisa part of the episode, mainly because I just realized how boring Nagisa is when she’s not with any of the others. We know Nagisa gets eccentric at things, so it’s not all that amusing the next time around, especially with characters we know nothing about. Her friend-making at the end felt kinda pointless and bittersweet, since Lala-san (I sweat that’s Tomatsu Haruka from to-LOVE-ru, Kannagi) is destined not to show up later. Hell, I bet she probably forgot about her after graduation and didn’t even know Nagisa died pre-reset. Some friend. D:<

FUCK YEAR, KYOU FANSERVICE.

Still, it’s nice to have an “Episode 0,” the main draw being Tomoya and Sunohara’s first meeting with Kyou and consequently the beginning of Kyou’s attraction to Tomoya; I wonder why they didn’t go ahead and have Ryou’s own first meeting with them, but I was too busy with the return of tsuntsun-deredere Kyou (you know, back when he had a chance?) to care, as I’m sure we all were. I guess it’s KeyAni’s way of making up for the poor integration/almost complete axing of her route from the main story; it won’t ever make up for it, but if they were able to take Yukine’s romance-centric route and turn it into a gang fight, maybe I’d rather not see what might happen…but that’s another rant for another day.

Aaaaaand, one more for the road here…

Attack it’s weak point, etc.

And crabs are expensively delicious. How could THIS bread possibly taste horrible? Has Akio not heard of motherfucking crab cakes?

PREVIEW

…WTF? Instead of animating something interesting like Kyou Route or Reunion, it’s a fucking compilation episode? Unless it’s everyone remembering stuff at a picnic or something, I really see little point in one.

Unless they’re stalling to announce Little Busters!….probably not. ;A;

…So, do we put closing thoughts now or later?

*Pac-Man sound effects*

-Jay

Screw you KeyAni, screw you and your bullshit miracles.

Let me assert a belief of mine before going onto my rant: reset endings, wherein previously killed characters return to life, suck. If you disagree with that, stop reading now.

Reset endings are terrible excuses for series finales, it didn’t work for Mai HiME, it didn’t work for Wolf’s Rain and it didn’t work for Clannad, tainting otherwise excellent series in each case. Reset endings are stupid primarily because they invalidate all the emotions felt during the deaths of the characters that return to life. Both Nagisa and Ushio’s deaths had profound impacts on the characters in the show and those watching it. Tomoya was thrown into 5 years of emotional ruin because of his wife’s death, building a strong sense of sorrow and pity in the viewers, almost as if we were going through the grief with him.

We watched on as a childish delinquent pulled his life together in the name of love and the hell his life became when that was snatched away from him. Then we saw it happen all over again with his daughter Ushio. The deaths of those characters, whom we had grown to know and care for were BAAAW worthy moments, sending many an anime fan into honest to god tears. Then, in the last 15 minutes of a four cour anime series, spanning over a year, it’s all undone.

I suppose the counter to my argument would be that Tomoya endured his share of hardship and in the end deserved to be rewarded for his efforts and suffering. While I agree with that sentiment, is it inconceivable that he could be happy otherwise? If the ending were to have done the same, transported Tomoya to the alternate world and given him one last talk with Ushio, and then thrown him back in the snow with a dead daughter in his arms, it sure as hell would have taken him longer to get over it, but he would, Tomoya’s a strong person.

The whole thing with Fuko didn’t exactly serve to make this a more enjoyable finale either, my dislike for her having been voiced many times in the past. I find Fuko to be a gag character with one joke that’s been played ad infinitum since her appearance. Yeah, okay, she’s an eccentric ball of energy who clings onto cute things on sight, acts half her age and likes starfish, I get it.

Also,

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!

So, in conclusion…

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

Jay will likely be along soon with a proper, and less hate filled, summary and review, touching upon story elements and whatnot, since I believe he actually enjoyed it.

~ Shirukii ~

Jay’s thoughts

To clarify, yes, I did actually enjoy it. ^^; Since this was an important episode, I would’ve normally done a summary, but I’ve got midterms to study for, so I’ll just be leaving some quick thoughts since Shirukii’s already done most of the job for me.

Everything after the snow part, anyways, since I really didn’t understand everything Illusionary-World Ushio said about being the world and what not. From what I understand, the Okazaki family all reincarnated into another world where Nagisa lives? This whole parallel world stuff was always left vague, so it’s sudden importance makes it feel too deus ex and convenient, even with Tomoya’s light from a few episodes ago. I’m sure it would really bore the viewers, but maybe they should’ve taken a bit more time to explain the mechanics of the lights and such, or at least word it differently.

It would’ve been better time spent than say, seeing Fuko act moe-tarded for the last 5-minutes, and it’s not as laughable since we don’t have Tomoya’s sarcastic comments to go along with it. I understand she had very little screen time, but even so, they could’ve just included her in the montage. Still, that faux-adult voice sounded pretty hawt… o_o

And no, Mei with boobs is fine too.

So is Cooltomi. What’s NOT fine is…

Bullshit, why is she alone!? ;A;

Tomoyo After. Now.

PREVIEW

It would’ve been great if the next episode was something like a picnic with all the characters, but no, it looks like we’re being treated to Nagisa’s POV of the beginning of Clannad. Maybe there’s a twist at the end where she’s telling all this to a sleeping baby Ushio or something.

How could I have missed the implications? These two are obviously lesbians.

-Jay

QUALITY FACE OR QUALITIEST FACE!?

 It never occurred to me that Mieu doesn’t get tired, the little shit.

Well, scratch what I said about Dist somehow screwing over the remaining God-Generals with his own personal agenda, because he dies 7-minutes into the episode and not a very unique one either since his new machine is detroyed with one Fonic Arte just like last time. It all felt so half-assed, as if Dist got so annoying the writers wanted to off him in the quickest way possible; he hardly even fought back. In the cut segments between him getting killed by Jade (who, thanks to off-screen development, is at his prime again), we learn that he had still clung to the belief of reviving Professor Nebilim even after the pros and cons of a replica, but a detail like that is rather minute and I would’ve welcomed Dist at least trying to attack or resist in the slightest rather than screaming “Whie~????” In fact, it would’ve been nice to see Dist attack by himself using Fonic Artes as well; I would assume he would’ve learned to use some since he spent all that time trying to be like Jade, he should have had some sort of backup plan should he not have a robot to defend him. Maybe he’ll come back out of nowhere like Sync did (assuming Sync is the same Sync), but it looks like the cage crushes what’s inside, so I doubt it.

;A; 

Despite knowing that Luke wasn’t going to die from it, I started tearing up during the decision to sacrifice him in place of Asch. Think about it: he’s only 7-years-old, his identity is revealed to be a lie, he’s been used and betrayed, his very existence a tool was originally a tool to be used by Van (you can say similar things about the other replicas too). Yes, it’s clear that he wasn’t going to die (at least for now, since the end of the episode implies otherwise), but the dialogue with the other characters and Luke’s cry for everyone to die with him made it harder to believe it wouldn’t happen.

The other important thing to point out is what Tear’s grandfather said, about how the Tower of Rem being built upon a town of miner’s and that the Score is either referring to this situation specifically, or that the autenticity of it’s prediction is undeniable, in part due to how vague the scriptures are. Neither Luke or Asch died from Akzeriuth, however, and neither died here either, yet both have now been implied to die later on. Does this mean the Score is wrong because they didn’t die on the spot, or is it right because they may eventually die? I don’t suppose Eldrant was built on/is a miner’s city, and there’s also Ion’s prediction of the city of machines to consider. If only one is to die, I would expect Asch to do so if Ion’s reading was really referring to Luke.

Also, yay for more Tear and Luke development.

PREVIEW

Looks like there are a few other Ion-replicas left after all. Largo’s has adorned new battle gear, so like Arietta, it’ll be his final fight next, and I assume Natalia is hesistating to fire during this particular fight.

TWINKIE HOUSE!

Finally, some payback for all those cracks about replicas and drecks.  Luke-1, Asch… o.o

-Jay

Zombie Replicas. I can dig it.

HUEG COMBO POST! Or, it would be if I wasn’t so lazy and just want to get this done. Therefore, I’m not touching anything related to the Planet Storm, the Absorbtion Gate, or anything else since Jade obviously does a better job than I do of explaining.

Aww, without the visor, Sync looks like a tsundere-Ion.

Suspicions were correct, Sync is a replica of Ion. The twist? Ion is ALSO a replica of Ion. I’ve never liked these moments where a crucial fact about a character is revealed without any sort of hints or allusions whatsoever, unless you count the reassigning of Arietta and Anise as the Fon Master Guardian, but even then that hint was left pretty vague, and definitely not enough information to figure out that the real Ion died, and they created not one, but seven replicas before he died, with the current Fon Master being the one that carried most of the original’s abilities and potential, even though Sync is much more of capable fighter, it’s hard to believe they’re alike; maybe all they needed was for an Ion to be able to read the score, but if so Tear would more or less be a viable choice since she and Van are Yulia’ descendants. Regardless, I’m also a bit ashamed on Sync’s death, considering he had the upper hand until Luke broke through his defense ONCE, then deciding to an hero himself after his role was over, while Ion’s “I’m crying” monologue seemed a bit unnecessary as the meaning behind it isn’t clear until he talks about sealing his emotions after disliking the idea of being someone’s replacement.

Episodes 19 and 20 bring to a close to the Anise arc, shedding more light on the relationship triangle between Anise, Ion, and Arietta. Ion’s death felt pretty sad, especially considering he died being a tool for someone else while also being betrayed/deceived by Anise, his first and best friend since his birth. Anise’s deception seemed too sudden too, it would’ve been more acceptable had her parents been held for ransom during the one-month timeskip, but to all of a sudden reveal that Anise had been relaying information all this time without, again, any type of allusions or hints toward it seemed pretty half-assed, and I can only hope that said hints were just cut during the transition of the material. To wrap it all up, Arietta’s death at the end of the duel makes a tragic arc even sadder. Her death was a bit unexpected; aside from the disbelief from the fact that Anise has now directly killed someone (With a technique you wouldn’t guess would be life threatening, either. o.o) I would’ve thought that out of all the God Generals besides Asch, she would be most likely to cut off all ties with them and maybe repair her relationship with Anise; alas, that didn’t happen, as it seems like the animosity stemmed merely from jealousy, and she instead dies without even knowing the truth. Perhaps it’s better that way. ;_;

“Say ‘what’ again, SAY ‘WHAT’ AGAIN!”

The factions among the antagonists seem to be divided into not only two, but three sides now: Legretta, Largo, and Van still seem to be following their original plan, Mohs is seeking to have the Score followed once more so that he can rule it through manipulation (by becoming a Fon Master and transforming into a giant…????…) while Dist continuously is interested only in his research or whatever. During the final confrontations with Largo and Legretta, he’ll most likely betray them due to Largo’s scolding of Dist’s response towards Arietta’s death while at the same time ending up dead because of it; can’t wait either, because he’s really gotten annoying from the overly pompous douche we met episodes ago. Most importantly, it might even be what sets up the reconcilation between Largo and Natalia before Largo eventually dies, since the truth is bound come out during it.

So…is this Sync “an hero” Sync, or is this another replica that takes place of Sync should he die? Van’s proven that falling into “the abyss” (hurp durp) doesn’t necessarily kill you, so I’m leaning more towards the former.

Collar-grabbing: the most clear and efficient way to express that you’re pissed off and not gonna take it anymore.

As much as I like Asch, I do find it a bit laughable that he feels the need to throw a hissy fit everytime he has to talk to Luke; Luke’s done more than enough to make up for his previous behavior, and I would think that the person mad at him for taking away his home would be at least a bit happy and appreciative to be arranged to meet his parents again after seven years. I do recall Asch uttering his shortage of time, even before Van slashed him, so his short temper isn’t completely uncalled for, and since the two will most likely fight over the use of replicas as sacrifices for the hyperressonance, it’s probably best if they don’t remain so close.

Ancient Chinese secret, huh?

And WHEN was Luke training to use his hyperressonance better? “In secret” my ass, I’m sure you would’ve heard Luke shoot an energy beam during practice if that was the case.

The fights have gotten a lot more exciting than before, thanks in part to the incorporation of more Artes and magic than previous ones. The only other problems I have now include the fact that Luke, Asch, or Van haven’t used any yet either, something I would’ve expected in their fights due to the fact that both were each trained by Van and could help emphasize how much more skilled and powerful he is over the two of them if he were to counter their techniques; instead, Van’s takedown of Asch was too simple while Luke was made out to just be physcially weaker than him while also making the mistake of showing sympathy towards his teacher when Van didn’t even have an opening. I also mentioned earlier that Anise’s last attack at Arietta (”Tatsugeki Bukouken!”) looked stupid and didn’t particularly look like it could kill, especially with her doll missing one arm. Nevertheless, I’m going to guess that since techniques have been more common now, Sunrise will be spending more of the budget on these effects on the final battles; I, for one, want the proper battle between Luke and Asch to not suck.

PREVIEW

Guy’s having trouble with the succesor of Dist’s previous machine that got nuked by Van on the Tartarus, and later seems to be pretty pissed at Jade. The group has caught up with Asch at the top of the Tower of Rem, and Luke is shown holding the Sword of Lorelei, which might mean that the Jewel has been found as well. What’s more, it may mean Luke will be using it as his weapon from now on, that Asch isn’t the one meant to wield it because Luke holds the same isofons as Lorelei himself…or maybe he just beat him up and stole it?

Hissatsu! SHINING FINGER!

-Jay

Upon confirmation from the doctor that Ushio’s condition matches that of Nagisa’s, and that the cause is unknown, Akio has Tomoya reaffirm that he is Ushio’s father and has to keep his head up. As a result of her illness, Ushio and Tomoya miss sports day.

A month passes without Ushio’s condition getting better. Tomoya decides to quit his job in order to be with Ushio more, compensating the cease of income with the money saved up for Ushio’s schooling. Yusuke wants him to return working when Ushio gets better, and the two exchange screwdrivers as a promise to do so. When Tomoya asks later if Ushio would like anything, she replies that she wants to go on another trip with Tomoya, and complains that she wants to go now when Tomoya states that they’ll go as soon as she’s better. Disheartened that he can’t do something as simple as that for his daughter, Tomoya asks Nagisa what he should do, and ponders that his family seem to always be screwed by the town.

Akio and Tomoya go out shopping together while Sanae and Ushio stay at the apartment. The two stop by the hospital built on the forest Akio took Nagisa the day her conditioned worsened, and Tomoya asks what else will be changed; Akio responds that a shopping mall is being constructed on a hill near the outskirts. Tomoya wonders if the changes going around the city are causing it pain, and if people’s deaths are to be accepted as part of “change.” Akio instead states that the city and it’s inhabitants should be blessed.

Winter has come, Ushio is still in bed, and Tomoya looks exhausted. Ushio once again brings up her wish to go on a trip again, back to the flower field they went to, and that it has to be now. Finally convinced, the two set off, Ushio refusing to be carried and opting to hold hands and walk with her father. Her lack of strength, however, causes her to walk slowly and almost trip. It begins to snow, and Tomoya asks if Ushio likes the snow; Ushio says she does and asks him the same question. Remembering the winter Nagisa died, Tomoya states he does like it. Ushio insists they keep walking, but soon she soon gives in to her weakness. Responding to her questions, Tomoya holds her in his arms before she utters her last words.

“Papa, I love you.”

Not wanting to accept this, Tomoya cries out to Nagisa to save her…

In the Illusionary World, the girl and the doll keep walking, with the girl becoming very cold. At the same time Ushio dies, the girl also collapses. The doll, however, is able to bring her to her feet, and they keep walking. The doll wonders how long it’ll take for them to get there. Soon, however, the girl collapses again.

On his way to school, Tomoya sees a strange-girl talking to herself. He knows that if he talks to her, they’ll date and get married, but that maybe it would be better if they don’t…

Thoughts

So wraps up the 2nd to last episode (not counting the Extra or OVA bound to come after this). Ushio’s death signifies the absolute lowest things can possibly get, and now it’s time for the Key miracle to take place. How they’re going to wrap all this up in one 21-minute episode, I have no idea. I’m guessing the girl from the Illusionary World is supposed to represent Ushio while the doll is somehow supposed to represent Tomoya, but only the Ushio comparison really makes sense to me as they both collapsed from the snow; I was almost ready to assume the doll was Ushio because it was the one that wanted to leave while Ushio was the one who wanted to go on a trip. Now let’s see if Tomoya’s light orb can affect his Illusionary World persona and hopefully change the fate of the family he once had…

…and here I was thinking, if Ushio didn’t die, Kyou would’ve taken over as the wife. Fuck dammit.

PREVIEW

The girl and the doll are seen lying in the snow…

Fuckdammit, every fucking time.

-Jay