Ah, finally, Kyousora gets an obligatory Onsen episode, one that doesn’t involve Mika being a scheming bitch or Kazuya reciting crappy poetry.

Too bad the episode focused on the Tarurotte and Soujiro, probably my least favourite characters out of the entire cast. Though, there was a fair bit of Kaon and Himiko to make up for it, so it was still a decent special.

Let’s not kid ourselves, Onsen episodes are all about fanservice and they packed a fair bit into this special. We get to see Tarurotte, the closest thing in Kyousora to a DFC in various states of undress and experiencing what looked almost like euphoria just from testing the onsen water. Meanwhile, her loyal guardian and manservant Soujiro knocks out all the other guests to prevent them from going inside the bathing area.

Kaon and Himiko are doing a bit of relaxing themselves, Himiko apologizes for selfishly asking to go to an onsen, but Kaon is willing to do anything to keep her happy so it’s not a problem. Suddenly, Tarurotte floats over and bumps into Himiko’s back, apparently a very sensitive area as she jumps up in surprise. Kaon asks her what’s wrong and Himiko insists she’s fine but lets out another gasp when Tarurotte’s tail brushes against her back. Annoyed, Kaon goes into mecha mode, ready to beat Tarurotte to a pulp, but is hug tackled by Himiko who tells her that it’s nothing to worry about and shuts her up with a kiss.

After their bath, Kaon and Himiko lounge around in their room and Himiko starts to sketch Kaon, the two smiling at each other uncontrollably. (I love yuri ;_;)

Meanwhile, Tarurotte has managed to find herself some manjyuu and runs back to her room to show it off to Soujiro. She asks if he wants one but teases him like a little kid when he tries to take one. The episode ends off with the two sprawled over each other on a futon and Soujiro with a manjyuu on his head.

Seems like the specials are getting less and less relevant to the plot with each passing one. I can’t even begin to think about where/how a visit to an onsen would fit into the main plot line. But then again, when did we ever need an excuse for an onsen episode XD

Tarurotte was always my least favourite absolute angel, not because she’s a DFC/loli, I have nothing against those, actually, on the contrary…Anyways, it’s just something about her that really annoys me, I’m thinking it’s her voice, it’s ear piercingly annoying, not to mention every other ‘word’ out of her mouth is ~nyamo/~nayno/~nya variant. Plus she reduced Soujiro, who was a badass in Kannaduki no Miko, into a girly manservant.

But that was more than offset with even more screentime for Kaon and Himiko (Chikane and Himeko), I can never get enough of these two. They need to hurry up and make a spinoff/sequel for KnM that doesn’t suck.

And of course, no bath related episode would be complete without a cut to Setsuna and Kuu taking one together.

Next special is out on August 24th, not that I imagine many other people are still watching this series ;_;

Side Note* Again, I apologize for the lack of/lateness of posts recently. Things should be back to normal starting Wednesday or Thursday.

~ Shirukii ~

Kyoshiro’s a retard for passing up such an easy lay -_-

I hate to sound like a broken record/skipping cd/fragmented mp3, or whatever euphemism is used these days, but once again, infinite thanks to Aurelia, who continues to keep me up to date with these specials.

Out of the three specials so far, this one contributed the least to any semblance of Kyousora’s plot. It did, however, add another facet to Setsuna’s personality, and while that’s much like throwing a bucket of water in an empty Olympic sized swimming pool in terms of potential…at least it’s something? Plus there was fanservice, so I am appeased.

This side story takes place just after Kuu starts living with Kyoshiro and Setsuna. Kuu is basically failing at every household chore that she tries, but no matter how much she screws up Kyoshiro smiles at her reassuringly. When Setsuna sees this, she starts to become jealous of Shiratori Kuu.

But we’re not talking the emo “Kyoshiroooooooooooooooo!” jealous Setsuna, this time her envy takes on a much more…for the lack of a better word, moe, form.

Setsuna begins to copy all of Kuu’s movements, the episode is titled “An Observation log on Shiratori Kuu” and rightly so. Setsuna follows Kuu around all day trying to mimic her failure housewife skills, everything from faceplanting while trying to vaccuum to getting pancake batter all over herself while baking.

Kyoshiro seems rather oblivious to the fact that Setsuna is trying to get his attention by playing copycat, probably too busy fantasizing about his Kazuya-nii-sama.

The mold is finally broken when Setsuna manages to screw up in her own way. While trying to make a quadruple decker ice cream cone for Kyoshiro, half of it ends up falling and melting in her hands. Setsuna smiles sheepishly, Kyoshiro smiles back, Setsuna smiles earnestly, and everybody is happy, waiiiii~!

…except Mika, she’s dead.

Like the other DVD specials, I enjoyed watching it, if nothing else it was for the Setsuna fanservice. Not so much the blatant sizing up of her oppai against Kuu’s, but more her attempts to mimic Kuu, who is basically a useless moeblob. In the end she fails because no matter how hard she tries, her expression and execution is stiffly deliberate and her voice is deadpan. Made for much lulz though.

After making two posts covering these specials and only seeing replies from lolikit, Adun and Aurelia. I can’t help but wonder, are we the only people who were masochistic enough to make it through the entire thing?!

*This is where I’d usually put an obligatory “Setsuna’s Hair is Awesome” screencap, but that’s pretty much what the whole episode was about anyways…

~ Shirukii ~

I came.

Many thanks to Aurelia, who informed me in my previous Kyousora post that the KaonXHimiko episode was NOT the first of the DVD specials.

I now consider these DVD specials the main highlight of Kyousora. They are infinitely better than the main series, mainly due to appearance of Kazuya, the incarnation of faggotry.

Timeline wise, this episode predates the events of the main series. It deals with the relationship between Setsuna and Kyoshiro as master and weapon.

Those who watched the series know that mana is passed from master to absolute angel via kissing (Because J-J-J-JAM IT IN was already taken). However, the exchange leaves the master’s energy drained, causing potential harm. To avoid hurting her beloved Kyoshiro, Setsuna starts to feed off the mana of the unsuspecting students of Academia. But such methods are against Kyoshiro’s morals, being one of those ‘kind and gentle, etc etc.’ type person.

Setsuna starts crying and apologizing profusely at the idea that she did something to anger Kyoshiro. While indeed angry, Kyoshiro knows that Setsuna was only thinking of him, so to cheer her up he gives Setsuna his most prized possession, a pair of bells given to him by his brother which have always acted as a guide through life to him.

Setsuna cheers up and reaffirms her position as Kyoshiro’s sword, his absolute angel and supports his goal, even if it means her own death in the end. With a forced smile on his face, he agrees that the destruction of the absolute angels is his ultimate goal, almost ashamed to look at Setsuna’s blissful smile.

Although lacking the awesomeness that is the Chikane and Himeko pairing, this special was great in its own rights. I always liked Setsuna, despite her being a complete doormat. Completely subservient girls in anime are nothing new, but throughout the series I built up a lot of sympathy for Setsuna. She loved Kyoshiro, but knew she couldn’t be with him because she was an absolute angel, yet along comes Kuu, also an absolute angel, and Kyoshiro falls in love with her instead.

And although it was shallow, at least the origins of her bells were revealed.

Eh, who am I kidding, it was all about the hair <3

~ Shirukii ~

Five minutes. That’s all it took. Five minutes dedicated completely to Kaon and Himiko (a.k.a. Chikane and Himeko) is all it took to remind me why I had such high hopes for Kyousora. Now whenever someone mentions it, I no longer have to think about the main series, which was made of fail, but rather I can recall this blissful 5 minute dvd special instead.

Episode Rating: lim(1/x) as x->0+

The brief scene between the two explains the origins of the nude painting of Kaon that Himiko painted. Apparently it wasn’t just a product of Himiko’s rabid imagination, she actually had Kaon model for her. Timeline wise, it looks like it takes place just after Himiko loses Kaon to Mika, but before Kaon becomes more or less a soulless weapon.

After the painting session is over, Kaon tells Himiko that she’s getting work done on her again to become a stronger weapon for Mika. Himiko knows that the result will be a Kaon different from who she is now, and can’t hide the sorrow in her voice. Kaon cheers her up by reminding her that no matter what she’s forced to do and no matter how far away she is, the true her will always be with Himiko, the true her will always belong to Himiko.

Himiko leans in for a kiss, but Kaon tells her to save it for when she comes back, so that she has something to look forward to. But Himiko can’t contain her lust and ends up doing it anyways.

I honestly never thought I’d do another Kyousora post again, but this special was made of concentrated win and definitely warranted the coverage. Hopefully another one comes out featuring Setsuna and Kuu, I don’t even care if it’s another one of their bath scenes, those two need more joint screentime.

EDIT: Thanks to Aurelia for pointing out that this was actually the second DVD special, title edited.

~ Shirukii ~

Uguu~?

It’s finally over!

Episode Rating: 7/10

Series Average: 6.9/10

The finale kicks things off with a flashback to when Kuu/Cielo was still in her incubation tank and her infamous first encounter with her ouji-sama, Kazuya.

Back in the present time, Kuu and Kyoshiro have their free fall cradled by Setsuna, blocking Kazuya’s thorns at the same time. Kazuya then has a meltdown and explodes in a sparkling mess for reasons which I still haven’t been able to figure out.

With Kuu back to her normal self, she gathers up what little courage she has and destroys Bastille, releasing the individual absolute angels. This in turn stops the “burning snow”, in effect saving the world.

However, the destruction of Bastille proves to be a double edged sword, as Bastille and Kuu are one being, neither can survive without the other. And so as suddenly as they are united, Kyoshiro and Kuu are once again torn apart.

So everything and everyone ends up more or less happy, Sojiro becomes the head of Academia’s task force with the loli nekomimi by his side. Kazuya ends up mentally incapacitated with Megingjord by his side. Kazuya and Setsuna reconcile their relationship and start the long journey to find Kuu. And…

Kaon and Himiko are reunited, return to the ruins of their former school and…well…the rest depends on how creative an imagination you can muster ;)

So…uh, does this make Kyoshiro a pedophile?

After the credits, we’re given some closure as Setsuna and Kyoshiro happen upon a familiar looking loli ^^

Thoughts

I’ll be honest…I kind of liked this ending. While it was nowhere near as good as Kannaduki’s, it wrapped everything up as plainly as possible and didn’t dig itself into even more plot holes.

One thing that I am curious about…what the hell happened to Kazuya? I don’t really see any direct connection with the turn of events and his sudden vegetation state. Is it because he and Cielo were connected, so when her consciousness disappeared, so did his? Did he run out of juice from summoning too many green lines that vaguely resembled vines? Or did he simply decide that after witnessing the wonders of ChikaneXHimeko that nothing in life would ever compare and thus decided to preserve the moment eternally by turning himself into a doormat?

On that note…seeing these two back together is quite honestly the highlight of the series for me. Ever since Kannaduki’s finale I’ve wanted to see the ChikaneXHimeko pairing revived. There’s not much more I can say about such awesomeness that a certain other blogger hasn’t already.

LOL at Setsuna picking up Kuu’s trademark “haike…” sentence opener. Pity that Setsuna’s monologues weren’t as entertaining as Kuu’s, but she (un?)fortunately has a mental capacity higher than a five year old.

All in all Kyousora’s been an experience full of mixed feelings. Like many other anime, it had a great beginning, but all of a sudden more time was spent trying to ramp up this nonsensical plot rather than giving more screentime to Kuu and her off the wall monologues and random KaonXHimiko secks.

Did I regret picking this up? No, not really, although it wasn’t quite what I’d call a worthwhile watch, it managed to grab my attention for 20 minute bursts (except ep 11). I can’t say I’d ever recommend this to anyone though, unless you’re EXTREMELY bored, or in the mood for some brain rape.

On a slightly unrelated note: this is the first series I have ever blogged episode by episode from start to finish! Probably not the greatest series to make such a claim with, but was realistically my one means to motivate myself to keep writing after episode 6.

Was it really worth it to sacrifice what could have been a couple episodes of decent animation, for this?

Setsuna has awesome hair

NOOOOOOOOOOO! Why!? Why would you do such a thing T_T

Sojiro has a bundle of fetish to call his own. Loli, furry, nekomimi, tsundere, greenophile?

On a parting note, I leave you with a quote full of wisdom, truth and hope:

A Kannazuki no Miko OVA would be nice… >_>

Go go Power Rangers?

So…kyousora’s ending is pretty much set now, it only has one option for a coherent ending, and unfortunately it doesn’t involve yfr. Although it didn’t train wreck as bad as YoakeNa, its current state is a far cry from its humble yet freaking hilarious beginnings.

Episode Rating: 6/10

Having fought through wave after wave of steel angels, Kyoshiro and his posse reach Kazuya’s castle just as Kuu enters the machine that will synthesize the angels into one being. Despite his calls to her, Kuu has had all of her memories of Kyoshiro wiped, and continues into the machine.

The next scene is a typical Kazuya scene. He sprouts thorns, tosses Kyoshiro around for a bit, and spends the rest of the time kissing his own ass and reciting crappy poetry.

Soon after, the merging process finishes and the completed absolute angel, Cielo, is reborn. She floats down to an ecstatic Kazuya, but when they make contact a shock wave blasts them apart and the individual absolute angels combine their respective limbs to form Bastille, the destructive form of the absolute angels (see power rangers parody above).

The scene shifts to a dimensional riff where the five parts of the absolute angel are being held captive by Megingjord. She goes to each individual absolute angel and asks them whether they desire the destruction of the world, and if not, tries to understand their reason for wanting to live on.

Back in the real world, Bastille has engulfed the sky in a burning red aura, the same as the first time the absolute angels were released, the day of the burning snow. Kazuya is holding down Bastille, who is being split apart by the individual wills of each angel, while trying to get through to his beloved Cielo.

Meanwhile, Kyoshiro battles through even more hordes of steel angels in order to get to the core of Bastille, where Kuu/Cielo is, apparently in hopes to snap her out of it. With some help from Sojiro and Himeko, he makes it to the top, at the same time Kuu’s conscious breaks through, returning her memories of Kyoshiro to her. She separates from Bastille as Kyoshiro leaps out and grabs her in embrace as they both free fall to the ground.

Thoughts

This episode was sooooo boring. To make things worse, I was punished twofold since I fell asleep twice during the episode and had to backtrack and watch what I missed again.

The first time I fell asleep was when Megingjord went around consoling each absolute angel, then putting them to sleep. The only reason I didn’t pass out sooner was because of the furry nekomimi’s incredibly annoying voice.

The second time I dozed off was during Kyoshiro’s run up the stairs to get to Bastille, I didn’t even bother rewatching this scene because it was probably filled with more Kyoshiro angsting about loving Kuu and being disappointed in Kazuya. If someone wants to tell me what really happened, that’d be great. Though…at this point there’s probably like…20 people still watching this show, so I won’t hold my breath.

As for where we go from now…there’s not much choice left, the only logical ending would be a KuuXKyoshiro ending. Although the preview suggests that the absolute angels are going to disappear, since we see Kuu and Kyoshiro saying, what seems to be, their teary goodbyes to each other. In either case, I’ll be disappointed, my hopes for an ending the likes of Kannaduki are all but gone. At the most, we’ll get a brief scene where Kaon and Himeko reunite and bid farewell, paralleling the scene where Chikane and Himeko say goodbye to each other in Kannaduki.

As I was hinging all my hopes on the ending, I’m going to go back and retroactively lower the ratings for all Kyousora’s episodes past 6, which were given mercy in hopes of an awesome finale.

I will admit though, done intentionally or not, I did like the power rangers-esque transformation scene. It made me laugh as I reminisced about good times long gone: an innocent and laid back childhood, sanity intact and untouched by the otaku community and eyes free from the torture that is kyousora. T_T

On the bright side, only one more episode remains until I can put the whole ordeal behind me. And for those of you wondering why I’m still watching this even though I don’t really like it anymore, it’s because I finish what I start, no matter how painfully bad it becomes. After I pass the 2/3 episode mark on an anime, I usually see it through to the end.

I can’t wait until this show ends and I can start blogging something remotely entertaining. Like Lucky Star! My KyoAni fandom knows no bounds.

~ Shirukii ~

That cello is made of the highest calibre winnage

What a great turnaround episode, while I have my doubts as to whether others will agree, I think this ep was awesome. Due in part to my re-evaluation of Kazuya and his purpose in the series, I began to understand why such a failure of a character was created. While I think Kyousora is going to end with less of a bang, and much less yuri undertones, than Kannaduki, I am now confident that the ending is set up to be semi-decent.

Episode Rating: 8.5/10

Riding on the momentum of last week’s rampage, Kazuya nabs the last of Cielo’s (Kuu’s) fragmented being: loli yuri furry nekomimi…thing (does she even have a name?). She and Sojiro desperately try to defend each other, but to no avail, Kazuya’s powers are too overwhelming.

Back at Kazuya’s abode, Kuu busily works away at what looks like an invitation to the school’s gala dance, not even realizing what she’s making. She suddenly snaps out of it in bewilderment and asks Setsuna if she knows why she was making such a thing. Before Setsuna can answer, Kazuya returns and Kuu tosses the invitation aside to rush to her ouji-sama.

Meanwhile, Kyoshiro is all angsty, sitting on a window sill writing suicide poetry lamenting on the recent events. Sojiro eventually shows up and tries to talk some sense into him and convince him to fight Kazuya together with him and the Morality Enforcement Squad, Academia’s military task force. Sojiro manages to convince them to work with him to stop another apocalyptic disaster.

While unsure at first, Kyoshiro eventually gives in and joins the good fight. So with the elite members of the Morality Enforcement Squad, Sojiro and Himeko wielding the mana blaster cello, Kazuya charges the castle. They fight through an army of steel angels (empty shells of absolute angels) and finally confront Kazuya, who is in the process of merging all the absolute angels into a single being.

In a last ditch attempt to snap her out of it, Kyoshiro calls out to Kuu, who’s memories have been slowly returning thanks to the help of Kyoshiro’s horse pendant.

Thoughts

Before people accuse me of being a hypocrite in light of how much complaining I did about Kazuya next week, let me first of all say that he is still a pompous ass and that I still hate him with a passion. However! I have noticed that his presence actually makes all the other characters more likable!

Kazuya still annoys me every bit as much as he did last week, his “Holier than thou” attitude is incredibly aggravating. But in contrast, all the other characters are becoming more pitiable. I actually felt sorry for the nekomimi absolute angel and, believe it or not, accepted that Mika wasn’t necessarily that bad of a person. But those realizations were only possible in light of an even worse character, namely: Kazuya.

Needless to say, however, that he still needs to die, especially after how he treated Kaon. It may have only happened once, but I sense a recurring theme starting up here: anyone that screws (in the non literal sense) with Kaon/Chikane, dies. But I think there’s little doubt that Kazuya’s future has death in it somewhere, there’s no way that such a colossal jackass can be allowed to live.

The episode wasn’t all good though, having to put up with Kazuya is one thing, but to be blindsided by one of Kyousora’s trademark bath scenes involving him was an eye burning experience. The whole scene in general was pretty useless actually, we got a few more cocky lines from Kazuya and a typical “Hai, ouji-sama” reply from Kuu…and that was it. At least the other shower scenes were pivotal in their ability to expose plot lines and/or expose a characters inner thoughts, this one was just plain out of place, even the fanservice level was frighteningly low.

Another thing that is sorely missed are Kuu’s monologues, I bet this is why Danny stopped/slowed down blogging it =(

Although hopes of a KuuXSetsuna ending are slowly fading, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of ending Kyousora will get. Personally, I’ll be consoled as long as Himeko and Kaon are reunited followed by a full night of sweet, flute aided, yuri love.

Awesome battle pose

Obligatory “Setsuna has awesome hair” screenie

~ Shirukii ~

I never thought I’d say this…but I want Kyoshiro back, being the lesser of two evils. Screw Mika, Kazuya needs to die, right now. He’s a prick, and not in that arrogantly cool way like GARcher or even Gilgamesh from FSN, he’s just a bastard among men.

Episode Rating: 6/10

My hate for Kazuya is so strong that it actually distracted me from paying attention to the episode, so this summary is going to be short.

The episode picks up directly from the last, Kazuya has showed up and wtfpwned Kyoshiro into a brick wall and proceeds to hit on Kuu. Setsuna tries to stop her, but is put to a stop by Megingjard, the previously unknown absolute angel cameo’d a few times throughout the series. Though Setsuna does manage to impale Kazuya, who heals himself and disperses Setsuna’s mana.

Apparently Kazuya never intended to save the world, it was all a misconception by Kyoshiro. Really he just wanted to bask in Kuu’s (originally the absolute angel Cielo) pure mana, which gave him infinite angel powers. He reveals all this to a crying Kyoshiro, who has just realized he was idolizing a fake.

Meanwhile Kuu is told of her origins, how she was the original absolute angel, but when she asploded, was split into four: Batraz, Murakamo, Cliaomh Solais and a combination of Megingjord (spirit) and Kuu (vessel). Kazuya replaces Kuu’s spirit, wipes her memories of Kyoshiro, and steals her and Setsuna away.

They head to Mika’s place where they capture Kaon and kill Mika in the longest, most drawn out and wordy fashion possible. In her dying moments Mika tries to save face by admitting her sins and whatnot, and asks Himeko to save Kaon from Kazuya.

Thoughts

Yet another episode made of fail. I’m pretty sure I’m overreacting a bit, but I really hate Kazuya. It’s not because he’s condescending and evil, there are plenty of bad guys that follow the same trend, it’s just the way he acts. In addition to being a cocky bastard, he has the audacity to take the admirable qualities of others, attribute them to himself, and claim that he is superior. Again, this alone wouldn’t be enough to anger me, but his actions run contradictory to his claims (except the strong part, he’s pretty badass in that respect).

However, there were a few things that saved the episode from complete disaster. First of all, the KaonXHimeko relationship has been reaffirmed! Sure they were only reunited for a minute or so, but that minute revived one of the greatest yuri pairings in the history of anime. These two really can’t catch a break though, ripped apart in both Kannaduki and Kyousora, sucks.

Parallel to that, is…

Yep, we all prayed for it, and our prayers were answered, Mika is dead! Unfortunately, she wasn’t tortured to death =( Her lame attempt at cleansing her conscious was pretty half assed too, she admits her wrongs, but doesn’t really feel any remorse. Even in her dying moments she still wanted Kaon all to herself, and still loathed Himeko. Although we are given a glimpse into her past, showing that Kazuya is the reason for her abandonment issues.

Another thing this episode has going for it is that it shows potential to bring the plot together in a somewhat logical manner. As much as I hate Kazuya, his sudden appearance acts as a deus ex machina that has done a pretty good job bringing all the fragments of the story together.

But that still doesn’t change that I don’t like where this series is heading. lolikit said it about episodes 6 and 7, I’ll apply to episodes 8 and 9. Fucking horse excrement.

On that note, I apologize for the relatively profane nature of this post. I usually don’t go to such lengths to show my displeasure with a series, instead opting to systematically point out flaws. But this just sucked -_- Kazuya is the cause of all the wrongs in the world, he needs to die. Coincidence or not, the script writers came through with Mika, so let’s all rally for the death of this idiot.

I fear for the ending of Kyousora, but I thought the same about Kannaduki in its closing moments, and it somehow managed to pull an amazing ending out of thin air. Let’s hope the writers haven’t lost their touch and we get blindsided by another awesome ender.

~ Shirukii ~

My thoughts on the latest turn of events…

DO NOT WANT!

This episode was made of fail and lose, and I say this not only as an advocate of yuri, but also as a fan of coherent plot…and a hater of Kyoshiro.

Episode Rating: 6.5/10

Picking up where we left off in episode seven: Kuu confesses to Kyoshiro, Kaede style, and gets rejected, Rin style. They both storm out of the house to jump off their respective cliffs while Setsuna looks on with a probable sense of satisfaction.

Kyoshiro needs to clear his head and think about what to do, so he jumps into a lake…fully clothed (not that I’m complaining about that last detail). He goes through the usual routine: flashback of his nii-san, think about current state of absolute angels, strengthen resolve to destroy them, and lose resolve when he thinks of Kuu.

Meanwhile, Kuu’s up to her usual routine, thinking about Kyoshiro, lamenting on her weakness as a human being and an absolute angel…then getting distracted by something shiny. Whether intentional or not, she ends up jumping off the edge of a cliff to her certain death, only to be caught last minute by Kyoshiro.

Apparently having done a whole half hour of thinking between the time he decided not to have secks with her and now, Kyoshiro lets loose the floodgates of emotion and confesses his love for Kuu. Being the naive and simplistic being she is, Kuu is immediately cheered up by this sentiment and the two hug as cultural festival fireworks go off in the background.

However, Kuu is not as naive as she appears (…anymore) she questions Kyoshiro’s will to destroy the absolute angels, her being one of them. He says that he’ll protect her from the others, no matter what, and that his late brother will surely understand his feelings.

Reassured, Kuu offers Kyoshiro the invitation to the dance, but he declines for now, saying that he needs to settle things with Setsuna first. Right on time, who else but Setsuna herself conveniently shows up and immediately proceeds to angst over Kyoshiro.

However, Setsuna is interrupted by a parting of light in the clouds, from which descends Kyoshiro’s nii-san and Kuu’s prince, Kyoshiro Kazuya. True love and a reunion with his brother? Ayanakouji: Best. Day. Evar. Or not…as he runs to hug his brother, Kazuya punches his little brother, sending him flying into the nearest wall. As Kuu and Setsuna run over to check Ayanakouji’s well being, Kazuya calls out to Kuu “Let us go, together…”

There was also some randomness with the KaonXHimekoXMika trio, but I didn’t understand enough of it to comment. *shrugs*

Thoughts

Hopes of a KuuXSetsuna scene the likes of Kannaduki are quickly becoming fleeting dreams, damn you Kyoshiro.

So this episode sucked, badly. It began well enough as Kyoshiro rejects Kuu, showing his ability to set aside emotion and maintain his resolve to destroy the absolute angels. But a quick dip in a lake later and he pulls a complete 180 and confesses to her? Wth is that. Kyoshiro’s like the John Kerry of the anime world.

Then there’s Setsuna, who despite being a pretty awesome character, never catches a break. She’s lost pretty much every fight that she’s been in, is seen as nothing more than a weapon by Kyoshiro despite her love for him, and just as she’s about to give Kuu the beating of her life, she’s interrupted by Kazuya. …but at least she’s got awesome hair =D

The appearance of Kazuya makes me think that the plot of Kyousora is going absolutely nowhere. Every week there are new characters and potential storylines introduced, but none of them are developed to a coherent point and show no signs of a conclusion. I smell a deus ex machina ending, and unlike Kannaduki, I have a feeling it’s going to fail hard.

Also, what was up with the school festival, despite looking more like the Olympics, it was just annoying. The episode tries to build a sense of drama but in the background you have this annoyingly happy announcer reporting on the school’s cultural festival? It just doesn’t work out. The only thing I can think of is that they were trying to use the festival as a contrast to the depressing events, but even that fell apart when Kyoshiro confessed and the fireworks rang out in the background.

However, the episode wasn’t all bad. Kuu momentarily was revived to her former glory of having random sparkling fantasies and having the mental capacity of a five year old, no internal monologuing though, makes me sad =(

In addition, the KaonXHimeko relationship has been revived! It seems like Himeko is the one with the unhealthy obsession with Chikane Kaon this time, which is fine as well. She kisses Kaon to give her all her mana, and ends up breaking Mika’s seal. Hopefully she goes on a rampage and kills Mika, that would be awesome.

In any case, one or two bad episodes is inevitable with Kyousora, much how Kannaduki kind of sucked until the ending. I just hope they manage to pull things together plot wise, or come up with an ending which rivals that of Kannaduki.

~ Shirukii ~

I like where this is going

First of all, sorry for the lack of posts these past few days. In addition to Chinese New Year and all the family/friend events I had to attend, I caught a pretty nasty cold taking away my ability and will to write. But with Chinese New Year passed, my cold symptoms fading and the release of a new Kyousora episode, all is well again.

This episode more than makes up for the relative crappiness of the previous one. The balance between the randomness that defines Kyousora and the annoying, but necessary plot elements is once again in harmony. While Kuu’s internal monologues are still lacking, and she doesn’t have those sparkling fantasies nearly as often, something even better happens! More on this later.

Episode Rating: 9/10

The beginning of the episode is reminiscent of the times before Kuu found out she was an Absolute Angel. She and Setsuna are out shopping, the school festival is on its way and Kuu has plans to ask Kyoshiro to that dance that was mentioned way back in episode one.

Back at the dorm, Kuu begins to write her letter of invitation to Kyoshiro. But she finally snaps and realizes what she truly is, and that Kyoshiro would surely reject her as things currently stand. Oddly enough, it’s Setsuna that comes in and comforts Kuu, apparently under the orders of Kyoshiro. As out of place as it was, I’m not going to complain, as it leads to a Strawberry Panic moment between the two.

For no apparent reason, but much like in Strawberry Panic, Kuu feels the need to take a bath after the ordeal. Here she laments on her current situation, neither a human nor a sword, she perceives herself as a useless shell who serves no purpose.

Meanwhile, Kyoshiro does about the only thing he can do, plays the violin. He tries to build his resolve against the absolute angels, trying to reassure himself that they are the enemies of the world that bring nothing but destruction and that he is charged with the duty of destroying them. However, his concentration (and violin) is broken as Kuu’s face pops into his mind.

We then cut to a random shot of loli yuri furry doing what I can only describe as raping a fish, or perhaps wrangling it…whatever. Not surprisingly, she’s still bitter about Setsuna/Kuu and vows over and over to kill them. Sojiro sits on the shoreline, ranting about the fifth Absolute Angel (Kuu) and some more nonsensical plot related stuff. No doubt trying to not be useless, I’ll believe it when I see it, the image of him cooking still lingers with me.

Nothing much to say about the next scene that I haven’t said many times before. Mika needs to die a harsh, painful, cruel and lonely death. For a character that got so much love in Kannaduki no Miko, Kaon (Chikane) sure is getting shafted in Kyousora. On a slightly redeeming note, we’re shown the reason that Mika is obsessed with Kaon, apparently she was a nurse that attended to her when she was injured in the past. Not much redemption, but at least there’s a slightly reasonable explanation behind it.

Back at the dorm, Kuu makes her decision, she begins to train her Absolute Angel powers. After asking Setsuna for some advice on how to summon her mecha thing, she sets up a target and begins to practice. However, after flailing around for a good while, she gives up and heads back inside to take a bath.

At this time, Kyoshiro returns and heads straight to his room, ignoring Setsuna’s love prepared dinner =( Little does he know that he’s not about to get any rest. Kuu solemnly enters Kyoshiro’s room, seemingly at a loss as to what to do. Unable to stay by his side as a human, unable to fight by his side as his sword, Kuu does the only thing she can think of, she offers her body to Kyoshiro, Kaede style!

Kyoshiro stands there in shock, unable to decide what to do. In front of him stands a girl that’s willing to do anything for his sake, but she’s an Absolute Angel, part of the group of beings that he is struggling to destroy to avenge his brother. In the end he embraces her and lets out a warm hearted “bakayaro”.

Thoughts

I CALLED IT! I didn’t think it’d actually happen though, TNK sure knows how to appease their viewers…unless I was the only one who was hoping this was going to happen. Nevertheless, my theories almost never come true, so at the least, this is cause for personal celebration =D

I’m curious as to whether or not Kyoshiro actually accepted her offer though, the episode ended with his “bakayaro” followed by a fade out and bed sheet ruffling noise. This could mean that he took her up on her offer and pushed her down onto the bed, like Kuu did to Setsuna earlier in the episode. Or that he flung her away and she just happened to land on the bed. Since the preview doesn’t address the issue, I guess we’ll have to wait until next episode to find out =(

Though highlighted by Kuu’s offering to Kyoshiro, the episode was good in general. More yuri and fanservice randomness and less Mika, Kaon and Himeko angsting (which I’m getting really sick of). Though, I still really miss Kuu’s innocent internal rambling and her overreactions to kisses and etc. Actually, there hasn’t been much random kissing either =O

As for the plot, I really have no idea where it’s going. There have been tons of characters and potential storylines set in motion, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. On the contrary, more unsolved mysteries are popping up every episode, this time being Sojiro’s mention of seals and the fifth angel supposedly not existing. I really don’t see how everything could possibly be tied up within a mere five episodes.

While I can forgive the plot being a total mess, much like Kannaduki’s, I’m not seeing much progression in terms of character either. Setsuna remains a silent mountain of jealousy, Kaon’s still a lifeless robot servant/torture doll, Mika’s still a sadistic power freak, Kyoshiro’s still a useless bishie with a violin…shall I continue? The only development we see is in Kuu, who sadly has been awakened from her idealistic reality into her current situation.

So, while individual episodes continue to entertain, it’s meaningless if the series as a whole has no direction. And barring some sort of crazy plot twist or all revealing episode, I don’t see everything being wrapped up nicely. Though I could live with it were to somehow lead to a KuuXSetsuna ending reminiscent of Kannaduki’s finale. Or some YFR.

Obligatory “Setsuna has awesome hair” screenie

~ Shirukii ~