Kimi ni Todoke - Episode 12

After Kurumi's initial plot and attempt to manipulate Sawako out of her way so that she could have Kazehaya to herself pretty much fell on deaf ears, it was plain to see the gears turning in her mind for the remainder of that episode until she settled upon a new plan - Trying to shift Sawako's attention in the direction of Ryuu.

Of course, while Sawako is receptive to basically any advice thrown her way, getting her to think about Ryuu over and above Kazehaya is pretty much asking the impossible, so once again Kurumi finds herself at something of an impasse. However, with Sawako at least taking on board the concept that talking to Sanada might not be such a bad idea, it still gives her some elements to work to her advantage - Elements which become all the more potent as we receive another reminder that Shouta is actually quite the jealous one when it comes to these things.


Thus, as this twelfth episode progresses, so Kurumi's behaviour becomes borderline stalker-ish, as she tracks down Kazehaya's whereabouts at the on-going sports festival, plants a note purporting to be from Sawako in Ryuu's locker, and points Sawako in his direction to ensure that they meet at just the right time for Kurumi to break it to Shouta that Sawako is more interested in Sanada. A cunning (albeit slightly convoluted) plan, but is it going to work? Who knows, I don't have time to think about that right now while my blood is still boiling from Kurumi's behaviour.

Luckily for Sawako, she has at least one powerful ally on her side in Yano, who already seems to have figured out exactly what is going on with regard to the Kazehaya-Sawako-Kurumi love triangle, and even realises that a lot of the rumours floating around about herself and Chizuru earlier in the series originated from Kurumi; knowledge she has little hesitation in letting Kurumi know in her own subtle way. This is probably the best single exchange of the episode - Utterly bitchy and sly on both sides of the conversation, but compellingly realistic as I'm sure we've all seen or known girls who are masters at operating that way.

Anyhow, all things considered this was a wonderfully weaved episode which brought out the best and worst in all of the major characters - We get a glimpse inside the heart of Ryuu (as if we didn't already know what was to be found inside), a good long look at the "real" Kurumi, a reminder of Kazehaya's jealous streak, a great view of Yano's social nous, and of course the usual blend of naive innocence and determination from Sawako. All of this blends together to serve as a great reminder of why this series works so well - All of the major characters are strong in terms of both personality and the direct effect they have on events, which makes it far easier to be drawn into their trials, tribulations and fun times until you don't want the episode to end... something which is particularly true on this occasion as we're left with something of a mid-season cliff-hanger.

Hetalia Axis Powers - Episode 48

Episode forty-eight of Hetalia: Axis Powers begins with a game of Name That Tune hosted by Austria... seriously, answers in the comments if you know the classical piece being played, let's see how culturally aware you guys are...

Anyhow, that aside this particular episode is book-ended by the birth of Italy proper, as Chibitalia grows up (thank goodness) - A state of affairs which brings with it quite a shocking revelation for poor old Austria needless to say, and I'm sure he isn't the only one to be slightly freaked out by the nature of said changes. I feel a little dirty myself for having watched it, now I come to think of it.


Also featured in this episode is Italy nagging Germany to play football with him (to which I would humbly suggest that he tries his best to avoid proposing a penalty shoot-out at any juncture), Germany giving Italy a helmet for his own safety (a wise move indeed), and what could be the end for poor old England following some abortive experimentation with weapons (or was it all a hoax to fool the Germans? Who knows). Not a particularly funny episode to be honest (and it was a little too slapdash in throwing together its skits to really build anything worthwhile), but I suppose that's par for the course with Hetalia most weeks.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 37

While a visit from Winry would normally be welcomed by the Elric brothers, her appearance at Fort Briggs proves to be anything but a cause for celebration, as Kimblee's appearance alongside her makes it clear that she's little more than a hostage in the hands of the military.


So, the tangled web which surrounds Fort Briggs becomes ever more complicated, as Major General Armstrong looks to have the men sent into the vast tunnel beneath the fortress rescued only for them to be found in quite a state while Kimblee and his men seemingly take care of everything else. Indeed, their plan appears to be a meticulously arranged one, deliberately keeping Ed and Al separated while Kimblee instructs the former of his next tasks as a "dog of the military", some of which fill him with absolute horror, no matter the price of the reward offered up in return for his compliance. Of course, despite accepting this offer (as if he had any choice), things still aren't quite that cut and dried, and Edward clearly has more in mind than simply blindly following the whims of his employers.

Meanwhile, another Homunculus reveals himself to Riza Hawkeye from a most unexpected quarter (or perhaps a quite expected one, depending on how you look at it), while Mustang makes indirect contact with Armstrong back at Fort Briggs, receiving a request for some additional help as she tried to get a handle on her particular problems up in the North.

As is par for the course with this series, these elements blend perfectly to create yet another compelling episode - Even without any outright action, the tension is thick from beginning to end thanks to the importance of everything that is at stake with each roll of the dice, while there's just enough humour applied on occasion to stop the entire thing from descending into utter darkness. If you are missing all the action however it looks as though the next episode should be a treat for you, but at the moment it never ceases to amaze me how Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is managing to keep its quality so consistent on an episode by episode basis over such a long period of time. As I seem to keep saying however, long may it continue.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 12 (Completed)

With Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza reaching its climax here, there's only one thing left for this series to provide.... A hot springs episode! Wait, what did you think I was going to say?

For some reason, I thought this series had already had a hot spring episode (they all tend to blend together in your head after a while), but apparently not, and so this instalment sees basically the whole cast of the series enjoying the opportunity for blatant fan service aplenty throughout its first half, complete with a botched confession to Yuuto by Shiina.


With that out of the way, the second half takes a more serious turn (well, as serious as this show can get), with Haruka somehow lost outside in a blizzard. Of course, this calls for action, and so the Nogizaka maid team form a search party to find her, a party which Yuuto tags along with to do his bit to help (albeit dressed as a bear - I did say it was as serious as this show can get, didn't I?). Needless to say, it's Yuuto who eventually finds Haruka, and after getting caught in a bit of a landslide they find a nearby empty shack to get comfortable and make themselves safe in. Really, the rest writes itself from here, as the pair look to keep one another warm, and one thing leads to another only to be interrupted at the last second, as per pretty numerous other episodes of this series. To be fair, at least the end credits give us our "happily ever after" Yuuto and Haruka moment, and not a moment too soon.

Much like its first season, I found myself having a bit of a love/hate relationship with Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza. At times I found episodes both amusing and/or enjoyable, particularly when they focused on the frankly quite adorable dynamic between Haruka and Yuuto, but at others I grew beyond frustrated with the overuse of fan service and the constant attempts to draw Yuuto into some kind of love triangle or harem situation or other. It's almost as if this series (nay, this franchise) never really figured out what worked best - If only it had got to grips with that earlier, it could have been all the more enjoyable for it. Still, as entertaining fluff Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu never really put a foot entirely wrong, and there have certainly been worse ways to spend your anime watching time this season.

White Album - Episode 25

As if there hadn't been enough drama to go around in recent episodes of White Album, so the previous instalment of the series saw Rina poisoned at the hands of yet another dastardly plot - Boy, have there been plenty of those in this series.

While Rina survives this assault easily enough, her voice isn't so lucky, and she finds herself temporarily unable to speak (or indeed to sing) - A cruel thing to happen to by far this series most entertaining character, if you ask me. Of course, this state of affairs puts her place at the Venus festival in jeopardy, and so throughout the episode we see her fight to regain her voice in time to take part.


Meanwhile, Touya seems to have gotten a bit of a sulk on, although I suppose you can't really blame him after screwing up pretty much everything for everybody... Wait, let me rephrase that - I suppose you can't really blame him after screwing pretty much everybody. Old habits seem to die hard though, as he still can't resist flirting with Yayoi while Yuki is in the bathroom just around the corner (not that Yuki really seems too concerned with what he does these days, and rightly so), and come the end of the episode he gets a golden opportunity to "complete the Menou route" (if you know what I mean) before being rudely interrupted by M3's president, who is also Menou's mother of course. Talk about awkward.

I suppose I should really be interested in how this series is going to end now we've reached this penultimate instalment, but somehow I'm not particularly - Everything seems to have been left in such a mess that none of the major characters really deserve one another, and to be honest even a "bad end" for Touya wouldn't even satisfy me. In that sense, White Album seems to have painted itself into a corner of overblown drama and misery, and I'm really not too sure that it can escape that corner before the paint dries. We shall have to see though, I suppose.

Winter 2010 anime preview

The start of a new year will also mean the start of a new anime season in just a couple of short weeks, so what (if anything) is there for us to look forward to as 2010 kicks into life?

I've just completed and published UK Anime's usual new season anime preview (complete with images and trailers wherever possible), so for a run-down of what you might be watching come January check it out!

Winter 2010 anime preview

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - Episode 12

Harumi Kiyama may have been defeated and on the brink of being taken into custody by Misaka towards the end of the last episode, but that was far from the end of the story as things looked set to take a turn for the bizarre (and downright creepy for that matter).

With Harumi defeated, the network of Level Upper users she created "gives birth" to an entity of its own - A foetus-cum-monster made up of the thoughts of disillusionment and frustration of all of those Level Upper users on account of their inability to get by as well as they might have liked in Academy City with their insufficient powers. Thus, Mikoto now has a new threat to worry about, with this odd semi-organic monster looking set to go on an indiscriminate and seemingly unstoppable rampage.


The only way to resolve the problem seems to be the use of the "treatment programme" for Level Upper users already provided to Uihara by Kiyama, leaving us with a race to put this treatment into action and awaken the network of Level Upper users before the monster born from their thoughts does any major damage - A pressing concern considering there's a nuclear facility directly in its path.

This state of affairs leads us into what must easily be the most action-packed instalment of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun so far, with Misaka in particular given a free reign to show off her full range of offensive and defensive abilities... and let's face it, that's one of the reasons why we're watching this series in the first place. This focus on the action side of things above all else made for a predictable but watchable episode that suffered in terms of animation quality (a rarity for J.C. Staff) on account of all of that movement, while still doing a good enough job of closing off this particular story arc. It may not have provided any surprises in its big set piece finale, but was anyone really expecting it to?