To Aru Majutsu no Index Episode 8
Because cult koolaid is so 5 years ago.
Stiyl explains to Touma that basically the space inside the cram school is separated. The reason the students can’t see the corpse is that they are on the outside and now Stiyl and Touma are on the inside. They slowly start making their way up the building. Touma calls Index to see if his phone can still reach the outside. Index has never answered the phone before and is very nervous. She lets it slip she sorta ate Touma’s food. He isn’t really mad about it and has to go. Stiyl is a little jealous that Touma is so close to Index so he makes fun of Touma. They make their way to the school’s cafeteria. Stiyl is not very impressed with this cult…until all the students start looking at them. Stiyl realizes that an intruder spell has been activated and now the students are on the space plane as they are. Stiyl uses Touma twice as a meat shield and he gets away. Touma stops to help a student and he is nearly destroyed. Aisa appears out of now where and stops the spell. Elsewhere Stiyl meets up with the Alchemist Aureolus Izzard. They exchange a few words and have a staring contest. Aisa asks Touma to help her stitch the victim up. Afterwards, Aisa explains that she wants to be at the academy. She is afraid of her powers and she is trying to protect vampires by being locked up in this place. Touma says she shouldn’t stay here to help this whacko. Aisa says that Izzard needed a live vampire to help someone and that is why she stays. Izzard appears and has the power to say something and make it happen. Aisa protects Touma and demands to know what is going. Izzard then uses his blood to make Touma forgot what has happened in the building.
Can you hear me now?
Meanwhile Index realizes that Touma was too lax about the pudding eating incident and leaves to investigate what is going on. She makes her way to the building where Izzard kidnaps her. Stiyl and Touma wake up next to each other, confused on what just happened. Touma manages to undo the spell when he touches his head and punches Stiyl for using him as a shield. Index’s kitten crawls up inside Index’s hat and the two men make their way back to the building. There are knights performing a spell. It collapses the building, but the building puts itself back together again. Stiyl explains that this is the true power of Izzard. Touma starts to worry about Index, as Izzard and Aisa appear in an office room with her unconscious body.
So perhaps I judged Touma too harshly. While he did go on and on about being a hero/being right, it is hard to fault him alone for his massive speeches. Apparently everyone in this series as the case of the MOG JUST SHUT UPS. Even my poor little Aisa caught it today. So now that I realize everyone has this condition, I will be a little more lenient on Touma…..but just a little bit!!! Perhaps I will enjoy the anime better now that I have accepted the talkative nature of this show.
Or maybe not, Touma can't help but be Touma...
The last scene of the show confused me (which really isn’t that shocking). Were the knights on Stiyl’s side or Izzard’s? If they were on Stiyl’s, it makes sense that they were using a spell to take down the building. If that spell was meant to attack Stiyl however, it was the biggest waste of time and unnecessary. Now that I have written this out, it makes more sense that the knights were trying to take down the cram school. Perhaps not FAIR to all the students that would have been smushed, but at least it doesn’t seem so stupid to me now. The 6 hour break between watching the anime and blogging about it seems to have done my brain good.
I refuse to show my age with the anime reference I first thought of!
Stiyl and Touma have such a loving relationship. It is nice to know just because you fight on the same side it doesn’t mean everything is cotton candy and rainbows. I was amused at Stiyl being afraid of the spell/protection device used against them at the cram school. Once again it makes me wonder how powerful magic really is in this series if it has Stiyl shaking in his boots, but whatever. It was still fun to see Stiyl use Touma has a human meat shield. It was equally as great watching Touma get his memories back from that day…and his first act was pop Stiyl good. These two “heroes” really have their priorities straight.
A good plan you say?
Touma is not enjoying the plan!
Stiyl really isn’t that bad of a guy when you get down to it. He and Touma might have actually gotten along, but the fact of the matter is Stiyl is jealous of Touma. Who knows how many times Index had to forget Stiyl. Index now thinks Stiyl is a bad magician out to get her while all he is doing it protecting her. So I can see how Stiyl would want to rip out Touma’s spine and beat him with it. Touma gets to spend time with Index and she didn’t have to forget him. He gets to be the hero and Stiyl has to hide in the shadows. So while perhaps having a phone conversation in the midst of enemy territory might not have been a great idea….Stiyl was harsher due to the Index factor. Perhaps Stiyl will live long enough to be a hero to Index one day.
Jealous much?
I was pleasantly surprised to find out Aisa’s back story so soon. I thought it would be a few more episodes until her reasons were explained to us, but I guess this series has a lot to cover and doesn’t have a lot of time to waste with fillers. REJOICE FOR NO FILLERS! Anyway, I find Aisa’s reasons for “staying” at the cram school pretty out there. It is rare anyone really cares about vampires *hides from crazy Twilight fan girls* so Aisa seems to be very special (oh, and we aren’t counting Vampire Knight either…because I said so). Perhaps Aisa just doesn’t like hurting ANYONE and it bothers her that her being….alive causes harm to people. She has good intentions, but she needs to watch her back against Izzard. He isn’t above using meat shields either.
Aisa is TOO cute!
My favorite moment of the show would have to be Index and the phone call. She was so cute answering the phone for the first time. I don’t know WHY she admitting to eating all his food, but I guess she can’t help but be honest. It is sad that she is all alone in that apartment, but it is better than her tagging along and getting in the way (even though she already did). ALL HAIL PUDDING INDEX!
The pudding might fall in her mouth too!
Izzard is a very powerful enemy. Anyone who can say anything and make it come true is pretty invincible in my book. We all know that Izzard is up to no good, so let’s hope Aisa figures that out fast. I predict she will be the one who ends up defeating Izzard or adds Stiyl and Touma greatly. I don’t know if that will happen during the next episode as Izzard’s intentions have not been revealed yet. Next week’s episode looks interesting whether or not this arc ends quickly or takes a few more episodes. I wouldn’t mind seeing more Kaori though!
You know you have to take your enemy serious when he is willing to maim himself.
Stiyl is clearly worried.
Pardon me, I am trying to destroy the world.
After everyone is done going GASP it is Gin’s body, it is time to fight. Enjin wants to Akina to open up the scared area so he can force the Nan-gou to bloom. Kotoha manages to save Ao from Enjin and the party gets underway. Akina is sorta human and useless. Hime goes after Enjin as Kotoha and Kyosuke focus on Inozuka. Enjin keeps egging Hime on, saying she is not putting her all into the fight because of who the body belongs to. Enjin tries to provoke the gang by telling everyone that Akina knew about his previous attacks. Everyone is shocked, but keep fighting. The whole town (including loser Rin) notices the fight and Yuhi is off telling his people to not get involved. The gang soon loses and Hime is semi captured. Enjin decides to explain his grand master plan about connecting the two worlds, making this world like the other, and or making the youkai that have been forced into the other world be able to return. Akina decides to save Hime and allows Enjin access to the Nan-gou. After he is stabbed by the ninja nun, Enjin uses one of his many powers and forces the Nan-gou to bloom. The town’s people are all going x_X as the tree sprouts branches and flower petals. Hime gets all dramatic and goes off flying with her spear. As the flower petals start open and goo blobs start rising from the ground, Hime chops the Nan-gou up. That seems to stop the impending doom, yet Hime feels very guilty about what she had to do.
This episode was full of special. Again I was expecting something completely different and set myself up for disappointment. That or the episode was just subpar and my standards aren’t really that high. Perhaps saying it was special is being too kind.
Ao abuse!!! :O
The battle scene just wasn’t..believable to me. Not that flying demons and white hair cat molesters are believable, but I didn’t feel the seriousness of the fight. Kotoha was not very scary or powerful, Kyosuke was pretty useless, Akina was all the way useless, and Hime wasn’t putting her all into the fight. She whacked Silver up more than she did Enjin (poor Silver!!!) I knew this battle wasn’t going to be the epic climax of the show, but it still was very…lazy I guess? It wasn’t very interesting and didn’t have that duel to the death feel.
Kick of fail.
Kotoha was an utter moron today. Why did she use such a slow moving weapon against a fast opponent? Whatever happened to her machine gun times 100 attack? That would have been much more effective. Had the enemy been the SHRINE Kotoha would have been the hands down winner. She really wasn’t thinking when she chose that weapon.
I am not sure what Enjin’s goal really is. I am glad there was SOME explanation given on his diabolical plan, but a consistent answer would have been nice too. Does Enjin want the worlds to be connected or turn this world into the OTHER world? Are the two worlds combining or is a gate between them opening up? Is this a way to allow the youkai to have access to both worlds or just to make this world just as crappy as the other one? That really doesn’t make much sense if you ask me. I mean, conquering the world I see. But turning your current world into a crappy world really serves no purpose. I tend to want to blame the subbers for the conflicting reasons…but I fear this was the actual dialogue.
Can we SERIOUSLY have an episode without Rin? Does this show not know what a minor character is called? She really adds NOTHING to the show. Honestly I could stop hating her if she wasn’t constantly on every single week. My unexplained hatred for her will never die as long as she still gets screen time.
I am not really sure what was up with Yuhi. I guess this entire plot is being lost on me as the anime is not doing a great job of explaining the complicated back-story of the manga. If I was a keeper of a town, I would probably make sure people didn’t destroy it. There is always the possibility that Yuhi is bored out of his mind and wants to see a battle take place or just liven up his day. However, he made it clear that they were not allowed to interfere with this conflicted so apparently there is another reason behind it. Hopefully they will explain why there are rules forbidding them for preventing the destruction of their hometown/world, but I won’t hold my breath for those answers. Heaven forbid the nun be allowed to protect her home from being destroyed.
Because destroying the town would be much better than helping...
Ejin seems a little bit too powerful to just NOW be getting to his evil little plan. Clearly the town’s finest didn’t stand a chance against him so why did he even wait this long to start his scheme? It also seems unreasonable the balance of power. Of course, I do not know what Enjin was before he took over Gin’s powers, so it could be a combination of the two. He just seems to have TOO MANY powers. Who wants to watch a show where one side clearly is going to win? Also, why didn’t he just stick his hand in the tree before or did it have to be near the trunk? Doubt that will be explained either.
Sylar anyone?
Overall, this episode was just…bleh. Hime was crying over a tree more than Silver. Ao really wasn’t reacting to “evil” brother as much as I thought she should have. I have no idea why everyone was mad at Akina for keeping Enjin/Gin from them (of course, I am not privy to Gin’s actual disappearance). The fight was lame and pretty much wrecked a sacred temple. Maybe next week will make more sense, but time is slowly running out for this series. Hopefully it will end smoothly and not all over the place.
Poor sad....stumpy tree.
This is not yaoi I appreciate!
I would like to start off this review by thanking the anime gods. I don’t know if it was meant to be a tribute to the book and failed on a massive level or the book had NOTHING to do with book, but I am very grateful this episode was NOT about Wuthering Heights. When I saw the title of the show, I had a scary flashback to high school and how my class had to SUFFER with that book. It is the most BORING book on the face of the planet and I almost ran away screaming when I saw “Going Astray in Wuthering Heights” (although a part of me also wondered how the HELL they were going to pull it off…) Needless to say, the writers enjoyed giving me a near heart attack and their sense of humor is questionable at best.
Their art is questionable as well....
Jin and Nagi are having a pretty boring afternoon/night when Daitetsu comes over. He left Jin’s house before the rain set in and after being locked out of his house and climbing the roof to find an open window, he got picked up by the cops. Soon into the episode Daitetsu starts thinking how things aren’t adding up. He has flashbacks about the cosplay maid café and how Jin was too embarrassed around Nagi for that to be a normal brother sister relationship (as his imagination has him leading into crazy incest/naked Nagi/sex scene land). His suspicions are only further proven as he over hears Nagi and Jin talking about how they have to lie better. The more Nagi and Jin play up they are brother and sister, the more sexual it gets in Daitetsu’s mind. Despite all his evidence, the most damning part of the dinner comes when Daitetsu finds a sketch of the maiden Jin drew. Daitetsu says the picture looks like Nagi and she confesses she is the tree spirit..and he doesn’t believe her. Instead he ends up getting beaten as it turns out that he stole the tree trunk. Nagi swears Daitetsu will suffer and be cursed forever. Daitetsu tries to sleep in the house, but the storm knocks out the power and well…Nagi has scared him that bad. He ends up going to where the temple used to be and prays for forgiveness. Lightening almost strikes Daitetsu, but Nagi appears and protects him. She acts different and refers to herself as “that girl”. Nagi says a few things to Daitetsu and passes out. Jin tries to question Nagi about what happened last night, but Nagi claims she doesn’t remember. She gets defensive and tells Jin that a mere human cannot begin to comprehend how awesome she is. Daitetsu is still in deep shock about yesterday and is further lost in his resolve that he must rescue Jin. The art club president mistakes this as a yaoi moment. The episode ends on a HIGHLY dramatic moment as Nagi and Daitetsu are about ready to duel to the death for Jin’s honor.
A fight to the death!
Tonight has apparently been the night of weird episodes. I guess I could be grateful for the small fact I got them out of the way all at once? Still…just odd.
Odd you say?
I am not a fan of fan service…when it is straight anyway. I am always on the lookout for yaoi fan service so I am just a giant hypocrite. Regardless of me being a liar or not, Daitetsu’s imagination was off in crazy land and he came up with x_X scenarios. I wonder if anyone was turned on by the pedo like body Nagi is sporting or the implied incest sex going on behind the curtain. Fan service is supposed to be funny; this borders on the line of funny and sick/stupid/x_X.
Perv!
Out of all the people to catch on to this sibling lie, I would not have guessed it would have been Daitetsu. He just seemed like one of those quiet artists’ genius types that misses the world around him. I didn’t expect him to be so perceptive. Well, maybe not perceptive as much as….questioning the obvious. :P Regardless of WHO brought up the sibling issue, I am just glad SOMEONE questioned this blatant lie.
Daitetsu has some really odd…fantasies in his scary brain. I am not quite sure what cows have to do with naughty images, but they made me laugh at the dream sequence.
Cows are very sexy.
They add to the incest mood.
It was nice seeing an anime girl with normal sized breasts. I am sure there are people out there saying Nagi has a pedo body and what not. The fact of the matter is some 16 year old girls *GASPS* do not have huge boobies! The fantasy senior made me think three things: Daitetsu is love with Nagi, Daitetsu is in love with Jin, or Daitetsu really thinks they are together and Jin needs saving. I would like to think all three of those things were going through his mind at the same time.
And she thinks crazy things constantly.
It took a while, but Nagi’s other persona was finally touched upon again. It was not clear in the second episode whether or not Nagi actually had a split personality or she was still playing along with her lie about having a split personality. That last sentence hurts my head. Anyway, it seems as if Nagi made up a lie about having a split personality to cover up the fact she really does have a split personality. She got very upset at Jin when he brought it up, as if she is fighting to keep her personality alive. Gentle and kind Nagi is not as much fun away!
The other Nagi is...who?
So while this episode was….crazy crack to say the very least, I felt as if the plot got pushed…slightly in the right direction. Not that there are many episodes left to get to the plot..or that the plot really does exist at this point. Next week’s episode might just focus more on Daitetsu and Nagi’s fight…or that it just might be a standalone episode. But at this point, the story still has to cover this other Nagi and Zange needs to have her situation worked out. This series has no real….direction I should say. Perhaps that means there is another season in the works? I just don’t want the ending to seem rushed! Guess we will know more next week.
Welcome to the dark side!
The episode starts off with Kyoko cackling to her voodoo dolls of Ren and Sho and how she will make them suffer one day. The next day at the agency, she is floored at the cost of acting lessons. She runs into Kotonami in the hallway. It turns out that Kotonami did not pass the final part of the audition and now…she has to be in the LOVE ME section. Kyoko loses her mind for 2 minutes talking about how wonderful the LOVE ME section really is and Kotonami aka Moko wants to commit suicide. The reason that Moko did not pass the audition was because she lacks love like Kyoko does so Kyoko decides they are two peas in a pod. Moko feels as if the LOVE ME section is beneath her and she rather take the acting lessons and get discovered that way. Meanwhile the director is having an issue with his granddaughter and has decided to ask the LOVE ME section for help. While Kyoko is hearing the details of this job, Moko is out in the halls trying to impress the other acting students with her skills. Kyoko takes the job when she finds out it is a chance for her to crush Ren. Moko decides to join the LOVE ME section when she hears that Kyoko has worked out a deal to get them into the acting class free. Kyoko’s master plan is to lure the granddaughter Maria out with her dolls. Moko begins wondering if Kyoko is a crazy psycho fan and Maria comes out of her pig outfit to snuggle the dolls. Progress is almost made until the director asks Maria to apologize for her early tantrum. It turns out Maria is upset over a scene (in a play?) that she finds too unrealistic. Kyoko says that she also finds the scene too unbelievable which makes Maria admire her. The acting students decide that Kyoko has stepped out of line and challenge her to act out the scene the way that seems more realistic to her.
REVENGE WILL BE HERS!
I hope the ride never stops on Skip Beat. This is an excellent comedy through and through. Dare I say….it is on par with Ouran Host Club?! :O Dare I say such a thing about the sacred anime that is the mascot of insanity?! I will hide in my underground bunker to avoid the crazy fangirls.
I am very happy that Kyoko is no longer the only member of the LOVE ME section. Because…a section with one member really isn’t a section…more like a charity case. And who better to be in the LOVE ME section that the self proclaimed winner of the acting auditions. Hopefully this shows Kyoko that even “stars” have a thing or two to learn and that ANYONE can fall flat on their face/pick themselves up from the ashes.
Kyoko has momentary forgotten about the point system apparently...
Other bloggers have been singing Moko’s praises. Since I have yet to read my friend’s collection of Skip Beat mangas, I was not waiting impatiently for her contribution to the show. I do see why people were waiting for her reappearance. She adds something great to the show. She is different that Ruriko in that Ruriko is an already established star having a diva attack whereas Moko thought she was the s*** and got handed a big dose of reality. Moko is a prime example of how someone with talent can still fail if they don’t master becoming a relatable person.
I laugh at the suffering of others. :)
So not only is Moko good for the show due to her undeserved diva mentality, but she is also just plain fun. Kyoko needs a partner in crime and I think Moko will fill that role well. I think everyone has a snarky nature about them in this series, but Kyoko needs someone who is her equal with evil thoughts. Not that Moko stands a chance against Kyoko’s demons…
She knows when to jump on board the crazy train.
Maria was a little….meh for me. I am not a fan of children being at a work place (as I have had to suffer with that at my own previous jobs). They tend to get in the way and cause havoc. Not to mention that a 7 year old shouldn’t have a crush on someone that old…it was slightly creepy. She’s not a big wow for me, but she isn’t annoying like Rin or the stupid trio. She is just there and as long as she doesn’t take away from Kyoko, I am okay with her.
Children are such manipulated little cuties.
I felt the scenario with the scene/dead mom made little to no sense. It seems that if Kyoko said the sky was blue, everyone at the agency would jump down her throat and declare her stupid. I saw both sides of the scene: maybe the family did accept the kid and maybe that concept is a little too happy Disney and rainbow land. The point is Kyoko and Maria have a right to their opinions. Especially then these two girls have experience with a family where everything was not cotton candy and puppies. Of course, this is the same show that faults Kyoko for cleaning a floor too awesome.
And you thought YOUR office was crazy.
So I think it is well established that this agency is special. Perhaps all agencies are like that in Japan, but I just find it very special with the lessons and training people in groups. Everyone is out to pick on the newbie for petty reason and the president rides around on animals…in the hallway. Yet, despite all these WTF moments, it is still a very enjoyable show. Embrace the craziness just as I have and stay tuned for episode 9.
What?! People upset at KYOKO?! No way!
Vampires + incest = crazy fan girls.
OH SNAP YUKI IS A VAMPIRE! OH SNAP ZERO IS UPSET!! OH SNAP KANAME IS AN ASSHAT ABOUT THE SITUATION!! Will the surprises never cease?! Zero doesn’t have the balls to shoot Kaname, so he lets them walk off into the snowy distances…or the Moon dorms. Around campus everyone is going MOG how is this possible?! How could Yuki be the pure blooded princess? FLASHBACK TIME! The viewers are blessed to see the hugest eyes on an anime person EVER aka bugged eye Yuki the five year old. She just loves her Kaname just so very much, but Kaname wants her to be able to live free without bars. Their parents fear that Yuki’s life is in danger and OH SNAP they are right. They confront Uncle Meanie outside who wants Yuki for his diabolical plan of depriving the world of emo girls. Assumingly the father is killed and Yuki’s mother whisks Yuki away. She somehow sacrifices herself to lock up Yuki’s vampireness so she can be protected. Aido and Kain are all like WTF is going on, but follow Kaname and vow to protect Yuki. Ruka is off being stupid and feeling sorry for herself. Uncle Meanie/Shiki is happy all is going according to plan.
Yuki sorta wakes up and wants a snack from her brother. Yuki comes to her senses and realizes she has been in love with her brother all her life…yet doesn’t throw up. She goes through some crazy inner thoughts about how everything is her fault, she has hurt Zero, she needs to SEE Zero since it has been 30 whole minutes since she saw him, ect. Yuki then notices danger is afoot. Uncle Meanie is chillin with Ichijou when Rima decides she is tired of fake Shiki. They get into an epic battle of fail with Rima the loser. Shiki almost wakes up, but Uncle Meanie is too much for her. Meanwhile Kaname is off telling Ruka he is so sorry he is so sexy and she fell in love with him, but he has the hots for his sister. Kaname says he will make it up to her by allowing her to be his loyal servant and she has happily accepted. Yuki has convinced Aido and Kain to let her go see Zero, but he doesn’t seem up for visitors as he pulls a gun on the evil vampire door.
Such a happy little family.
I have found that watching this anime pretty late at night/morning really helps the experience. If I was completely awake and aware of what was going on at the time, I would be pissed at how lame the show was and how fan girls/boys flock to this hot mess just because there are SEXY VAMPIRES. At least when I am dead tired I can just laugh at the stupidity and focus on the awesome lameness. I am not a harsh critic; I just think I am speaking the truth…and I am just as bad as Uncle Meanie.
It makes the incest scenes not as gross too.
I am so so SO glad we finally know the truth about Yuki. I almost feel bad that I have been so harsh on her all these weeks. But now everything makes sense….Yuki is stupid due to years of breeding incest. Thank you SO MUCH writers for finally telling us the truth. I would be a pretty messed up kid too if my mom and dad were brother and sister. I mean…people’s eyes aren’t supposed to be that big. She clearly has some brain issues since her eyes are taking up so much space in her head. So Yuki…I am sorry your life sucks so hard. But I reserve the right to make fun of you if you continue to pursue your brother while you still think you are related to him.
Seriously, what are wrong with her eyes?
CONGRADULATIONS RUKA! You win the “let’s make it all about me” award. Your prize: being a human shield for the one Kaname truly loves. WOOHOO! Seriously, did everyone enjoy how Ruka was such the “victim” in this episode? I had to pinch myself to make sure this delusion of self importance was real. Kaname has a lot of things to worry about, but let’s make sure RUKA is okay with all of Kaname’s personal tragedies. Then Ruka has to mention to Aido and Kain that now there is someone more unfortunate than her. Oh yes Ruka, your one sided love is nearly on par with your two parents being murdered by Uncle Meanie, being the fiancée to your own brother, living a lie for 10 years, and having to question your existence every waking moment on screen. My heart would bleed for you, but you would probably like that wouldn’t you!
She lost a man that was never hers...such a tragic life.
Poor, poor Zero. He is the true victim in this entire series. He hates vampires, they killed his vampire and turned him brother into his enemy. He has to suffer with this hatred as he slowly becomes a vampire. Then SURPRISE the girl he loves turns out to be a vampire. I am not quite sure how much crappy his life can really get. He could of course walk in on Yuki and Kaname having a hot sex session with his twin brother on his parent’s grave….but that is about it I guess. Yuki claims to not want to hurt Zero, but that is all she does. Forget shooting Kaname; put a bullet through your own head and end your suffering man.
We all know that logic does not make sense in anime. The logical thing to do when you want to keep your child alive is to keep yourself alive and running away with her. Yuki’s mother decided that killing herself and leaving a young Kaname to protect amnesia Yuki was a better idea. That makes perfect sense in my mind. Because if a 5 year old vampire kid is in great danger, the most logical thing to do is turn them into a defenseless 5 year old human. The storyline was just created to make Yuki have the most tragic past. Who cares if it makes sense apparently?
Of course, no explanation on HOW this process took place...
For the time being….gross. Wanting to marry your brother just like mommy and daddy did…is gross. There is no other way around it. The Night Class has a lot of ass kissing to do now that Yuki is both Kaname’s sister and fiancée. Gotta to love the logic.
Uncle Meanie is not impressed.
I really think it takes away from the seriousness of being a vampire...if you can become human so easily. Kaname is being revered as the savior pure blood and it was Yuki all along. If Yuki's blood is so special, why couldn't people sense she was THE ONE? I don't know...it just takes away the "specialness" of being a vampire if you can go back to being a human again. Your life isn't as tragic and it cheapens the cool affect. Not impressed.
You will respect her new authority!
I would like to take this time to thank Shojo Beat. They claim that Aido is in love with Kaname…and I whole heartily agreeing with that statement. Now I expect you rabid VK fans to write me some more yaoi smut. Aido has been nothing but loyal to Kaname so he deserves to LIVE!!!!!! Not apparently be happy with Kaname, but live none the less.
Careful Aido, not take away Ruka's pity party glory!
Next week (will probably be special ed) will probably be loads of awesome fun. We got Uncle Meanie trying to kill everyone and Rima injured. Zero is off having a well deserved cry and Yuki trying to make him feel…..better I guess. Basically everyone is miserable HOORAY! There is nowhere else to go but up right? Probably not. :P
Most awesome fight so far! Way to step it up.
This episode starts off by pretending the last minute of episode 8 did not happen. Who knows what happened when Asch tried to take down Luke, but Luke is now lying unconscious in bed and Tear is okay. Luke is conscious in Asch’s head and is pretty upset. Asch goes into a special explanation that confused me and used the word fon way too many times. What it boils down to is back at the mansion, Asch and Sync and…that bird man opened up Luke’s fon-pores and he and Asch can be connected within Asch’s mind. Asch isn’t done telling Luke he is a loser, but Meiu scared Asch away. That or Tear calls him to a meeting with the mayor. Natalia tries to make this all about her, but she fails. At the meeting, there is more discussion of the Sephiroth trees and how Luke sucks for blowing up one. But have no fear; there is a way to get everyone back to the surface. It involves memory particles and a lot of bs. Soon everyone but Luke’s body and Tear board the Tautarus and head back to the surface.
Asch has decided that he will chase after Van’s old leads and they go to this one town whose name escapes me. Natalia has decided that she is pissed at Luke and Asch is the real Luke to her. Actually, everyone sorta feels the same way but Guy still wants to give him a chance. They meet up with this old dude named Spinoza. Spinoza, Asch, and Jade all know each other and everyone is pissed. It turns out that Jade created the technology/concepts of making replicas, Spinoza is the one who helped created Luke, and Asch wants to beat Spinoza up. Spinoza gets away because he is a crafty CRAFTY villain.
This whole time, ghost Luke has been following the group around and acting hurt when people are talking bad about him. Asch and Jade talk about where Spinoza could have run off to. Guy decides that will go wait for Luke’s return….somewhere that apparently made sense. Everyone else goes off to this island that Spinoza likes to hang out and gather materials for cloning people. Asch has a dream that night all about his past so Luke could conveniently see how he suffered. Asch does not really care about Luke’s sympathy. Asch and Jade proceed…to not have a pissing contest. The group makes it to the cave where they find lots of FON machines. Jade and Asch realize that Spinoza and his people are trying to replicate an entire island/people. The cave begins to shake and it is explained that it is due to Luke’s accidental destruction of that Sephiroth tree. Asch says that he heard from some random anime writer that St. Binah is going to be the next to fall. Luke is concerned about Van being a mean old bad guy. Asch things that Van’s plan is to destroy all the outer lands. At this point Asch has grown tired of Luke and sends him out of his mind. Luke wakes up and Meiu happily hugs the forgotten one. Luke finds Tear singing in some awesome garden. Luke tells Tear that another village/town is in danger and he has to make it to the surface to save it. Tear tells Luke he is basically useless and he has no idea how to help. She goes on and on about how Luke has not changed and he destroyed a whole city and he sucks at life. Since he is not being taken serious enough, he decides to cut off his hair very dramatically. A NEW LUKE IS BORN! Now he and Tear will…probably go to the surface and not save the day.
His assholeness was in his hair all along!!!
There was very little action in the episode, but perhaps that was okay. Sometimes there needs to be travel time and explanations. Of course, Tales of the Abyss takes the explanations way too far and breaks all records for using a word over and over again. So…one can never be happy.
It all makes complete sense!
I know that I have said some harsh things about Luke. He is not my friend however (yes I know these are anime characters). I have not “traveled” with Luke and gotten to know him. I am just surprised how fast everyone was willing to drop Luke. He made ONE mistake and apparently everyone forgot that Ion trusted Van too. Ion was willing to go along with this plan and only said NO when it was too late. It just seems really unfair how everyone casts him aside. Yes he is a clone, but you still cared about his as a human being BEFORE you found that out. Would they still be treating him this way had he not messed up? Or if he had messed up, but not said the crap about the dirty people and the “hurry up”?
Defend your master!
Natalia might have. She is the biggest flip flopper I have ever met. She has known Luke/fake Luke for 7 years and yet she is willing to cast him aside. I really am starting not to like her. She can’t even hate Luke without Guy’s opinion, yet she has this aura of self-righteousness. Out of everyone leaving behind Luke, I am more upset with her. She should have been more conflicted and remembered the GOOD times she had with fake Luke. Instead she is lining up to have Asch’s baby. What a whore.
Opportunist much?
Guy was once again the nicest one out of the bunch. It must be people who serve others; they can see different sides of people and try to not judge others. He had the reaction I expected from Tear; he felt loyalty to Asch/old Luke yet he has a stronger bond to fake Luke. He actually made the SMART decision about who to pick and even Asch acknowledged that. I am not quite sure him running to wait for Luke in some….crazy place leaving the other people another fighter down was the best idea. But then again, why did they leave Luke down there anyway? Bitches.
Luke has at least...one friend!
Speaking of bitches, DAMN TEAR. She decided that the Scared Straight videos were not effective enough and had to one up them. She was BEYOND harsh with Luke and she is lucky she did not snap him in two. OKAY he accidentally blew up a whole city. Do you not see him being sorry? Do you not see him feeling as if his life isn’t that important anyway? Duh it is hard to know if he changed or not, but give the guy a SMALL break! It is not like Tear has never killed anyone herself so maybe killers shouldn’t be throwing stones. That being said…at least she was there when Luke woke up. So I guess she is only half a bitch.
Today is pick on Luke day.
I really wasn’t surprised about Jade’s past. There were no GASP faces from me. He just seems like he is full of secrets and with his whole little MMMM faces at the mansion regarding the FON DISC and his vast knowledge of everything fon…the writers did not do a very good job concealing this mystery. There are tons of people who “invent” things and somehow it gets turned around to be a negative idea or weapon. I really do not have blame in Jade…which is good since he is not blaming himself either.
Another GASP moment. They must have one every show.
How dare you use my cloning research to make clones!
I love how Asch’s dream came about. The authors were just so slick on showing Luke his past. Yay for convenient flashbacks. Poor sad little real Luke. I am not sure why he didn’t just say um, I am the real Luke and kick the other one out. I am also not sure why Van didn’t keep a better eye on him, but those are things authors don’t want us to focus on. So instead I will wonder about next week when Luke makes his dramatic return to the surface. The sides of good and evil are getting confusing again as in any good game. Hopefully it will become a little clearer as time goes on. But probably not.
Such a sad little real Luke.
Still shy after living together :O
Nagisa and Tomoya are walking to school together. Nagisa tries to talk to Tomoya about his future, but he dodges the question like any good man. He does reflect on it later during class while Sunohara dreams of being a fashion model. The discussion about futures is talked about again in the “drama club room” where Kyou wants to study nursing, Kyou wants to be a kindergarten teacher, and Kotomi wants to find me American and study at some university. Tomoyo seems sad she will be left behind next year…where Nagisa promptly passes out. There is much worrying to go around as Nagisa is unable to attend school and basically has a repeat of what happened last year as not being able to get out of bed. Kyou tries to cheer him up with Botan, but that fails. The episode then goes REALLY fast as weeks and months pass in 10 seconds. It becomes clear that Nagisa isn’t going to be able to graduate and will have to repeat her senior year again. Tomoya gets upset and wants to fail too so he can be with her. Akina tells Tomoya to man up and not make Nagisa cry. Most of the episode is Tomoya spending time with the ill Nagisa and studying in his spare time. The gang comes over on Christmas Eve as they celebrate Nagisa’s birthday and her love of dangos. Tomoya and Sunohara do graduate which probably surprises them the most. They reflect on their time at school and meet up with their friends later. Everyone is going off to a party, but Tomoya goes home to be with Nagisa. He is surprised to see her waiting outside the door for him, but she just wanted to see him in his uniform one last time. Tomoya starts crying and says he didn’t want to graduate, as she was the only good thing to happen to him at school and he is leaving her behind now. Nagisa tells Tomoya she is happy that he was able to graduate and move on and all she wants to do is be with him.
Tomoyo to the rescue!
Tomoya WHY!!! WHY DO YOU CRY LIKE THAT! Every time you cry I nearly flood my house! Can you afford to pay to recarpet my floors? No you jobless graduate! I think that the scene was even sadder when Nagisa wasn’t crying. I mean, she cries all the time. Hell, I would cry too if I was going to graduate high school when I was in my 20’s and lose most of my friends. But she didn’t and he did. He tries to be the tough guy and beat people up, but the thought if being separated from his girlfriend brings tears to his eyes….Tomoya, you are truly an awesome person! Now stop making me cry!
Must keep the tears at bay!
I loved little Botan in this episode. Sure it left a little out of place and like they were trying to cover every single minor character in this fast forward episode…but I don’t care. Plushie mode Blotan was the cutest thing EVER and I demand to see merchandise. And shame on all those classmates who did not see the cuteness in Botan.
Why do I always get sucked in?!
Cutest plushie ever!
WHY IS KOTOMI LEAVING?! What have I done to upset people so?! :( Why does she want to study in America anyway? Didn’t her parents die on a plane? It is a perfect excuse for her to have a fear of flying. And why do characters in anime always say they are studying overseas and not saying what? I want to know why Kotomi is going to be if I am deprived of her presence! I loved the other character’s reactions, they SHOULD miss her!
Now who will play the violin?!
I think the graduation day as done very well and accurate. Sure you are happy you are finally escaping a place you probably didn’t want to be. But then reality sinks in. You are thrown into that big scary world. You either have to go to school or get a job (or maybe both). You are not going to see your friends everyday or possibly ever again. It was also bitter sweet for this group due to one of their own not being able to graduate or even watch them on their last day. I am glad it was not all a huge celebration…that and Clannad likes to force tears from our eyes.
More Botan!
What I really didn’t like about this episode was how fast pace it was. Clannad sometimes only covers 2 days in an entire episode. They went through about 4 months. It missed out on that slice of life feeling and just sailed through the rest of the year so the plot could move on. Perhaps they had to do that to get to the meat of the series. The first 8 episodes in this season were just tying up all the other character’s side stories and the main focus will be on Nagisa and Tomoya again. :( It was still sad that it went by so quickly…but it wouldn’t have been the same without Nagisa watching Tomoya’s antics.
Tomoyo is not amused by antics!
So bloggers have said that this might be the last of some of the minor characters for a while. :( That makes me sad…but of course Kotomi will be one of those people. It just goes back to how when high school is over sometimes people become separated. I hope it still feels like Clannad even without all the crazy people around. :(
At least they will have each other...for a little while anyway.
One of my favorite scenes (besides the cuteness of Botnness) was the Christmas/birthday scene. It might be a while before everyone is together again, but at least at that moment they were coming together and celebrating. Even the forgotten mascot made an appearance! Clannad just have feel good moments and that sums up the real theme of the show: family. Nagisa in her own special way brought all these people together (although I really think it was Tomoya…) and she has a special place in everyone’s hearts. And who doesn’t love a Sunohara in a Santa suit?
Merry Christmas!
SING THE SONG NOW!!!
The previews for next week confused me a little bit. Why is Tomoya moving out? :( I thought they would follow the pace of the movie…but then again I don’t remember in the movie if Tomoya moved out first or not. I would think Tomoya would want to stay close to home to watch Nagisa and commute to his job that way. :O Why is he moving out!!!! It doesn’t make any sense to me….and it better not be some lame I am a man reason.
Could they be any cuter?!
Surprise!!! We suck!
Do we suck this much?
The group of course gets discovered because they suck at life and Finny is nearly killed. Sebastian comes out of nowhere and proceeds to have another non-serious battle, this one involving dog treats. After Sebastian blasts a huge hole in the ground, a spring comes up and Sebastian is carrying naked man who did Angela. Ceil is impressed by this fight scene which probably says a lot about him. Angela magically appears and naked man loves all over her. Angela explains that she found him about a month ago and she was trying to protect him. Henry used the legend about the demon dog to scare the villagers into believing and following him. So apparently Mr. demon naked dog killed Henry because he was upset that Henry was hurting Angela. Or banging her too, either one. She asks Ceil to take care of him and he says yes just to piss Sebastian off. The villagers are rejoicing in the background as the ground is crying tears for them and they have been forgiven. They decide to open up a hot springs and are no longer creepy, crazy people. The group parts from Angela where she and Sebastian give each…you are not human glances. Sebastian is thrilled to have the naked dog to take care of now too.
Oh, attack of the squinty eye!
This episode was pretty special ed. It wasn’t what I thought it would be so maybe I should stop expecting anything at all. That way I am not confused or disappointed.
Yes, very special!
Apparently we do not get to know if Angela is a demon herself or some other “baddie” Sure she said at the end of the episode she will meet up with “heroes” again one day, but how many times have we heard that one before? It rarely happens as there are only a limited amount of episodes. We are only left with knowing she is a massive skank who gets off on naked man dogs and people beating her.
But where are the cows?!
Ceil is a scary little boy. He seems to get off on Sebastian beating people in amusing ways and he is far too young to be getting off! I am slowly losing hope that Ceil’s past will be discussed at this point. Sites say there are 13 episodes in the works for this series. We are now going to be on episode 9 next week and that looks more like they are training naked man dog rather than discussing Ceil’s past. That leaves 3 episodes for the pact to be explained or what happened to Ceil’s family and at this point if they did that…it would still seem rushed. Unless of course there is a season two.
He enjoys the suffering of others more than I do x_X
Maybe one reason this episode wasn’t that great to me was the whole stupid trio leading the way. I mean, why bother giving Finny that flashback last week if you aren’t going to explain in. They are just annoying and in the way and I really can’t see why someone like Ceil would put up with them.
YAY! A whole episode about us!
The entire fight scene was stupid. It wasn’t funny or interesting. Unless of course you think a dog (a demon dog no less) would love you beat it’s ass into the ground. I sure wouldn’t love you. Maybe those Scooby snacks were really good though.
My eyes almost did that....
Sebastian really should be pissed right about now. He has the stupid trio to contend with on a daily bases and a bossy little master. Now he has a naked demon dog he has to train. I am not sure what he is going to gain from Ceil with this contract, but I doubt it is worth it at this point. Life must be incredibly frustrating for him every single second of the day. Surly there are slightly more legal young men he could undress at night…..
Perhaps they will worship him next.
There really isn’t much to say about this episode. There was no real mystery; everything was straight forward. The stupid townspeople…were stupid once again. The stupid trio just hurried along the process of finding the demon dog…and apparently no one was in real danger at all. Next week really doesn’t look any better as they are just training el naked dog. Is there real substance to this show? IT has it’s dark moments, then it is nothing but stupid/funny the rest of the time. It is hard to focus in the serious aspects of the show (dead parents, burnt down house, contract with a demon) when Sebastian is riding on a geyser. Just bleh….there are no words apparently. That is what I get for wanting my yaoi moments; I am punished with such scenes!
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