It's the day before Valentine's Day, and delicious, delicious drama abounds. One of Moko's castmates is constantly harassing her even though she has no interest in him. Hiou comes to her rescue, and she's visibly pleased to see him. She decides she wants to make chocolates for him as thanks, but she doesn't know how, so she asks Kyoko to teach her. Kyoko is thrilled at the idea of spending time with Moko making chocolates, and she tells Ren and Yashiro that she'll be making homemade chocolate. Yashiro assumes that Ren will be getting some, but Ren says that it's not likely and he wouldn't be able to handle the disappointment so he doesn't want to hope for it. On the inside, he realizes that it's already too late for that, though. In the meantime, Shou discovers that Kyoko is making homemade chocolate for Reino, and he is less than pleased by this turn of events.
Seeing Hiou-kun again was so cool! He's really grown, and now he's such a cool kid. He's going to break a lot of hearts when he gets older. XD He's clearly interested in Moko, and although I doubt she returns the feelings in a romantic manner, she really does love him. Kyoko was so adorable fangirling over spending quality time with Moko. I think their relationship is really a sweet one, and I can't wait to see the two of them make chocolates together. I really really really really hope that Moko will talk some sense into her and tell her to make chocolate for Ren. If she doesn't, it's going to be a miserable Valentine's Day. ;_; And speaking of a miserable Valentine's Day, it looks like Shou is wallowing in self pity right now. As much as I hate what he did to Kyouko, I would be more than delighted if he made a move and put Reino in his place. A confrontation would be wonderful. Ah, the drama. It's like a drug - it really is.
Marie Curie takes Marika to her hot springs for a relaxing day off. There, she tells Marika that the hot springs are heated using radiation (GREAT SCOT THEY'RE ALL GONNA DIE). Galileo is scanning the city with his telescope when he spies the two ladies bathing. Marika feels as if she's being watched, and Marie Curie uses her ninja skills to find Gali and send a radioactive pickle flying into his mouth - frying his brains. No joke. He's later reprimanded by Flemming and Hertz on being such a pervert, but Marika says it really can't be helped if everyone is a hot spring, they're just dress that way no matter what. Gali doesn't do anything to hide his lust for the two women when they take off their towels and reveal their (decidedly modest) swimsuits again.
Wow, an onsen episode. Who would have guessed? Not me. And it's heated by radioactivity. Fabulous. I don't think I could bring myself to visit that place often...Gali is such a pervert. Who on earth is the target demographic for this show? O_o And what's with the radioactive pickle?
I recently stumbled upon a new Japanese drama that parodies the ever popular detective drama. The title literally means "conditions for a great detective," and the story follows the "great detective" Tenkaichi as he solves mysteries under preset conditions of a detective story (like an incompetent police chief, a pretty female rookie, village legends, locked rooms, etc.). The story is a very self-aware tongue in cheek piece with the main characters constantly breaking the fourth wall, and even taking time-outs in an alternate reality to discuss where the plot should move next. Throughout it, Tenkaichi is a reluctant detective, tired of the same tricks and plot devices over and over.
The first episode features a locked room mystery, and the rookie detective, unaware of her status in the story calmly states that they should just ask how the murderer did it after they catch him. The police chief reprimands her for not knowing her role and he then suggest that she should have a crush on Tenkaichi. The end reveal of the trick used is hilarious and well executed, with some ironic timing. Overall a good opening episode, and I am looking forward to more, if only to see Matsuda Shota act incredibly silly.
Leonardo DaVinci stops by Marie Curie's house and he and Galileo get into an argument. Marie tells Marika that since the two are both geniuses, they don't get along very well. Apparently, Leo is also a lolicon. As soon as he lays his eyes on Marika, he asks to paint a picture of her. She says yes, as long as her pet can come. Gali goes along to make sure that no trouble happens. While painting, Leo does all sorts of other random things like building a helicopter and a launcher. They take off on it, but the helicopter breaks, so Leo hands out parachutes to everyone except Gali. Go figure.
For some reason, Marie to Gali is the only series I'm actually keeping up with this season. Huh. Maybe because it's just so quirky. Or maybe because it makes me feel smart when I recognize the scientists. They introduced a lot of DaVinci's design sketches here, although we now know that his helicopter wouldn't have worked, and his parachute was a few feet too small in diameter to save someone. Even so, his thoughts were very forward thinking, and in anime land, anything can work if you want it too. I didn't really enjoy this episode as much as the others - it seemed a little bland in comparison. Or maybe it's because there wasn't any food in it. Either way, another week another scientist. Have we learned a lot today?
Galileo takes Marika to a beautiful temple, but she's disappointed to find that it's just another restaurant - this time, for oden. The owner of the restaurant, Archimedes is having trouble making ends meet. He has no customers, and the debt collection guys are knocking down his door (and shooting missiles through it). He gives them both some daikon, and Gali is angry that Mari gets a larger piece. Archimedes submerges both pieces in water, and they both displace the same amount of water, thus proving that they are, in fact, the same size. He then serves them some of his experiemental food like oden pasta, oden pizza, and oden wine (D:). It's clearly not very good. Mari talks about how French and Italian food are different from Japanese food, and she gets a hankering for some conveyor belt sushi. As Archimedes watches her spin like a conveyor belt, he suddenly gets a brilliant idea and promptly runs from his restaurant in nothing but a loincloth screaming "EUREKA!" When Mari and Gali return to the restaurant, they find business is booming. Archimedes has invented a screw that carries the oden to the customers.
Yay! More science! So it appears that in Galihabara, famous scientists all own restaurants instead. Fascinating. Archimedes was a pretty brilliant dude, best known for screaming "Eureka!" while running naked in the streets. Instead of, I dunno...being smart. One spring break is all it takes, my friends. Still they actually taught a vague amount of science here, so I shouldn't complain too much.
I've been watching a lot of Japanese gameshows lately. I don't know why; it's a sickness. This is a very old clip, but still pretty funny for what it is. It's from a show called Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende. In this portion, a set of guys is forced to pretend to be high school students watching an English video lesson. Anyone who laughs during the game will be punished with a beating.
This post is spoilerrific. At the end of the last chapter, Amu, Ikuto, and Tadase were getting ready to hop onto the special elevator that leads directly to Gozen's chambers. Amu asks what sort of person Gozen is, but Ikuto doesn't know. Gozen has always been hidden, and he can't even be sure if it's male or female. They find Gozen's throne, but all that's left there is a voice changer. They follow the hallway and find themselves in a room full of jewels. Beyond that is a throne and the young boy who Amu has run into various times. As it turns out, that child (Hikaru) is Gozen, the leader of Easter!
He says he wants the Embryo because it's a pretty jewel, but the Embryo loses its glow when he holds it. He casts it aside, saying he's no longer interested in it. He sees the dark egg that controlled Ikuto and decides that he wants that instead. Ikuto calms the darkness of the egg using his violin and that egg also loses it's power. Again, Gozen is suddenly uninterested. Amu can't believe that this child would bring out so many X-Eggs just to collect the Embryo, only to toss it away after he gets it. The principal appears saying that he's come to collect the missing page from his picture book and that he will reveal Hikaru's past.
Whaaat? Well, I absolutely did not expect thiiiiis. The fact that that child is Gozen is a nice twist. The fact that he's a bizarre brat with only an interest in collecting pretty rocks is...weird. It kinda feels like a letdown. He only wanted the Embryo because it was pretty, and now he doesn't even care? Ugh. I'm also surprised that Kukai hasn't shown up to the final showdown. ::sigh:: Well, here's hoping that Hikaru's past is interesting enough to give the story a satisfying ending.
Today is free comic book day, so head to your nearest comic book store and get yourself some free comics. : ) Viz is getting in on the action, releasing chapter zero of Ultimo, the Stan Lee - Hiroyuki Takei collaboration. I already blogged my thoughts on chapter zero, but it sure is nice to have it legally and free. Plus I have a nice mini-poster of a super GAR manga version of Stan Lee. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.
It's the day before Valentine's Day, and delicious, delicious drama abounds. One of Moko's castmates is constantly harassing her even though she has no interest in him. Hiou comes to her rescue, and she's visibly pleased to see him. She decides she wants to make chocolates for him as thanks, but she doesn't know how, so she asks Kyoko to teach her. Kyoko is thrilled at the idea of spending time with Moko making chocolates, and she tells Ren and Yashiro that she'll be making homemade chocolate. Yashiro assumes that Ren will be getting some, but Ren says that it's not likely and he wouldn't be able to handle the disappointment so he doesn't want to hope for it. On the inside, he realizes that it's already too late for that, though. In the meantime, Shou discovers that Kyoko is making homemade chocolate for Reino, and he is less than pleased by this turn of events.
Seeing Hiou-kun again was so cool! He's really grown, and now he's such a cool kid. He's going to break a lot of hearts when he gets older. XD He's clearly interested in Moko, and although I doubt she returns the feelings in a romantic manner, she really does love him. Kyoko was so adorable fangirling over spending quality time with Moko. I think their relationship is really a sweet one, and I can't wait to see the two of them make chocolates together. I really really really really hope that Moko will talk some sense into her and tell her to make chocolate for Ren. If she doesn't, it's going to be a miserable Valentine's Day. ;_; And speaking of a miserable Valentine's Day, it looks like Shou is wallowing in self pity right now. As much as I hate what he did to Kyouko, I would be more than delighted if he made a move and put Reino in his place. A confrontation would be wonderful. Ah, the drama. It's like a drug - it really is.
--Ou-bento
